Take A Pick Tuesday : Golgo 13

Take A Pick Tuesday: Golgo 13

 

 

 

 

 

Golgo 13 is a manly anime series, qualified to be with the some of the manliest of them all but that isn’t a bad thing and with the basic plot of the series it isn’t all that surprising. Although I may be doing pushups while I’m writing this, it isn’t a series that knocks your head over with being manly, we’re not talking steroid induced screaming for half an hour. It’s manly in a smart, sometimes suave, sometimes brutal way which can more often than not be a thinking oriented show, a problem that must be worked around.  If you’re not sure what that means then take the plot of the show. Based on the manga by Takao Saito, Golgo 13 is a series and in the case of this article an anime, about Duke Togo aka Golgo 13, one of the top assassins in the world, willing to work for anyone you can afford his hefty price.  A silent man who’s almost entirely emotionless and entirely mute, he makes no expressions when making love with women, who ask him not to leave afterwards and trusts no one. Don’t ever stand behind him trust me.  Golgo’s assignments spread to all corners of the world with clients that range from anything you can think of. More often than not the story isn’t focused on Golgo, it is more so on the client or the target at least and our assassin is in the background, once the job is done he usually walks away from it the way you do when you clock out from work. Yet that is one of the most interesting parts about Golgo 13, you see an array of characters/clients,  some seem to have good reason for hiring Golgo some aren’t that great of people.  Whether there right or wrong on the hit they order, you can bet your odds that the job will get done regardless.

 

        For the most part we’re focusing on the anime series that came out a couple of years ago, brought to America in four sets, later one big beautiful 4 disc Blu ray set and spanning 50 episodes it is nowhere close to comparison to the manga that has been running since the 70’s Yet there are enough episodes to understand why the manga has been running for so long. Indeed lots of material to go from and then some.  A particular favorite of mine “Sharp Shoot on the G String” is when Golgo is hired to shoot the string off a violinist that was hired as a replacement for his client,  the shot would be during the concert, while the violinist is playing the piece at that particular part, in that very moment. It also showcased that Golgo wasn’t always hired to kill someone, it can be for something far more creative. Even when it is a kill it can be quite creative. In that respect you get an insight into how Golgo preps for a hit or whatever the job entails, scoping the land, the height, various factors that would go into it and timing, timing is everything in this show. It reflects Golgo’s stoic behavior and why he is such a badass for this reason that would make a normal person shake with anxiety. There are assignments he gets where he must go out of his way to save someone for example break them out of a prison which would mean going to prison himself, once breaking them out then he kills  them. As shown in the episode “Sleep Inside The Cage” and some assignments that require a different sort of infiltration such as the one when he’s hire to do a hit on a leader of a cult in “The Saint With A Stench of Death.” You’ll also see him butt heads with other assassins, deal with double crosses and sometimes overcome the flaky behavior of his clients, which isn’t always one particular client but could range from The US Government to the Mafia to the police.

 

 

       The anime series isn’t the first time Golgo’s has graced the screen in fact with his long history there is no surprise that there has been numerous times the character has graced the screen. From his appearances in live action films starring the legendary Ken Takakura and then Sonny Chiba in the 70’s. To animation in the 80’s with the anime film Golgo 13” The Professional and the 90’s anime film Golgo 13” Queen Bee to the last anime series that is our focus directed by Shunji Oga a great choice considering his familiarity with the franchise. What’s interesting about the series is despite the seemingly separate hits done in the show there is a general plot brooding underneath which helps anyone whose unaccustomed to a 50 episode series based on a very long running original comic to stay on board and get hooked. If your wondering about Golgo’s past it plays with itself, overwrites itself in the manga but still gives you pieces that do remain solid truths about our mysterious assassin and if you watch on will find a few bit of it in the show, like all things it’s still intense and a bit sad, the emotions are present in the anime, deep enough that you could never feel alienated from them even if it’s seems like Golgo himself is. There’s also enough flirting with realism, in the prep and know how for the hits to get someone who might not necessarily be into anime to watch it or at least try it and though people wonder if some of Golgo’s hits are humanly possible, perhaps for hits such as in “The Glass Fortress” and they do get pretty elaborate and impossible like but that is part of the charm of the series, the concept of the hit being pulled off has an allure in itself.

 

With the manga having reached the collected volume of 175 volumes it might make you curious to read the manga, not to worry although VIZ hasn’t gone the whole long mile or miles, they have left a collected amount of volumes highlighting “some of the best stories” the series has had to offer in its long run. The anime movies aren’t too hard to chase down per say and the with the Blu ray collecting the entire anime with an affordable price, you can watch Golgo punch people in the face that try to stand behind him in the comfort of your own homes. There’s also various places that when it was released it was available for streaming and there are a number of places that are still ready at the click of a button such as Hulu and The Anime Network. Golgo 13 really is a stable in the manga/ anime world, it isn’t hard to see in references in dozens of shows and manga that have come since, for the history alone might have people jump on board but overall the anime itself is well done, capturing the feel of Golgo 13 and giving him a modern day setting that he could play with as best as all the decades he’s had in the manga.