Old, Obscure or Overlooked - MEZZO FORTE
Today we're going to look at the second of the three Yasuomi Umetsu OVAs I set aside for this first trilogy of posts. Without further delay, our next title is...
Mezzo Forte is a two episode OVA released in 2000, and essentially the spriritual successor of Kite. Like Kite, it was directed by and features character designs by Yasuomi Umetsu, was animated at studio Arms, and comes in both cut and uncut versions as it was again penned as a Hentai OVA. And of course, like Kite, it follows an action girl with an uncanny knack for shooting people dead, lots of blood, gore, gunfights, and a fair amount of physics denial.
Mezzo Forte follows the Danger Service Agency, a three-person troupe of comically inefficient and yet dangerously crafty misfits. Fronting the team is resident action girl Mikura Suzuki, who's temper is about as short as her magazines are quick to deplete. She loves to complain, loves to fight, and loves it whenever things go her way. She also has uncontrollable precognitive abilities, for whatever reason. "Leading" the team is Kenichi Kurokawa, a has-been cop who can't stop complaining and cracking bad jokes, drives a yellow Volkswagen Bug, and is consistently mocked for his balding head. Finally, the team is headed off by technical expert (and apparent sex robot expert) Tomohisa Harada, also apparently the second field agent and owner of one of the silliest hairstyles I've ever seen. Alone they each seem to have the approximate intellect and common sense of a slice of toast, but when all three are together they are able to concoct ridiculously elaborate plans.
The DSA is hired by all sorts of shady people to deal with other shady people, culminating in the central contract of the OVA - a shady old man wants them to kidnap Momokichi Momoi, resident mob boss and shady owner of the punnily named "Peach Twisters" baseball club, and also a man who prefers to terminate his players in person. Alongside his extensive group of black suit wearing bodyguards led by Norio Wakamoto voiced Hirooka, Momokichi is also often accompanied by his daughter Momomi, who just happens to be a psychotic madwoman with an even worse trigger temper. You can imagine what this means for the DSA, and it involves lots of bullets. And a fair bit of hand-to-hand combat.
Aside from the obvious parallels with Kite, there are also a number of Kite callbacks during the OVA: Sawa's red pistol being among those stored in Kurokawa's car, Sawa herself appearing at least twice, and the Hollywood Twins shown on screen in the supposed hit action film Ultra Hard 7 (displayed next to Dirty Barry8, of all things). Still, there are things that Mezzo Forte does differently to Kite. It embraces how silly it is, with a generally far more comedic tone when people aren't getting turned into swiss cheese. Another thing it does differently is that the sex scenes in this are a lot longer, though there are only two in total as opposed to Kite's sporadic but numerous offerings.
Like Kite, Mezzo Forte is quite visually impressive, with the same expressive colour palette and crisp animation. Having to one-up Kite, the fights in this are even more grand, with Mikura at one point roundhouse kicking a hapless goon through a brick wall (where he then falls a good 8 or so floors to his death), and no less than two bombings. No explosive bullets, though. The story is about as barebones as you'd expect, but the characters fit into the world just as well as you'd expect as well. They don't have much more staying power than the Kite cast, but that's fine.
If you enjoyed Kite, you'll probably enjoy Mezzo Forte (and depending on whether you liked how serious Kite tried to be, possibly moreso than Kite). Even if you didn't enjoy Kite (or haven't seen it), you might still enjoy it. Like Kite, you don't really have to scramble for the uncut version, as this time the naughty scenes literally add nothing that the OVA doesn't already tell you. But like Kite, you may want to be aware of the overly extravagent, physics defying action.
All in all, Mezzo Forte is a pretty nice timewaster. A group viewing will no doubt enhance the experience - but that's up to you. There is also a TV series sequel, Mezzo Forte DSA, but as I haven't actually seen that yet I'm not going to sit and tell you to go watch it. Maybe I'll get to it one day and then post about it here. We'll see.
Tune in next time when I explore the final of the three Umetsu OVAs and the sequel to Kite, Kite Liberator. Until then, I'll get back to watching all this stuff.