This is a repost of a review that ran (or was this just submitted?) back when I had a very short stint on Animation on DVD right before the site closed down:
The second the closing credits began to roll on US Manga Corps release of Legend of Lemnear I ran as fast as I could to the computer to get the word out, this movie is a to be avoided at all costs. I don't want to over sell this by saying that it isn't the worst animated film I've ever witnessed, but this is a forty minute time waster that really is a time waster.
The plot of the film condensed, no doubt greatly, from a manga, concerns the female warrior Lemnear who is out to avenge the death of her people at the hands of some dark lord. The rest of the plot, or the parts that didn't involve close ups of women's breasts, had something to do with Lemnear being the Champion of Silver who must come together with the Champion of Bronze to defeat the Champion of Gold. You really don't get much more than that except for topless women and acts of violence that may have been exciting in some other movie, but not in this one.
The trouble is that the story is so leisurely that there is no way that the story its seeking to tell could be compressed in to a mere forty minutes, especially when time is taken out for a rape and the fondling of breasts. I assure you that I am not a prude, but there is simply way too much attention on breasts in the second third of this movie for anything other than a porno film. Why its not listed as hentai (adult animation) is beyond me, especially when the amount of nudity seems greater than some hentai titles I've seen. I think my annoyance at the nudity is the result of it all being handled in a second grade manner, the breasts are pushed to the forefront as if they by themselves, mean something. Were the scenes designed by adults or seven year olds? And why is it, that in a story that is told through limited animation,do they take the greatest care to animate the bouncing bosom when everything else remains static?
It boggles the mind.
Despite the over all vapidness of the release there are some really good things in the movie. The Japanese voice cast is fine and I wished that they had been given something better to do. (The English cast is just okay) The designs are mostly wonderful, from the giant stone god, to the flying fortress, to the monsters and Lemnear's birdlike lizard (a steal from Heavy Metal's Tarna?) this is a good looking movie that begs to have had story tellers that matched the visuals. I liked the music as well.
One last bitch,and its one that's directed at the companies that put out animated DVDs. Why is it that this movie, which runs only 40 minutes has 20 chapter stops while other films, both equally short or even longer will have a mere handful? Blood, The Last Vampire runs fifty minutes and has eight stops, Wings of Honneamise which runs over two hours has ten ,as does Garzaey's Wing. Why the lack of stops? With an animation which is a form of art there are times when you want to go back and really look at the art, or a sequence to study just what exactly was done to achieve an effect. Animation, more than live action needs more stops so you can go back and marvel at what has been put up on the screen.
For those who might care there are several previews for other title, a commercial for US Manga's comic like and cast bios, which is nothing more than clips from the show where each character states who they are. The disc is also 40 minutes long not 45 as the back states.
WRAP UP
Legend of Lemnear is a release that isn't worth the time or money to watch even as a rental. Even if you should come across the film at a bargain price (I picked it up in specially priced two pack with Garzey's Wings for 15 bucks) you should avoid it unless you are a big fan of the manga or you get it for free. Even then, the leaden pacing and confusing story line will have made you turn this off before the end credits roll.
Showing posts with label animation on dvd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animation on dvd. Show all posts
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Neon Gen A Short Review (1995) An Animation on DVD Review
This was a review I sent in a letter to the editor of Animation on DVD back in 2002 reviewing the entire series in one go. The website always reviewed each disc as a separate entity. With Neon Genesis Evangelion I found it impossible. As I said in a letter that went with the review:
I could never hope to write a review of the series on a disc by disc basis once I saw the entire series, complexities of the series building upon each other make it hard not to see them or discuss them once you get to the end.
I think this was one of the last things I sent in but instead of a yea or nay to the piece I got a letter saying the website was going away.
Before going into the review I want to leave you with a final few lines I sent to the editor:
I think that the problem in writing a review for this series is not giving too much away,one can't really do that, its that its next to impossible to adequately discuss anything in the series with out writing a very long book. That said what follows is I think as close to a short review as I am capable with out going into a lengthy discussion of it all.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Once you've seen Neon Genesis Evangelion ( Neon Gen) in its entirety its very close to impossible to think of it as anything other than an entity complete unto itself. I don't think that its possible to pull the series apart to do an episode by episode or disc by disc review, since the story is so tightly wound upon itself that any plotting reflects forward and back along the plot line. Thankfully the series has recently been released in a box set containing all eight of the series DVDs so the series can now be safely reviewed with out the nagging sensation that one is cheating .
