Speed Grapher 7/10

Such horrible art but a good plot saves it from complete mediocrity.

Character designs: 2/10
Blech. Pretty bland for this day and age.

Backgrounds: 7/10
Nothing really great. Better than the animation, that's for sure.

Art consistency: 3/10
Bleah again! Crappy designs get crappier. Sometimes cars and such look deformed. Such a lazy production.

OP theme (for DVD): 3/10
Not bad but dull.

OP theme (in JP): 10/10
Ooooo. Duran Duran! Coolness. Prefect fit for the show as well.

ED theme 1: 7/10
Kind of interesting but I skipped it more often than not.

ED theme 2: 4/10
Meh. Listened to it twice, maybe.

Musical score: 7/10
Pretty good. Some neat synth bits but a little repetitive at times.

Voice acting (Japanese): 8/10
Good but not hard to cast since most of the characters are normal people. The teen female lead a slightly high voice but it's somewhat explained in the show so I didn't mind.

Story: 8/10
A photographer goes to a secret club underneath Tokyo to investigate a secret club where the famous fulfull their every desire. He sneaks into the VIP section where the kiss from a teen girl gives him the power to cause explosions with his camera. He escapes with the girl and the series continues as they try to escape the group that runs the club. He must battle people sent to retrieve the girl who have also received amazing powers. After he loses and rescues her a couple of times he must ultimately stop a powerful man from deastroying Japan's economy.

Verdict: 7/10
This show suffers mostly from very poor art. I don't feel the show has enough action to justify cutting corners in this department, especially considering the overall quality of other shows of the same vintage. This is about as low as it's gotten for Studio Gonzo.

The great story really is what saves this show from a really poor score. The pacing is great and the writers manage to keep a good level of suspense throughout the series. I really liked how the show skirts around the idea of the photographer (33) and the girl (15) having a relationship even though as a viewer you are constantly expecting one of them to fall for the other. Then all of a sudden one of the minor characters gives a little speech to the photographer that lets the viewer know that the writers expect the relationship to end in the same way we are most likely to be thinking if this was a real life story. Very interesing insight for an anime.

Very much for adults with a pretty mature storyline. Lots of action and suspense with crappy art which is a shame.