Review: Mind Game (Sub)

Medium: Anime Film
Running Time: 103 minutes
Genres: Action, Drama
Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Studio: Studio 4°C
Version Reviewed: Fansub (read our fansub policy)
Release date: July 28, 2004 (JPN)
Rated: Unrated (appropriate for 17+)

I don't get Mind Game. It's just that simple. The frenetic pace, disproportionate designs, and unusual animation did not, at any point, result in any sort of moment of clarity for me. All they did was confuse. Yes, its defenders will try to bring up the film's "unique" visual and storytelling style, but "unique" does not always equal "good."

Created by Studio 4°C, Mind Game is the debut directing effort from former animation director Masaaki Yuasa, who had previously worked on comedy series (Crayon Shin-Chan, My Neighbors the Yamadas) and a few experimental shorts (Cat Soup, Noiseman Sound Insect). It's clear, however, that Yuasa should have never moved up from animation director, since his skills as chief director are questionable at best.

While the film could hardly be said to have a tight narrative, it does follow a relatively centralized set of main characters, namely the perverted twenty-something Nishi, his busty ex-girlfriend Myon, and her sister Yan. After an incredibly strange run-in with some Yakuza thugs, the three flee the scene of the girls' father's bar, only to find themselves swallowed by a whale. Inside they meet an old man who has lived inside the whale for years.

Did I mention that this movie is a little weird?

Mind Game is beyond weird though. The director throws consistency and clarity out the window in favor of frequent cuts to unrelated still photographs or mapping of live-action faces to animated heads. In that regard, it seems like almost all of the aspects of this movie that are seen by many critics as fascinating experimental animation techniques serve as nothing more than self-indulgent artistry from Yuasa. I honestly felt that I was missing something in the experience by not being Masaaki Yuasa, as if the film was crafted for the enjoyment of its creator, not necessarily for the enjoyment of his audience.

And therein lies the rub when it comes to this movie. It is one of the unfortunate anime that works well enough as a piece of experimental art, but fails completely as a piece of entertainment. And even when only examining it as art, it seems that quite often Yuasa is throwing in unusual animation techniques simply for the sake of being unusual.

Unfortunately, the director – pulling double-duty as scriptwriter – can't even hold the narrative together while he weaves live-action and animation into the pastiche that is Mind Game. Besides the horridly cliché ending, the character development also disappoints, as it seems to only occur in short bursts. For example, Nishi inexplicably stands up halfway through the movie and waxes poetic about the meaning of his life. (With the strong visual focus of Mind Game, one would think that Yuasa knows better than to weigh the film down with exposition.) On the bright side, some of the non-sequitur humor – especially a particular scene with a "God" who changes shape every shot – is actually pretty entertaining, though it is, like everything else in this movie, rather odd.

Naturally, there are some viewers who enjoy the insane plot and frenetic animation of 4°C's experimental works, but Mind Game often feels like some sort of exclusive club whose only member is its own creator. Do yourself a favor and pass on this exhausting, confusing experiment.

mediocre.

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Review: Tekkon Kinkreet (Hyb)

Medium: Anime Film
Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Psychological
Director: Michael Arias
Studio: Studio 4°C
Licensed? Yes (Sony Pictures)

Tekkon Kinkreet is a strange beast. Based on the original manga Black and White by Taiyo Matsumoto and directed by American Michael Arias, the film is a strange melding of American and Japanese sensibilities. Beyond that, it also combines various visual and storytelling styles, creating a movie that is 2D AND 3D, a child's tale AND an adult drama. Like the title of Matsumoto's original manga, this is a story that is all about stark dichotomies.

Black and White (or Kuro and Shiro for the Japanese) are two orphan brothers living in the rundown city of Treasure Town. There they battle other street punks, glare at Yakuza from the alleys, and befriend a varied group of gangs, policemen, and other characters. Oh, and they leap across buildings in ways that would put even the Wachowski Brothers to shame.

Black, the elder, is a brooding, independent boy who works tirelessly to keep White and himself alive in the ever-changing environment of Treasure Town. His brother, on the other hand, is a bright-eyed, innocent young boy who has weird psychedelic daydreams all the time and never seems to think about reality. They've just planted an apple seed near the pile of junk that they call a home when the relative peace of Treasure Town is disturbed by a man named Snake who takes over the operations of the local Yakuza gang.