In the Summer 2002 issue of Anime Invasion , Jonathan Clements, editor of the Anime Encyclopedia ,called Neon Gen 'The greatest anime series no one can understand.' The statement was made, I'm sure, facetiously, however owing to the series' complexity, it is a telling statement since a great many people walk away from the 26 episodes wondering what they had just witnessed. Having seen the entire series and plumbed the depths of its mysteries I can honestly say that your reaction to the series will not be based upon how much you understand but rather how much you like having all of the answers given to you. If you need all of your questions answered for you in neat little packages then run far away from this show ,since the answers are not forth coming unless you are willing to search them out. This is a show with a lot, perhaps too much even, on its mind and it shows.
But before I get side tracked, as one will inevitably when talking about what's going on it would be best to try to describe what the show is about, at least on the surface.
On the face of it Neon Gen is about young Shinji Ikari, son of the head of a mysterious organization called NERV. Shinji has long been estranged from his father so much so that their relationship has deteriorated to
several steps below dysfunctional. These are two people who can not communicate under the best of circumstances. As the series opens Shinji has been summoned by his father to join him at NERV headquarters. It seems that the giant beings, called angels, which have been periodically appearing on earth in order to wipe out its population are now stepping up the frequency of their attacks. NERV hopes to strike back at the angels by using giant robots called Evangelions or Evas, however there is no one to pilot the Eva since their one pilot, Rei has been injured. Shinji is the last ditch hope of the world. Shinji of course takes up
the gauntlet and becomes a pilot .He is joined by Rei and Texan Auska Langley in his battle to fend off mankind's impending doom.
Sounds rather like a typical giant robot anime series doesn't it? Its not even remotely typical since everything is wrapped in mystical trappings that have been pulled from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnosticism, the Cabala, and just about every other Judeo Christian myth or legend you can think of, not to mention any other myth or legend you can come up with. As the series steps closer towards it conclusion you very easily begin to believe that perhaps this is an assault by God on his creation by which he means to wipe out his past mistake. And just in case you think that even that is something you've seen before, the story changes gears after 24 episodes and then becomes an a low budget talk-fest for the final two episodes. The change completely confused the majority of those who had been watching. All across Japan and the world people are left scratching their heads at a series that is both fish and fowl, both action adventure and religious allegory.
Created by Gainax Studios, and director Hideki Anno in particular, Neon Gen has more convoluted plotting then the X-Files managed to pull together in its entire run. Somewhere about half way into the series, about the time that the viewer is hopelessly hooked , the series shifts from an excellent giant robot tale into something else, as revelations about what is going on begin to be revealed, and then changed, and then changed again and again. Its like falling into Alice's rabbit hole with no bottom (really, there is no bottom as the show will haunt you for days) No one is who they seem and everything has a secondary meaning before even the religious allegory is added into the mix. Shinji's father is not only part of NERV but a shadow organization, and he's got other affiliations going on down the line. Everyone with the exception of Shinji seems to be connected to some one else. There always seems to be another layer hidden just behind the one you are looking at.
And for the most part its absolutely wonderful. This is a series who's complexity engages you on many different levels Not only is there is grand action to tickle the little kid in you, there is also thought
provoking ideas that puzzle the adult.Its this combination that make Neon Gen a hell of a ride.
Technically the series is above average. The animation , while for the most part of the typical TV anime variety, works well in getting across the size and scale of the events that are transpiring .It creates a world where angels and robots are possible and it adds to the strangeness of the interrogation that ends the series by altering out perceptions of what is going on. (The types of animation changes at times from shot to shot) But the real standout here is the design which takes well known religious iconography and twists it into other worldly nightmares. The image of the crucified angel in NERV's basement is a perfectly chilling monster closet that will quietly unsettle anyone who cares to see the implications in it. The designs of the Evas are at first normal machines and then slowly they become frightening ,as they seem to become less technological and more feral, more demonic in there characteristics (has mankind made a deal with the devil to stop the
angels?)
