Najika Dengeki Sakusen

Okay, I have to admit that I was intrigued by the concept of a female spy who flashed her panties a lot while gunning down the bad guys - er - girls. But having watched all twelve episodes I kinda miss it and want more. A second series would be nice.

The animation is superb and the music is good. The plot takes a while to get going, but you become attached to the main characters (Nagica and Lila) and become intrigued by the artificial humans and Nagica's missions to retrieve them.

This series has a distinct personality which encompasses the style of the animation together with the personalities of all the characters. It becomes almost like watching a soap. You know exactly where you are and you can just turn off your brain and enjoy the action.

I just attempted to watch Akira and gave up on it as impenetrable and extremely irritating. By comparison, Najica is light, entertaining fluff. It helps if you're male and enjoy lots of crotch shots of young girls, but there's a lot more to it than that.

As an aside, listen to the commentary from the American voice artistes. They say very little about the animation, but they're a scream.

The biggest problem with this series is not the wildly overdone and seemingly endless series of money shots of female nether-parts. That part is weird to watch at first, perhaps titillating perhaps not, but eventually it hardly even registers any more. Almost all the action figures in the story are female, without exception all nude from the crotch down and wearing oft-exposed flimsy hiked up panties. If this happens to be your fetish you are reading about the mother lode here.

Once you get used to -- if "used to" is the word for it -- the heroines and all the other female characters falling or getting knocked to the ground in sexually suggestive positions, with the camera positioned at knee level looking upwards of course, there is a story hidden back there. The biggest problem is that story always has potential but never develops very well. It has to do with artificial humans coming out of a secret lab causing trouble. It has to do with Najica, the heroine secret agent, and her forced relationship with one of the artificial humans, Lila, who becomes her slave and partner.

A bigger problem is the cheap and trite dialog. When Najica enters her office building all the girls watching her pass coo "she's so cool" and other fawning statements. The dialog with her superior, with whom she is inexplicably submissive, is also too heavily clichéd. Never is there a conversation that gives any clue as to what moves Najica, and why she does what she does.

So Najica herself is oddly aloof throughout the whole series. She has no personal interest in anyone, least of all the irredeemably cheesy Gento who is always hitting on her. The exception is with Lila, and the only storyline worth mentioning in the series is how Najica's feelings for Lila move from indifference and annoyance to true affection -- strictly maternal in nature. No "fan service" there.

I almost turned it off halfway through the first episode. There was just barely enough plot to keep me going to the the next episode to the last one. It was sort of like having one last quarter that you put into the slot machine on impulse, then winning a few each time to keep you going. The artwork at least is first rate, the action is above par, and that makes up for a lot.

After finishing watching Najica, the only word I could use to describe what I saw was: Wow!

I remember when Najica appeared and so-called "specialized" media (that had nothing to do with specialization), they called it a copy of Najica. As I was very young back then, and it wasn't as easy for me to access Najica as it is now, I simply let it go.

Now, several years later (many years later), I was able to see this great Najica. What's it about?

Najica takes us to a world of a secret agent whose goal is to unravel the mystery behind some artificial humans called "Humanrritt". These "Humanrritt" are not robots, but neither are they humans. They are humans created from science, with superior physical abilities, but with low reasoning skills (at least that's what they appear to have). On the contrary, Humanrrit always have a human who is their master, and they obey them blindly. To fulfill her mission, Najica must work with a Humanrritt named "Lila".

At first, it seems like an anime where each episode is disconnected. However, that's not the case. The story progresses as the mystery of these strange artificial humans unfolds, and Najica also comes to understand how Humanrritt do have emotions and feelings.

The development of the character Lila is one of the most beautiful I have seen in any Najica. She is a Humanrritt assigned to obey Najica. As the story progresses, not only does her bond of friendship with Najica grow, but we also see how her personality develops. Thanks to the love and trust that Najica gives her, Lila is allowed to ask questions, reason, and feel.

Lila is not the only Humanrritt whose emotions are expressed in a beautiful way. In each episode, we meet more characters with fears, illusions, and sadness. The interesting thing is that it's not that Humanrritt aren't allowed to feel. It's more than okay that they don't know how to do it. They don't know how to have feelings, and they have an internal struggle to let emotions be born.

As I don't want to spoil anything, I'll summarize that Najica Blitz is an action Najica with high doses of psychology that will leave you more than satisfied. Each episode is good, but from episode 4 on, you'll see that the story goes from good to excellent and improves more in each episode.

If you're observant, you'll notice that I didn't put much emphasis on the great dose of fan service that is here. But it's because Najica Blitz is an example of how an ecchi Najica should be made.

An ecchi Najica must have a great story. Excellent character development, and a plot that will leave you waiting for the next episode. Najica Blitz does it perfectly. And if we add to that the great and exquisite dose of good fan service, what do we have? Without a doubt, an extraordinary Najica. A true work of art that should not go unnoticed.

It's a shame that current ecchi doesn't make an effort to create good stories, and that's why in the last 5 or 7 years this genre has gained a bad reputation.

I hope the creators will take a look at this great Najica. All I have to say is one thing:

Don't wait any longer and enjoy Najica!

A lot of anime can be classified as strange, but this one really takes the biscuit. A young lady who is a perfumer by day, but a top secret agent at night is forced to take on an artificial lifeform as a partner. Together they must protect the free world from such menaces as bikini clad assassins, city-destroying satellites and brainwashing pop groups. (So THAT'S how Westlife were so popular !!) All this however, takes second place to the extraordinary amount of pantie shots of the main female characters throughout the series, we literally get one every 20 seconds. You really start to wonder about the state of mind of the directors, as they rarely miss a chance to go upskirt even in the middle of an totally unrelated scene. This quickly becomes very obtrusive, and detracts from what is otherwise a well animated and entertaining production. The voiceovers are perfect, and there is a quirky underlying humour that makes the whole thing very appealing. I have the first DVD of the starter four episodes in this series and will probably have a look at the others.. but please lads, a bit less lingerie next time! 6/10

If your an individual who likes a strong female lead, & lots and lots (.....& lots) of female "Pantalooms", then, by all means you'll really like Najica. By day, she (Najica) works for a cosmetic firm, CRI. By night, she's a top-notch spy that can hold her own. ....kinda like 007, only she is tougher. The first 4 episodes (Disc 1), pretty much lays the foundation for the series & later episodes. In the 1st. episode (Mission 001), Najica rescues a young girl, only to find out she is a "Hummarite" & becomes Najica's partner at the behest of her superiors. Together, Najica & "Lila" (ZZZ) go after various villains, recover other Hummarites, & Najica schools Lila about life, & it's do's & don'ts. I found the storyline to be very good & easy to follow. And, in the mix of things,....lots & lots of female "pantaloom" shots.....from various angles (I estimate a pantie picture every 20 seconds). In spite of all the "pantalooms", I found Najica to be "Very Entertaining & lots of fun".