At first, 009-1 looked like it would be an action oriented spy story, lots of gadgets, infiltration missions, and spy duels. At least, that was the impression I got from the first DVD. The series changes tempo for the rest, slowing down into something more blue that’s worth it if you can take slower riffs on infiltration, gadgets, and spy duels.

The series structure of 009-1 tells standalone stories through Mylene’s missions rather than an overarching plot of Western vs. Eastern blocks. The storytelling focuses on Mylene, what she’s thinking, and the characters involved in any given episode. It’s more human drama than anything, with some stories giving only an obligatory flash of battle. All of them end with some sense of loss, even the ones with happier endings. I enjoyed most of the stories, but a couple were a little corny in their payoff scenes even beyond the campy style of the show, but even then they were capped off with a short thought from Mylene, which ends the episodes in a good way. It makes her an enjoyable character. These brief moments really binds the series together and reveals a lot about Mylene in a very short amount of time.

When I saw the first volume I was quite impressed with the scene direction for 009-1. There were some very inventive and well choreographed cuts that really breathed life into the stories. For the most part, those inventive cuts disappear somewhat after the initial set of episodes and become pretty standard fare with scene and shot changes. It would have been great if the director could have kept it up, but it’s likely that the reality of budgets and deadlines tempered the brilliance of the visual choreography.

It’s not much of a let down, since I feel the mood created in the stories picks up after the action takes a more secondary role. Actually there are quite a few spy duels now that I think about it, but they are told in such different ways, with very different setups and how they impact Mylene that it didn’t feel like another spy vs. spy scenario even if it’s pretty obvious that’s where the episode plays. None of it felt like the same story with different characters, so that’s a plus.

English Dub Notes

I had a hard time pulling away from the English dub because Alice Fulks brought a lot in her portrayal of Mylene, who is both cold super spy and not. Fulks also has a vocal type not heard much in anime dubs, giving Mylene quite a unique sound, so I found listening to her as Mylene so enjoyable both in tone and portrayal. The rest of the dub plays up the camp complete with corny accents, which are fun most of the time. And to be fair, there’s a few groaner dub moments involving kids and grandparents, but overall Fulks gets a gold star and the rest of the dub matches the material well.

Release Notes

009-1 comes with a good bit of Japan centric extras regarding 009-1 as a concept, as a story, and also from the production end of the anime.

Parting Shot

009-1 in many ways is obviously a product of a different era, even if the production of the anime is quite recent. If Mylene were twelve years old (or 1,200 in a tween body), flat-chested, socially inept in either an aggro or passi direction, clumsy except for when she’s fighting, 009-1 would probably have had a higher profile, but it sort of got out there without much notice I think. Unlike many characters designed today, Mylene isn’t particularly made to be inviting.

On the one hand 009-1 is retro spy games entertainment, but on the other I think there’s something there that’s a little more than just that baseline of girls, guns, and retro style. I Netflixed this series, but if it gets the collected treatment it’s a definite buy for me.