Golgo 13: Queen Bee

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, who is hired by a Democratic Party campaign manager to stop a female drug lord from assassinating the Democratic presidential nominee. Golgo, however, finds the job too easy and seeks to discover the true connection.

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

Plot
During the 2000 U.S. presidential election cycle, Democratic Party campaign manager and vice presidential candidate Thomas Waltham hires Golgo 13 to assassinate Queen Bee, the second-in-command of the South American terrorist group Comnerro Liberation Front, to prevent her from killing Democratic nominee Robert Hardy. At a local bar, Golgo’s informant tells him Queen Bee’s real name is Sonia, and she is 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. However, Golgo finds the job too easy and seeks to find the true connection. Not long after, Sonia shows up and confronts Golgo. She invites Golgo to her hotel room to have sex, then asks him to assassinate Hardy for $1.2 million, but he declines the job. Sonia learns that Golgo has marked her for assassination, but he lets her escape.

Meanwhile, Waltham heads to California with U.S. Army General Gordon to hire a disgraced lieutenant named Benning to wipe out the Comnerro. Golgo's informant comes back from Utah with information on Hardy's past: When Hardy was a lawyer, he had an affair with a woman named Vanessa, who later gave birth to a child named Joanna. After Hardy was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Vanessa and Joanna disappeared. The informant notes that if Joanna is still alive, she would be the same age as Sonia.

While heading home on a cargo ship, Sonia reminisces on her past life. She reveals that Vanessa was killed by Waltham and she is actually Joanna. Waltham then raped Sonia, leading her to believe that her father betrayed her. Golgo arrives at the Comnerro base in South America to try and kill Sonia again, but is interrupted by Benning, who launches a surprise attack and slaughters most of Sonia's men. Golgo and Sonia then work together to fend off Benning's men. Golgo kills Benning, but blacks out from a severe knife wound. In exchange for helping her, Sonia heals his wounds and sleeps with him again.

A few days later, the 2000 Democratic National Convention is underway at Yankee Stadium. Shortly after the end of the convention’s first day, Hardy stops his limo to meet a young girl with flowers. She calls herself Joanna, then runs back to a disguised Sonia. This causes Hardy to have flashbacks of his past life. He later discovers that Waltham lied about his family’s fate, as he had told Hardy that Vanessa and Joanna moved to Florida, then died in a car accident.

During the final day of the convention, Hardy tries to kill Waltham during his acceptance speech, but is tackled by security guards. Hardy then uses his gun to commit suicide, which causes Sonia to break down in tears. After Hardy's funeral, Sonia arrives at her father's grave to pay respects, where she is then shot by Golgo, which fulfills his original contract. In her final moments, she reveals that she put the $1.2 million in his bank account for a hit — on Waltham. Sonia dies, and Golgo accepts the job. In a mid-credits scene, Golgo finds Waltham's yacht, with Waltham, Don Roccini, and General Gordon present; he kills them all, then departs the scene.

Reception
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."