Golgo 13: Queen Bee

Golgo 13: Queen Bee
File:Golgo13QueenBeeDVD.jpg Western DVD cover from Urban Vision Entertainment
Directed by	Osamu Dezaki
Screenplay by	Akihiro Tago
Based on	Golgo 13 by Takao Saito
Produced by	Takayuki Nagasawa Sumio Udagawa Hitoshi Yoshimura
Starring	Tesshō Genda Akio Ōtsuka Masako Katsuki Ryūsei Nakao Kinryū Arimoto
Cinematography	Hajime Noguchi Hirokata Takahashi
Edited by	Seiji Morita
Music by	Fujimaru Yoshino
Production companies	BMG Victor Filmlink International Goodhill Vision Tezuka Productions
Distributed by	Urban Vision Entertainment (United States)
Release date	21 May 1998
Running time	57 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Golgo 13: Queen Bee (ゴルゴ13〜QUEEN BEE〜) is an original video animation that was released in 1998. Tesshō Genda provides the voice of Golgo 13 in the Japanese version, while in the English version, he is voiced by John DiMaggio. The film is set during the 2000 U.S. presidential election cycle and focuses on assassin Golgo 13 as he is hired by a Democratic Party campaign manager to kill female drug lord Queen Bee, who is planning to assassinate the Democratic nominee for president, Robert Hardy. Golgo, however, finds the job too easy and seeks out the true connection between Hardy and Queen Bee.

Golgo 13: Queen Bee was released on May 21, 1998 in Japan by Tezuka Productions and Filmlink International, and on DVD in English-speaking regions in 2001 by Urban Vision Entertainment.

Synopsis

Golgo 13: Queen Bee is set during the 2000 U.S. presidential election cycle. In New York, Golgo 13 is hired by Democratic Party campaign manager and vice presidential candidate Thomas Waltham to assassinate Queen Bee, the second-in-command of the Comnerro Liberation Front, to prevent her from killing Democratic nominee Robert Hardy.

At a local bar, Golgo obtains more information from his informant about Queen Bee - her real name is Sonia, and she and the Comnerro Front are planning to distribute cocaine throughout the United States with help from mafia boss Don Roccini. He speculates that she wants to kill Hardy because he represents a threat to her drug operation. But Golgo finds the job too easy and seeks to find the true connection between Sonia and Hardy. Not long after, Sonia shows up and encounters Golgo. She invites him to her hotel room where they have sex, and asks Golgo to take on a job for her - assassinate Robert Hardy for $1.2 million. Golgo declines her offer as he is already on another assignment. Sonia then learns that she has been marked for assassination by Golgo. However, he lets her escape.

Meanwhile, Waltham travels to California with U.S. Army General Gordon to hire a disgraced lieutenant named Benning to wipe out the Comnerro Front. Golgo also arrives to investigate a ship owned by Sonia and her men. There, Golgo tries to kill Sonia again but is forced to retreat after he is shot numerous times. After recovering from his wounds, Golgo is visited by his informant, who came back from Utah with information on Hardy's past. He learns that when Hardy was a lawyer, he had an affair with a woman named Vanessa and conceived a child with her named Joanna in 1971. After Hardy was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, Vanessa and Joanna disappeared from Utah. He tells Golgo that Joanna was 11 years old at the time, and if she is still alive today, she would be the same age as Sonia.

While heading home, Sonia thinks back on her past life. During a dream sequence, it is revealed that Vanessa was killed by Thomas Waltham, and that Sonia is actually Joanna, making her Hardy's daughter. Sonia was raped by Waltham after her mother was killed, leading her to believe that her father betrayed her, vowing revenge ever since.

Golgo arrives at the Comnerro base in South America to try and kill Sonia again, but is interrupted by Benning's men, who launch a surprise attack on the base and slaughter most of Sonia's men. Golgo and Sonia work together to fend off Benning's men. Golgo kills Benning, but blacks out from a severe knife wound. Sonia then brings Golgo to an abandoned temple to heal his wound. In exchange for helping her, Sonia has sex with Golgo again and becomes pregnant with his child.

Sometime later, the 2000 Democratic National Convention is taking place at Yankee Stadium in New York. While departing the stadium after the first day of the convention, Hardy stops his limo to meet a young girl with flowers. She calls herself Joanna Hardy, which shocks Hardy and causes him to have flashbacks of his past life. The girl runs back to a woman in a white suit, who is revealed to be Sonia. Back at their hotel, Hardy learns that Waltham lied about his family’s fate, as Waltham had told him that Vanessa and Joanna moved to Florida, but died in a car accident. In reality, Waltham had Vanessa killed and Joanna raped. After finding out that he had been betrayed, Hardy breaks down in tears.

Sonia arrives at Yankee Stadium during the final day of the convention to assassinate Hardy. Before delivering his acceptance speech, Hardy calls Waltham up to the podium and attempts to kill him, but he is tackled by security guards. Cornered, Hardy uses his gun to commit suicide, causing Sonia to break down in tears. After Hardy's funeral, Sonia arrives at her father's tombstone to pay respects, but is then shot and mortally wounded by Golgo. In her final moments, she asks Golgo to kill Waltham, and tells him that she deposited $1.2 million in his bank account to carry out the hit. Sonia dies, and Golgo accepts the job. In a mid-credits scene, he eventually finds Waltham's yacht, with Waltham, Don Roccini, and General Gordon present. Golgo kills all three men, and departs the scene.

Voice cast

Character	Japanese	English (Urban Vision Entertainment, 1998)
Duke Togo/Golgo 13	Tesshō Genda	John DiMaggio
Joanna Hardy/Sonia/Queen Bee	Masako Katsuki	Denise Poirier
Thomas Waltham	Ryūsei Nakao	Carlos Ferro
Robert Hardy	Kinryū Arimoto	Dwight Schultz
Informant	Akio Ōtsuka	John DiMaggio
Don Roccini	Toshiya Ueda	Joe Lala
General Gordon	Kōsei Tomita	John Hostetter
Gomez	Mugihito	Joe Lala
Benning	Naoya Uchida	Michael Sorich
Nursemaid	Un­known	Julia Fletcher
Young Soldier	Hisayoshi Izaki	Alex Fernandez
Pamela	Kachiko Hino	Barbara Goodson
Officer	Kōichi Nagano	Eddie Frierson
Maria	Mie Odagi	Un­known
Anri	Shōko Kikuchi	Susan Hickman
Antonio	Tarō Arakawa	Scott Menville
George	Wakako Taniguchi	Un­known

Reception

Critical reception of Golgo 13: Queen Bee has been mixed to positive. Darius Washington and Allen Divers of Anime News Network both gave the film positive reviews. Washington gave the film a rating of A-, praising the story, characters, and visuals, with his only criticism being the excessive amount of sex scenes, stating that "it's not just that these scenes exist, but they occur for seemingly no reason than just to move the video along, instead of enhancing a very harsh story." Divers gave the film a B rating, calling it a "gritty political thriller that does a good job of keeping the audience on their toes. It's commentary is a bit lacking, but overall, a good step in the right direction."

Not all reviews were positive, however. Jeremy A. Beard of THEM Anime Reviews was far more critical of Queen Bee and gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 stars, calling the characters, action sequences, and the story uninteresting, and stating overall that "this movie leans heavily on style and I suppose it has some of that, but not enough to make up for everything else."

External links

• Golgo 13: Queen Bee at IMDb
• Golgo 13: Queen Bee at Rotten Tomatoes
• Golgo 13: Queen Bee is available for free download at the Internet Archive