Sex, motorcycles, and swords. If only it came together better.
What They Say:
Our society is infected with a disease, a gangrenous cancer in the form of those who commit the most monstrous of evils, yet whose power and influence place them beyond the reach of the law. When corrupt politicians fail to act and the police seem helpless, there is a third, secret option that stands ready to excise the malignancy in a tactical surgical strike: Black Label, a dedicated team of doctors, nurses, and students who moonlight as an elite team of assassins.
With the world’s deadliest nurse, a master swordswoman MD, an idol with an affinity for explosives, and a pair of seemingly indestructible high school students, their mission is as simple as it is deadly: identify the drug runners, terrorists, and criminal masterminds who can’t be destroyed any other way, and then eliminate them by whatever means necessary!
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the original Japanese language track in stereo where it uses the DTS-HD MA lossless codec to bring it all together. The series is one that works a fair bit of action into it but it comes across more as a character-driven show amid all the mystery and other elements that are there The action sequences for it certainly works out well, though there’s a kind of lack of restraint about it that plays out which is fun since it kind of just lets anything go to some degree. The impact is given to the weapons themselves and vehicles, but it doesn’t overdo it and makes more of it than it is. The dialogue side is fairly straightforward as there’s nothing added to those inside the mechanized units and most of what the cast does is straightforward center channel material without a lot in the way of directionality or placement.
Video:
Originally airing in 2015, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The ten episodes for this series and its OVA are spread across two discs in a nine/two layout. Animated by Xebec, the show has a rather solid look about it overall with some good attention paid to the motorcycles and the like. The CG blending with the rest of the animation works well for the most part as it doesn’t stand out in a glaringly bad way and the color design for it is solid and problem free. Colors in general are good throughout without any problems such as breakup or noise and the fluid animation sequences hit some very good notes when it gets moving in the action sequences. The series has a good sense of design about it and the transfer captures it well to make it feel like a well-realized world.
Packaging:
The packaging design for this release brings us a standard-sized Blu-ray cast that holds two discs without a hinge. The front cover artwork goes with the familiar promotional image of the leads and the bike so it has the elements that you want from it. The darker background doesn’t do it any favors though and I wish it was something that went brighter or with something else as this is just a bit too murky. The back cover is fairly traditional with some saucy character artwork material along the right while the left breaks down the premise of the show in a decent way. There’s a decent selection of shots from the show, a nod to the episode count with its inclusion of the OVA as well. The production credits are cleanly laid out and the technical grid breaks it all down in an accurate way. No show-related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.
Extras:
The extras included with this release are the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences as well as the Japanese promos. Also welcome is getting a brief interview segment with the two voice actors for the leads to talk about the project a bit in a limited way.
Based on the manga by Shoji Sato, Triage X is a ten-episode TV series that also has an OVA planned. It’s animated by Xebec, which certainly handles the fanservice side of the show well, but for me, the appeal is just in seeing what Sato was up to. Sato’s one of those creators that I have a bit more interest in because he doesn’t have the “normal” background in a sense because he’s spent his time in the world of hentai. His doujinshi side is a bit more normal as a lot of artists have done that, but the hentai area certainly colors his work, and it was a big part of the appeal of his work on High School of the Dead. At the same time, I’ve also been interested in seeing what kinds of things influenced him from his time working as an assistant to the creator of Excel Saga, Koushi Rikudou. Suffice it to say, these elements make his works a bit non-standard in some ways, and divisive because of it.
And honestly, there is an appeal with a show that in the first ten seconds makes it clear that they have a love of the human body in all its shapes and sizes. What we also see is the kind of fun that comes from a job in motion with the team that makes up the show going after a wealthy but corrupt man that they consider a black tumor on the city that must be excised. It’s pure vigilantism done with a lot of fanservice and skin, but also a good dose of threat to it while also feeling a bit like a Wild West kind of thing with the score attached to it with some of the music cues. But in the end, it’s cold and direct as it gets the job done. There’s a kind of justice and morality at work here with what they do, but it falls to the kind of problems that you usually get where it’s one person or group’s justice as opposed to the laws of the land. But when things go beyond what the law can do due to corruption, a group like this will surely come into existence.
