Review: Golgo 13: The Professional

However, a massively powerful opponent is marshaling all his resources against Golgo 13... calling in adversaries the like of whom he has never had to confront. Can he survive?

Describing it as realistic would be pushing it. However, it is "realistic" in an action-hero kind of way - the feats it shows are physically possible, just so unlikely as to almost be laughable. A sniper shot through a building, then through bulletproof glass, is perhaps beaten only by the opening sniper shot at a passenger in a passing ocean liner.

Character development is essentially nonexistent.

The R rating is definitely deserved. There is remarkably little gore given the subject matter (although you can't miss it) but the fan service is in the form of fully fledged sex scenes rather than minimal level seen in most anime where it is present. Shounen (boys', or in this case mens', anime) at its most extreme.

Animation is of mixed quality; generally it works well with the subject matter, but the frame rate is pretty appalling sometimes, and the 3D "graphics" sequence near the end looks more like a computer game - an old computer game - than anything else. Basically this is the worst CGI I have ever seen in any movie. For the regular cel animation, occasionally the animation breaks into a heavily pencilled still image (as in Black Jack), which works well in some places but decidedly less so in others.

There is no Japanese language track in this release. The English voice acting is generally pretty good, although a little overacted, particularly the women. At times it sounds more like a soap opera than an action or anime film. However, it suits the B-movie feel of the remainder of the anime, so it's not all that bad; "so bad it's good." Or would if the movie was a little better.

Other incidental sound, barring explosions, gunshots and the occasional water effect, is pretty minimal.

Packaging is a fairly standard DVD case with clip holder.