"Say Cheese" For Speed Grapher

From its stylish opening sequence cut to Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film,” it’s obvious that Speed Grapher is not your average anime series.

It’s unclear where the name comes from, but Speed Grapher takes place in a dystopian near-future ruled by money, power, and sex. We follow the exploits of Tatsumi Saiga, an ex-war photographer who comes into contact with teenage Kagura, an exploited heiress with the mysterious ability to give certain individuals bizarre superpowers related to their deepest obsession. One thing leads to another, and Saiga soon discovers the power to cause objects to explode simply by taking a picture of them. He then encounters intrigue and danger when he attempts to use his new powers to rescue Kagura from the clutches of her abusive, megalomaniacal mother, and finds himself at odds with deranged rubber fetishists, sadistic dentists, and more.

Speed Grapher lends itself particularly well to a gay audience. Hunky protagonist Saiga maintains a friendship with his somewhat eccentric, openly gay neighbor Bob, and even teams up with a troupe of benevolent drag queens in a couple episodes. Even though the show’s gay characters exist primarily for the purpose of comic relief, it’s nice to see some positive gay roles in an anime of the seinen persuasion (that is, targeted mainly toward adult males).

Speed Grapher is licensed in America and is available wherever anime DVDs and Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments can be found.