The problem is that Snake (not the most flattering name ever) wants to turn the entire city into an amusement park, while most of the inhabitants (including Black and White) aren't very keen on this idea. So begins a sprawling story wherein Black and White fight to survive (and keep each other alive), and friends from the Yakuza and police force work to keep the boys out of the reach of Snake and his superpowered henchmen.

Having no experience with Matsumoto's manga, I can't really speak to the accuracy of the film's screenplay, but I can say that this is a truly unusual story. Sometimes it feels like a children's story, with White showing the virtues of a pure heart and imagination, but then it will launch into vicious bloody fight scenes in which Black jumps all over his enemies, clawing like an animal and battering them with his trademark metal pole. It is in this dichotomy, however, that the film really shows its merits. At one point, White comments to a police friend, "God made me broken. Black too. But I gots all the screws that Black needs. I gots every one!" Like yin and yang, these two brothers desperately need each other, and it is this need that forms the strong backbone of the film.

Outside of that backbone are fascinating characters like Kimura, a Yakuza man with a soft spot for Black who, in an attempt to save his wife and kids from Snake's wrath, helps the slimy man with his nefarious plans. Kimura's painful grapples with love, truth, loyalty, and morality are real, emotional, heart-breaking experiences. Tekkon Kinkreet is a tragedy in the truest sense. It is about innocence lost and families torn asunder. Sometimes there are redemptions, but more often than not, characters meet violent, tragic ends.

Director Michael Arias got his chance to work on this movie after working in the 3D animation industry for years, and his experience really shows. There are sequences in which a 2D scene will suddenly swivel in a continuous 180 degrees, creating a somewhat unnecessary (but no less impressive) shot that has rarely – if ever – been attempted in anime. The character designs are an interesting combination of Matsumoto's originals and Studio 4°C's distinctive style, but they're definitely an acquired taste with their small eyes and mouths. On the other hand, no character movement is spared by the animators at 4°C, who have – successfully – endeavored to make this "one of those movies" that makes up for its deficiencies with an artistic tour de force.

Said tour de force only becomes a problem when it causes the team of director Michael Arias and scriptwriter Anthony Weintraub to spend nearly twenty minutes on a surreal scene filled with watercolors, highly-dynamic art, and tons of weird symbolism. It's an unfortunate, excessive ego-trip of a scene that is unfit for this movie and should have been nixed altogether. The only other big problem is that the film is simply too long. Perhaps this was due to Arias being a fan of the manga, since it seems like he tried to cram too much into one movie. A bit of the Peter Jackson effect, albeit without the Best Picture Oscar.

All in all, I recommend Tekkon Kinkreet to most anime fans despite its flaws, if only because it is the first Japanese-produced anime to be directed by an American. Most viewers will come into this film for the beautiful animation, but the real meat lies in the characters: Black and White are reminiscent of Seita and Setsuko of Grave of the Fireflies in their tragic interdependence, and Kimura is a brilliantly-crafted side-character. This film shows, side-by-side, both Black and White, 2D and 3D, children and adults. Like Yin and Yang, Tekkon Kinkreet maintains balance in all things.

good.

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Review: Batman: Gotham Knight (Dub)

Media: TV Anime
Genre(s): Action, Drama, Superhero
Director(s): Yasuhiro Aoki, Futoshi Higashide, Toshiyuki Kubooka, Hiroshi Morioka, Jong-Sik Nam, and Shojiro Nishimi
Studio(s): Bee Train, Madhouse, Production I.G., Studio 4°C
Licensed? American-produced (Warner Bros.)

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. With Batman: Gotham Knight, 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 it goes along. 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 Kinkreet), 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 (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 take the cake and overshadow 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. The scene where Batman wades through garbage and finds 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, WB!) 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.

Animation:		4.0		Average: (3.0 stars)
Plot:		1.5
Voice Acting:		4.0
Sound:		3.0
Overall:		2.5

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Batman: Gotham Knight Anime Announced, Pictures Ensue

Just a couple days ago, Wizard magazine announced the creation of an anime adaptation of the Batman franchise, developed in similar style to the Animatrix feature created to promote The Matrix. DC Comics producer and comic creator Bruce Timms will work alongside Japanese animation studios Studio 4°C (The Animatrix), Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell), and Madhouse (Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust) to create a series of six shorts about the Dark Knight, to be released sometime in the summer of 2008.

Just today, Animation Magazine posted six shots of the film, showing off the new, gritty anime-style Batman character. Have a look at the mouth-wateringly awesome shots yourself, and then you too can wonder why anime and Batman haven't collided like this until now.
[via Anime News Network]

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