Anime to watch if you love 007!

Who doesn’t love the sleek suits, the sunglasses polished to a mirror shine, and the great gadgets of a secret agent. And of course, the best of the best is the sharp minded, deft handed Brit known for both his name and his number, 007! Whether this not so secret agent is traveling around the globe, attending elite casino parties, or racing through the streets of some glamorous location in his decked out luxury car, he’s always doing it in style. You might think that nobody does it better, no one could walk away from explosions, mad men plotting to over throw the world, or insane collapses of the villain’s lair with quite the impeccable style and ease of this world renowned spy, but anime has it’s own style of smooth operators and they are not always spies. So if you just can’t get enough of the daring adventures and missions completed with flare, than these anime are for you!

Lupin the Thrid

The anime Lupin the Third is not about a spy. In fact, some might argue that he is the opposite of a government agent. The main character of this anime is a criminal, Lupin is a notorious thief that is known for stealing the unstealable. He’s a sneaky yet charming main character that completes each theft with flare and leaves a calling card before disappearing. Of course, being the greatest thief in the world he usually succeeds, with a little help from his friends. Diasuke Jigen is Lupin’s best friend and an amazing sharp shooter. Goemon Ishikawa is a master swordsman and sometimes backup for the thieving duo. And to round out the group is the Femme fatale Fujiko (Very much a Bond lady) who has helped Lupin about as much has she has stolen the treasure from him.

Read or Die

In the anime movie Read or Die, Yumiko Readman is an government agent in the British Library Special Operations Division. She has the unique ability to control paper and can form almost anything from the material. Not surprisingly with an ability like that, she absolutely loves books and collects them with a manic obsession. Though on the surface Yumiko might not seem all that stylish or sophisticated, once she gets into her element of paper magic, she is as elegant and deft as even the best of the secret agents. Early in the movie Yumiko is attacked and we get to see her well honed skills as she fights off the bad guys. She is then sent to the US to investigate the destruction of the Library of Congress (the largest library in the world) and from there she gets caught up in an international adventure that has her saving other library agents, fighting clones of historical figures, and using paper in the most improbable ways, all with a style and elegance all her own.

Magic Kaito

Another anime that is about a thief rather than a secret agent, Magic Kaito is about a high school boy (Kaito Kuroba) that is very skilled at stage magic, something he learned from his family. Early in the series he learns that his father that died years ago wasn’t just a stage magician, he was also a phantom thief! Following his is father’s, Kaito puts on his father’s stage costume (which is actually filled with secret gadgets) and begins committing the same kind of daring thefts that his father once attempted with the hopes that learning more about his father will shed some light on his father’s unexplained death. Maybe it runs in the family, but Kaito takes to phantom thieving very well and soon preforms his crimes with style and flare, leaving calling cards and always disappearing into the night without a trace.

Pretty Boy Detective Club

If you love anime that completes each adventure with style and panache then you are going to love Pretty Boy Detective Club. Not only are they some of the most aesthetically obsessed middle schoolers you might find anywhere, finishing everything with flare is in their club’s code of conduct! Their leader Manabu Soutouin has a passion for the aesthetics of a thing far beyond the caring of the thing itself. He would say, if one can’t do something beautifully, than what’s the point! These junior sleuths might not be that old, but much like James Bond, they also solve crimes in luxurious casinos, thwart criminal organizations, go on epic chase scenes, and solve glamorous fine art mysteries. If anything, 007 might be too shabby chic for the fine tastes of these middle schoolers.