(Mira): Hello, I’m Mira.
(Shizuku): And I’m Shizuku. Welcome to Project Nitsuj where we’re entering our second week of the Badass Women’s Arc.
(Mira): If there’s anyone in the movie industry who has capitalized on what men want in their movies it’s Michael Bay. Whether you like his movies or not one cannot deny that Bay gives the public what they want to see but not in the way they want to see.
(Shizuku): Hello Transformers. Hello Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Hello childhood in general.
(Mira): Quite. So one has to wonder if Michael Bay ever were to create an anime what would it be like and who was the man/studio crazy enough to give him the money for his project? The answer, Triage X.
(Shizuku): Getting started back in 2009 and created by Shoji Sato the same guy who gave us Highschool of the Dead, Triage X is a series that takes us into a world where we ask what would happen if The Boondock Saints got combined with Japanese fanservice?
(Mira): You get Triage X a series that gives male readers everything they want. Guns, swords, explosions, motorcycles, hot women, drugs and the killing of gang members. The series focuses on an organization who go around killing corrupted politicians, gang members, terrorist, and drug deals all in the name of justice. This series soon found itself in the grace of Xebec (To Love Ru, Negima, and Maken-Ki 2) back in 2015 who turned the series into a quick 10 episode anime. Does it live up to the caliber of H.O.T.D? Doubt it, but let’s check it out anyway. This is Triage X.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Shizuku): The opening is “Triage” by Saeko Zougou featuring Nagareda Project. A rock fitting for this anime and it kicks ass. I love the guitar, the drums are great, and the singing is top notch. It really gets you pumped for the anime.
(Mira): The ending is “Soleil Moa” by Kazutomi Yamamoto. It’s another rock song which keeps the intensity of the opening. If anything it sounds a little bit more upbeat than the opening at some points for me at least. As far as the song goes it’s good although Kazutomi does sound a little soft at points but overall her voice is good and fitting. Once again the drums and guitar really make this song work and are driving force behind it.
Episodes 1-5
(Shizuku): The anime starts off with the organization called Black Label infiltrating this construction owner’s mansion (who’s really a mafia boss) and performing surgery (Mira: As they call it) to remove the tumor from the city. After that they return to their secret headquarters where their boss Mochizuki gives us exposition into what Black Label is. A secret organization that performs surgery on society to remove all the incurable diseases that plaque society (in other words they’re the guys who fuck the fuckers who are fucking up the world. (Mira): And they shoot them in the head where it hurts). After that we focus on our main character Arashi voiced by Kenji Akabane (The Producer from The Idolm@ster) and Mikoto voiced by Yui Kondou. The two are taking a shower together (totally okay with being around each other naked. (Mira): I blame the censorship fog) where Mikoto wants to know why Arashi gave the mob boss the gun to which he replies he wanted to confirm human conscience. Not understanding him Mikoto confronts Arashi where we find out that at a young age he almost died. While attending a medical conference with his best friend Ryu terrorists bombed the place and Arashi used his body to protect Ryu from harm however Ryu suffered brain damage and was Black Labeled by his own father Mochizuki (that must have been so difficult). Using the body parts of his own son Mochizuki perform surgery on Arashi doing organ transplants in the hopes of saving Ryu’s best friend. The transplants were a success and Arashi lived but because of the organ transplants Arashi keeps having the illusions of Ryu appearing before him telling him to test the human conscience of his targets to make sure they’re worth killing (Mira: He’s clearly crazy). After their talk we focus on Arashi at school where we see he comes across as socially awkward to the other students. We also see that Mikoto is his senpai at school (I’ve never seen good come from working with your senpai on the job). We also see the class president Hinako has a crush on Arashi. After handing Arashi some notes he missed from school they walk home to Hinako’s family restaurant where he leaves because of an assignment. We than cut to a construction owner’s son whipping a high school girl in front of her father (hey we entered a hentai. (Mira): We weren’t in one already? I just assumed with all the women around our main character we were already in one). Apparently the father stole files from the company and was planning to expose them to the police but before he could expose him he was captured and is now having his daughter tortured in front of him in order to get information out of him. The torturing gets stopped by a guy name Tatara a hard-boiled old school detective who knows what they’re doing is wrong, they know is wrong, and he’s here to stop them even if that means having to say screw the rules. He tries to take the peaceful route and get them to come along peacefully but they drug him making him all dizzy. Just when they’re about to kill him Arashi and Mikoto come in where Arashi shoots him right in the head (oh that is badass. (Mira): Quite). They kill their main target but their secondary target a guy named Jin shoots the father and gets away because of Tatara getting in the way (dumbass). They escape and to make sure Tatara doesn’t follow them they blow up his partner’s car right in front them.
