Search - Hyper Police - Episodes 1-4 on DVD

Lots of fun!

Not My Real Name | Cambridge Massachusetts, USA | 08/24/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This review is more about the entire series, which I've seen in its entirety. Even though it gets off to a pretty strong start, it definitely continued to grow on me. It's set in a vivid, post-apocalyptic Japan, that includes humans, monsters, and humanoid animals living in an uneasy coexistence. It centers around a catgirl named Natsuki, and the bounty hunters she works with to help keep the peace, in this new world. You could almost call it a police anime (like Patlabor, You're Under Arrest, etc.), but that would overlook much of its unique character.



Don't expect anything profound - this series aims to be fun, and it absolutely delivers. There are themes of racial inequality, technocracy, the price of harsh and uncaring justice, and totalitarianism - but it (thankfully) doesn't dwell on those topics. Among its strengths I count: lots of action, cute characters (even some of the monsters), vivid colors, a rich and detailed post-apocalyptic Japan, and good character development. A notable aspect of this series is the visual humor, which worked very well, for me, and complemented the other visual aspects quite nicely. It should also be noted that there's a bit of mature humor, but nothing terribly crude or explicit (I think it helps liven things up, personally)."

Great Series. Mediocre DVD.

ladyriven | 10/09/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this DVD only half-knowing what to expect. Although I usually like to judge primarily on the quality of the show, I took a a star off for what this DVD lacks. That is, it could have been translated a LOT better.. and it didn't have any special features whatsoever. Not to mention the cover art is kind of 'blah'. Anyway, I purchased this DVD because it was low-priced (which is reflected in the DVD's quality unfortunately) and the main character, Natsuki, is a catgirl. I love catgirls. ^_^ I'm kinda picky with anime like this, and I'm not much of a Masamune Shirow fan, but I was surprised just how much I ended up enjoying the show. It really keeps your attention, doesn't get slow, and the characters are alluring and amusing. I'm rather looking forward to seeing more episodes of this, even though I am ordinarily a less action-oriented anime fan. I tend to lean towards shoujo series (I am a girl, after all). The show itself focuses on a futuristic Japan where humans and monsters (err.. anthropomorphic individuals) live together in a state of disorder and mayhem. Natsuki is a nekomata catgirl who works for an independent law enforcement agency called Police Company. In essence though, workers for Police Company are bounty hunters. They don't get money from the government for their work, but rather from the commissions they make catching criminals. Natsuki's partner Batanen is perverted half-wolf guy who has feelings for her, but has all kinds of trouble working up the guts to admit it to her. Natsuki's other partner, Sakura, is a 9 tail fox (with 8 and one fifths of a tail) who plans to finally grow out her 9th tail by stealing Natsuki's powers. Although Natsuki may seem a little dense, stealing her powers is no easy task for Sakura! Especially when Natsuki's kindness begins to grow on her. In the long run, this DVD is worth the buy for the price and the quality of the show itself. Don't expect any special DVD bonuses though, because there aren't any."

Great Anime on a budget

David Tucker | Gainesville, FL | 09/24/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you're looking for a good series that won't break your wallet then look no further than Hyper Police. I'm not a fan of special features on DVDs so I'm very happy that to save money, none were included.



The first four episodes I saw at a convention about a year and a half ago and I thought the show was pretty funny. It took me a while to find the DVDs but I'm glad I have. If you're an anime fan that likes a somewhat serious story with lots of humor, this is a good choice. Don't expect anything mind bending though."

Hyper disappointment. 48%

Duckman | Drifting in the Cosmic Sea | 12/18/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard about Hyper Police this July and I was pretty intrigued by it because of the fact that it isn't well known among anime fans and it's not everyday that you see an anime that has a setting where humans, monsters, and half-breeds (such as cat girls and wolf men) co-exist. In a way, it's kinda like the anime equivalent to Duckman (The show, not me LOL!!) in that respect. Since I had a slightly bigger paycheck than usual one work week, I decided to buy all of the DVDs in that series. I quickly watched the series over the summer and felt it was okay. I decided to watch it again (with a sharper attention span this time around) in the past three days after completing the semester and the disappointment sunk in pretty fast.



The whole plot is that in the year 22 HC (Holy Century), humans are an endangered species and several privatized police companies compete for criminals to catch (or kill as a last resort) for money and to protect the remaining human population. The plot focuses on cat girl bounty hunter Natsuki Sasahara and her senior partner, werewolf Batanen Fujioka.



You can tell by the percentage on here that Hyper Police certainly isn't one of the worst anime titles I've ever seen, but it's something I won't be seeing again. Interestingly, there aren't many flaws in this series, but the flaws that do exist infest most of the episodes, tainting the series as a whole in a pretty significant manner. The biggest flaws by and large are repetition and irritation. The biggest reasons for the low rating is the fact that fox girl Sakura's schemes to gobble up Natsuki (so she can get her ninth tail) are repeated throughout the first 15 or so episodes of the series and the jokes focusing on Natsuki's feline personality get old pretty fast. Also, the series is sorta like a hybrid of episodes with episodic plots and some overarching plot points and most of the episodes with stand alone plots are pretty stale. The action can be okay, but overall, the humor's occasional over-the-top atmosphere is some episodes get on my nerves pretty intensely. The other thing that's supposed to be funny is Natsuki's bounties don't go as planned in several episodes and some aspects of her other misfortunes are supposed to be funny but like the other areas of humor, are severely overdone and by episode 12, had me groaning out of boredom.



To this anime's credit, it does improve pretty significantly by episode 19 where it focuses on the characters and occasionally, some social and psychological dilemmas and uses the comedy aspect in moderation throughout the rest of the series (up until the last episode, episode 25) to make a more enjoyable anime. Unfortunately, it's another case of "too little, too late" to make this anime worthwhile. The most remarkable episode in Hyper Police has to be episode 19 because it gave the characters in that episode the most depth in the series, when Natsuki has to be a mole for a gang cats and she becomes hesitant to arrest them because she becomes sympathetic to their cause after she sees that the robbers care about helping the poor rather than profiting at the expense of others. Another positive aspect of this anime is Batanen's partner (and cousin) Tommy Fujioka, because he's pretty humorous when he's on screen and has this fantasy of this water mage named Peau D'Roquefort (his love interest) wearing fancy shoes and imagines her stomping on him with said shoes, which I felt is pretty funny. The cast of characters as a whole are actually pretty well developed, and that's certainly commendable, but some of them are so irritating that it takes this anime down a good chunk of percentage points. The anime wraps itself up pretty neatly at the end as well, teasing the viewer at the end with a screen saying "To be continued?," which honestly doesn't bother me that much since I know the series is wrapped up well enough and doesn't leave any room for another series (thankfully).



The animation and artwork is also pretty good for a low budget anime series from 1997, with good use of colors and a good enough eye for visual detail. The non-computerized cel animation in this series fits perfectly with the setting.



The soundtrack is a mixed bag. The opening and ending theme songs are really sugary for my tastes but the instrumental music used throughout most episodes is pretty good, some of it would be pretty fitting for a Sonic the Hedgehog game made in 1992.



At the end of the day, Hyper Police brings me sadness because given its positive traits (such as decent character development and unique setting) and that it doesn't have a large following (there's too many downright awful anime titles with giant fanbases), I really wanted to like it, but the few but heavily repeated flaws really sink this anime down. Maybe if you're a furry and/or like over-the-top yet repetitive comedy, then you may like this more than I did."