English Dub Review: Code:Realize “The Strongest Stalker”

No, Lupin, hearts pretty much beat all the time, not just when you touch people.

Overview (Spoilers)

Twilight is not pleased that the Queen’s Royal Guard let the Horologium out of its grasp. The leader of Twilight, one Finis by name, has a clandestine meeting with the Queen. The two posture quite a bit, but the long and the short of it is that Twilight is sending its own men to get the jewels. In the meantime, Cardia wakes up to find herself dissolving her pillow. And, given that her poison/acid/stuff eats through metal, she can only eat finger foods. This saddens Impey, since he’s so proud of his cooking. After giving her a checkup, Frank discovers that Cardia lacks a heart, and the Horologium function in place of it. This is also likely the source of her poison. The team decides to go on a field trip to the shopping district of London to pick up materials needed for making her stuff she can’t dissolve. After they pass the checkpoint with some laughable disguises (See below), they split up. Impey and Frank head for supplies while Lupin takes Cardia out for some amusement. After some very misleading conversation about her lack of heart that was little more than flirting, Lupin’s heckles raise. They are in danger! The two run out of the casino and take a turn down an alley. There, they are ambushed by a trio of plague doctors and a blonde gunman. They dodge the gunman’s shots, and they hit the agents of Twilight, but he sets his sights on Lupin again. He wants “the monster”, unaware that it is, in fact, Cardia he seeks. She reveals herself, just in time for a smoke grenade from Frank to break up the scene. The group flees, but the gunman heads them off and causes them to crash the car. After some tense discussion, we discover that this man is Abraham Von Helsing: Monster Hunter and former agent of Twilight. He’s now trying to take the organization down by killing its leader. The team offers him an alliance. At first, he refuses, firing at Lupin. However, during the conversation, Lupin flicked a craps table ball and some gum up in the gun’s barrel. This caused the gun to backfire. They offer him an alliance again, and he accepts. Now the team has a monster hunter! Huzzah! In a post-credits scene, we see that the team has indeed managed to create utensils she can eat with. Double Huzzah!

Our Take

Okay, let’s just talk about Lupin here for a minute. Everything this guy says and does make me want to call BS. Throw on a fake mustache, suddenly unrecognizable! Throw a ball up a rifle barrel, sabotage gun! Worst yet is his talk about hearts. He claims that hearts only start beating when you touch the person you love. Well, if that’s true, you’d have died a long time ago, pal. I don’t know if it’s how J. Michael Tatum is playing the character, or just how he’s written, but there is nothing trustworthy about the words coming out of his mouth, even though I know the show is going to keep him around as a main good guy.

Speaking of voice acting, it would be nice if we had a bit more. Literally, every character in this show has a single note. Lupin is tricksy, Impey is an excited moron, Cardia is the sullen, shy girl. There aren’t much of any variations in expression or tone to be heard. I would have expected better from Ian Sinclair (Hellsing) and Micah Solusod (Frankenstein). Their time working on Saiyuki Reload Blast showed several magnitudes better work. The other issue here is that all of these male characters have higher ranges of voices, trying to fit in with the pretty-boy image. That also makes them blend together a bit, so it almost feels like one voice, three people. I understand why they are doing it this way, but it doesn’t help the face that the characters are lacking emotion in their voice, and are extremely shallow.

Now, the animation is an interesting point. For the most part, the characters are unphased by their surroundings, their hair maintaining constant perfection, and their clothes being undisturbed. It kinda goes along with the lack of emotion, and makes them feel like puppets… that is, until the action kicks in. As soon as Hellsing strikes, the animation kicks up a bit. Things move quickly and smoothly, with mildly dynamic cinematography. What stood out to me the most, however, was Kranie’s smoke bomb. The camera follows its flight at Hellsing’s feet, using digital effects to make the background sweep past. I’m not sure, but I feel like Hellsing’s foot may have been in CG. Afterwards, we get a good look at the car they’ve been driving around. It is made in CG, but is just the right build of shapes and textures to make it look like traditional animation. It’s a small thing, but it makes everything feel consistent.