The Japanese studio Gonzo introduced a breakthrough in inter-continental television when it announced that two shows this season would be released online with English subtitles the same night as they premiered on television in Japan. So apparently they got my letters….Gonzo 1, Santa 0. Tower of Druaga can be found (and bought) legally by download or watched on the site at www.crunchyroll.com for fewer than three dollars an episode. Spoiler: it’s worth it!
Revolutionary marketing set aside, I found Tower of Druaga to be a magnificent classic high fantasy setting with memorable characters, ground-breaking scenery (gotta put a penny in the pun jar again), and a masterfully told story. This twelve-episode first season now owns my heart, hugging, teasing and scratching it like a middle school relationship.
Druga centers on a land ruled by King Gilgamesh, who, ages ago, scaled the Tower of Druga, the epitome of evil, and by using every cliché in the book, saved the princess and became king. Problem was the Tower still stands. Cities live in constant threat of the monsters that poor out of it, and much of the population dedicate themselves to becoming Climbers, adventurers who seek to climb the monstrosity and claim the Blue Crystal Rod on top.
Sounds like the set-up to every video game besides Pacman, doesn’t it? It is. In fact, Druaga was made in homage to an 8-bit video game of the same name. Just like in every story, our main character is a bright-eyed, loosely drawn “I-wanna-protect-my-friends-no-matter-what” type named Jil, whose only strength is his physical resilience and unbreakable shield. After being dumped from his powerful yet cold big brother Neeba’s party, Jil gathers a rag-tag band of losers in hopes of scaling the tower and becoming a hero.
This is a world filled with classes but no leveling up, magic but no MP. In short, Druga is a world where the video game is the world. Jil is joined by a dark-haired priestess named Kayaa, her patient powerhouse partner Amrey, the boastful aristocrat mage Melt and his assistant, Coopa, who is the greatest intern of all time. Once their party is assembled, they must compete with Uruk’s national army, a guerilla army of other Climbers, Neeba’s epic gang, and a malicious wind sorcerer.
So how did the script writer for Full Metal Panic, the character designer of Burst Angel and the director of Last Exile handle such material? With the tact, charm and humor of true fans. There are dramatic episodes which are well-written and full of pathos, but the true majesty of this series comes from the comedic episodes, which not only make video game references but turn the world into a classic 8-bit parody of the original game! I recommend episode five. That is all you need to know. Do not be scared away by the ridiculous delusion that was the first episode; it’s the greatest parody of action/fantasy anime I have seen this year.
Fantasy fans are in for a treat. Cosplayers should start milking this teat before next year’s season two premieres. Anime fans will have a great series to introduce their fantasy friends into anime. Why? Because the script, specifically its humor and ability to transform old jokes rather than rely on stereo-types and repetition. I stand in awe of Coopa’s comedic timing and golem-like strength that never gets addressed seriously. The animation is so pristine, I’d almost accuse Gonzo of putting all their eggs in one basket. Shading and weather effects are gracefully added, though the occasional computer-rendered monsters (Druaga himself, ew) prove distracting.
It’s a great climb, full of danger, magic missiles, dragons, knights, wizards, wizard interns, backstabs, and meaningful demises that builds up to the single most evil cliffhanger since the first season of Code Geass. Tower of Druaga wins, finds the Master Sword and obtains epic status.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Mnemosyne - The Daughters of Mnemosyne
Boobies! Bondage! Bloodshed!
And that’s just the opening credits!
I assume most of you are still reading…please ask your parents to leave the room now.
Due to the extreme graphic nature of this work of supernatural mystery, you cannot claim fandom to Mnemosyne without being labeled one of “those fans.” The kind that never leaves his basement except to post reviews of anime series like Mnemosyne. Nevertheless, every series deserves a chance to tell its story…right?
Rin Asogi’s day job as a jack-of-all-trades investigator is just a cover for her true identity. She, like a handful of other women around the world, has been touched by a time spore of the great tree Yggdrasil, the literal keeper of human memory. As a result, Rin is immortal (in both the Highlander and the Wolverine sense). Her habit of sticking her nose in criminals’ businesses makes her the target for extremely sick mercenaries. With each chapter of the six-episode mini-series, we learn another fact about her relationship to Yggdrasil and its plans for her while encountering the sadist of the day.