Operating under the group name of Black Label, it plays up the medical side of taking care of the health of the city and treats these vigilantes as surgeons of a sort. It’s laid on a little thick, but it gets the point across and sets the tone well. Naturally, the leads of the actual attack portion of the group are high school students, with Arashi being the main male character in this area who has a tortured past and a lot of scars on his body that definitely make an impact on others that see them. While Arashi has a kind of deadpan approach and spends a good bit of his time trying to work through coping with what they do while acknowledging its importance, Mikoto plays the calm and cool side well but has a rough and tumble side when on the job itself which makes her for a fun personality as that unfolds, and lets the actress have a bit more fun with the role.
While we get to know a couple of the characters here, and a classmate that’s interested in Arashi that’s unaware of his true nature, there’s also a good bit of exploration of the darkness of the city. With the execution at the start, that causes a bit of fallout with his son that’s about to gain a lot more power, and others that want to know what this new mysterious organization is that changed the dynamic of power. Hideo’s son pretty much is a classic piece of twisted scum based on how he was raised, and you really don’t have any sympathy for him when Arashi and Mikoto show up to kill him as even Arashi doesn’t give him the benefit of the doubt like he did his father. There’s a decent bit of action and style to this, and we learn that the team does have some morals as they recognize a detective in the mix and risk themselves to save him, but the whole point of what they do is to deal with the truly deep-rooted crime out there. And to deal with it in a big way that plays well visually, both with the action itself and the fanservice. I could do without the idol segment though…
With a very rough start, I’ll admit that it fell into that kind of guilty pleasure territory for me just because I enjoy the absurdity of the character designs. The concept itself is fairly straightforward as we get a secret group dealing with the cancerous elements of society and cutting them out in a hard and fast way, so it didn’t really set itself apart there. But it had a decent sense of action about it when those scenes hit and there’s the appeal in all the fanservice since they’re open about it and not trying to be something else overall, even if there is a darker edge to the show because of the main concept.
The focus of this episode is on the one that got away, Jin Misaki, which Mochizuki does admit happens because not everything goes to plan. But with him getting away, he’s now causing more problems that’s resulted in the death of an old woman that the girls were friends with and that’s set them all on the hard and firm path of taking him down. That was already a given considering he’s involved in dealing with something called Platinum Lily, but this is the added incentive. It also helps to reinforce the detective’s motivations to go after Misaki since he was already frustrated by how things were playing out. Amusingly, going after where they are turned into a pretty big and messy situation with the various sides involved as we get the Black Label team, a couple of cops, and plenty of thugs. That provides for some good action, especially of the bouncy kind considering the women’s outfits, and with some decent moments, it certainly provides something that a lot of shows each season don’t have.
It does go kind of stupidly big in a way – which is part of the appeal of the series as it devolves into more of a trainwreck – when Arashi finally arrives on the scene with his “iron mask” helmet and reinforced body armor as he saves the day, allowing Mikoto to save the detective and the other cop from the thugs that are working for Misaki’s man. Arashi’s hardened style is old-school aloof in plenty of ways, but it works here against the rest of the cast and allows it to have a hard edge that’s not softened by the smiles and curves of the others. The women are no slouches themselves though as they’re just as brutal as he is, just in different ways. Arashi’s the one that dominates here though, and seeing his speech with Misaki about why he does what he does, and having Mikoto understand that he’s finding another way to do certain things, makes both of them a bit more accessible as well since we get a touch of his past. It all plays big, fast and loose and there’s an appeal about it as Arashi goes on about removing this tumor from the city.
One of the bigger pieces during the middle of the season is when the supporting cast gets some attention initially as the Neo TV facility was taken over by a terrorist group with their own agenda. One that really didn’t register or connect well at all. What it allowed to happen was that the supporting characters got their time to show off a bit in the building as it was taken over, but it also went for the silly fanservice by having the terrorists place all the girls alongside the edge of the building on the eighteenth floor with the window blown out as a threat to kill them until their demands are met. That they were stripped down to their bra and panties wasn’t a surprise for this show, but it also just reinforced how forced the fanservice is here when it doesn’t need to be. So many shows can do it well and in theme that doing it this way just makes it uninteresting.
