Triage X is based on the Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shōji Satō. All you really need to know about the anime series is that it is an ecchi/fan service series that follows a mostly female group of vigilantes whose headquarters are setup behind Mochizuki General Hospital, where a strange doctor tasks this so-called “Black Label Organization” with killing undesirable criminal elements in society. The sole male protagonist, high school student Mikami Arashi works beside his female partner and fellow high school student Kiba Mikoto in this organization.
I haven’t yet jumped on the bandwagon of using the popular term “garbage fire” to describe something that is a total disaster, but I think this series that somehow managed to make it on to Blu-ray and DVD plus get an OVA, to my amazement, may get me to start. Somewhere in this colossal mass of a garbage fire there is a story about a strange new drug called Platinum Lily that, when certain sadistic men inject it into women (very buxom women, naturally) they lose their free will and become brainless sex slaves. In between Black Label’s picking off of the usual criminal elements, they supposedly try to get to the bottom of who is behind this drug getting onto the streets — queue numerous, seemingly random S&M sequences of men (and their willing female minions) whipping, groping, kicking, licking, and otherwise sexually assaulting women.
I haven’t yet gotten to the parts about the obviously all well-endowed female members of Black Label who love to take their close off and squeeze each others boobs in the bath in between their assassination gigs. Even the 14-year-old part-time J-Pop Idol Oriha, who’s just as well endowed as a well-fed 24-year-old, and, well, yeah, still prone to having her clothes off. I’ll save the rabbit hole of the cultural and social debate about sex and age of consent for another day.
By the time we get to episode 10, the final episode, I’m not even sure anything has even really happened or been resolved in this “complete collection” series. Besides that, the animation is messy and sub par. The characters’ tits look nice, if you’re into that sort of thing, but the character designs also looks cheap and inconsistent. Getting back to Oriha the well-endowed 14-year-old, her dimensions change so much, I’m not sure if she’s supposed to be skinny or curvy or what. Do yourself a favor and skip this confounding mess.
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The Video
The digital animation looks strong and arrives in an AVC 1080p encodement frame at 1.78:1. There are some minor instances of color banding, but apart from that nothing else really gets in the way of what is a rather crisp and noise-free image. The colors look good and not overly saturated. There seems to be more of an intentional slight scaling back of the colors most of the time, but only slightly.
The Audio
A DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo track of the original Japanese mix is included on the Blu-ray. The sound mix and voice performances are the strongest aspect of the series, even despite the lack of a 5.1 mix. The dynamics and stereo imaging are quite strong and the actors really do get into their roles.
The Supplements
The full-length OVA episode is included along with an eleven-minute “interview” segment with the voice actors Akabane Kenji and Kondo Yui who voice Arashi and Mikoto. The interview segment is lighthearted and enjoyable to watch. The OVA rehashes much of the elements from the season, but adds a bit more fan service and comedy.
- Recollection XOXO OVA
- Clean Opening Animation
- Clean Closing Animation
- Interview w/ Kenji Akabane (Arashi) & Yui Kondo (Mikoto) (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:11:00)
- Japanese Promos (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:03:32)
- Sentai Filmworks Trailers
The Final Assessment
Triage X has only a few great moments where the animation stands out, but those hardly make up for what feels in the end like a pointless endeavor. This series looks and feels like it was made to pander to prurient, pubescent desires, but it doesn’t even do it well.
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