The real test for anyone of whether they are going to love or hate the series is whether or not they accept the series' rampant mysticism and new age like musings. This is especially true once the show's action effectively ends in episode 24 only to be replaced by talk in episodes 25 and 26. Can you accept a series that ends with a discussion of the ideas after 24 episodes of action?
Personally, when I watched the series for the first time I had no trouble buying any of it. I do have to say that I did watch the last ten or so episodes in one sitting using the DVD remote to jump past all of the openings, closings and previews so it all blended nicely into one long movie with out any real break or distraction. (this is a wonderful way to really get into the series- if you can afford the time)
However when I went back and started to look at the later episodes, especially the final two, on an episode by episode basis I lost all patience for the musings and felt that the vast majority of them were a load of crap. I think that the problem is that removed from the very real, very cohesive internal world of Neon Gen , the ideas, mystical pronouncements and hidden messages tend to collapse in the daylight.One of the things that the series gets unquestionably right is its world creation, it perfectly simulates a world where everything we see is possible and believable, even if its not so believable in our world.With that in mind I have to say that I personally think that the final pronouncements that end the tale are either a joke, or aren't as clever as the creators they think . This isn't to say the series is bad, its not, I just think that the series is being taken much more seriously than it really should. I really do like the series, I just question a series that so confused its viewers with its ending that the makers felt it was necessary to release not one, but two movies in order to clarify its ending.( Not having seen the movies I'm not certain if they clarify or confuse matters. I'm going to have to wait for their release on DVD to determine what their role is in the understanding of the Neon Gen
universe.)
For the record the English dub is fine and at times it was preferred to the subtitles since I found I could grasp some of what was happening with less distraction by listening rather than reading.
WRAP UP
Neon Genesis Evangelion is not your typical anime show. While nominally about robot jocks beating the hell out of invaders from space the show is also an examination of various ideas that are not normally part of
an animated TV program. While its form as an adventure show may make the show appealing to many people , its the audience's acceptance of the show's dabbling what some would term 'heavy' ideas in a gear shifting way that will determine whether one likes, loves or loathes the series as a whole. Personally I like the series and recommend it .
I could never hope to write a review of the series on a disc by disc basis once I saw the entire series, complexities of the series building upon each other make it hard not to see them or discuss them once you get to the end.
I think this was one of the last things I sent in but instead of a yea or nay to the piece I got a letter saying the website was going away.
Before going into the review I want to leave you with a final few lines I sent to the editor:
I think that the problem in writing a review for this series is not giving too much away,one can't really do that, its that its next to impossible to adequately discuss anything in the series with out writing a very long book. That said what follows is I think as close to a short review as I am capable with out going into a lengthy discussion of it all.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Once you've seen Neon Genesis Evangelion ( Neon Gen) in its entirety its very close to impossible to think of it as anything other than an entity complete unto itself. I don't think that its possible to pull the series apart to do an episode by episode or disc by disc review, since the story is so tightly wound upon itself that any plotting reflects forward and back along the plot line. Thankfully the series has recently been released in a box set containing all eight of the series DVDs so the series can now be safely reviewed with out the nagging sensation that one is cheating .
In the Summer 2002 issue of Anime Invasion , Jonathan Clements, editor of the Anime Encyclopedia ,called Neon Gen 'The greatest anime series no one can understand.' The statement was made, I'm sure, facetiously, however owing to the series' complexity, it is a telling statement since a great many people walk away from the 26 episodes wondering what they had just witnessed. Having seen the entire series and plumbed the depths of its mysteries I can honestly say that your reaction to the series will not be based upon how much you understand but rather how much you like having all of the answers given to you. If you need all of your questions answered for you in neat little packages then run far away from this show ,since the answers are not forth coming unless you are willing to search them out. This is a show with a lot, perhaps too much even, on its mind and it shows.
But before I get side tracked, as one will inevitably when talking about what's going on it would be best to try to describe what the show is about, at least on the surface.
