MISC. MANGA, *Hyper Police

Hopefully you’ve seen one of the definately best anime for furries, minus Inu Yasha. But before the TV series there was the manga it was based on. By creator Mee(yeah, that’s his name)this post-apocalyptic sci-fi fantasy cop show has something for nearly any kind of furry otaku. You might be familiar with another anime based on Mee’s work, Adventures Of Kotetsu, which was released on video from ADV Films some time ago.

Set in what’s called year 22 of the new Holy Century, Hyper Police happens after some disaster apparently caused by mankind, which later brings all different races of monsters out of hiding. In this new society, humans co-exist with monsters, although they are still the majority race, often treating monsters as second-class citizens. This leads to various crime committed by monsters.

Since the regular police can’t handle all this, special groups of bounty hunters step in to keep the streets clean for a nominal fee. One group is the Police Company. Natsuki is a catgirl-half that works for them, and lives in a house filled with cats. She’s under the care of her partner Batanen, a sex-crazed werewolf. But after accidently shooting him, she gets a new partner in Sakura who is a kitsune whose working to fill out her ninth and last tail. She so far has 8 1/3 tails, and has to consume a being of magical energy in order to be a full-fledged fox spirit. Sakura hooks on Natsuki because she believes her ability to use parasites which shoot out bolts of lightning would give her the power boost she needs.

From this point, its a little like your standard flashy action police anime. Sakura moves in with Natsuki while still trying to “eat” her. Later, the Police Company goes out of business, Natsuki and Sakura have to go solo for a while, but can’t collect any bounties without a license. So they become apprentices under Batanen and his dogboy partner Tommy. The weird part is the arrival of a samurai from hundreds of years in the past(Samurai Jack, anyone?)who eventually becomes Sakura’s love interest.

The manga doesn’t have as much of the action as the anime did, but there’s alot of more gratuitous fan service. Tokyo Pop did a reasonable job for a change with the translation though.