▪	RELEASED BY:		MANGA ENTERTAINMENT
		▪	ASPECT RATIO:		16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN
		▪	AUDIO:		ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD 5.1 / 2.0
		▪	RUNNING TIME:		600 MIN
		▪	RATING:		13UP
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		02/12/2008
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		02/05/2008
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		HOLLY ELLINGWOOD

SYNOPSIS:
Supernatural sleuth and writer, Kantaro Ichinomiya, spends his days fighting demons and writing about his adventures. Accompanied by Haruka, the mysterious Demon-Eating Goblin, and a band of demons and monsters, Kantaro bravely travels the Japanese countryside in search of ghostly mysteries and paranormal adventure.

The complete 25 episode saga on 5 discs in a collectable art box.

REVIEW:
Tactics, based on the manga by Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama, is a TV series that spans the beginnings of the relationship between a young man with spiritual abilities and a handsome monster that hides incredible powers.  At times quite comical, the show nevertheless starts and ends dramatically. It begins with Kantaro as a young boy. He can see ghosts and all kinds of demons and spirits. Because of his talents he grew up lonely but with a heartfelt wish to find the legendary Black Goblin known as the Demon-Eating Goblin. With this goblin’s aid, Kantaro could become stronger and help others better when they are fraught with horrors due to evil creatures. Kantaro gets his wish, but with every wish there can be a price. He names his new demon friend Haruka, although the friendship part is slow to start. Haruka is powerful and reluctant to befriend a human, especially one he must serve. But as he sees the gentle spirit of the young man and his unusual life, he slowly warms towards Kantaro and their adventures get underway.

Although Kantaro works as a writer, he is at heart something of a detective in regards to the supernatural and he has spiritual powers. He lives a quiet life with at times lively with his houseguests such as the cute fox demon Yoko. As the series progresses, the trio is joined by a sickly girl named Suzu, another goblin and his very unusual wife, and even later by a British girl named Rosalie who has frightening supernatural powers. Tactics does often play out in an episodic fashion with the team investigating one supernatural occurrence after another. At times this is done for laughs, at other times the show can have an eerie Asian horror appeal. It runs the gamut of comedy to horror/adventure fairly smoothly and much to the credit of the writing.

 In many ways it will bring to mind shows like Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok with its combination of supernatural eerie air that occasionally tips its hat at some charming fun humor. An underlying story does emerge fairly soon in regards to Haruka. His sealed memories and fearsome powers attract the attention of a devious group that include the vicious Raiko Minamoto and the beautiful but lethal Doji Ibaragi. They will stop at nothing to free him from his pact with Kantaro. The series builds to a confrontation and subsequent fallout with them and Haruka and Kantaro. It could separate Kantaro and Haruka forever. The conclusion however does come across slightly anti-climatic. This may be in part due to a desire to leave it open ended for further anime. Nevertheless it does manage to wrap up the ongoing story line well enough for the moment and with some unexpected turns in the final episodes.  

The animation is as intriguing a blend of elements as is the story and characters. It contains elements done in an Asian horror style, more along the lines of Vampire Princess Miyu in score and eerie heavy uses of crimson and various horror aspects to get across a supernatural atmosphere. But the show often goes to cute and comical for its lighter moments. The men are pretty, Haruka in particular is quite elegant, while the girls are all young and very cute with the exception of Kantaro’s editor Miss Reiko and the evil Ibaragi who are both adults and beautiful mature women. One of the most curious aspects about the animation is how it depicts the era. It blends Meiji era looks with British designs combined with various technological elements that make it impossible to decisively pinpoint the exact time and era it is placed in.  This gives the anime a greater sense of fantasy to an already heavily accented supernatural show.

This box set features all five volumes. Of particular note is that the fifth volume is not available yet as a single disc edition. Although the box set comes out February 12th, the single volume of volume 5 of Tactics will not be available until March 11th. Therefore, for now the only way to see the final volume is via the box set.

EXTRAS:
Bonus features include an image gallery, trailers, original Japanese TV commercials, original Japanese merchandise ads, “player cards” which are images of each of the main characters on a card with a particular quote from that character, and interviews with Japanese voice actors Kohki Miyata (Kantaro) and Takashiro Sakurai (Haruka). Bonus features also include character song music videos: “Premonition Infinity” sung by Yoko the demon fox girl (Japanese voice actress Tomoko Kawakami), “Embrace the Sun and the Moon” sung by Haruka (Japanese voice actor Takahiro Sakurai), and “In a Corner of This World” sung by Kohki Miyata (Kantaro).

IN SUMMARY:
Tactics is a compelling supernatural series with ample comedy and mystery.