The series is set in the future, a future where gasoline powered vehicles have been outlawed, along with a great many other things, for environmental reasons. The concept of countries is now obsolete and the setting here is a city-state of Judoh. Times are tough and the local police operate with a great many constraints, including budgetary limitations that make recent money crunches pale in comparison. The series concentrates on a specialized group of police, a three-officer unit at that, which handles future crimes. It is made up of an administrator, Kyoko, the primary detective, Daisuke (AKA: Dice), who is considered a young upstart by the regular crime detectives, and J, a machine with highly evolved abilities that are used to assist in any way possible. I haven't seen volume 2 and 3 but Heat Guy J: Hidden Fangs (Vol. 4) reminded me of a series I thought would be a contender for the Top Anime of 2003. The show had more than a little thought put into it and lots of high-end production values, making this reviewer very happy. Here's a look at this latest volume by episode:

Episode 13: Encounter:
Apparently, a lot has gone on since Volume 1. A group of technologically advanced beings known as Celestials, manage to control all the basic functions of the city. Clair Leonelli has captured one of them, a dangerous move considering they hold the power of life and death over the entire city. Can Dice and J restore the balance or will some assassins prevent them from this task?

Episode 14: Arrow:
A special case, the one involving the slaying of Dice's father, requires him to go offshore, something that generally isn't done due to the nature of modern life. A young princess from the suburbs, an area not protected by modern technology, enters the town and interrupts Dice's mission so he stays with her to protect her from those who'd do her harm.

Episode 15: Angel:
Dice is kidnapped and Yoko is the only one who can rescue him from the clutches of Leonelli. J has problems of his own and can't assist, at least initially, and even Leonelli has problems when a few of his independent contractors decide to up the ante a bit.

Episode 16: Target:
A sniper takes out Dice's brother (a risky move since it took place in police headquarters). Everyone suspects Leonelli but proving that fact may prove daunting. Leonelli has problems of his own when Noriega makes his move during a power struggle in the crime family. Look for a lot of action in coming episodes if this is any indication of things to come.

The appeal of the show was more related to the characters and writing than the special effects and science fiction setting. J, an advanced form of android, was not the lead so much as a main supporting character to Daisuke. Each character was also multi-layered, making them more complex, and more interesting, than most releases on the market these days. I'm rating this one as Highly Recommended based on the content of the four episodes although I wish the extras had been better and that there was some kind of recap, written or otherwise, to help those of us that hadn't seen volumes two and three. Watch them in order but watch them or you'll be left out.

Picture: The picture was presented in anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1 ratio color. It looked very well made and the dvd transfer was very solid with no artifacts or major problems. There was some grain in a few of the scenes but it appeared to be intentionally put there (mainly in flashbacks) along with some slight video noise. The mixture of traditional anime and CGI combined to make it an interesting looking show.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of either 2.0 Dolby Digital English or Japanese with optional English subtitles. Both tracks had their own appeal and I really didn't favor either one of them. They were crisp and clear with no problems, each showing some separation and decent dynamic range.

Extras: The extras were still light on this one, with a clean closing, some trailers, and a paper insert listing the chapters being all it had.

Final Thoughts: Heat Guy J is a winner on many levels, writing, direction, and depth of character being only the tip of the iceberg. If you want to see some of the more advanced things Geneon is doing these days, this is one of their featured releases so check it out.

Check out DVDTalk's Top Anime of 2003 for more hints on good anime to watch.