Due to Rin and her partner Mimi’s immortality, many years skip between episodes, going from 1990 to 2055, which was an interesting way to show Rin (and her fashion sense) as the only consistency over the years.
I like Rin. Built like Faye Valentine, iron-willed as Misato from Eva but somehow retaining her natural compassion. She assumes a very male role in order to protect her clients, but at the day’s end, she is still a woman grasping for affection. Her views on man’s fragility cause her to hold back many punches against the people trying to killer her. Though she can kick ass using an array of odd weaponry, including darts, chains and a shotgun-shell-loaded boxing glove, she gets her ass handed to her quite a bit. The ways she dies include, but are by no means limited to…
- Head trauma
- Shotgun
- Grenade
- Thrown through an airplane engine
- I-beam to the face
- Unnecessary surgery
No review of Mnemosyne would be complete without touching upon its key element: sadistic violence toward naked women. Good lord. Do not watch this anime while your parents, or people whom you wish to respect you, are in the same hemisphere.
Script-writer Hiroshi Ohnogi remained true to the original novel by sparing us no gory detail. The depravity in this series is enough to make Stephen King blush. Remember how those women become immortal? Men turn into powerful red-winged angels that dress like The Rocky Horror Picture Show meeting Hellraiser. These angels seek out immortals in order to embrace them in the throes of boundless sexual desire while literally chewing them to pieces.
Sex and violence become the same grotesque pulse that thrusts the story forward. Rin is persistently hunted by a seemingly immortal cyborg assassin who gets her pleasure from watching Rin squirm. Even worse is a fellow immortal named Apos, voiced in Japan by the same actor who does Gaara from Naruto. His boyish good looks don’t justify the pile of nude, impaled women he keeps in his gardens, hoping to one day add Rin to his collection, next to the tulips and the severed heads.
Since the nudity and violence are the aesthetic focus, the mysteries that Rin investigates are usually complicated and fluff that buy time between brutal slayings – don’t expect much from the mysteries, just be happy for the rare times that Rin is wearing pants and a shirt.
Still reading? It gets worse!
I actually like this series.
To see Rin beaten as badly as she is and still find the strength to fight back and protect her friends is downright inspiring, and I found myself choking from grief (as well as vomit) from the cliff-hangers that rock the second half of the series.
Obviously, this show is not for everyone. In fact, the people whom this graphic story is geared toward should probably register themselves at meganslaw.com. Still, I enjoy the soft ambience and electric guitar of Takayuki Negishi’s music, very reminiscent of the video game Parasite Eve. Visually, this is considerably low-budgeted, but the scene direction is superb. Shigeru Ueda (director of Blood + and Serial Experiments Lain) could have made the series extreme close-ups and talking heads, but he keeps the camera moving, focusing on Rin’s kinetic energy and honing time-passing montage sequences very well.
I will not openly encourage you to watch this show; but if you can handle the traumatic depravity of Elfen Lied and want older characters who don’t cry nearly as much, and you are mature enough to keep your hands where I can see them, seek ye the daughters of Mnemosyne.
And that’s just the opening credits!
I assume most of you are still reading…please ask your parents to leave the room now.
Due to the extreme graphic nature of this work of supernatural mystery, you cannot claim fandom to Mnemosyne without being labeled one of “those fans.” The kind that never leaves his basement except to post reviews of anime series like Mnemosyne. Nevertheless, every series deserves a chance to tell its story…right?
Rin Asogi’s day job as a jack-of-all-trades investigator is just a cover for her true identity. She, like a handful of other women around the world, has been touched by a time spore of the great tree Yggdrasil, the literal keeper of human memory. As a result, Rin is immortal (in both the Highlander and the Wolverine sense). Her habit of sticking her nose in criminals’ businesses makes her the target for extremely sick mercenaries. With each chapter of the six-episode mini-series, we learn another fact about her relationship to Yggdrasil and its plans for her while encountering the sadist of the day.
Due to Rin and her partner Mimi’s immortality, many years skip between episodes, going from 1990 to 2055, which was an interesting way to show Rin (and her fashion sense) as the only consistency over the years.