Episode 2 is all about the group cleaning up the trash from their last episode. Before getting to the episode let me introduce the rest of the team (Mira: That you so rudely forgot to introduce last episode. (Shizuku): Up yours ya uptight bookworm. I couldn’t find a good moment to introduce them). First up is Oriha voiced by Amina Sato who is actually a real life idol and a member of AKB48. She’s the team’s bomb expert and a genius who is actually an idol in the anime (smart move getting an idol to play an idol). Despite only being 14 Oriha is well endowed for her age and started college when she was 11. She’s bit of scatterbrain though. Next up is Sayo voiced by Ryōko Shiraishi (Hayate from Hayate the Combat Butler). A main nurse who specializes in close combat. While normally nice and laidback she’s quite brutal and sadistic in the field wielding miniguns and machine guns with ease (I like this character). The third member is Yuko voiced by Fuyuka Ōura. One of the head doctors of the hospital who is kind, graceful and a master swordswoman. The final member is Miki voiced by Masumi Asano. Expert chemist and sniper of the group as well as the voice of reason (Mira: A character I can sympathize with). The group’s base of operation is the Mochizuki General Hospital where Sayo, Yuko, and Miki pose as nurses and doctors. Anyway, getting back to the episode the group uses a drug to get information out of Fujiko the girl who was tortured last episode. They get nothing out of her so they send her on her way where she gets kidnapped by some crazy thugs hired by Jin with the leader of the thugs running over an old lady who was a dear friend of Yuko (oh you are in trouble now). Jin uses some weird drug on Fujiko which turns her into his mindless servant and he leaks information about his location to Black Label hoping they’ll come. Tatara and his partner Konomi go to the location where Tatara goes in alone (Mira: Because that worked out so well last time) where he finds Fujiko and gets stabbed by her because she believes he killed her father (well if he didn’t get in the way last episode Fujiko’s father might have lived so she’s somewhat right). Mikoto finds him and tries to get him out of their before he bleeds out but Konomi stops her thinking she’s a criminal (rookie mistake). They get captured by the thugs where they molest Konomi a little bit and they both get saved by Arashi who comes in guns a blazing like a character from one of those cliché dick flicks from the 80s and 90s. At the front gates Yuko arrives where she draws her sword and begins slashing away at the thugs while Sayo cleans up the garbage in the garage. The two find the leader of the thugs trying to escape and Yuko delivers her revenge to him. Arashi and Mikoto confront Jin on the roof (Mira: Wow this really is a dick flick isn’t it?). Fujiko tries to attack Arashi (bitch please) but he just shoots her with a sawed off shotgun firing rubber bullets. Jin tries to outsmart the two with his plans but each one gets shot down (Mira: Literally) and Arashi delivers the final blow by shooting him off the building.
