Cop Craft – Review – Episode 1

This review is prompted from the news article ‘wish list of anime for the Summer Season of 2019‘.

Cop Craft 01 Not Just Knickers and Guns
Not Just Knickers and Guns

We also have Epsiode 2 reviewed HERE

The show is everything I was hoping for.  The cool/fun/sexy factor went through the roof and all is well with anime once again.  I often read troll posts on the ‘net about what saved anime, but if the summer season is disappointing for you, this show is the saviour!  Graphics are amazing (really, not a silly expletive), the colour pallet used and the way it’s styled is great without being over the top!  The audio (music and voice acting) are another level compared with other shows this season and the all important characterisation and story-line made the show gripping!  The worst part of the whole show was when I saw that hated phrase, “To be continued.”  Baaaaarstaaaards!!!!

Before watching I was frightened that it could be a silly fan-service, crime flirtation full of girly blushes and macho stupidity – all knickers and guns. I was pleasantly surprised.  The two main leads were equals in every respect, both with clear personalities and motivations and completely different cultures. It was over in what seemed like 5 minutes.

The blurb from the opening credits: “Fifteen years ago a hyperspace gate appeared in the middle of the Pacific. Beyond the gate lay a strange world filled with fairies and monsters. 

Kariaena Island. The city of San-Teresa. The city is Earths ‘front door.’

Over two million citizens from this other world live here. A mixture of different races and diverse cultures, haves and have-nots, the worlds newest city of dreams. But in the shadows of all this chaos lurked countless crimes. Drugs, prostitution, weapons, smuggling. The San-Teresa Metropolitan Police maintained a special unit to deal with these crimes.

The show opened with a steak-out by two cops (who’d been partners for 4 years).  Rick and his buddy Kei (who smoked like a chimney).  They were waiting for a couple of criminals who were going to sell them a piece of merchandise that had been smuggled into the city and was very illegal.

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Rick and Kei meet up with the two thugs who try to sell them a fairy in a glass jar!  Yep, we though it would be drugs or weapons but nope, a naked fairy is a jar.  She was still alive too, although she looked unconscious!

You're nicked fella!

Rick is about to make an arrest when one of the thugs turns out to be an alien with super-human strength and almost rips Ricks head off – he doesn’t actually decapitate the dude, but Rick dies almost instantly even after Kei has shot the dude a couple of times.  The criminal runs off and takes the little lady in a jar with him.

Rick is killed by the alien thug
Rick is killed by the alien thug

Kei is distraught and vows to catch the killer.  However, he is immediately asked to go to the rift and meet with a noble called Tilarna Exedilica, a knight from Leto Semani.  When he meets her, he notices that she looks almost child like.

There was a great scene on the boat as Kei and the noble meet. She takes out her sword and exclaims: “Exedilica, of the Knights of Mirvor!

... and my name is Kei

Kei looks astonished that such a little person can speak with such gusto, “My name, she continues, is, Tilarna Barsh Mirvor Imsedalya Iyeh Tebreina Devol Nelano Seiya Nel Exedilica. It means in your language that I am Tilarna, eldest daughter of Seiya, of the House of Exedilica and heir to the bloodline of Duke Devol of the glorious Knights of Mirvor.

Kei tells her his name and she responds impolitely that it is common for people of low birth to have short names and that she wont let it bother her. She says that she herself is known as Tilarna Exedilica.  Then she tells him to carry her things and mispronounces his name, Imatuba.

But she's just a kid

When Kei returns with her to the Police Station, his chief tells him that she is his new partner!  Kei refuses explaining that she would get in the way.  Nevertheless, the chief insists she becomes his partner. Kei Matoba, an Earth-born police detective, and Tilarna Exedilica, a knight from Leto Semani now have to work together for the San-Teresa City Police department.

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Tilarna isn’t too excited either but seems to accept the situation more gracefully.  The dialogue was excellent, as the pair head off to continue Kei’s investigation, Tilarna must get a crash course in how to behave, what to touch and what not to touch and what is dangerous and what isn’t. It’s a very steep learning curve and she handles it admirably, as does Kei who is patient and protective.

The scene was a blast. she basically wants to touch everything but, to her irritation, Kei wants her to leave things alone. eventually she grabs the hand-break in the car and the nearly crash.

Don't touch stuff!

They head out to visit an informant.

Priest thief and informant - a colourful character!

The dude looks like a priest and as he is interrogated, we see that Tilarna isn’t too impressed with the situation.  Later, in the car, Kei tries to explain (badly) to her why it is important to deal with a low-life like this. She doesn’t accept the reasoning and they head off to follow-up on the lead.

When they arrive at the apartment of the person they want to interview, Tilarna tells Kei that she senses the smell of Latana. She tells him, “Someone controlled by an evil wizard was just here. The enemy is close!

Short Skirt Fighting Clothes

Then she starts chanting “Shield of law, protection of the war god” and as they enter the building her cloths change to a revealing short skirt  and we see a man who had just slit the throat of someone.  I love this show!

The man takes out a gun and starts firing. Tilarna takes out her sword but Kei grabs her and they hide behind a couch while the automatic weapon is fired.

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Final scene - to be continued.

And there the show ends. Baaaaarstaaaards!!!!

I absolutely adored this, it was a lot of fun, it was grown up , humorous, cool and the story was good.  What I liked most about it was that the writers actually let us see the flaws in the characters in the first episode.  That took a lot of guts!  Maybe not so much with the Tilarna character, she”s a noble elf after all, it’s easy to dwell on the her arrogance and make it a bit of a joke.  Telling Ricks wife that her husband is dead - by phone!  wadda bastard!

But how do you make the lead male character chicken-out of a face to face meeting to tell the wife of his dead friend and partner what happened – to do it over the phoneand still make him out to be a hero!?  The writing is gritty and adult and I loved every minute of it! Next weeks episode is called, Dragnet Mirage – I’ll be there!

The original Cop Craft light novels are published in Japan by Shogakukan under their Gagaga Bunko imprint. The Cop Craft TV anime is directed by Shin Itagaki and features animation production by Millepensee. Cop Craft began broadcasting in Japan (Tokyo MX, BS11, KBS Kyoto, AT-X, WOWOW) and it is also shown on Crunchyroll.

Note: Episode 2 has been reviewed HERE

I’d rate this a huge 9.3 out of 10, what did you think?

Discuss this in the Cop Craft Thread in the Anime Forum.

This review is copyright Tony Fawl and not for reproduction without the authors express permission.

The pictures, story, characters and everything else about the show is the property of Millepensee, Tokyo MX, BS11, KBS Kyoto, AT-X, WOWOW, and Crunchyroll all right reserved.

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