English Dub Season Review: Cop Craft Season One

Ever want a Buddy Cop show mixing the grit of a neo-noir story but with fantasy elements that was also at least ten times better than the Netflix movie “Bright”? Well, that seems to have been the plan when the talents of Full Metal Panic creator Shoji Gatoh and Last Exile character designer Range Murata came together on what would become known as Cop Craft. The story follows a hard boiled cop named Kei Matoba on the mean streets of San-Teresa, which has adapted in the past fifteen years to the influx of Semanians, beings from a fantasy like realm, ever since a portal opened nearby. But this also means that crime has evolved as well, with mythical substances peddled with drugs and magical tech sold on the black market. His new partner, Tilarna Exedilica, is a Semanian brought in to help with cases like these, but her lack of experience with Earth customs causes her to butt heads with Kei a lot. Even so, they work together to keep things safe in their home.

When I first heard about Cop Craft, I was honestly expecting something pretty different. I assumed that Tilarna would simply be a Sailor Moon type figure who was someone from Earth with newly gained magical powers which would help navigate Kei through emerging magical threats (and with so many subversive takes on Magical Girls since Madoka Magica in 2011, I had precedent to expect this). Instead, what the series focuses on is about the clashing of two cultures, worlds even, and how they help the other grow and change, but also hurt each other as well. On one end, we have the Semanians who come from a realm of magic and traditionalism, and on the other we have the human race with its individuality and rashness. Both ends with their perks and flaws now co-mingling on a single island to potentially disastrous results. Sounds like a pretty cool premise that you could potentially see as a long running series, right?

Well, to its credit, Cop Craft manages to do several distinct stories with its scant twelve episodes (not including the recap). First is a conspiracy thriller with a fantasy twist, then a monster movie, then a body swap comedy, and finally a more political version of the thriller. All do quite a bit to flesh out San-Teresa and the world that has adapted to the introduction of Semanian people and culture to a normal human world. The tension between the two species is shown well enough to illustrate the understandable concerns and fears that both societies might have about integrating with the other, though with misguided ways of carrying that out. It can certainly never be said that this show didn’t have a willing spirit to explore such a multi-faceted idea, especially while developing the budding partnership between Kei and Tilarna, who are pretty fun to watch get closer, at least for the most part.

Unfortunately, even by the end of the season, it still feels like a lot of these ideas are half-baked and only scratch the surface of more complex ideas. Each of those story arcs, while entertaining and interesting enough, seem mostly disconnected from each other (aside from the first and last having the same antagonist). The world is interesting enough knowing that it can fit in these kinds of events, but they don’t feel like they serve much of a greater purpose other than giving a brief tour of the area. That would be fine for an ongoing series with multiple seasons planned, but for something like this with only twelve episodes and no clear indication of further installments (not helped by a really shaky animation studio), and it ends up just making me yearn for the show this COULD have been under better circumstances but will likely never come.

I guess one could say that it’s a good sign when a story leaves you wanting me, which Cop Craft certainly did. It’s a cool story idea that dips its toes in a lot of cool puddles, but it’s the fact that it seems to have no desire to jump in something deeper that makes the experience feel so much more shallow. If we were to get a second season, I would certainly want more insight into character backgrounds like Kei’s time in the war between the worlds, or Tilarna’s upbringing in the other world, or heck just SOME perspective from the other side of the portal! There’s so much they could do and could have done here if they had more time or were willing to make the time. I do hope we get more of Cop Craft so we can learn more about it any ourselves through its story, but it looks like the book might be shut on that.