Heat Guy J could be described as a crime-drama anime, in the same way that Ghost in the Shell could be described as a crime-drama anime. Daisuke Aurora, a laid-back Special Services officer, and his powerful android partner J, known as the Heat Guy because of the need to vent superheated air from his body after periods of action, work to solve crimes and catch the more dangerous criminals that plague the city of Judoh.
Supporting cast include Clair Leonelli, Ax Crazy villain and boss ('Vampire') of the Leonelli crime family; Ken Edmundo, perpetually irritated crime scene investigator; Kyoko Milchan; accountant for the Special Services Division who briefs Daisuke on his cases, and Boma, mysterious swordsman searching for someone called 'Usagi'.
The 26-episode series was produced by Satelight. It was licensed in the United States by Geneon, in the United Kingdom by Manga Entertainment, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. Infamous for how much Geneon paid for it (as much as FUNimation paid for Fullmetal Alchemist) and how little it sold.
- Abusive Parents: Clair's father, the previous Vampire. Many other characters come from broken homes/dysfunctional families, too.
- Adjective Noun Fred
- Anachronism Stew: In this high-tech world, Daisuke still has a TV with rabbit ears and knobs, and Clair has a rotary phone.
- A Wizard Did It: Every so often, strange folk called the Celestials .
- Abnormal Ammo: Red Caps - exploding bullets. Also the bullets (effectively miniature cluster bombs) fired by Luka's illegal pistol, which are capable of .
- Blue Caps essentially KO targets with electric shocks.
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Judoh's sewer system is this. It's big enough that
- Action Girl:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Androids (except J, of course) are outlawed in Judoh, on the grounds that they can be used for evil purposes. Many people fear and/or dislike them.
- Anime First
- Alternate Calendar: The year is JD 402.
- Arc Words: and
- Armchair Military: The other Mafia leaders.
- Ax Crazy: Clair Leonelli. "Fireworks!"
- Badass Automaton: J
- Badass Longcoat: J, Ken Edmundo, and Mishia.
- Badass Nickname: Vampire refers, here, not to undead bloodsucking creatures, but to the leader of the Mafia in Judoh.
- Badass Normal: Daisuke can survive a fight with an android, and . Clair Leonelli is arguably this, though merely for the fact that he fears nothing - he lacks Daisuke's extraordinary physical prowess. Giobanni Gallo is this for .
- Bald of Evil: Luka.
- Big Badass Wolf: Boma.
- Bishonen: Shun Aurora, Clair Leonelli, Michal and .
- Black Knight: Boma.
- Blond Guys Are Evil: , Subverted by Daisuke
- Born Lucky: Boma .
- Brainwashed and Crazy:
- Bratty Half-Pint: Monica.
- Cain and Abel: .
- Catch Phrase, J has rather likes his 'A Man...' remarks, mostly ironic since J himself is a android.
- A Man should not show signs of pain in front of the enemy
- A Man's appearance is a very personal choice
- A Man must fight for his good and true friend
- A Man only exists to bring the future into being
- When a Man looks up to the sky there is an expectation of hope
- If a man has good itentions, he should not expect thanks.
- Chekhov's Gun: Daisuke's silver-bullet pendant.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Boma, even after his Mind Screw gets fixed. Highlights include randomly inserting "Usagi/Bunny" into everyday conversation, and randomly vanishing mid-fight.
- Color Coded for Your Convenience: Similar to the "good hat bad hat" dichotomy of Westerns, Daisuke (the good guy) wears white pants and has blond hair, while Clair (the bad guy) wears black pants and has black hair.
- Conspicuous CG: Several Establishing Shots, Daisuke's Cool Bike, and J without his artificial skin.
- Contemplate Our Navels: Daisuke when he's lying around on the sofa pondering about what's really going on; Shogun (pretty much every single thing he says is this); arguably Clair and don't even get started on Boma.
- Cool Bike: Daisuke's motorbike not only looks awesome, but can transform into a jetski. It can also reconfigure so J can drive it, letting it run even faster then human reflexes allow.
- Cool Old Guy: Shogun.
- Cursed with Awesome: Sure, it's a horrific punishment, but
- Day of the Jackboot:
- Debut Queue
- The Determinator: Giobanni Gallo, when .
- Easily Forgiven: At the end,
- Evil Laugh: Clair has one of these. Noriega gets to do this just before
- Expy: It's easy to see J as one for K, the protagonist of Robot Detective
- Fake Memories:
- Fangirls: The three girls always hanging around Daisuke.
