quitzon.sophia - 2016-04-01 16:31:49

If you want towatch a quality, fun and relaxing episode of anime, this never disappoints...
Master Keaton, the now almost 18 year old predecessor to Urasawa's Animeclassic "Monster", is a massively overlooked show.
Just like the original season, this OVA shares a lot of the creative staff withits younger brother, Naoki Urasawa having illustrated the original MasterKeaton Manga and even supposedly written a large proportion of it (whichis hard to say for certain, given co-writer Hokusei Katsushika sadly passedaway in 2004).

Story:
The premise of this show is a simple one, telling short adventure stories fromall around the world of the 1990s, usually in some connection tohistorical and/or criminal themes. I will not say much more than that. Thesetting is very western and in that way, I might add, very well researched.
It is a bit different from the usual anime, but if you know "Monster"you will realise what you are getting yourself into. Due to the episodicnature of the show a lot of the focus is on the characters. 
Most of the One-shot characters are given just enough depth to provide thechapter with a satisfying conclusion, but naturally the spotlight would be onthe main cast:

Characters:
Anyone who has seen the first season will be very familiar with the maincharacter Taichi, our japanese, part McGuyver, part Indiana Jones, partSherlock Holmes, ex-SAS, professor of Archeology, globetrotting investigatorand master of life, in short "Master Keaton". 
He is in fact so amazing, that there never is any time in the story forsuspense to build up, because we all know "our Taichi" will probablyfind the optimal solution to any problem by the end of the episode.

He however does have some flaws, and those especially come to light in hispersonal life. His father, the zoologist and bona fide ladykiller Taihei,shares Taichi's fate of being divorced,
and his teen daughter Yuriko never fails to remind him of what his recklesslifestyle is costing him. However the whole family does share that same childishpassion for adventure, making episodes focused around Mr. Keaton's family stillfun to watch, albeit slightly more light-hearted.

Then there is Taichi's partner, the very easy going and maybe carelessinsurance investigator Daniel. He is also nicely explored, taking the spotlightin a couple episodes and he makes a fun duo together with Keaton.

Production values and Directing:
It is easy to assume that this show was meant to be a direct sequel to thefirst season of "Master Keaton" (it being a 15 episode OVA), and thatproduction was cut short for lack of funds.
Do not expect a series that will blow you away visually, expect a series thatsometimes looks good, but never offensively bad. 
The direction seems to be taking a quite practical approach, showing everythingthat needs to be seen. You will have difficulty finding many memorable shots,but looking for flaws would be futile.
The soundtrack is lovely, high quality, mostly consisting of acousticinstrumentals, some being inspired by traditional scottish music (most notablythe blasting bagpipes from the opening of course), some being more orchestral.
The sound directing never appears too assertive (like in other episodic showse.g. Bebop), together with the western style of the music just adding to thecharacter of the show.
I personally highly recommend the English Dub, since Japanese audio would onlytake away from the atmosphere. It is an internationally set series after all.
All the different languages and accents are certainly a bit "funky",however not in a non-entertaining way, so I have to give a massive plus foreffort in that regard.

Conclusion:
It bugs me, that this series is so overlooked. Sure, there is nothingextravagant and the explored concepts are never that grand, or especially remarkable, 
but there seems to be a bit of meaning to every story, which makes it very,very satisfying.
In comparison to the first season of Keaton, I even think that the OVA issomewhat more consistent in creating interesting episodes.
Especially in a time of so many mediocre new releases, "MasterKeaton" has such an old-school, reassuring quality to it, making itrecommendable to pretty much anyone.
I would not consider this a must-watch like Urasawa's marginally younger work"Monster". 
Nevertheless, considering just how easy to watch this OVA is, you really haveno excuse not to consider it next time you want to sit back with an episode ofanime. 
One episode of "Master Keaton" is 25 min of your day well spent.
Yes, I would place this in the same realm as other episodic shows like:
-Bartender
-Mushishi
And even absolute classics like:
-Cowboy Bebop

Rating:
Finally, in consideration of the fact that "Master Keaton OVA":

-certainly does not stick out in terms of animation, cinematography, soundtrackand characters,
-still is of such a consistently high quality, that I would do it injusticecalling it anything but flawless,

my final score for it is a very good 84/100. 

Original Review written for MAL on Mar 29, 2016