In episode 3 a new assassin has hit the scene. When Arashi and Mikoto are trying to take out this drug dealer of the Kabuto Group someone beats them to the punch shooting them and burning them alive (oh shit that is badass. (Mira): That is so unnecessary. Why shoot him if he’s already burning alive?). This new assassin and Mikoto seem to take interest in each other as they’ve become rivals. Black Label decides to investigate to see if she’s a friend or foe while also investigating a new drug called Platinum Lily a new drug that pretty much turns you on and makes them impervious to pain (Mira: Get ready to see a lot of rape crimes in the city). A few students at Mikoto’s school get their hands on it and they abuse it big time. While at school Mikoto befriends the new student Chikage (oh hi phantom assassin. (Mira): How is your sex life?). The two bond and open up about each other pasts. Mikoto had an older brother who she lost in a motorcycle accident that she was in as well. Luckily she had a good doctor who saved her life but her brother not so much. Chikage lost her parents in that terrorist attack at the medical conference (goddamn everyone’s life got fucked up that day) forcing her and her little sister to move in with relatives who didn’t really want them (Mira: Than why adopt them?). They then got taken in by a skilled doctor who taught them how to live (did he teach you how to fire a gun as well?) and made them happy again. But their happiness was short lived when Chikage’s place caught fire with her sister still inside. Chikage tried to save her but it was too late and Chikage got terrible fire scars on her body as a result of it. Meanwhile back in the city Sayo hits the streets trying to find anything about the Platinum Lilly where she tails the guy who told them about the Platinum Lily in the first place believing he might be hiding something. He easily figures out she’s tailing him (Mira: Well it’s hard to miss the blue haired girl following you) and leads her to a bunch of gun dealers and smugglers where she kicks their asses bare-handed and tries to get information out of one of them but someone kills him with an arrow to the head (Seras: Hey don’t look at me I got my own anime project to work on). While that’s going on a girl from Mikoto’s school gets attacked by one of the students using the Platinum Lily. The guy tries to rape her but she gets away by kicking him in the balls which had barely any effect on him. Even when Mikoto gives him a high knee to the face the guy still gets back up and keeps moving (that’s one dangerous drug. Viagra might just go out of business if they tweak the side effects). He dropped his phone and receives a message telling him to return the goods he stole or his friends are gonna be sliced up into limbs (at least they’ll die in ecstasy).
In episode 4 Mikoto goes to face the remnants of the Kabuto Group by herself at a warehouse (dumb! That was dumb! Why would you go face such dangerous people by yourself when you have a whole squad backing you up?) where she gets stabbed in the leg because apparently the Kabuto Group has strapped bombs to innocent civilians. Rather than just kill her their leader instead plays a game where she tries to escape and the civilians have to capture her before she gets away otherwise they’ll all be killed (Mira: Did everyone just take a dumb pill before this episode?). She gets caught by the civilians who drag her back but she gets saved by the mysterious assassin who reveals herself to be Chikage (meh. Saw it coming. (Mira): Totally obvious). Chikage kills the civilians for hurting Mikoto (the yuri relationship between these two continues) and then goes off to kill the leader of the Kabuto Group saying it’s her duty to kill all evil in the world (Mira: She’s being manipulated by this doctor fellow). She leaves Mikoto in the burning warehouse where she gets saved by the rest of Black Label who save the citizens and kill the baddies in the warehouse. Mikoto rides her bike up to the roof of the building where she punches the Kabuto Group leader into the burning building (well that was easy. Let’s go get some KFC). But Chikage has been given new orders to kill Mikoto (Mira: Okay now it’s obvious she’s being used) and the two fight on the roof where Mikoto manages to pin her down but refuses to kill her. As this is going on that Kabuto Group leader guy somehow survived the fall and crawled his way back up to the roof (oh you’ve gotta be kidding me? (Mira): He was thrown into a burning building. There’s suspension of disbelief and then there’s just stupidity. This is stupidity) however he gets taken out by Chikage’s doctor Makoto who tells Chikage that he’s been using her all this time and shoots her in the head with a crossbow (asshole). As he’s about to shoot Mikoto, Arashi tosses a gun to her and she kills him instead (that girl has fast reflexes). Chikage also managed to survive the arrow to the head (Mira: Suspension of stupidity) and she throws himself into the burning building as a way to cleanse herself of her sins.
In episode 5 Oriha makes her TV debut as a cool girl detective. After that we see that she’s set to perform a live concert with her idol friends and rivals Haron and Sharon at the new NEO TV headquarters (well if you gotta say new twice and in different languages than you know it’s not really new). As the girls are about to perform a blackout occurs in the studio delaying the concert (Mira: Boo~, give me a refund). During the blackout a security man goes to inspect a broken camera in the garage where he gets attacked and killed by costumed mascots (ohh~ that’s creepy. That’s like Five Night’s at Freddie creepy). The Freddie rejects soon storm the place and take over the building rounding up all the hostages and placing them in a room while keeping the staff and workers around to help them broadcast where their leader Wild Hunt kills an idol live on stage. Oriha, Haron, and Sharon were luckily not caught because they were on another floor however she quickly realizes something is wrong and after getting attacked by one of the Freddie rejects and seeing one of her idol friends get shot she gets a clear idea on what the situation is. Wild Hunt reveals himself to be part of the same organization as Makoto and is now seeking revenge against Black Label for killing him (he started it). They keep the police at bay by threatening to kill an idol every 30 minutes unless their demands are met (Mira: Also, I don’t care what anyone says the breast on those girls aren’t the breast of lolis so stop calling them lolis). Black Label is told by Mochizuki to remain on standby leaving only Oriha to handle the situation by herself.