Amusingly, the first hostage about to be tossed over does her best to seduce the lead terrorist by showing off her assets to him, which the other girls don’t appreciate since it means one of them might get tossed instead. Which leads to them yelling at her and calling her grandma. It’s just silly. What ends up saving them in general is that Oriha is still running around in the building causing trouble as she takes down people, which is her job as a member of Black Label. But the terrorist leader knows who they are and is pretty sharp in general with some of these angles and looks for ways to use it to his advantage. But Oriha is pretty sharp herself with the bombs she claims to have laid around the building to trap them. There’s a bit of bluffing going on with both sides here, but it’s hard to read the terrorist because of the wolf mask he’s wearing. For ORiha though, it achieves her goal of stopping the hostages from being killed. Well, at least the girls. The guys he’s still content to kill.
The episode expends a lot of its time on simple action, including some of Oriha’s friends getting involved as well in the dangerous situation, so the expected silliness is included here as well. What changes along the way though is that the lead terrorist reveals himself to be a woman under the mask with a voice changer. Calling herself Wild Hunt, she makes it clear that she’s completely in charge here and provides some nice torment for Oriha to suffer through. While Oriha is solid here overall, she’s not the same as Arashi and Mikoto, so the second half focuses more on them entering the picture to give chase as Wild Hunt and her group head underground to get away with Oriha as their hostage. It lets both show off a bit as they give chase, as well as letting Wild Hunt showcase her skills while using the voice changer to give it an odd vibe. But in the end, it largely plays out as expected, complete with obvious fanservice, bringing it all to a conclusion for the moment.
A lot of the series goes in this kind of manner and we see that right through the end, which almost felt like it could take place at any point in the series. It’s amusing to revisit in this form as the broadcast version was so whited out with the ladies heading to the hot spring and stripping down from their very flimsy and sexy undergarments. They do provide a little story material here as well, since there are no opening credits, as we get to hear what kind of treatment Suzue is getting in the hospital as part of her recovery from the brutality of what she was put through with the physical, emotional and drugs given to her.
Some of what we get here is a basic understanding of what the bad guys do in that regard and how rough it is, but even as an info dump it’s hard to take seriously with the jazzy music playing in the background, the fog applied to the visuals and the girls being a bit frisky while playing in the hot spring. It’s certainly a visual treat, one that makes you want the home video release quickly so you can just get what’s intended. The first half also delves a little more into the story material, but even that’s pushed to the side in favor of some mild bondage-style material with some cute whippings brought into play that’s quite erotic in its presentation. Shifting between that and the characters talking about what they need to do as part of their larger mission with Tobishiro and the whole drug situation though, it’s just comically unbalanced.
As the episode goes on, we get back into some more “normal” situations involving the larger story, which gives us some time with Arashi in school for a bit where he gets a clue or two. But even as it does this, it does it in a way that again gives it a very superficial feeling, particularly as it leaps across different characters. An encounter between Shinichiro and Miki has her being serious in trying to get things straight with him, it instead turns into a power play on his part with a bit of groping. There are cute moments where the characters interact in general, but what also helps is that it seems like the budget was given a boost here, so things look slicker, more defined, and generally richer. The final action scene of the episode is just as disconnected as everything else, but it at least benefits from simply being a better-animated sequence than most of what we had before, so it makes it fun to watch.
In Summary:
Triage X is the kind of show that wants you to take it seriously as it has a couple of deep thoughts to it, but it’s hard to take it too seriously because of the overdone physical attributes of several of the women and the inability to make the story itself actually work. That takes you out of it to some degree, though there is still some fun with how it’s presented if you just look at it as a goofy lark. Budget limitations certainly hinder the show at times but the original work is still quite popular – it’s at twenty-six volumes and still going some fourteen years later. What the show proves to be is a pleasant diversion of fanservice since it works a darker side of things with characters that will go the distance to save the city.
In the end, I find the show just plain nonsensical but it has a stupid charm that at times lets it work once you free yourself from trying to understand what point it’s trying to make. It’s a show whose creative made me wish it was able to be something more but when a big action and fanservice show like this doesn’t warrant a dub, you know it’s only going to reach so many people. I’m glad it got another home video release, priced-down at that because the fans who enjoy it should get a solid property like this and Sentai does deliver.
Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Opening, Clean Closing, Interview with Kenji Akabane (Arashi) & Yui Kondo (Mikoto), Japanese Promos,
Content Grade: B-
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-
Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: June 6th, 2023
MSRP: $49.98
Running Time: 275 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
