Synopsis
Patarillo! takes place in a world mostly identical to our own, except for one major difference. The manga that inspired the series belongs to a popular genre aimed at adolescent Japanese girls, one that prominently features gay men and beautiful teenage boys known as bishounen. Most of the story unfolds in Marinera, a country of eternal spring located somewhere in the South Seas. Marinera is a major diamond producer, and these gems are the main source of conflict in the anime. They come from one of the world's most productive mines, which belongs to the boy-king Patarillo himself—a ruler who is short in stature but generously endowed in other respects. The International Diamond Syndicate, a vast semi-criminal organization and secret society bent on controlling the global diamond supply, desperately wants that mine and will go to any lengths to acquire it. In the early episodes, they dispatch several bishounen assassins to kill Patarillo, forcing the king to hire a bodyguard: the English MI6 agent Major Jack Bancoran, also known as the "Bishounen-Killer." This nickname does not mean he murders bishounen in cold blood; rather, it refers to the fact that no male under seventeen can resist his sexual allure. To Bancoran's eternal disgust, this includes Patarillo himself. The action frequently shifts between Marinera and MI6 headquarters in London (which seems to be a mere two-hour flight from the South Seas) or Bancoran's palatial condominium in London's suburbs. (MI6 headquarters strongly resembles Fritz Lang's Metropolis, while Jack's "apartment" looks a lot like Randolph Hearst's mansion.) The story also ventures into the past, the future, and even outer space—Patarillo evidently gets around.
