GetBackers, Volume 1

ＧｅｔＢａｃｋｅｒｓ－奪還屋－ #1

by Yuya Aoki, Rando Ayamine (Illustrator)

Detective duo with mysterious powers will soon be starving unless they get a client soon!

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Action, Shonen, Supernatural

216 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 1999

About the author

青樹佑夜
Real Name: Shin Kibayashi
Pseudonym of Tadashi Agi, Yuma Ando, Joji Arimori, Hiroaki Igano, Ryo Ryumon

Blood Type: O

亜樹 直 Agi Tadashi is a Japanese manga storywriter, novelist and screenwriter. His original name is Shin Kibayashi (樹林 伸 Kibayashi Shin). He was born in 1962 in Tokyo, and graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan Musashi Senior High School and Waseda University School of Economics & Political Science. The penname "Tadashi Agi" is shared with his sister. Under the name Yuma Ando, he received the 2003 Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen for writing Kunimitsu no Matsuri.

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed GetBackers! I really did. I even tracked down the anime episodes, but I was only ever to get 4 chapters of this series and thus the interest did slide eventually. But for a time, it was good. However, today it shall be part of the Culling.

[Gus · Rating 4 out of 5]

--- Get Backers 1-39 ---
Plot: Ok
Gambar: SUPERB!
Penokohan: Sifat-sifat karakternya menarik.

For the love of-- BAAANN!!♡
*Uhuk! Maaf, lupakan saja yang tadi.

Sebenarnya saya masih ragu menuliskan review jika bukunya tidak kubaca ulang. Tapi baiklah. Berdasarkan ingatan, saya suka komik ini. Saya menikmati betapa shonen-klasik plot yang disajikan dan betapa cantik gambarnya untuk ukuran komik cowok (yang entah kenapa saya selalu berpikir komik shonen selalu sebelas dua belas dengan arsiran kuat bertenaga). Gambarnya menawan, sexy dan rapih. Sebelas dua belas dengan gambar Samurai Deeper Kyo dalam satu dua artian sempit (haha).

Plotnya juga lumayan. Meski kadang ada beberapa arc yang saya rasa agak... mengesalkan karena panjang dan saat itu saya benar-benar mau kalau komik ini tamat cepat-cepat^^. Kesampingkan hal itu, ada beberapa arc favorit. Saya juga sangat menikmati roman subplot dari pria dengan kemampuan hewan itu dan gadis buta itu. Belum lagi antara protagonis utama dengan "adik" kawannya yang bikin saya senang dengan hubungan yang terasa-- sangat bisa masuk kategori romantis, tetapi juga terpisahkan sebuah tembok besar bernama "alasan". Sialnya, mangaka-dan-author-san sepertinya tidak menyetujui kapal saya ini (sial ^ m ^ '). Oh-- tidak untuk dilupakan, hubungan dua tokoh utama ini juga bikin greget. Mereka sangat dekat, begitu dekat sampai bisa masuk kategori sahabat sehati nyaris sejiwa, yang membuat saya takut dengan hubungan mereka juga (saking dekatnya).

Menuliskan review ini membuatku ingat dengan Get Backers dan betapa saya menikmatinya. Jika tidak keberatan dengan plot yang sangat komik-kecowokan, sedikit perasaan repetitif, karakter yang cantik-cantik, dan servis kipas angin (sama seperti Kyo, saya berharap sebenarnya tidak ada servis ini. Tapi ya sudahlah, anggap bumbu tambahan), komik ini bisa dijadikan pilihan.
[9/10]

[Kati · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dumb and crude. Stupidity underlined by gratuitous panty shots and boob squeezing. I love the anime but I'll pass on the manga. A very unappealing experience that I don't plan to repeat any time soon.

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

One volume was enough to impress me with its misogyny.

