Heat Guy J

"Good luck...Heat Guy."

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.

Tropes used in Heat Guy J include:

• 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 visit Judoh and magic away the pollution.
• Abnormal Ammo: Red Caps - exploding bullets. Also the bullets (effectively miniature cluster bombs) fired by Luka's illegal pistol, which are capable of blasting J apart so that only his head remains intact.
  • Blue Caps essentially KO targets with electric shocks.
• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Judoh's sewer system is this. It's big enough that there's a fairly large town inside it.
• Action Girl:When Kyoko takes it upon herself to rescue Daisuke from Clair.
• 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: Where is my Usagi? and You piss me off.
• 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 defeat Boma in a swordfight. 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 walking into the Vita headquarters and shooting Noriega in front of a room full of Leonelli Family mobsters. With one arm in a cast.
• Bald of Evil: Luka.
• Big Badass Wolf: Boma.
• Bishonen: Shun Aurora, Clair Leonelli, Michal and Serge Echigo.
• Black Knight: Boma.
• Blond Guys Are Evil: Shun and Echigo, Subverted by Daisuke
• Born Lucky: Boma during Vita Company's game of Russian Roulette.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Boma, though not under anyone's control. He gets crazier and crazier until Daisuke and J wake him up.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Monica.
• Cain and Abel: Daisuke & Shun.
• 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. It turns out to be not only a memento of his late father, but a flash drive containing all sorts of dirt on Shun.
• 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. This only goes so far in the series, however.
• 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 especially as Giovanni gets ready to assassinate Shun 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: In prison, Boma's real face was replaced with that of a wolf. Sure, it's a horrific punishment, but he has a goddamn wolf's head!
• Day of the Jackboot: The Liberation Army's coup in the last few episodes, backed by Shun.
• Debut Queue
• The Determinator: Giobanni Gallo, when he is helping Clair to escape.
• Easily Forgiven: At the end, Shun is still working for the city. And after having the president shot, too! Clair is also free, but goes through some serious trauma like his only friends dying for him, so, it evens out? I guess?
• Evil Laugh: Clair has one of these. Noriega gets to do this just before he gets shot to pieces.
• Expy: It's easy to see J as one for K, the protagonist of Robot Detective
• Fake Memories: Boma never had a sister called Usagi. Usagi was his best friend's long-dead little sister, but Boma subconsciously altered his own memory of her when the Beast Master attempted to brainwash him in prison.
• Fangirls: The three girls always hanging around Daisuke.
• Fighting From the Inside: J desperately resists when Shun uses the override code to force him to try to kill Giovanni and Daisuke.
• 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. Except towards the end, where they help each other, but not actually for yaoi reasons.
• 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 Shun can be briefly seen a time or two with a cigarette.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: During the battle of Kabuki Road, every major figure from the entire series shows up to bail out the mob.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Ian is murdered and his severed hand with his Phi Beta Kappa ring on it is sent back to Clair. All we see is the look of horror on Clair and his bodyguards when they open the box.
• 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 Serge Echigo has white hair.
• Heel Face Turn: Clair Leonelli, Giobanni Gallo and arguably Boma.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Michal and Ian both give their lives so that Clair can escape from his own mob (which has been taken over by Noriega), leaving Clair with their personal trinkets.
• Heroic BSOD: Clair has one of these when he temporarily loses control of Vita Company to Noriega.
• 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:

Daisuke: (to Kyoko) I can't believe I'm taking advice from a literature major.

• 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: Noriega was set up as the Big Bad fairly early on, but is later revealed to be working for the Shop Echigo, who is then revealed to be Shun Aurora, the real Serge Echigo having been dead for years prior.
• Mind Rape: Someone from the Magnagalia Prison comes after Boma to brainwash him and take him back.
• Not So Different: Daisuke & Clair.
• Old Master: Shogun is an ex mob boss and managed to vanish into thin air when Shun tried to shoot him. 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 takes a security guard's face in a quest to destroy J!
• 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:

Daisuke: See ya later, J.

• Pin-Pulling Teeth: Done habitually by Clair Leonelli.
• Posthumous Character: Serge Echigo had been dead for years before the series began, having been replaced as the Shop Echigo by Shun Aurora.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: the government head who reforms the SU
  • Shun, as well. He's the Big Bad
• 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: Shun is granted amnesty, despite trying to take over Judoh and all that. They said it was because of all the good things he did for the city-state.
• 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. Luckily he had on a bullet-proof vest!
• Sins of Our Fathers: The source of much of the bitterness between Daisuke and Clair. Clair's father killed Daisuke's father on orders from Daisuke's evil uncle Echigo.
  • 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: The Celestials.
• Super Prototype: Averted. J is forced to fight an identical prototype of himself. He is, however, both stronger and equipped with a better AI.
• The Syndicate: Shop Echigo. Arguably the Leonelli Family is this, too.
• Take That: "Typical government office response."
• Took a Level in Badass: Claire, in the final three episodes, after "waking up" from his depressed stupor.
• 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.

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A real man has a duty to edit a trope list.

1. ↑ 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