I like Rin. Built like Faye Valentine, iron-willed as Misato from Eva but somehow retaining her natural compassion. She assumes a very male role in order to protect her clients, but at the day’s end, she is still a woman grasping for affection. Her views on man’s fragility cause her to hold back many punches against the people trying to killer her. Though she can kick ass using an array of odd weaponry, including darts, chains and a shotgun-shell-loaded boxing glove, she gets her ass handed to her quite a bit. The ways she dies include, but are by no means limited to…
- Head trauma
- Shotgun
- Grenade
- Thrown through an airplane engine
- I-beam to the face
- Unnecessary surgery
No review of Mnemosyne would be complete without touching upon its key element: sadistic violence toward naked women. Good lord. Do not watch this anime while your parents, or people whom you wish to respect you, are in the same hemisphere.
Script-writer Hiroshi Ohnogi remained true to the original novel by sparing us no gory detail. The depravity in this series is enough to make Stephen King blush. Remember how those women become immortal? Men turn into powerful red-winged angels that dress like The Rocky Horror Picture Show meeting Hellraiser. These angels seek out immortals in order to embrace them in the throes of boundless sexual desire while literally chewing them to pieces.
Sex and violence become the same grotesque pulse that thrusts the story forward. Rin is persistently hunted by a seemingly immortal cyborg assassin who gets her pleasure from watching Rin squirm. Even worse is a fellow immortal named Apos, voiced in Japan by the same actor who does Gaara from Naruto. His boyish good looks don’t justify the pile of nude, impaled women he keeps in his gardens, hoping to one day add Rin to his collection, next to the tulips and the severed heads.
Since the nudity and violence are the aesthetic focus, the mysteries that Rin investigates are usually complicated and fluff that buy time between brutal slayings – don’t expect much from the mysteries, just be happy for the rare times that Rin is wearing pants and a shirt.
Still reading? It gets worse!
I actually like this series.
To see Rin beaten as badly as she is and still find the strength to fight back and protect her friends is downright inspiring, and I found myself choking from grief (as well as vomit) from the cliff-hangers that rock the second half of the series.
Obviously, this show is not for everyone. In fact, the people whom this graphic story is geared toward should probably register themselves at meganslaw.com. Still, I enjoy the soft ambience and electric guitar of Takayuki Negishi’s music, very reminiscent of the video game Parasite Eve. Visually, this is considerably low-budgeted, but the scene direction is superb. Shigeru Ueda (director of Blood + and Serial Experiments Lain) could have made the series extreme close-ups and talking heads, but he keeps the camera moving, focusing on Rin’s kinetic energy and honing time-passing montage sequences very well.
I will not openly encourage you to watch this show; but if you can handle the traumatic depravity of Elfen Lied and want older characters who don’t cry nearly as much, and you are mature enough to keep your hands where I can see them, seek ye the daughters of Mnemosyne.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Podcast with Anigamers
For anyone interested, Vampt Vo and I will soon be posting our podcast-style review of Production I.G's Ghost Hound at www.anigamers.com.
Is this the beginning of something far larger for Uncle Yo? Only time will tell.
Post your comments, let us know what we did right, what we did wrong, and how we can cater to YOU and be the best little podcast we can be.
In quick news, a shout-out to Otaku Mex in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the New York Anime Fest. Good times will soon be had by all.
Is this the beginning of something far larger for Uncle Yo? Only time will tell.
Post your comments, let us know what we did right, what we did wrong, and how we can cater to YOU and be the best little podcast we can be.
In quick news, a shout-out to Otaku Mex in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the New York Anime Fest. Good times will soon be had by all.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wrath of the Ninja
Wrath of the Ninja: the Yotoden Movie is one of those classic anime that is quickly sinking into obscurity. Not quite as detailed or bloody as Ninja Scroll, not as political as Rurouni Kenshin and not nearly as silly as Naruto, this movie still strikes hard at any classic anime fan’s heart like a spring-loaded dagger.
To make this review interesting, we’re going to turn this review into a drinking game. Every time I mention a cliché in this movie’s plot, I want you all to take a drink from whatever you’ve got.
