The three lead characters of the show are Mikura, a female with unusually talented marksmanship and hand to hand fighting skills, computer geek Harada (the guy with the porcupine hair), and the boss, former policeman and detective Kurokawa; the guy who saved Mikura from the streets several years prior to the series. Each offers up a set of distinctive skills in their agency, called DSA (Danger Service Agency) which tends to be the organization of last resort for honest people and the first resort for the criminal element. The trio tends not to ask too many questions so they have an invaluable place in Japan but this also leads to lots of complications when their jobs turn sour. Here's what the DVD covers said about the show:

"Her name is Mikura and she's all about service with a smile. So what if that service is cracking skulls and the smile happens to be on the other end of a loaded gun? With a killer body, vicious skills, and an attitude to match – Mikura gets away with murder (literally). It's a good thing, too – because in the world of Mezzo, staying alive is never easy!
Meet the Danger Service Agency (DSA), a high-risk trio that pays the bills by putting their asses on the line. Ducking bullets, and dodging punches, the trio find themselves working for a friendly ghost and a foxy weathergirl – helping old friends and hunting down an extraterrestrial. Whether you're looking to run recon on a cheating spouse or smuggle a deadly virus, if the job reeks of danger, there's only one team to call. With Mikura and friends on the case, danger has never looked so good.

For the best-looking team in the ass-kicking game, high-stakes action with low-life criminals is just another day at the office. It was hard enough already to wake up alive every day, but for Mikura, Harada, and Kurokawa it just keeps getting harder. Along with their squeaky killer-in-training, Asami, the DSA team is learning just how deceiving appearances can be. Is it a video game or a torture chamber? A clown or a bloodthirsty maniac? For the DSA, the cost of the answers may cost them their lives!

Stay alive long enough in the danger business, and you'll get a reputation. The funny thing about that – the better your reputation gets, the more people want you dead. The DSA know this all too well. Every body blow, fireball, and ricochet lets Mikura, Harada, and Kurokawa know that they're doing something right. And, it must be something very, very right – because the line separating them from a closed-casket funeral keeps getting thinner. From the undead to the Black Scissors gang, from trained assassins to the boys in blue – with so many enemies, even the tiniest friend can mean the difference between life and death."

Okay, the series itself is the television version of the original OVA that was jam-packed with fanservice, violence and crude commentary. While toned down a little bit, there was still a lot of sexual innuendo as the team did everything it could to complete their missions and walk away unharmed, typically with youthful Mikura saving the day (but not always). In keeping with the hired gun aspect of the show, the episodes were all called "shells", much like a movie from Spike Lee is typically referred to as a "joint". Here's a list of the episodes on the three disc set, noting that they were done in soap opera form so watching them in order makes the most sense as they build on one another more than typical in an action anime series:

1) Shell of Love
2) Shell of Stars
3) Shell of Fear
4) Shell of Lies, Posi
5) Shell of Lies, Nega
6) Shell of Memories
7) Shell of Sorrow
8) Shell of Thoughts
9) Shell of Dreams
10) Shell of the Cursed
11) Shell of Illusion
12) Shell of Origin
13) Shell of Destruction

While not as interesting as some of the aforementioned series, I liked the show overall since it had some unique situations, intriguing characters, and a slightly different view of the world than many contemporary anime series. People hire them to safeguard cursed mummies, evict tenants from haunted buildings, transport deadly viruses, dealing with aliens from space, and a host of other assignments that you wouldn't see Jim Rockford handling on a given day. Generally, they deal with threats the old fashioned way; they shoot their way out but they also owe some form of allegiance to the criminal element and must make good when they mess up a job for the group. In short, the series keeps you on edge as it doesn't offer a trio of perfect heroes who always win or accomplish their task but as anti-hero as they seem to be at times, they generally have their hearts in the right place (which tends to get in the way of their missions). About the only thing I didn't really like about the show was how the trio took on a young girl named Asami in later episodes after she was nearly killed during a mission. The schoolgirl wasn't talented at anything, got in the way more often than not, and didn't truly add anything to the team other than act as a foil for them from time to time.

So, the series itself was well handled and showed some creative thought by director Yasuomi Umetsu. In addition, the missions were varied and often left me wondering what exactly would happen next since they didn't follow a set path as more mundane series would. With blood and guts more frequent than the fan service so many came to admire with the OVA, I figure a lot of you will want to know whether this boxed set containing all three volumes of the series (at a much lower price) was worth it. In my opinion, the series rated a Recommended and the thinpak set was a nice alternative to the individual releases that had minimal extras to begin with. Give it a look and you'll see why I enjoyed it so much.

Picture: Mezzo: Complete Collection was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color as released on broadcast television in Japan. It was very colorful and I saw no major defects in the picture in terms of shimmer, bleedover, video noise, or compression artifacts. The anime style employed here was typical of a very recent release with lots of detail in the foreground and background to enhance the look of the characters as they progressed through the stories. The use of shadowing techniques alone seemed to be more advanced than normal although there were spots where some of the characters didn't look quite right in that sense (I'm sure missing a spot or two is easy enough).

Sound: The audio was presented in the usual choices of a 2.0 Dolby Digital original Japanese track or a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround track in the newly dubbed English. The dubbed track offered up a better auditory experience but as John pointed out previously, not nearly enough was done with the bass or the special effects so the primary enhancement was the music in the background. As far as voice acting goes, I'd be misleading you if I said I didn't enjoy both tracks but the slight edge went to the dubbed track for me (at least in terms of the main characters) since they seemed to "fit" better for me most of the time. Listen to both of them and I think you'll see what I mean.

Extras: Unlike the individual releases, the only extras in this three disc set were some trailers and a box to hold the three discs in. While kind of lame to me, it keeps fans who bought the original, more expensive volumes happy knowing that they didn't get completely screwed over, especially when the series ended earlier this year (offering up such sets two or three years afterwards is different than one so quickly turned around).

Final Thoughts: Mezzo: Complete Collection was interesting to a guy like me who has appreciated similar shows that Mezzo was partially based on (like Cowboy Bebop, Gunslinger Girl, and Daphne in the Brilliant Blue). I'd like to see the series picked up for another run if the material can be kept fresh and I think the technical matters contributed to the viewing pleasure I had when I say through this one straight the other night. I wish some new extras were added into the mix and that the second side of the covers to the thinpaks had some artwork but in general it was a pleasing experience with a show that seemed willing to explore new combinations of material and take some chances above what I've come to expect of most anime.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003 and Best Of Anime 2004 article or regular column Anime Talk