Yasuomi Umetsu is a prolific anime director best known for his errotic action film "Kite" and its sequel, "Kite Liberator." A quick look at his filmography will show he actually has a much larger body of work, starting in 1986 and still working up to the present (2017). Most would be surprised to hear this I think... because "Kite" really has a style and feel that can't be compared to anything else. This makes sense when closer inspection shows that he typically stands as an animation director. The "Kite" series is the only work that he has both directed AND written, hence it would best show his style. Actually, there is one other work that shares his stamp: "Mezzo Forte." By pure coincidence, it is also a action-heavy porno, released in the year 2000, around the peak of anime-awareness in the USA and at a time when stylized violence and sex in anime seemed commonplace.Exactly why Umetsu likes putting porn in his action stories is something of a mystery. None of his other series (where he isn't credited as writer) have this, and rightfully so. Like "Kite" before it, "Mezzo Forte" has real sex scenes, uncensored, showing full genetals, penetration, and climax. This likely made it difficult to distribute on television or home video, hence the reason these are labelled as "OVA's." For the most part, the sex scenes are short and could be removed without affecting the story too. And for the USA, they were, but we'll get to that."Mezzo Forte" is a little more lighthearted than the brooding "Kite" or the violent sci-fi "Kite: Liberator." It quickly introduces a trio of undergound dealers who specialize in building and selling realistic sex-androids. In need of extra cash, they plan a kidnapping, but it goes awry when they accidently kill the old man they kidnapped. Who happened to be a well-known baseball-team owner and mob boss. And who happened to have a trigger-happy daughter who would rather shoot then pay regardless if her daddy was still alive. The tone comes across as fast slapstick comedy with witty comments every few seconds, with just a pinch of violence, torture and rape to keep your attention. Keep an eye out for a brief but obvious cameo from "Kite" characters in this too!The story is a little more than poorly paced. "Mezzo Forte" was originally released in two 30-minute episodes, and more information to help explain the cast of characters would have been useful. Lead poster girl Mikura seems to have some special ability to see omens from the future to help warn her team if good or bad things were coming... but no one really comments on this. Little details like that occur for all the characters, making it feel like another 30-60 minutes would have done wonders. Online sources claim the USA received a "movie-cut" version with an extra 20 minutes of footage, which perhaps helps wiith this pacing isuse, but available releases (most recently from Softcel Pictures in 2017) only has the standard cut (50-minute) and uncut (60 minute) options. An "international" release in Japan may have that extra footage, otherwise a rated television sequel series might answer some of those questions.
Speaking of cuts: about those sex scenes. Yes, this is technically porn, and there is one sex scene per each of the two episodes, each about two minutes long. If you want it... it's fine, but the animation does show its age a little. If you don't want it, the first scene is a dream sequence and could and should be skipped. The second scene is a rape scene, while initially hard to watch, get a great payoff later when they reference what happened. But because they do reference it, cutting it out feels like something was missing. Unfortunately, neither is an ideal expereince.Aside from that, the real draw is the action. Umetsu has a love for frantic and outrageous fights with guns, with explosions and cars driving through buildings and so on. There really is no other director like him in that regard. "Mezzo Forte" does not disappoint. Action is fluid, well-choreographed, and set up properly for impact. Combined with the fun characters, and a story with a fine ending, trust me when I saw you'll have a good time.Animation and visuals unfortuantely barely hold up, showing its age quite well despite coming from the year 2000, only the action scenes really continue to impress. The character designs do stand out a liitle, in a good way. The English dub on my release only was for the cut version, and the Japanese dub was only for the uncut version... both are fine, but clearly from a time and for a project where voice acting wasn't at its best.The dated production and pornographic content may have some people avoid Umetsu's original work, which is a shame. You really should try to give as least one of his productions a chance, and I strongly believe "Mezzo Forte" is strong enough to see at least once.