The Japanese Middle Ages: Our hero is a determined and level-headed young ninja woman named Ayame, the sole survivor of her village. Before the demons could consume her, her brother (in a drawn-out and much-repeated flashback) gives her the village’s super-awesome short sword with which she may rid the world of evil and stop the evil lord Nobunaga Oda from taking over the world. Along her merry way, she gains two friends, other rogue ninja who also possess legendary weapons: a spear and a long sword. They travel, smiting evil until it comes down to Ayame and Oda (now transformed into something that would make Inuyasha’s Naraku retch) and, having screamed the loudest, blows him apart in a big bright explosion, thus bringing the ending credits to the screen.
Though it is unfair to review Wrath of the Ninja without the three-episode OAV Yotoden, WotN is still a pretty solid example of fantasy ninja before chakra was introduced. The retro blurred backgrounds, mysterious supporting characters and destiny-babble do not subtract from the charm of this classic. What can really grind your nerves about this movie is the absence of originality; this is a great anime if you want to parody existing anime.
Granted, the pacing and odd transitions in time, as well as the emotional distance of the main characters makes this a hard one to watch with friends; rather than watching the screen, you may find yourself looking at your watch instead.
To make this review interesting, we’re going to turn this review into a drinking game. Every time I mention a cliché in this movie’s plot, I want you all to take a drink from whatever you’ve got.
The Japanese Middle Ages: Our hero is a determined and level-headed young ninja woman named Ayame, the sole survivor of her village. Before the demons could consume her, her brother (in a drawn-out and much-repeated flashback) gives her the village’s super-awesome short sword with which she may rid the world of evil and stop the evil lord Nobunaga Oda from taking over the world. Along her merry way, she gains two friends, other rogue ninja who also possess legendary weapons: a spear and a long sword. They travel, smiting evil until it comes down to Ayame and Oda (now transformed into something that would make Inuyasha’s Naraku retch) and, having screamed the loudest, blows him apart in a big bright explosion, thus bringing the ending credits to the screen.
Though it is unfair to review Wrath of the Ninja without the three-episode OAV Yotoden, WotN is still a pretty solid example of fantasy ninja before chakra was introduced. The retro blurred backgrounds, mysterious supporting characters and destiny-babble do not subtract from the charm of this classic. What can really grind your nerves about this movie is the absence of originality; this is a great anime if you want to parody existing anime.
Granted, the pacing and odd transitions in time, as well as the emotional distance of the main characters makes this a hard one to watch with friends; rather than watching the screen, you may find yourself looking at your watch instead.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Dominion Tank Police
The futuristic city of Newport is an endless pile of harsh, unwelcoming buildings stewing under a perpetual dark “bacteria cloud.” Every 36 seconds, a crime is committed (beat that, Detroit.) To protect the city, the Tank Police are formed; madmen with big mouths, bigger guns, and less moral guidance than Million Knives.
Masamune Shiro, known most for his iconic work Ghost in the Shell, has spent a career imaging man’s parallel evolution with machinery and their effect on each other. For DTP, he decided to once again question the line between authentic humanity and artificial humanity, a topic that’s just a tad too deep for an anime with two strippers on the DVD’s cover.
Our four episodes center on the initiation of Leona, the first girl to transfer into the testosterone-saturated Tank Police. As she learns the way of the Newport City Tank Police, she builds her own mini-tank named Bonaparte, something resembling a Dalek from Dr. Who but with nastier treads. Her journey becomes one of initiation, acceptance, and finally a literal struggle for justice vs. pride. She’s cute, impulsive and stubborn as most girls who drive assault vehicles, but her development remains relative.
Becoming a viewer of the Tank Police is reveling in the frat house level of maturity and pride of captain “Britain” (on my translation at least) and the rest of the loosely-drawn squad. These guys regularly patrol the streets en mass, causing more destruction than the Big-O and turning enhanced interrogation into a game show complete with betting, bunny girls and throwing knives!
Oddly enough, the character whom Shiro forces the most sympathy for is the main antagonist Buaku, a small-time crook with big-time weapons. Buaku and his partners, twin gun-enthusiasts/strippers Anna and Umi, a clash between the American Gladiators and Thundercats, begin by assaulting a hospital for “perfectly healthy people” in order to steal jars of urine. No, no, you read that correctly: pee-pee. Once they fail at that, Buaku goes for a priceless painting, only to be thwarted again by the Tank Police. It is in this second arc that the story sacrifices its pacing for a deeper message on the self-imposed value of life.
Don’t get me wrong; there are many tanks. Big tanks.
