Strait Jacket

Joseph Luster February 3, 2009

Strait Jacket immediately brings to mind a different time in anime’s long and strange trip. It reminds me of the days I spent when I was younger, ignoring TV series (because they were only bringing a select few out over here) and flocking to the hyper-violent movies and OVAs. There’s a lot of satisfaction to be found in quick hits like that, so maybe that’s why, even after discovering a few glaring faults in this production, I hold a certain level of no-questions-asked appreciation for its brazenly straightforward content.

The premise is simple enough. In an alternate 1899, mankind has unlocked the secrets of sorcery, bringing it, in their own words, out of the darkness of superstition and myth and into the light of reality. Now applied to nearly every facet of our society from military to medical, it is a vital technology with great potential. There’s only one catch: those that use sorcery irresponsibly, or simply too frequently, turn into hideous beasts appropriately referred to as Demons.

These genetic monstrosities have an enemy in the Tactical Sorcerists. While their name may be somewhat silly, their skills are anything but, and their Mold Suit armor gives them an advantage when combatting these grotesqueries. Strait Jacket focuses on one Sorcerist in particular, Leiot Steinberg. Unlicensed and reckless, he frequently clashes with legit Sorcerist Isaac Hammond and, throughout all of the monster-killing, they’ll both have to settle past secrets that refuse to stay buried.

The moment you see Leiot appear, you’ll probably think that he looks like someone Steve Blum would play, and you’d be correct in that assumption. He’s one of those too cool for school protagonists, nonchalantly gazing from behind his tiny tinted shades and speaking in macho whispers. When he isn’t smudging the good name of Sorcerists everywhere, he’s hanging around with his petite companion, Kapelteta, who also plays into his past in a major way. Regardless of their connection, which strives to be a key part of the story, Leiot is one of the least interesting characters in Strait Jacket.

The others don’t really make up for what he lacks, but there’s just so much Gushers-bursting monster action here that it’s easy to forget about all that unimportant stuff, like the story. Who cares about that when every Demon looks like a smaller version of Tetsuo at the end of Akira, bubbling and pulsating in the grossest way possible. They pop like water balloons when facing off against a skilled Sorcerist or two, but everyone else is gory fodder that drives the imaginary Not For Kids sticker wild with every splatter and spray.

Even the copious bloodshed managed to leave me a little hungry, though. It’s not often that I ask for more setup and less payoff, but that’s precisely what Strait Jacket needs. By the time the final sequence begins, a lot of things are coming to a head and the past comes bubbling up full force, but it doesn’t have the impact it should because of the way everything was set up from the beginning. I don’t want to spoil anything, but this could have been avoided in a full feature with more time alloted to setting all of the pieces in place. I normally think stuff like this should be a little punchier, but Strait Jacket would be stronger if there had been more time spent developing its characters and relationships.

This issue is largely a fault of the delivery method itself. Spawned from a light novel series by Ichiro Sakaki (who also penned the script) Strait Jacket was originally animated as three OVAs and then later compiled into this single feature. While I can’t say I’ve read the books, it’s safe to assume that the connection between Leiot and Isaac was much more realized and in-depth than it is here. I hope so, at least.

With a fairly short running time, it’s easy to sit back and pick apart all of the individual things that keep Strait Jacket from becoming an action classic. Yet, despite these shortcomings, it can’t be denied that everyone involved managed to make a pretty fast and fun dose of competently animated violence. In that respect, Strait Jacket is most definitely worth checking out. Release it as a Suncoast exclusive in a VHS clamshell case and I’ll be even more forgiving.

Studio/Company: Manga Entertainment
Available: Now
Rating: Not Rated