Episodes 6-10 and OVA
(Mira): In episode 6 Wild Hunt is about to kill one of the idols (Shizuku: We’ll start with the biggest breast and work are way down to the smallest) but Oriha gets their attention and detonates a bomb killing 3 of the Freddie freaks. She then picks up the radio off one of the dead bodies and talks to Wild Hunt to find out what he’s after (lolis. In other words you). He agrees not to kill anymore of the idols and sets his sights on Oriha who has made it to the security system and discovers that the basement of the building leads to a subway (Shizuku: Eat fresh. (Mira): Not that kind of subway). She sends out a message just in time before the police cut the power to the building and Oriha gets attacked by the guy in charge of the security room because he’s working with Wild Hunt (there are a lot of pedos this episode). She escapes in the vents as the police raid the building and have a short gun fight with the Freddie freaks where they follow G.I Joe logic and can’t hit each other. Haron and Sharon worried about Oriha decide to come out of hiding and help out where they actually manage to take out two henchmen but get knocked out by Wild Hunt who we find out isn’t a he but a she (Shizuku: Damn that’s some good voice acting. Why you killing people?) and her name is actually Siren and she’s very good at manipulating her voice. Oriha gets captured and thrown into a bag where Siren and the rest make a run for it using the basement which leads to the subway. However, waiting for them in the tunnel is Arashi and Mikoto here to kick ass and bust a cap in your ass as they say. Arashi goes after Siren and her sub-commander where he beats the sub-commander in a dark tunnel and shoots Siren in the chest killing her. Oriha shows them a tattoo of a purple syringe on Siren’s arm indicating that they were hired by someone to distract them and the police from something major going on off screen. As Arashi and Mikoto are riding back they get attacked by a mask man riding a bike (hey that’s there gimmick buddy).
In episode 7 we find out that person who shot at them was a guy named Shinichiro Inunaki the man who trained Arashi. He was simply testing Arashi’s skills to see how far he’s come (and trying to kill him was your way of testing him?). As an apology for scaring them Shinichiro tells them that there’s going to be a huge shipment of Platinum Lily coming into the city tonight by Kyoji Tobishiro an heir to a mob family which has controlled the city for years and even has ties to the Prime Minister. Shinichiro also tells them that the drug has another secret effect that the organization who attacked the TV station are after as well. We then cut to Yuko and Sayo going through the cargo bay looking for the Platinum Lily where they get attacked. Sayo fights against Kaori and Kaoru twin sisters while Yuko fights against Astro a spear fighter. Miki chases down a masked man named D who has briefcases carrying something important but escapes with one of the briefcases before Miki could catch him. The group attacking them is called Syringe and they have declared war on Black Label. Sayo gets overwhelmed by the twins and faints from blood lost (nothing worse than dying in a pool of your own blood) but gets saved by Yuko who says that they need an immediate pick up because Sayo’s heart and lungs have stop and she has to perform surgery on her immediately. They get her to the hospital in enough time to save her and we find out that the briefcase contained a virus known as D99. Mochizuki tells Arashi and Mikoto that long ago he and a team of researchers came across a village who found a way to perform implants with a 100% success rate (Shizuku: That’s incredible right? (Mira): Very incredible). Mochizuki discovered that the key to this success was the result of these two liquids the doctors of the village would have their patients drink. Mochizuki got his hands on them and studied them along with his team. While the virus could be used to help people it could also lead them to insanity so Mochizuki saw the virus as dangerous and destroyed all his research and samples of the virus off the face of the Earth. However, he used the virus to save one person, Arashi who holds no grudge against Mochizuki for his actions. In the other part of the anime Kyoji gets scolded by his father for losing the shipment of Platinum Lily and we find out that Kyoji hates his father and wishes he would just die. In order to get back at his father Kyoji plans to take whatever Platinum Lily he has left and spread it all over the city. The episode ends with Sayo getting back on her feet and leaving the hospital without permission (I have a bad feeling about this).
