Kazuma: Would you get angry if I took some cheap shots?
Ryuhou: No, but I see the end. Just as I thought... You're a human being not necessary in this society.

Scryed, also known as s.CRY.ed, is an anime released by Sunrise from July 4, 2001 to December 26, 2001. It ran for 26 episodes on Japanese television, and has yet to be licensed in the states. It was directed by Goro Taniguchi, and the scenarios were written by Yosuke Kuroda. The music of the series has been collected into two soundtracks(Scryed OST 1 and Scryed OST 2), and were composed by Kotaro Nakagawa. The anime series also spawned a manga.

Twenty-two years ago an explosion occurred at the Kanagawa prefecture in Japan. This seperated a part of the prefecture from Japan, and radically changed the terrain of the land. The land was dubbed "The Lost Ground." The people of the Lost Ground, also known as "Inners", were basically left to their own devices, creating their own rules and supplies. However, some people began to develop new abilities beyond normal humans. These new humans, called "Alters", had the ability to take matter and reshape it.

The ability was normally constant, having people creating the same alters. Some varieties discovered were those who could create machines, large items, or boost one's own abilities. This ability was decided to be worth watching over so the Japanese government established a new city on the Lost Ground. They also created HOLD, an army for the city, and HOLY, a group of Alter users that would monitor and arrest Inner alters.

Twenty-two years after the creation of the Lost Ground, there is an Inner alter user named Kazuma. He has the ability to boost his punches to a superhuman level. He takes on jobs, found by his friend Kimishima Kunihiko, that require an alter user, but he takes one that gets his information into HOLY's files. HOLY comes after him, and he faces one of their top members, Ryuhou. Ryuhuou easily defeats Kazuma, which is something that Kazuma cannot believe nor comprehend. Kazuma sets himself on a mission to defeat Ryuhou. It becomes his burning desire, sometimes ignoring his young ward, Yuta Kanami. He has to defeat Ryuhou.

Twenty-two years after the creation of the Lost Ground, there is a strong alter user named Ryuhou. His father was the original head of the new city built on the Lost Ground. He used to be afraid of his Alter abilities as a child, but he's quite over that now. He is now the second-in-command of HOLY, and few rival his abilities. His childhood love, Mimori Kiryu, has returned to the Lost Ground as a scientist for HOLY. However, he has no time for that. He takes on a call for the arrest of a powerful alter. He easily defeats him. The Inner is of no relevence to him. Only that black and white alter that killed his mother is important.

The introduction of the series is interesting in how it shows the events of the same day except from the views of the two rivals of the show, Kazuma and Ryuhou. The rest of the series continues much like this with episodes centering on a different character's perspective of the world.

Scryed can be action or drama. The series is very character driven at times, even when it's through battles. The first half of the series is very interesting and quite comedic at times. During the second half, the series begins to waver near the end. The last few episodes are questionable in their story quality.

However, this is still an enjoyable series. I enjoyed it, and thought it worthwhile to sit through. It's not up to the par of something like Cowboy Bebop, but it is good.

Characters: Episode List:
  1. Kazuma
  2. Ryuhou
  3. Holy
  4. Big Magnum
  5. Mimori Kiryu
  6. Zetsuei
  7. Asuka Tachibana
  8. Mad Script
  9. Shell Bullet
  10. Super Pinch
  11. Alters
  12. Kunihiko Kimishima
  13. Lost Ground
  14. Kyoji Mujo
  15. Stray Man
  16. So Kigetsuki
  17. Ayase Terada
  18. Straight Cougar
  19. Tokonatsu Three Sisters
  20. Kanami Yuta
  21. Holy Eye
  22. Martin Jigmar
  23. Sherrice Adjani
  24. Fist
  25. Native
  26. Dream

Sources:
Holy Ground - http://www.roserevolution.com/holy/
Radical Good Speed - http://www.time-stranger.net/cougar/
ZeWrestler's Scryed Page: A Page Dedicated to Scryed - http://www.angelfire.com/anime4/zescryed/main/index2.htm