Thus, there are explosions. Big explosions. No character can take center stage over Shiro’s masterful detail and imagination in his armored vehicles.
What keeps this OVA a step below Ghost in the Shell is the sluggish pacing combined with its desire to leave everything as open-ended as possible. Dominion Tank Police runs into the same problem that Full Metal Panic did in that it tries to combine a high-tech cop drama with another conflicting genre. For DTP, it was the final episode’s delve into surrealism and philosophical drivel that collapses the story into the anime cliché of flashbacks and rhetorical questions.
Still, slow scenes and loose plot set aside, Masamune Shiro’s DTP is a must-see for fans of the mecha-cop genre. Patlabor, Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell, and Armitage III fans will revel in the detail of all things mechanical. Not quite as aloof or high-brow as Ghost in the Shell, but a lot more fun to watch in a crowded room full of open-minded people.
Masamune Shiro, known most for his iconic work Ghost in the Shell, has spent a career imaging man’s parallel evolution with machinery and their effect on each other. For DTP, he decided to once again question the line between authentic humanity and artificial humanity, a topic that’s just a tad too deep for an anime with two strippers on the DVD’s cover.
Our four episodes center on the initiation of Leona, the first girl to transfer into the testosterone-saturated Tank Police. As she learns the way of the Newport City Tank Police, she builds her own mini-tank named Bonaparte, something resembling a Dalek from Dr. Who but with nastier treads. Her journey becomes one of initiation, acceptance, and finally a literal struggle for justice vs. pride. She’s cute, impulsive and stubborn as most girls who drive assault vehicles, but her development remains relative.
Becoming a viewer of the Tank Police is reveling in the frat house level of maturity and pride of captain “Britain” (on my translation at least) and the rest of the loosely-drawn squad. These guys regularly patrol the streets en mass, causing more destruction than the Big-O and turning enhanced interrogation into a game show complete with betting, bunny girls and throwing knives!
Oddly enough, the character whom Shiro forces the most sympathy for is the main antagonist Buaku, a small-time crook with big-time weapons. Buaku and his partners, twin gun-enthusiasts/strippers Anna and Umi, a clash between the American Gladiators and Thundercats, begin by assaulting a hospital for “perfectly healthy people” in order to steal jars of urine. No, no, you read that correctly: pee-pee. Once they fail at that, Buaku goes for a priceless painting, only to be thwarted again by the Tank Police. It is in this second arc that the story sacrifices its pacing for a deeper message on the self-imposed value of life.
Don’t get me wrong; there are many tanks. Big tanks.
Thus, there are explosions. Big explosions. No character can take center stage over Shiro’s masterful detail and imagination in his armored vehicles.
What keeps this OVA a step below Ghost in the Shell is the sluggish pacing combined with its desire to leave everything as open-ended as possible. Dominion Tank Police runs into the same problem that Full Metal Panic did in that it tries to combine a high-tech cop drama with another conflicting genre. For DTP, it was the final episode’s delve into surrealism and philosophical drivel that collapses the story into the anime cliché of flashbacks and rhetorical questions.
Still, slow scenes and loose plot set aside, Masamune Shiro’s DTP is a must-see for fans of the mecha-cop genre. Patlabor, Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell, and Armitage III fans will revel in the detail of all things mechanical. Not quite as aloof or high-brow as Ghost in the Shell, but a lot more fun to watch in a crowded room full of open-minded people.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Decade-Long; Decade-Strong
Hello Again,
My panel co-host George has made a post on the Otakon Bulletin Boards to get audience feedback. We had run this panel twice: once at Connecticon and once at Otakon. Anyone who attended our panel on Saturday, we would truly appreciate constructive criticism so this panel can be even MORE informative, historically accurate, and enjoyable.
http://board.otakon.com/index.php?showtopic=15718
Thank you graciously.
My panel co-host George has made a post on the Otakon Bulletin Boards to get audience feedback. We had run this panel twice: once at Connecticon and once at Otakon. Anyone who attended our panel on Saturday, we would truly appreciate constructive criticism so this panel can be even MORE informative, historically accurate, and enjoyable.
http://board.otakon.com/index.php?showtopic=15718
Thank you graciously.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Gotham Knight
Of all the comic book heroes in America, few are as open to interpretation as Batman. Gotham city was once described by writer Alan Moore as “stranded somewhere between 1930 and 2001 Art Deco,” and its leading crime-fighter has evolved over the years to forever hold our interest. Warner Bros. tried very hard to recreate the eclectic, spectacle-driven fan-service we remember from The Animatrix.
