Copyright © Urasawa Naoki, Katsuhika Hokusei / Shogakukan, VAP, NTV
Produced by Madhouse
Directed by Masayuki Ojima
26 episodes scheduled

According to the English description on the cover of the original manga, Keaton is Half Japanese and half English. An archaeologist with Schliemann's dream, a detective with Holmes's brain, an Oxford graduate and a SAS staff sergeant.
MASTER KEATON is a popular manga series which was serialized in Big Comic Spirits from the late 80's to early 90's. (Of course, the title is a mimic of "Buster Keaton".) A total of 18 volumes are published. As a devote fan of the manga, I had very high expectations for this series.
The author of the manga is Urasawa Naoki. The readers of this article might have heard of his most famous title YAWARA!, a manga/anime about "a fashionable judo girl" (according to the logo of the manga). His other popular titles includes yet another sports title HAPPY! (a fashionable tennis girl with lots of money in debts?), and PINEAPPLE ARMY and MONSTER. While his sports titles tend to be light hearted comedies, the latter titles are more serious, political, and sometimes very dark. MASTER KEATON belongs to this category.
Yet MASTER KEATON is saved from being completely dark, probably due to Keaton's optimistic character and his family who supports him. His only daughter Yuriko—who resembles Keaton's divorced wife (but to me she resembles Yawara)—is a mature and smart schoolgirl. Kuwashima Hoko is cast for her voice. Yuriko makes her first appearance in the fifth episode. Tahei, Keaton's father, is easy going and a philandering zoologist. The premise of this show is this:

Keaton Taichi Hiraga is a dreamer whose dream is to dig up an ancient civilization on the Danube River. But after his marriage failed, he also lost his confidence in his dream. He joined the army but he couldn't give up his archaeological desire. So he became an "op" (operative) in order to finance his future private excavation of the secret civilization.

Episodes range from murder mystery to anti-terrorist activities with occasional archaeological/zoological or family interests. As the subject matter is broad and often takes place in Europe (occasionally in Africa or Middle East and Japan), this kind of manga requires a huge amount of research and resources. Urasawa teamed up with a script writer called Katsuhika Hokusei (obviously a pen name--a mimic of Katsuhika Hokusai, the world famous Ukiyo-e artist) as he previously did with Kudo Kazuya in PINEAPPLE ARMY. This pairing with a professional writer provides a solid background in the storytelling that is both accurately convincing and interesting.
If you're wondering what the manga has to do with the anime, the answer is simple: whether good or not, the anime is amazingly faithful to the original manga. In a good sense, it has succeeded in capturing the atmosphere of the original and conveying that in a different media. But on the other hand, when watching the show it feels as if I'm reading a manga that moves and talks. The animation quality of the first episode was just above average. I noticed some shots were proportioned awkwardly. The quality improved in the second episode but since then, it still fluctuates a little.
The coloring is nicely done. Some shows have colors turned dull, but Keaton's colors are crisp and bright. The art is especially beautiful and detailed. In a show like this, it's important to have accurate backgrounds in order to add realness. The manga was full of nice backgrounds, probably tracing photos taken in Europe. The backgrounds in anime is probably done in a similar methods, but with colors, it adds even more authenticity.
The voice of Keaton, voiced by Inoue Norihiro, who also does the Japanese voice for ER's Dr. Green, sounded a bit odd at first, but as the episodes progressed either the voice actor got used to the role or I got used to his voice, so it doesn't bother me anymore. His voice is soft and soothing and matches Keaton's character.
The music is light and amusing. Most importantly, it's very European and chic with classic guitar and accordion. The OP is all instrumental and starts out with a bagpipe fanfare. The ED is a song by Blue, but is neither impressive nor well suited to the show in my opinion.
One drawback for non-Japanese speakers is probably its intensely dialogue-oriented plot. Even though the action scenes are often included at least once per episode, they serve as a plot device rather than the focal point. (Yet Keaton's fighting methods are usually clever and unique, based on his experience and knowledge as an SAS sergeant and archaeologist.) If Japanese is not a problem, MASTER KEATON is full of interesting ideas. I've learned quite a bit about political, historical, and ethnic situations in Europe as well as interesting theories in Archaeology or military techniques and weaponry. For mature audiences with more sophisticated tastes, MASTER KEATON should be put on your list of shows to see.