In episode 8 my premonition comes true. We start with a little backstory about Arashi and Sayo. Back when Arashi was a kid in rehab learning how to walk again his instructor and caretaker was Sayo who was studying to be a nurse at the time. Sayo impressed by Arashi’s determination to walk opens up to him about her past. 9 years ago she too was in a serious accident which almost cost her her life but she can’t remember what happened (Shizuku: Probably nothing important if you can’t remember it). We cut to the present where we see that Sayo is walking around naked with a mask on and has gone on a rampage in Black Label’s facility (wow the censorship is strong in this anime) and the group is called in to take her down before she gets out and harms citizens. During this hunt for her we learn a little about her past and that accident. When she was a child she was used as a test subject for that D99 drug. The drug gave Sayo amazing side effects such as enhance strength and healing but it also caused her to become unstable mentally. She went on a rampage and killed the people who tested on her and she got killed by Yuko but Yuko also saved her life. Thanks to Yuko, Sayo was able to recover but she forgot about the experience all together (Shizuku: Damn, how do you forget something that important? You’re working with the person who killed you once). Once they find Sayo, Yuko is prepared to kill her but Arashi stops her and takes her on himself (must be love). He lures her back to the rehab area where she trained him how to walk again and Sayo tries to kill him. Arashi manages to remove her mask where he sees her crying and she hides her face because she believes she’s a monster (a strong, sexy monster that my master would say) but Arashi assures her she’s not a monster and manages to bring her back to her normal self. As a thank you she French kisses him in front of everyone (scene here: //youtu.be/jG0tkuM-PNs. (Shizuku): Glad to see one of them take the initiative with him) and she tells Yuko she holds no ill-will towards her for what she did to her in the past.
Episode 9 starts off with Mikoto having a dream about Arashi being taken away from her by Sayo and Hinako (where the hell did this from come? Since when do you like him? Throughout this whole anime your interactions have all been work related and not once have you shown any romantic interest in him whatsoever?). After that we focus our attention on Konomi. Konomi seems to know something valuable and Syringe wants to shut her up so they send Kaori and Kaoru to retrieve her (Shizuku: Wow this episode is like glass fetish city). Just when Kaori and Kaoru are about to kill her Kyoji’s men come in and kidnap her. They get away from the twins and take Konomi to the mountains where they want to know what Konomi knows so she gets stripped, tortured, and injected with a little of that Platinum Lily where she’ll be turned into one of Kyoji’s sex dolls. Black Label gets word of Konomi’s kidnapping and using a tracker that was planted on her clothes they find their base in the mountains and raid the place in three teams. Mikoto and Oriha do a frontal assault, Sayo takes on the twins and gets her revenge, and Arashi infiltrates the hideout Metal Gear Solid style to look for Konomi (don’t be surprise if she tries to rape you when you find her). As I said before Sayo takes on the twins and following Saiyan logic is now stronger after her near death experience (Shizuku: That which does not kill me makes me stronger and kissing the MC makes me unbeatable). She pretty much destroys them and they’re force to retreat. Arashi manages to find Konomi and rescue her from the guards but before dying one of the guards unleashes all of Kyogi’s sex dolls (Shizuku: Well that’s not a good sign. (Mira): One problem at a time Shizuku).
In the final episode we start with fanservice out the whazoo with the female cast taking a bath together (look at all that censorship fog). We get exposition which tells us that Konomi got treated just in time and has fallen into a coma. She’s not in any real danger her mind is just in shambles because of the torture and drugs (Mira: All they can do now is give her time. (Shizuku): Screw that! Wake up you lazy bitch). After the fanservice which takes up the first half entirely (you guys wanted fanservice you got fanservice. Too bad it’s all censored by the fog with a mind of its own) Arashi and Mikoto are called in to capture a drug dealer who might have an idea where to find the rest of the D99 drug. We see the drug dealer is a minor driving a classic mustang (Shizuku: Nice) and has a prostitute as a hostage in the back. Arashi and Mikoto come in where Arashi actually scares the hell of the drug dealer (he has that effect on people). Arashi manages to stop the car without causing it to explode or crash and they capture the drug dealer where they find out he knows nothing about the D99 drug. They handcuff him to the car and leave him for the police since he’s a red label and they don’t kill red labels (Shizuku: They don’t kill red because they’re beneath them). Arashi sees that the prostitute in the back is in bad condition and has Mikoto take her to the hospital while Arashi walks back himself telling the ghost of his best friend that things have only just begun.