- Fighting From the Inside:
- Filler: Filler episodes abound, mostly for character development; a lot of fans were turned off by the fact that the plot took so long to finally come together. Thankfully, however, the fillers are not too horrible to watch,they were just not very relevant to the central plot or central characters. And even more thankfully, the plot eventually does tie together, even using small details from the filler episodes.
- Finger in the Mail: A Corrupt Politician kills Ian when the latter was caught spying. The guy then cuts off Ian's hand and sends it to Ian's boss (and friend), who then declares war on the senator.
- Foe Yay: Most of the fanfiction in this teeny tiny fandom is DaisukexClair, even though they normally do not get along.
- Gainax Ending
- Gender Blender Name: Clair.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Particularly in the manga, but even in the anime. Smoking has been illegalized in Judoh, so unsurprisingly, many (though not all) of the bad guys are seen to smoke. These include various Mooks, Clair's sexy scientist girlfriend Trinity in the manga, and even can be briefly seen a time or two with a cigarette.
- Gondor Calls for Aid:
- Gory Discretion Shot:
- Gossipy Hens: Dice's frequent contacts Cynthia, Janis, and Vivian.
- Hair Colors: Clair has blue and black hair, Kia Freeborn has dark blue hair, Kyoko Milchan has pink hair and .
- Heel Face Turn:
- Heroic Sacrifice: , leaving Clair with their personal trinkets.
- Heroic BSOD:
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Cynthia, Janis, and Vivian
- Hot Scientist: Antonia Bellucci.
- Hyperspace Arsenal: Boma seems to draw his sword from Hammerspace, accompanied by some cool lightning effects. We never see him put it away after use.
- I Minored in Tropology:
- Karma Houdini: Shun.
- Kick the Dog: Clair does this. A lot. Shin too, toward the end
- Mad Bomber: Clair. Also, another guy, who appears in one episode.
- The Mafia: Vita Company/The Leonelli Family.
- Man Behind the Man:
- Mind Rape:
- Not So Different: Daisuke & Clair.
- Old Master: Shogun is and . Arguably Mauro is this, being an expert marksman.
- Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Teto. This Uncanny Valley cute robot kid is programmed to ask "Is this alright?" when following orders, but it sounds creepy. (Just ask Clair!) Teto's singing also causes flashbacks, and he
- Nuclear Weapons Taboo: It's unknown what the Celestials' power source is, but it sounds an awful lot like nuclear power the way it's described.
- One-Letter Name: J.
- "On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase:
- Pin-Pulling Teeth: Done habitually by Clair Leonelli.
- Posthumous Character:
- Reasonable Authority Figure: the government head who reforms the SU
- Shun, as well.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Daisuke (red), J (blue) and Ken Edmundo (blue).
- Rise to the Challenge
- Rock Beats Laser: At one point, Daisuke uses a flashlight to blind several goons wearing night-vision goggles.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections:
- Shut UP, Hannibal: When Clair starts on a Humans Are the Real Monsters rant while holding a Celestial hostage, Daisuke Lampshades Clair's real reason for his cynical views about the people of Judoh and the Celestials -- living in his late father's shadow within the Leonelli crime family. This earns Daisuke 3 gunshots.
- Sins of Our Fathers: The source of much of the bitterness between Daisuke and Clair.
- Also a source of the bitterness between Kia and his half-brother Ray.
- In fact, this seems to be a recurring theme in the series...
- Space Amish: The Siberbians, who live quite contentedly outside of Judoh in a self-sufficient community without any of Judoh's modern (or post-modern) conveniences.
- On the other hand, they can be seriously anti-social jerkasses that would make Ayn Rand roll her eyes. In Siberbia, self-sufficient means self-sufficient—if you need a hand to carry a heavy load, or not fall off a cliff to your death, you're seen as weak. They have a Freudian Excuse,[1] and they've developed I Was Just Passing Through into an art form.
- Stripperiffic: Daisuke's fangirl trio.
- Superior Species:
- Super Prototype:
- The Syndicate: Shop Echigo. Arguably the Leonelli Family is this, too.
- Take That: "Typical government office response."
- Took a Level in Badass:
- Tsundere: Kyoko, especially in the manga. Also, Cynthia, Janis, and Vivian (Daisuke's fangirls).
- Weapon of Choice: Boma with his sword and Daisuke with his pistol. Clair Leonelli is also very fond of hand grenades, affectionately referring to them as Fireworks.
- Yakuza: Shop Echigo.
- Younger Than They Look: J.
- In part because J is a android and in part because Antonia Bellucci gave J the appearance of her deceased father.
A real man has a duty to edit a trope list.
- ↑ trauma from the Celestials shutting down the city their ancestors came from, and from having to deal with survivalist wannabes begging for help at all hours