"Alter Hunt," the second installment in the excellent "S-Cry-Ed" series keeps up the good work the first volume started. The tense relationship between those who live in the comfort of the walled city and those in the ghettos outside continues to fall apart as the Ryuho-led HOLY group set out to capture Alter users in reckless Kazuma's world.Kazuma and Ryuho are products of a mysterious phenomenon that devastated the landscape of the Kanagawa Prefecture 22 years ago, making it nearly uninhabitable, and earning it the designation "The Lost Ground." Those born in the Lost Ground have Alter Abilities that allow them to manipulate matter around them into their own unique defense mechanisms, anything from giant floating hands, to giant toy robots, or armor-crusting and speed-enhancing a car. Other Alters are endowed with not so visible abilities, such as mind-reading, reality manipulation or power absorption. The "S-Cry-Ed" main Alters are Ryuho's stand-alone robot Zetsuei, and Kazuma's bullet fist, an armor shell that crusts over his arm.
The first episode involves Kanami, Kazuma's pseudo younger sister, whom he cares deeply for. Constantly working at farms, she collapses one day after having contracted a disease no one in the outside world can cure. Kazuma and HOLY clash again as he and Kimishima hijack a HOLD medic truck to aid Kanami. Enter Asuka Tachibana, a prideful HOLY Alter who controls the Infinity Eight, a series of green orbs that can be formed into a sword, a shield or attached to an opponents forehead to control them or maniuplate their body functions.
The next episode features the second major battle between Ryuho and Kazuma. Kazuma, still bitter from his one-sided loss in their meeting, leads a group of Native Alters in a planned ambush on a HOLY convoy. One fight older and a bitter heart stronger, Kazuma finally manages to make Ryuho sweat; but things go downhill again as Ryuho unleashes the second stage of his Alter, a super-fast form called "Zetsuei."
After the battle, Kazuma awakens, trapped in the underground ruins of his battle against Ryuho. With one hitch: Tachibana is also trapped with him. The two forge a tenuous union to find their way out, each getting a glimpse of how the other thinks along the way.
Finally, HOLY headquarters is thrown into disarray when a surpisingly friendly Kazuma waltzes in untouched, asking to join HOLY. Ryuho is naturally suspicious, but the group's commander calms him by using reality-manipulator Unkei to assure Kazuma's defection into HOLY. Not all unjustified, considering Kazuma's interior motives of finding where the captured Alters are being held and trying to free them. One of the lighter episodes in the series, but one that strongly highlights the disparity between people who live in the wealthy walled metropolis, and those suffering outside.
This is a 2001 effort so the art is right at the borderline of older series like "Amazing Nurse Nanako" or "Dragonball GT" and the newer CG-heavy art in "Full Metal Panic" or "Gasaraki." It maintains the liney details, and starts to use computer graphics effectively for the most part. The in-series music is very good, while the opening and closing themes ("Reckless Fire" and "Drastic My Soul") seem to have borrowed Ricky Martin's band as backup.
This series is not one to eagerly throw away characters. Many of the Alters that are introduced in this and the previous volume will make more appearances in subsequent volumes; Tachibana in particular will be a significant force in the "S-Cry-Ed" episodes to come. Discrimination, right and wrong, the abuse of power--"S-Cry-Ed" covers each topic masterfully. Fight-obsessed otaku will appreciate the "Dragon Ball Z"-like battle sequences (just as brutal, but more refined, and minus the long, drawn out sequences), while more mature fans will enjoy the fragile relationships and dramas of the series. A definite must-watch and must-collect.