About a year or so (Shizuku: Or two months ago if you want to get technical) an OVA of the series came out. The OVA returns us to the tale of Yuko and Sayo. We see how after Sayo nearly killed her when she was a child she got her back to the hospital and revived her just in the nick of time. After that Sayo was put an isolation with Yuko trying to get her back to normal. It’s a rather touching episode as it shows the lengths and determination Yuko went through to save Sayo and allowed her to have a simple life (plus I have to admit Sayo as a child is cute. (Shizuku): Wow Mira, I didn’t know you and pedobear were such good friends. (Mira): Bite me). Definitely check this OVA out after episode 8.
Final Thoughts
(Mira): Boy this anime was bad just like I thought. While the idea is good but the story is a jumbled messed. As the anime goes on you find yourself totally lost in the story side of the anime. The anime has no idea where it’s going or what it wants to do that it delivers a jumbled messed filled with multiple enemies that we don’t learn nothing about and who serve no purpose to overall arc of the anime and storylines that are abruptly started or ended before we can get an idea of what’s going on. The characters aren’t that well off either. The only characters who you will remember are Arashi and Mikoto as they’re the only characters with any amount of development and screentime to get to know them and even then they kind of mess up Mikoto’s character. She goes from being this fearsome woman at the beginning and as the anime progresses starts to be flanderized, ditzy, and a bit useless in battle. One of the biggest slaps in the face for me in this anime is when she starts spontaneously having feelings for Arashi out of nowhere. No build up whatsoever it just happens. She like Arashi because the girls around him are getting too close and she’s jealous. What the hell? The rest of the characters have no personalities except having big breast. You will easily forget these other women and just see them as tits. They are tits and nothing else. Why are you here?
(Shizuku): Yeah I have to admit I’m disappointed in this anime as well but even so there are some good things in it. For starts Arashi is a well-done character. He’s a guy who has an inner battle with himself as he still believes that good exist in the world even in the most corrupted of people. Despite his lone wolf appearance he’s a team player who isn’t too cocky or too reckless with his work. He pays attention to his superiors and shows respect to everyone he comes across. While I admit a majority of the other characters are useless you have to admit Sayo’s story was touching. She’s been through so much and is now trying to be normal despite everything that’s happened to her in the past. The animation isn’t really all that much to look at but the action in this anime is spectacular. It’s where the animation really shines as well as the characters. Music is hard rock music that gets your blood plumping and there’s just some method of enjoyment as you watch the anime. I can’t really describe but it’s like it’s an anime that knows it’s bad but is trying desperately to be good. You kinda have to respect them for trying to make this series work. They failed but you could tell they were trying to make it work out somehow but unfortunately it just doesn’t live to the expectations of everyone watching it.
Final Thoughts
(Mira): I give the anime a 3/10. I didn’t really like it all that much. Saw it as a jumbled mess with nothing but boobs to show for it.
(Shizuku): I give it a 6/10. I really did want to like this anime and rank it but the problems of this anime outweigh the positives and give us an anime that’s not a big letdown but still a letdown of what could of possibly been a good anime.
(Mira): So adding up those scores we get a final score of 4.5/10. In the end this is an anime I wouldn’t recommend watching. If you want, check out the manga. I have to admit the writing in the story is a lot better and easy to follow. This definitely is a series worth checking out and supporting manga-wise. Anime-wise not so much.
(Shizuku): Yeah definitely check out the manga and support the official release. Hopefully, the support of this manga will also encourage Shoji to get back to work on H.O.T.D. Well that’s it for us. She’s Mira the AI with the brains.
(Mira): And she’s Shizuku the AI with the brawns.
(Mira and Shizuku): Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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