Story-wise, Gotham Knight is vaguely slapped together as a whole, and the story thread gets thinner and thinner as the story goes. Visually it’s like a gothic jaw-breaker, each background getting better and better. It’s a double-edged bat-a-rang choice between style and substance, and we can clearly see which one came out on top. By the end, Gotham City becomes its own ominous character, engulfing every shot and looming like the ghost of a filthy Post-Depression slum.
Six writers in America gave six directors in Japan the option to show the Dark Knight and his mysterious, dark environment from every conceivable angle, like staring at a carved diamond from every cut. The result is six heavily stylized takes on Batman that fail to tell a solid story. It is not directly anime, nor is it directly Batman: Dark Knight; it’s a hybrid that runs the risk of injuring Batman fans against anime.
Our first story, directed by Shoujirou Nishimi (of Tekkon Kinkrit), is a tribute to the animated series episode “Legends of the Dark Knight,” in which four skate-boarding Gotham teens share their stories and views of Batman as he chases down a tech-driven thug. Mecha-bat, Man-bat and vampire-Batman all come together in this mélange. The characters, with their Nishimi trade-marked shifty faces and tiny eyes, almost clash completely with the background.
Secondly there is “Cross-fire,” in which two detectives (fan boys hush) are brought to trust Batman after they are caught in the midst of a gang war cross-fire. Style-wise, Futoshi Higashide presents a world that would work beautifully for Hellboy or Hellsing, but it makes Batman a tad satanic. He walks through fire! The burning kind! That defines badass!
Thirdly the director of the .hack//Series series (Horioshi Morioka) gives us a nearly shojo-style pretty-boy of Bruce Wayne as he prepares to test a new bullet-deflection system on some thugs. For me, this was the first redeeming chapter of the story as we not only see Bruce Wayne’s side of Batman, but also the driving sympathy and unexpected compassion that defines the Dark Knight.
Part four was written by Batman: Beyond and Dark Knight writer David S Goyer. Visually, we travel with Batman into the underground hollows beneath Gotham City to fight Killer Croc and the Scarecrow. If this were expanded into the whole movie, I would be one pleased little Otaku. Batman becomes something fantastic here as his tech and classic vanishing act takes the cake and overshadows the Scarecrow’s new, Gothic Frankenstein costume. If anything, it blends horror with urban mythology into a great visual piece.
“Working Through Pain” shows Bruce Wayne training in India (that’s right, India: deal with it) through a series of flashbacks. In this part, a wounded Batman performs self-surgery on himself as he tries to navigate his way out Gotham’s deadly sewers. As a stand-alone piece, this is magnificent. The writing combined with relatively unknown director Toshiyuki Kubooka creates great film transitions and symbolism. Bravo. Pain and rejection are the guiding forces in this story, the spiritual side of Wayne’s journey in becoming Batman. Huge parallels are drawn between Bruce’s personal rejection and his lady trainer’s social rejection. For Batman to be wading through garbage and finding a pile of guns is shocking and full of pathos. It’s simple, but “Working Through Pain” is both human and compelling.
Finally, “Deadshot” is about Batman taking down a villainous assassin who (for this very anti-gun piece) is the perfect villain. Arrogant, merciless, and more pro-gun than Charlton Heston, Deadshot’s story is far too short for this fifteen minute visual masterpiece. Sadly, story-wise, it is simply Golgo 13 getting sucker-punched by Batman.
In the end, we see every side of Batman. World’s greatest detective, billionaire playboy, tech wizard, dark angel of mercy, self-driven philanthropist, and vigilante – they all come through in this piece. I fail to see this as an over-budgeted failure on Warner Bros. part, even considering the severe downplay on the Japanese directors. Show some love and appreciation, Warner Brothers! I guess you could say that too many cooks over-spiced the soup and abandoned the chance to tell one solid story. Instead we leap through time and places in Batman’s career. The voice acting is top-notch, and you’d have my permission to go full-out Itachi on me for not mentioning the great work (as always) by veteran voice-actor, Kevin Conroy. He syncs up well with the Japanese lip-action and delivers yet another spine-tingling performance as the dark knight.
