olt Crank is a stolid, enigmatic man who says little and communicates less. People who come into contact with him often end up filling in the conversational blanks themselves, making unwarranted assumptions about him, his plans and his allegiances. They talk at him, accuse him, theorize about him and build plans around him, generally getting themselves into trouble in the process. Meanwhile, Bolt moves inexorably from place to place, patiently doing whatever his latest employer has paid him to do. Whether he's defending a young girl against an army, killing the "demon" that's terrifying a small kingdom or rescuing a besieged hamlet straight out of a D&D rulebook illustration, he does the job calmly and methodically. He never brags, he never broadcasts his intentions in advance, and he never fails to complete an assignment. This dogged, competent earnestness is probably half of what gives him his reputation as the world's greatest mercenary.
The other half comes from the fact that he can eat metal. In fact, he seems to eat only metal. Anything he eats, he can later reconstitute. From spare clips to tank-sized laser guns to giant mecha monsters, it all pops magically out of his right hand. This seems to make it easy for him to travel light, but he spends a lot of his time placidly munching on screws, nuts and bolts--downing weapons for later use, one chunk at a time.
The 12 episodes in this collection, which Bandai previously released on six separate subtitled videotapes, comprise the entirety of the second Eat-Man manga spinoff TV series. The series includes six complete story arcs, ranging from one to four episodes in length. This DVD is nominally a hybrid, but the English audio track is available only for the first two episodes. (Bandai released only one dubbed volume of Eat-Man '98, and has no current plans for more.) The script for both versions is very similar, though Bolt is consistently described as a "mercenary" in the sub and as an "explorer" in the dub. The DVD bonuses are minimal--scene search abilities and some Bandai trailers. The real bonus is getting this superbly weird series in one neat package.
A colorful patchwork world
With his trademark round sunglasses concealing his eyes, his baggy trenchcoat concealing his body, and his laconic, unflappable personality concealing his motives, Bolt Crank is just about the most unreadable character anime has ever produced. At times, his slow movements, huge size, blank face and lack of reaction make him seem stupefyingly dull-witted. At other times he seems overshadowed by the people around him, a diverse melange of fantasy heroes, cyberpunk assassins, grim politicos and mutant monsters. From the girl whose cyberized father has erased her memories to the deluded, dying king of Ambrosia, the bit players in Bolt's dramas provide a colorful backdrop on which he casts his hulking shadow.
Bolt's patchwork world is equally varied. In the opening episodes, Bolt stalks the streets of a dark, futuristic city out of Blade Runner. Throughout the middle story arcs, he moves through rural communities full of pitchfork-wielding farmers and scheming, burlap-swaddled village elders. In one town, he participates in a war that pits soldiers with machine guns against spearmen; in another, he destroys an oncoming truck with a magic sword. The technological level in his world is so unpredictable that, given the statement "a ship will be here in an hour," there's no way to foresee whether the speaker means a spaceship or a wooden galleon.
Even Bolt himself is something of a Schrödinger's cat. His impenetrability makes it impossible to determine at any given time whom he's working for or what he's planning next. Many of these story arcs end with surprising, gratifying twists, as Bolt's motives finally become clear when he completes his latest mission.
Amid all the sudden shifts and unexpected discrepancies, Bolt's lumpish impassivity is almost comforting. He serves as a touchstone, a solid block of reality in a malleable world where there's little solid footing. While each new character redefines Bolt--some idolize him, some loathe him, some make up entire personalities for him to compensate for his bland opaqueness--he defines the series simply by existing. A Jungian scholar would have a field day with this. For the rest of us, it's just ironically funny, and creatively crazy enough to be satisfying.
