009-1

This film-noir/sixties espionage style series made sigh with frustration every time the breast-machine-guns came into play.As a fan of anime adaptation of Ishinomori's Cyborg 009/Kikaider, I was pleasantly surprised to see more of his work adapted to an anime, and available here. For an anime, this has very high production value - good voice acting and high frame rates. Don't mistake Ishinomori's distinct style for poor quality (like some other reviewers). I will admit to those unused to Ishinomori's (or for that matter, Tezuka's) style, it's outlandishness against the backdrop of modern anime can be offputting. Believe me, the hurdles of adjusting to the character design is made up for with more intelligent, adult characters than your typical, modern anime.

What starts as a thinly veiled action+boobies show goes way deeper with great storylines and characters. 009-1 is a super spy who uses her sex appeal and martial arts skills to take down all sorts of androids, spies, and loads of nameless henchmen.What I really enjoy is that most episodes have tragic or unforeseen endings, and 009-1 struggles with the need to be a stone-cold killer. She is written as a smart, sexy, strong woman and I love the retro vibe.

First off the synopsis that hulu provides tells you all you need to know to stay away from this series. Luckily if you do watch it, it only runs 12 episodes long. I was excited to see that it was an espionage anime, the animation was kind of ugly but if the story was good then I will get past that. Unfortunately the story really isn't that good. The animation is pretty dated and it was predictable that ultimately the all female team of spies would implement some form of sexpionage. This series is a pass for me.