Anime that Packs a thunderous Punch! Get Backers!

After watching the latest addition to the Thor movie series this weekend, I was going to write a post about all the anime that have lightning or thunder using characters. And then I went on the internet to start my research for the post and found out that just about everyone and their granny has already written a blog post about that exact same thing! I have a very nice delusion that every last one of my blog posts is both creative and unique, so writing a post that’s the same as everyone else’s is just not going to work for me.

So this time around I think I’ll just focus on one very special and somewhat forgotten character that uses electricity. He’s one half of a duo that solves problems, runs a muck, and has no luck with money. And this character just so happens to be from one of many DVD’s that has been lost and forgotten on my DVD shelf for too long. Now I’m dusting it off and giving this electrifying character another chance to shine!

Get Backers!

Get Backers is an older anime from the early 2000’s about two friends (Ban Mido and Genji Amano) that have a specialized retrieval business together called Get Backers. They’re like a cross between private detectives and repo agents. And Ban and Genji are some of the best in their field. It doesn’t matter what was lost or stolen they can get it back, with almost 100% success rate! But Ban and Genji aren’t any old repo guys, they have some serious super powers and skills up their sleeves. Ban has a technique called the Evil Eye where he can hypnotize a person into seeing their worst nightmare, and Genji has a taser like shocking touch! And it’s a good thing they have these powers, because the crazy jobs these two get sent on are rarely as simple as they appear at first. Their jobs include everything from helping a girl get back a memento of her deceased mother from a shady police officer to racing in a wild, super powered and assassin filled car chase to retrieve a melon!

You would think that with so much super power and success in their retrieval business that would mean they had plenty of money, or at least enough money to get by, right? Well . . . no. Though these two are quite skilled and at times seem pretty smart, that does nothing to change their hilariously bad luck with money! Like in one money misadventure, they were sent to retrieve a box, and at one point they over heard that platinum had something to do with the box. Considering that it was a millionaire that was asking for the retrieval and he was offering an awful lot of money for their services, they decided that instead of the fee, they would take 10% of whatever was in the box. They thought this was a great idea, because 10% of a box full of platinum would be a lot of money and it could get them out of debt in one job! Well, when they got the box back, it wasn’t platinum in the box, it was a platinum grade melon! So their payment was a paper thin slice of melon!

Genji Amano

Genji Amano is a former gang leader and has had a pretty hard life before the series begins, but he is definitely the more light hearted, carefree, and kind half of the duo. Unlike his more surly counter part, Genji always has a smile on his face and usually empathizes with their clients quickly. He will often encourage Ban to take on low paying and high risk jobs because the person requesting the retrieval is a victim of a crime or an unfair circumstance. Though Genji comes from a rough background, he can be surprisingly wide eyed and innocent about the world and will often look to his partner Ban to come up with plans and manage their lifestyle.

Just because he’s a bit of a push over doesn’t mean that Genji is a weakling! Whenever a fight breaks out, Genji is more than capable of backing up his best bro Ban and reeking havoc on even large groups of bad guys with his taser like electrical powers. In the anime, Genji’s lightening powers are described as if he were a human version of an electric eel, but when Genji lets loose his powerful electric shocks it’s significantly more impressive than anything you might see at an aquarium! And just like how Genji’s sweet and gentle temperament is a perfect counter balance to Ban’s surly and gruff personality, Genji’s electric shock powers are a great match for Ban’s hypnotism powers. Together these two pack quite a punch!