[Mosley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up the manga where the anime left off many years ago, and now I'm returning to the beginning, and boy is the manga more raunchy.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

According to the publisher:

'The job of a retriever is not a very lucrative one, at least not for Ginji Amano and Ban Mido. Unable to attract even one client, they've ingested nothing but water for the past three days. So dire are their circumstances that they even attempt unsuccessfully to land a date with some girls in the hopes they'll buy the starving duo some hamburgers. And having failed in their attempt to use their last yen at a vending machine, death by starvation seems imminent until a homeless man takes pity on them and shares some of the food he's been able to scrounge. Upon learning that Ginji and Ban are the GetBackers, he offers them all he has left to get his daughter back from the Yakuza.'

I remember reading a fair number of the 'GetBackers' story but I certainly didn't read all 39 and I doubt my local library service had them all. Maybe half-a-dozen? Anyway they were great fun - I remember still a whole episode? adventure? involving the 'GetBackers' humping around a giant, broken, good-luck Chinese cat statue.

Great fun, but it was 20+ years ago that I read them during my Magna phase, they were fun I enjoyed them immensely but I am not likely to read them again, or any Magna.

[Zain Hashmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review written for the entire series.

What a blast!
As a 90s kid growing up in India I enjoyed watching Animax. One of the series that aired was Get Backers. With a flamboyant art style and well written plot lines, I enjoyed the stories and camaraderie between the two characters Ban and Ginji. Unfortunately the anime never concluded the series and gave it a basic ending without exploring the full themes of the manga.
While on the surface it looks to be merely an action novella, I would personally classify this as science fiction in many ways, especially in the later volumes.
The stories in between are engaging, but it's the overall plot that makes the series click for me. This series talks about concepts most commonly seen in pop culture in The Matrix series of movies, but it predates the Matrix movies by several years.
It's an action packed science fiction riot, covering a range of themes, with some surprisingly touching moments. Heartwarming, without being preachy, and unexpectedly wholesome.
I can see that some other reviews criticise the art style and the way women are portrayed. All things taken in context, that art style and those representations were a staple of Japanese Manga in the early 90s, and to properly review it, one has to understand the culture around the sexualisation of the characters. Once the series became popular and progressed, the problematic representations all but disappear.
Stick with it till the end, because the final chapters will haunt you for days to come.

[Reader17 Der · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it. If you don't know the story this is about Gingji and Ban who are a team of guys who get back things that are lost and stolen. They both have special powers. Ginji has electric waves going through him so he can shock you if he wants and shorts out things. Ban has some of power that if he looks you in the eye he can make you see things happen like in a dream that really don't happen. One of his lines after is Did you have a bad dream. With that cocky smile :)

[Jeridel Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This manga reminds me of GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka, Vol. 1 so much. Read it if you're a fan.

[Sadie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sure it's juvenile and violent but it's the GOOD kind of violent immaturity.

[Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Get Backers has charm. Women are handled in a single dimension. Meh. It’s still published material that got the green light...somehow.

I’m digging the pop culture references here, Utada Hikaru, Final Fantasy and much more!? The transition scene for the chapters had a swift summary. Some of the best recap, it should serve as the standard, y’know the small things. I also laughed hysterically at the last mission for retrieving the cat. I have not laughed like that in a while…

The two main goofballs, Ginji and Ban, have good chemistry with each other and they are fun. Now for the flip, they are womanizers and Roshi-style flatterers. I think that’s where the creators come in. There’s either revealing underwear, gigantic, unreasonable cleavage, or some sort of perverted squeezing involved for any of the women or girls. Usually I can give it a pass, but it’s rife and out of place. Could it tone down in the next few volumes? Sure. I probably won’t find out.

I think there’s an anime for this and as I tear off the stickers on this volume I realize that it had a 16+ older teen rating on it. I had a friend who told me that the anime was worth watching. I might give that a try. One of the reasons I started reading manga was to see if there are any stark differences between manga an anime. This might be one of the rare cases where the anime can surpass the manga.