Story-wise, Gotham Knight is vaguely slapped together as a whole, and the story thread gets thinner and thinner as the story goes. Visually it’s like a gothic jaw-breaker, each background getting better and better. It’s a double-edged bat-a-rang choice between style and substance, and we can clearly see which one came out on top. By the end, Gotham City becomes its own ominous character, engulfing every shot and looming like the ghost of a filthy Post-Depression slum.
Six writers in America gave six directors in Japan the option to show the Dark Knight and his mysterious, dark environment from every conceivable angle, like staring at a carved diamond from every cut. The result is six heavily stylized takes on Batman that fail to tell a solid story. It is not directly anime, nor is it directly Batman: Dark Knight; it’s a hybrid that runs the risk of injuring Batman fans against anime.
Our first story, directed by Shoujirou Nishimi (of Tekkon Kinkrit), is a tribute to the animated series episode “Legends of the Dark Knight,” in which four skate-boarding Gotham teens share their stories and views of Batman as he chases down a tech-driven thug. Mecha-bat, Man-bat and vampire-Batman all come together in this mélange. The characters, with their Nishimi trade-marked shifty faces and tiny eyes, almost clash completely with the background.
Secondly there is “Cross-fire,” in which two detectives (fan boys hush) are brought to trust Batman after they are caught in the midst of a gang war cross-fire. Style-wise, Futoshi Higashide presents a world that would work beautifully for Hellboy or Hellsing, but it makes Batman a tad satanic. He walks through fire! The burning kind! That defines badass!
Thirdly the director of the .hack//Series series (Horioshi Morioka) gives us a nearly shojo-style pretty-boy of Bruce Wayne as he prepares to test a new bullet-deflection system on some thugs. For me, this was the first redeeming chapter of the story as we not only see Bruce Wayne’s side of Batman, but also the driving sympathy and unexpected compassion that defines the Dark Knight.
Part four was written by Batman: Beyond and Dark Knight writer David S Goyer. Visually, we travel with Batman into the underground hollows beneath Gotham City to fight Killer Croc and the Scarecrow. If this were expanded into the whole movie, I would be one pleased little Otaku. Batman becomes something fantastic here as his tech and classic vanishing act takes the cake and overshadows the Scarecrow’s new, Gothic Frankenstein costume. If anything, it blends horror with urban mythology into a great visual piece.
“Working Through Pain” shows Bruce Wayne training in India (that’s right, India: deal with it) through a series of flashbacks. In this part, a wounded Batman performs self-surgery on himself as he tries to navigate his way out Gotham’s deadly sewers. As a stand-alone piece, this is magnificent. The writing combined with relatively unknown director Toshiyuki Kubooka creates great film transitions and symbolism. Bravo. Pain and rejection are the guiding forces in this story, the spiritual side of Wayne’s journey in becoming Batman. Huge parallels are drawn between Bruce’s personal rejection and his lady trainer’s social rejection. For Batman to be wading through garbage and finding a pile of guns is shocking and full of pathos. It’s simple, but “Working Through Pain” is both human and compelling.
Finally, “Deadshot” is about Batman taking down a villainous assassin who (for this very anti-gun piece) is the perfect villain. Arrogant, merciless, and more pro-gun than Charlton Heston, Deadshot’s story is far too short for this fifteen minute visual masterpiece. Sadly, story-wise, it is simply Golgo 13 getting sucker-punched by Batman.
In the end, we see every side of Batman. World’s greatest detective, billionaire playboy, tech wizard, dark angel of mercy, self-driven philanthropist, and vigilante – they all come through in this piece. I fail to see this as an over-budgeted failure on Warner Bros. part, even considering the severe downplay on the Japanese directors. Show some love and appreciation, Warner Brothers! I guess you could say that too many cooks over-spiced the soup and abandoned the chance to tell one solid story. Instead we leap through time and places in Batman’s career. The voice acting is top-notch, and you’d have my permission to go full-out Itachi on me for not mentioning the great work (as always) by veteran voice-actor, Kevin Conroy. He syncs up well with the Japanese lip-action and delivers yet another spine-tingling performance as the dark knight.
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