On the face of it Neon Gen is about young Shinji Ikari, son of the head of a mysterious organization called NERV. Shinji has long been estranged from his father so much so that their relationship has deteriorated to
several steps below dysfunctional. These are two people who can not communicate under the best of circumstances. As the series opens Shinji has been summoned by his father to join him at NERV headquarters. It seems that the giant beings, called angels, which have been periodically appearing on earth in order to wipe out its population are now stepping up the frequency of their attacks. NERV hopes to strike back at the angels by using giant robots called Evangelions or Evas, however there is no one to pilot the Eva since their one pilot, Rei has been injured. Shinji is the last ditch hope of the world. Shinji of course takes up
the gauntlet and becomes a pilot .He is joined by Rei and Texan Auska Langley in his battle to fend off mankind's impending doom.
Sounds rather like a typical giant robot anime series doesn't it? Its not even remotely typical since everything is wrapped in mystical trappings that have been pulled from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnosticism, the Cabala, and just about every other Judeo Christian myth or legend you can think of, not to mention any other myth or legend you can come up with. As the series steps closer towards it conclusion you very easily begin to believe that perhaps this is an assault by God on his creation by which he means to wipe out his past mistake. And just in case you think that even that is something you've seen before, the story changes gears after 24 episodes and then becomes an a low budget talk-fest for the final two episodes. The change completely confused the majority of those who had been watching. All across Japan and the world people are left scratching their heads at a series that is both fish and fowl, both action adventure and religious allegory.
Created by Gainax Studios, and director Hideki Anno in particular, Neon Gen has more convoluted plotting then the X-Files managed to pull together in its entire run. Somewhere about half way into the series, about the time that the viewer is hopelessly hooked , the series shifts from an excellent giant robot tale into something else, as revelations about what is going on begin to be revealed, and then changed, and then changed again and again. Its like falling into Alice's rabbit hole with no bottom (really, there is no bottom as the show will haunt you for days) No one is who they seem and everything has a secondary meaning before even the religious allegory is added into the mix. Shinji's father is not only part of NERV but a shadow organization, and he's got other affiliations going on down the line. Everyone with the exception of Shinji seems to be connected to some one else. There always seems to be another layer hidden just behind the one you are looking at.
And for the most part its absolutely wonderful. This is a series who's complexity engages you on many different levels Not only is there is grand action to tickle the little kid in you, there is also thought
provoking ideas that puzzle the adult.Its this combination that make Neon Gen a hell of a ride.
Technically the series is above average. The animation , while for the most part of the typical TV anime variety, works well in getting across the size and scale of the events that are transpiring .It creates a world where angels and robots are possible and it adds to the strangeness of the interrogation that ends the series by altering out perceptions of what is going on. (The types of animation changes at times from shot to shot) But the real standout here is the design which takes well known religious iconography and twists it into other worldly nightmares. The image of the crucified angel in NERV's basement is a perfectly chilling monster closet that will quietly unsettle anyone who cares to see the implications in it. The designs of the Evas are at first normal machines and then slowly they become frightening ,as they seem to become less technological and more feral, more demonic in there characteristics (has mankind made a deal with the devil to stop the
angels?)
The real test for anyone of whether they are going to love or hate the series is whether or not they accept the series' rampant mysticism and new age like musings. This is especially true once the show's action effectively ends in episode 24 only to be replaced by talk in episodes 25 and 26. Can you accept a series that ends with a discussion of the ideas after 24 episodes of action?
Personally, when I watched the series for the first time I had no trouble buying any of it. I do have to say that I did watch the last ten or so episodes in one sitting using the DVD remote to jump past all of the openings, closings and previews so it all blended nicely into one long movie with out any real break or distraction. (this is a wonderful way to really get into the series- if you can afford the time)
However when I went back and started to look at the later episodes, especially the final two, on an episode by episode basis I lost all patience for the musings and felt that the vast majority of them were a load of crap. I think that the problem is that removed from the very real, very cohesive internal world of Neon Gen , the ideas, mystical pronouncements and hidden messages tend to collapse in the daylight.One of the things that the series gets unquestionably right is its world creation, it perfectly simulates a world where everything we see is possible and believable, even if its not so believable in our world.With that in mind I have to say that I personally think that the final pronouncements that end the tale are either a joke, or aren't as clever as the creators they think . This isn't to say the series is bad, its not, I just think that the series is being taken much more seriously than it really should. I really do like the series, I just question a series that so confused its viewers with its ending that the makers felt it was necessary to release not one, but two movies in order to clarify its ending.( Not having seen the movies I'm not certain if they clarify or confuse matters. I'm going to have to wait for their release on DVD to determine what their role is in the understanding of the Neon Gen
universe.)
