Strait Jacket

Strait Jacket, based on the novel by Ichiro Sakaki, boasts a premise with promise: humanity long ago figured out how to effectively harness magic, so now it serves as merely another form of technology. But it's a risky one that can turn practitioners into demons, although metal suits called Molds have been designed to prevent this from happening. Still, when things do go wrong, the Tactical Sorcerists, who are overseen by the Sorcery Management Bureau, step in to take out the demons. Due to a terrorist-influenced outbreak of demonic occurrences, the Bureau is forced to try to recruit death-wish-harboring Leiot Steinberg, a powerful, effective, but also unlicensed Sorcerist with a guilty past that follows him like a shadow in the form of a half-demon girl named Cappeltetta. Strait Jacket doesn't waste much time with expository material about Leiot or his relationship with Cappeltetta, instead coasting through a nicely animated, explosion-filled story that feels more like a series pilot than an expansive self-contained work. Not rated, but suitable for 13-up, Strait Jacket is presented on an extra-less dual-language disc. A strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (L. Martincik)