A man who's working as a bounty hunter to pay alimony and child support.
"Hard" himself is a likable guy, knows his way around the criminal underworld/ the kitchen/ and a fight. Loves his daughter, sings in the shower, and always broke.
Synopsis: A rival in the business gets killed, he goes after the people repsonsible, that's it.
The plot is basic, the movie is only 40 something minutes, and the execution feels like an episode than a movie.
MC is likable
Animation is retro 2D goodness
A lot of the sound design is wonky, sometimes it's out of sync for the version I watched
Very very weak supporting cast, barely a supporting cast. Which is why the world feels hollow, despite it being lively at the same time
No exploration of the MC, just pieces of what he's about
Weak antagonists that could've been interesting, or better explored
Very plot driven, so there's no sense of progress or character arc, things just happen, and he reacts to it
The action is good, brutal
The aesthetic & actual setting is grounded and gritty
The movie isn't dogshit, this is basically GOLGO13 if he was broke and was dumb enough to get married, have a kid & divorced.
Thus this played like an experimental pilot than a finished, thought out entry adaptation of the book.
It's entertaining, it's fast paced, and the order of events is executed well enough to where it's not confused but it feels like you're thrown into a world with a lot to offer but very little is explored about it.
Like GOLGO13 (2008), this would've been been better translated as a multi-episodic series with Hard doing a job every episode, just like Golgo. And we learn something new about him, or the world, or both every episode.
Cause I really wanted to see him reuinite with his daughter, flashbacks, or the dynamic with his wife. That plot thread wasn't given any payoff. A main character with a child is a very under-utilized concept, and this movie stands out for not only NOt making this guy a typical virgin high school loser, but he's got a child, divorced, and trying his best to pay his dues just to have at least a moment with his little one, even just to hear her voice.
But he has to kill people, and do all kinds of extreme violent shit to get to her.
That'd make a decent mini, or full series or better written movie, or movie series.
The movie itself is ok, but it & the main character feels underdeveloped, especially given how eventful his life seems to be.
It was ok. Could've been better. But because it's so short, and the pacing is so fast. Likely will watch it again myself, but it's a shame it was a movie instead of a series. Again, it plays like a pilot to lead on an actual series.
It's still better than most formulaic modern garbage anime produced today, with multiple seasons of mediocrity.
Needed better/more recurring side characters to populate the world, better development & exploration of the mc and setting. Needed a better platform, everything your average Shonen anime is afford to keep going for years on end, is exactly what this series needed to be the best it could've been.
And it's unfortunate. Because Hard himself is actually a cool, better concept of a character than the majority of self-insert blobs that are created these days just to pander to blank slates.
Not recommended because it's quality, but I recommend it if you have time to kill.
I personally liked it.
