I've watched volume one of 009-1 through twice and I'm still not sure if I actually liked it or not. I found it to be disturbing, twisted, and thought provoking all at once. I'm almost tempted to watch it again -- and given that my initial reaction, based on the cover of the DVD was, "Ewww, not another ecchi anime ..." this says something.

Mylene Hoffman, the heroine of the series, is a secret agent cyborg. She's blatantly sexy and dangerous, but also somehow very human. Some of her actions were distinctly 'unheroic' -- for example, in an episode where she is sent to kill an assassin (who is also trying to kill her) she has a tryst with him after they both fail to take the other out. During the encounter she lies to him about her abilities. This later enables her to kill him -- after she had sex with him!

This, of course, is blatantly unheroic. And yet it was thought provoking. The man was a bad guy, he was trying to kill her, he had killed other people, and she used sex with the guy as means to find out his weaknesses and then win. My gut-level reaction to that is wrong wrong wrong wrong, good heroines don't do that. And yet, the story worked, and worked well, and it really made me think.

009-1 is set in a world where the Cold War never ended. It is based on manga from the 1960's and has a very strong 60's retro feel. The animation is gorgeous, the character designs beautiful (in more ways than one), and -- while the feminist in me feels a little guilty in saying this -- I like Mylene's design, miniskirt and all.

This series should appeal to fans of James Bond and 60's camp. It's definitely not kid safe, however, and, while actual sex scenes are handled quite tastefully, there's a fair amount of fan service in the form of butt shots and, uh, Mylene's deadly cybernetic enhancements to her breasts. Therefore, I give it a guarded recommendation for adult fans who won't be offended by a bit of ecchi.