[Nav · Rating 2 out of 5]

Caters to a male audience: there's one woman in the whole volume that doesn't flash her underwear or show an abundance of skin with no male flesh equivalents. I was initially sympathetic to the boys being broke and down on their luck and examples of goofy platonic friends and intrigued by their special abilities, but then I had to read two different plots with a female temptress misleading them. And I actually sided with one of the villains when she said she wasn't going to forgive her father because wanting to apologize doesn't just erase hurting someone in the first place. You shouldn't be obligated to forgive someone for them - forgiveness is for you to heal and not to make someone who victimized you feel better (it's implied her father pimped her out though, of course, that doesn't excuse her trying to shoot his messengers rather than just sending them on their way ~ although you could argue that they broke into her house in the first place).

[Boo Boo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biro yang mampu mengembalikan apapun dengan tingkat keberhasilan 100%, mereka lah Get Backers. Anggotanya Ban chan dan Ginji.

Action, supranatural. Bisa diraba volume-volume selanjutnya akan lebih berat. Selain dari model rambut, agak susah ngenalin artnya yang keliatan sama. Terutama untuk karakter perempuan. Untuk cerita, lumayan menarik. 2 lelaki yang mempunyai kekuatan supranatural, kenapa memilih untuk membuat biro yang aneh begini? Apa yang melatarbelakangi?

Semoga anteng bacanya ahay!

[Clayton VanLeeuwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to rate this lower, actually, because it’s filled with ridiculous adolescent portrayals of women. Every other page is either a boob squeeze or panty shot, a lot of times both. Really immature stuff that’s only there to hook teenage males. A bit of a shame, too, because the first act ends with a decent twist. Also, the main characters have a fun friendship and are likable enough.

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is ok but it is definitely overshadowed by the gratuitous panty shots and the ginormous balloon boobs most of the female characters are sporting. All I can figure is that I picked up this first volume when I was in my Great Teacher Onizuka phase.

[Bones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tengo buenas memorias del anime, y de momento me quedo con esa etapa. Por lo menos el anime no me mostraba pechos o ropa interior femenina cada dos paginas (por lo que recuerdo)

Voy a ver si lo leo por lo menos hasta que aparezca mi personaje favorito

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old favorite.
A fun anime with really likable characters. Nice balance of fun and sad moments.

[Roseta · Rating 5 out of 5]

The backstory is where they really flourish, and its a good thing they have a lot of that

[Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll read more but there is too much comedic unnecessary filler dialogue

[Mimi Llagas · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite. One of the best hopefully they will continue the anime

[Kurtis Burkhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far this manga’s just average, the plots not too good! The arts the best part and I like the main characters 😁👌❤️❤️

[Chalinviri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jaja finalmente pude terminar de leer esta historia y saber como termina....esos GB son un desastre....pero Ginji Amano....como te quiero chamaco!!

[Solim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wacky, immature, creative, fast paced and reckless!

[Andy Febrico Bintoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic Manga indeed, the pictures is not that good, but this is a nostalgia Manga.

[Brandon Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series!! I’m giving this a re read since I last read it 12+ years ago!

[David Doel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first of three volumes. The story is decent -- a nice mix of humor and adventure. The art is good in parts and hard to follow in others. I've seen better, but also much worse.

[Mateo · Rating 1 out of 5]

horrible mental trick with pretty idealized characters and a very "shonen" and mongoloid presentation... 1/10

[Bigyeet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the art style, but like how everyone else said the writing was really crude, kinda made me feel disgusting to be honest

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

A manga has rarely ever made me actually laugh as much as this did

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first read of a Japanese graphic novel, or manga and it was too be honest pretty average. That is not too say that all of them will be average, but this seemed to have a singular approach to appeal to a teenage male of about fifteen, and the premise while it held some interest not explored very well.
It was clear that there were some 'comedic' elements to the story, and it did not take itself too seriously, but the comedy was pretty hit and miss, and you were hoping that they would take the story a little bit more seriously.