Ah, yes, a nice simple crime drama. Sometimes when I review so many other titles with comedy, mechs and martial arts, a regular shoot 'em up with some human interaction can be relaxing. In the case of this special edition DVD of GOLGO 13: QUEEN BEE, however, I received both elements in spades.

The video opens with presidential candidate Robert Hardy talking to his assistant Thomas Waltham. Waltham is happily guiding his friend's campaign along, but there's a woman called "Queen Bee" threatening to end Hardy's quest abruptly and permanently.

To resolve the matter, Waltham calls on high-priced hit man Duke Togo (AKA: Golgo 13) and puts him on her tail. Togo does get to her (in more ways than one), but learns circumstances along the way that makes him reconsider the contract. Soon, Waltham decides Togo's methods are not enough, and offers the sanction to someone else.

What follows are the greatest amounts of violence and sex I've ever seen in a sixty minute video. It plays out like a late-night softcore flick on Cinemax. However, given this is the harsh world of Golgo 13 as played out in the manga by Saito Takao, I can live with this aspect. It's strange though, that Togo himself is not really the central character as events around him guide the story. In this piece, he is more like a malevolent force doing what comes naturally.

Like the previous film THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13, there is some great realistic direction by Dezaki Osamu (SPACE ADVENTURE COBRA, IN THE BEGINNING). His use of shadows and light create some of the most true-to-life animation pieces I've ever seen in anime. My only problem is with some of the artwork, or more specifically the characters. I've seen designer Akio Sugino do much crisper work in BLACK JACK and TOMORROW'S JOE, but it doesn't seem quite right here. Might be due to the influence of fellow designer Uchida Hiroshi. Also, some of the movements are repetitive and not fluid. Chalk it up to having an OVA budget instead of a film budget I guess.

Also, I have to talk about the voice acting on the dub selection. Everyone does okay here. I was shocked to find Dwight Schultz (A-TEAM, STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION) playing candidate Hardy because I didn't necessarily recognize him. He did a good, even job. Queen Bee's voice was okay, a bit too quiet though, especially at times that required shouting. Golgo 13's voice is just not right at all. Instead of a polished professional, he sounds like a low-rent thug working for the Sopranos. I wish they could've dug up Mike McConohie or Greg Snegoff from THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 dub for the role instead. As for the subtitles, they're decently sized yellow fonts with some grammar corrections that were needed on the subbed VHS tape.

Still, the disc itself is wonderful. I remember when Urban Vision released the VAMPIRE HUNTER D and WICKED CITY DVDs, people criticized the picture quality of those films. I figured if they had fresher materials to work with, UV's discs would turn out fine, and I guessed right. The picture quality on the G13: QB disc is superb. This is one of the best transfers I've seen on an anime disc. Colors are bright and lines are very sharp. It's also structured pretty well too. The menus are concise and easy to follow. They led me to enjoy two features I'd never before found on an Region 1 encoded anime DVD.

The first was the Japanese 5.1 sound, nestled next to the English 5.1 option. Before now, I'd found only English 5.1 on U.S. discs, while the Japanese track was in 2.0. So, you can probably imagine I had fun playing with my audio system for this disc. I also enjoyed the commentary track in which Dezaki and producer Mataichiro Yamamoto talk about the making of the video, the first film, and about the Golgo 13 character in general. For example, I had no idea they'd planned on making a TV series until now. Very enlightening stuff.

So, as you've probably guessed, I'm recommending the GOLGO 13: QUEEN BEE SPECIAL EDITION pretty highly, despite the flaws I mentioned. It's worth watching for a relaxing hour, provided the kids aren't around.