GetBackers (ゲットバッカーズ -奪還屋-, Gettobakkāzu Dakkan'ya?) is a manga series written by Yuya Aoki and illustrated by Rando Ayamine. It is published by Kodansha in Japan and serialized in Shonen Magazine. In total, the series has 39 volumes; it has ended its serialization in Japan on 21 Feb 2007. Currently, the first 18 volumes have been released in English by TOKYOPOP, with Volume 19 scheduled for release on 10th July 2007, and subsequent volumes released bi-monthly throughout the year.
In 2002, the series was adapted into an anime series, produced by Studio Deen, which aired from 2002 to 2003 and ran for 49 episodes. It was broadcast by the anime television network, Animax, across its respective networks worldwide, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and South America. The series has been licensed in North America by ADV Films and given a 10-volume DVD release.
Story
The manga tells the story of a pair known as the GetBackers, consisting of Ban Mido and Ginji Amano. The duo reside in one of the seedier areas of Shinjuku in Tokyo, and are often broke and resort to sleeping in their car. Ban and Ginji operate a freelance repossession service or dakkanya (奪還屋). For a fee, they will recover any lost or stolen item for a client. The two boast an "almost 100% success rate" (100% in the anime). Their motto is: "We get back what shouldn't be gone".
However, Ban and Ginji are not ordinary human beings. They each possess mysterious abilities which they use to carry out their many recovery missions. Ban's powers include the "Snakebite", a skill which gives his hands a grip of 200 kilograms-force, and the "Evil Eye" ("Jagan", 邪眼, a Japanese term roughly meaning "evil eye"), an ability to induce minute-long hallucinations of Ban's choosing in whomever he makes direct eye contact with. However, this ability cannot be used on the same person twice in a 24-hour period, and he has to rest between uses. The Evil Eye can also only be used three times in one day. Ginji, on the other hand, can generate enormous amounts of electrical energy in his body for tasks such as attacking opponents, or overloading electronic systems; this has earned him the moniker of "Lightning Lord" (雷帝, "Raitei", a Japanese term also translated as "Thunder Emperor", or "Lightning Emperor").
Despite the simplicity of their job's description, Ban and Ginji's profession often places them into bizarre and dangerous situations in order to obtain the objects they must find. Their targets range from everyday objects such as a video game a school kid has lost to an even much more dangerous object which might just affect the safety of the nation (such as a vital part of an atomic bomb). As such, the plot mostly revolves around the dangerous (yet sometimes silly) adventures they both go through, which is often complicated by connections to the pair's dark and twisted pasts, and a mysterious place called Infinity Fortress (無限城, "Mugenjou", a Japanese term also translated as "Limitless Fortress", "the Infinite Castle" and "Maze City").
There are numerous "acts" in the story. Each act, divided into a number of chapters, describes a different recovery task taken on by the GetBackers. As the story develops, new characters (some with past relationships with Ban and Ginji) are revealed, and details of a shadowy conspiracy involving the GetBackers slowly rise to the surface.
The plotline of the anime is initially similar to that of the manga, but diverges sharply after the 25th episode as the anime attempted to compress the ongoing story arcs into a manageable anime arc with a reasonable ending. The second Limitless Fortress arc is not in any way connected to the one in the Manga, though some of the characters featured have also recently appeared in the manga.
In 2002, the series was adapted into an anime series, produced by Studio Deen, which aired from 2002 to 2003 and ran for 49 episodes. It was broadcast by the anime television network, Animax, across its respective networks worldwide, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and South America. The series has been licensed in North America by ADV Films and given a 10-volume DVD release.
Story
The manga tells the story of a pair known as the GetBackers, consisting of Ban Mido and Ginji Amano. The duo reside in one of the seedier areas of Shinjuku in Tokyo, and are often broke and resort to sleeping in their car. Ban and Ginji operate a freelance repossession service or dakkanya (奪還屋). For a fee, they will recover any lost or stolen item for a client. The two boast an "almost 100% success rate" (100% in the anime). Their motto is: "We get back what shouldn't be gone".
However, Ban and Ginji are not ordinary human beings. They each possess mysterious abilities which they use to carry out their many recovery missions. Ban's powers include the "Snakebite", a skill which gives his hands a grip of 200 kilograms-force, and the "Evil Eye" ("Jagan", 邪眼, a Japanese term roughly meaning "evil eye"), an ability to induce minute-long hallucinations of Ban's choosing in whomever he makes direct eye contact with. However, this ability cannot be used on the same person twice in a 24-hour period, and he has to rest between uses. The Evil Eye can also only be used three times in one day. Ginji, on the other hand, can generate enormous amounts of electrical energy in his body for tasks such as attacking opponents, or overloading electronic systems; this has earned him the moniker of "Lightning Lord" (雷帝, "Raitei", a Japanese term also translated as "Thunder Emperor", or "Lightning Emperor").
Despite the simplicity of their job's description, Ban and Ginji's profession often places them into bizarre and dangerous situations in order to obtain the objects they must find. Their targets range from everyday objects such as a video game a school kid has lost to an even much more dangerous object which might just affect the safety of the nation (such as a vital part of an atomic bomb). As such, the plot mostly revolves around the dangerous (yet sometimes silly) adventures they both go through, which is often complicated by connections to the pair's dark and twisted pasts, and a mysterious place called Infinity Fortress (無限城, "Mugenjou", a Japanese term also translated as "Limitless Fortress", "the Infinite Castle" and "Maze City").
There are numerous "acts" in the story. Each act, divided into a number of chapters, describes a different recovery task taken on by the GetBackers. As the story develops, new characters (some with past relationships with Ban and Ginji) are revealed, and details of a shadowy conspiracy involving the GetBackers slowly rise to the surface.
The plotline of the anime is initially similar to that of the manga, but diverges sharply after the 25th episode as the anime attempted to compress the ongoing story arcs into a manageable anime arc with a reasonable ending. The second Limitless Fortress arc is not in any way connected to the one in the Manga, though some of the characters featured have also recently appeared in the manga.
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