Kiddy Grade was one of the first series I’d watched, purchasing DVDs from the local Best Buy in the mid 00′s. I don’t remember how I found it but it’s lived on as a memorable for a number of reasons.
Lets start with a summary. Kiddy Grade is set in a future where worlds are colonized and people travel across space freely. Order and peace is maintained by the GOTT, or Galactic Organization of Trades and Tariffs, though various efforts, both bureaucratic & enforcement. The latter of those is the focus of this story, Éclair and Lumiere serving as main characters and ES Members.
Spanning 24 episodes, the show features a wide set of characters to intrigue you, as well as storylines that build up to meaningful crescendos. The different ES members and other GOTT individuals you get introduced to each play their own pivotal roles, as well as bare details of the girls’ pasts. The overarching themes introduced slowly tear apart the pristine image of reality, making you wonder just how peace and order can be obtained, and if those who have it are welding it for good ends. There’s so many angles KG explores and I found them all fascinating, even the occasions it got bogged down.
Looping back to characters, there’s an element of KG that I forget about - it has two strong female leads. Éclair and Lumiere largely hold their own though the whole show, whether that’s fighting robots, galactic criminals, or even … well, you’ll find out. That’s worth a bit. Certainly, you can take that down a notch when you get into the fanservice elements of the show, but still.
There’s also the heavy dose of life lessons sprinkled in, whether for you to take in or just reflect upon the characters facing them. Humans are greedy, therefore they are human - that one’s still in my head all these years later. The idea that eternal youth might be more trouble than it’s worth. That dividing people by class is problematic. And how sometimes we’re led astray by good motives. None of it is monumental, but nice to reflect upon wrapped up in a show.
Recommended? Yes. Certainly, I may have warm feelings because it was one of the first series to get me into anime, but I think the story holds up all these years later. Changing the galaxy, fighting your internal demons, dealing with your past, dealing with others turning on you, the show has a lot inside. If any of this sounds interesting to you it’s streaming over on Funimation.
Side comment - They did an English edition of the OP and ED for this show and - I to this day do not understand why, but also, like, why?
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