Hi everyone! This month marks the final period of my reviews. September will be the quickest of these past months, as I’ll be putting up 3 reviews a week, and I have 14 shows left (Including today’s). I’m starting off this speed with a favorite of old-school otaku: a hard-hitting OVA miniseries, complete with an adult edge. So lets turn down the lights, slip into something loose fitting, and take a look at the sexy & action packed Mezzo Forte.
Story/Setup
Taken from the anidb webpage:
“For Mikura, danger is routine and killing is just like breathing. Sleek and sexy, she was born with a gun in each hand and a smile on her face. She specializes in taking risks, but things get a little too hot when her company takes a kidnapping job. The target is a wealthy baseball team owner named Momokichi, but he turns out to be a powerful underworld boss. Mikura and her team are beset by countless heavily armed bodyguards and Momokichi's vicious daughter, Momomi. She's used to getting her way, and with world class marksmanship skills, she may be the perfect match for Mikura.”
Unlike the previous movie Kite (Which I should have reviewed first......if I found it!), Mezzo Forte has a more organized story. It’s not the deepest story that Kite tries to be (Emphasis on the word tries), and once the fighting starts things go apeshit, it’s much more cohesive than Kite, and things flow at a smooth pace.
Setting
Mezzo Forte’s setting is something of a two-sided coin. For starters, you aren’t given the name of the city that the OVA takes place in (If they did say it’s name, then I didn’t notice). Secondly, there’s times where certain locales are darker that they should be, but this doesn’t happen much. On a more positive note, the setting looks fantastic & believable, and despite being another OVA that takes place in the city, this one has flavor to it.
Characters
Despite all of it’s positives, Mezzo Forte’s one weakness is it’s characters. It’s not that they’re not likable, cause they are (Even the psychotic bad guys have some sort of appeal to them). It’s the fact that you really don’t learn anything about the characters’s background. You’re given a couple teasers about some of the good guys, but that’s really all you’re ever given.
Animation
Mezzo Forte is one of the most beautiful and fluid OVAs I’ve ever watched! The characters look really good, and more around realistically. They each have their own individual looks & appearance (Although Mikura and the female villain have similar looking faces), separating them from one another and allowing you to be able to see who’s who. Even during the action scenes, you can still tell individuals apart. The various backgrounds look nice as well, but sometimes the darker/sensual locales seem just a tad too stylized for my taste.
Voice Acting
Mezzo Forte’s voice acting is on the razor’s edge of quality, leaning heavily towards good. Most of the voice actors bring something to the table, and thus most of the characters have good voices. There are only a scant few of the characters that have okay voices (Nobody seems to have a bad voice), but they’re mainly quick side characters, and perhaps one or two of the villains (In this circumstance, it’s bad in the fact that you notice that’s something’s up, but it’s not ear-splitting).
Episodes & Episode Length
Mezzo Forte is composed of two OVAs, each of which run at a half-hour. Depending on if you have the censored or uncut edition, watch this during the day or the night (More on this later).
Availability & Pricing
Mezzo Forte is one of the more confusing titles I’ve downloaded. Although there are plenty of copies over on amazon, the version I reviewed here was the uncut edition. This version is almost impossible to locate on the website: as I was typing this there are only 5 copies available for purchase, with 3 new & 2 used. Each of these copies are ungodly expensive: the new copies start at a whopping 118 dollars, while the used copies start at the less whopping but still expensive 99 dollars. There’s a couple more censored copies, but knowing some of you guys, that’s not what you want. So to help you out, here’s a link where you can download the uncut edition. Enjoy!
http://www.garoo9.com/elevator_kart/?p=2978
Extras/Other
Since I downloaded this, I don’t know what the extras are.
I should quickly point out the reason why the uncut version is superior to the censored version. Within both episodes are two sex scenes, each of them involving the lead female. For starters, these scenes don’t have the original voice actor doing them (They have a porn star voice those scenes). Secondly, these are pretty hot & heavy scenes! In the first ep, the sex scene goes between conceptual & rape (The conceptual aspect stays within the first half of the scene for the most part). In the 2nd ep, the sex scene is pure rape (Mikura is in tears throughout a majority of the scene), and you can tell that the lead is in pain. If you are adverse to hentai & rape, then there are copies of Mezzo Forte (and Kite) that don’t have these sex scenes within them. It still has all the action & violence, but it is more cleaner so to speak.
General Impression & Rating
Mezzo Forte is some damn good fun! Even if you have a version that doesn’t contain the sex scenes (A tragic shame, honestly), the action scenes, characters, and the violence make for a great time. If you can somehow locate a copy of this OVA, put it in your DVD player, and get ready for a good time!
Mezzo Forte gets a 8.5 out of 10.
See you this Wednesday, when we’ll look at what happens when you mix lesbians & Alice in Wonderland. Until then, stay Otaku!
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