For the record the English dub is fine and at times it was preferred to the subtitles since I found I could grasp some of what was happening with less distraction by listening rather than reading.
WRAP UP
Neon Genesis Evangelion is not your typical anime show. While nominally about robot jocks beating the hell out of invaders from space the show is also an examination of various ideas that are not normally part of
an animated TV program. While its form as an adventure show may make the show appealing to many people , its the audience's acceptance of the show's dabbling what some would term 'heavy' ideas in a gear shifting way that will determine whether one likes, loves or loathes the series as a whole. Personally I like the series and recommend it .
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Patlabor 1(1989) An Animation on DVD Review
This is one of the DVD reviews I did for the long gone Animation on DVD website back in 2001 or 2002. I don't think this review ever saw the light of day, though I do know that it was submitted. I'm posting it here because I like the film and I don't want it to disappear forever into the void.
It begins with a haunting image- The suicide of brilliant computer programmer. Silhouetted against a deep red sunset, with birds flying all around , a bespeckled man steps to the end of a long gangway located
high atop a factory in the middle of Tokyo harbor and steps off....
It ends with the members of a Mobile Patlabor force in desperate battle not only for their own lives but also for the lives of everyone in the city from the madness that the programmer has wrought. The sequence is a
wonderful piece of action cinema as the small force attempts to maneuver around the seemingly deserted factory far from land just as a typhoon hits. This is what animation was meant to do, take you places that
regular film making can't go.
Labors are giant robots that are used for heavy tasks such as demolition and construction. The Patlabors are the police equivalent built to stop labors that have gone rogue either through programing or operator error.
However before you get crazy and scream that you hate giant robot cartoons understand that they only really show up in the last bit of the movie and are used because there is no other way to defeat the programmers endgame .
The PATLABOR series that inspired this film never relied on giant robot bashing into each other for ratings. The TV series was primarily character driven with the robots thrown in almost as an after thought,
or in this case it was the thing that set the series apart from every other police oriented anime.
The director of both of the PATLABOR films is Mamoru Oshii and it is he that is responsible for the success of the films and the vast improvement of the story telling from the series. Oshii began by darkening things up a few notches, both literally and figuratively. Gone are the bright blue skies that are my primary memory from the couple of episodes of the series. They are instead replaced with mutated colors, there doesn't seem to be any blue skies, except on the morning after the storm . You also can't get much darker than being trapped at night on a ghostly structure during typhoon.
Next Oshii takes away the ability for the police to arrive just in the nick of time or to be able to do just the right thing. In the movie doing the right thing often has consequences, as in how do you stop a raging labor with one of your best friends inside it with out killing them and yourself? Oshii also begins to weave in philosophical questions on the order of what is the role of technology in our lives ? How should be altering our surroundings? What if we create something we can't control? The use of the questions is two fold, first Oshii wants us to examine the questions he is posing , and secondly by posing the question he directs our attention away from the idea that this is just another light episode of the TV series. He taps into our natural
technophobia in order to use our fear to crank things up a notch.
Oshii also uses this ,and its possibly superior sequel, as a testing ground for many of the techniques that blew so many people away in GHOST IN THE SHELL. If you want to see where the style of that film was honed come back and watch the two PATLABOR movies. You would be hard pressed not to see parallels between the three films.
I love this movie. I love the mix of ideas and action. I love the fact that despite all that is going on you never lose sight that this is basically a people driven story, its a person's fears and desires that set every thing in motion and it is a group of very frightened people who have to set it all right. This is also one of the few times when the makers of a movie took a series and improved on the source material in ways that are both beneficial to the film itself and the series. Imagine where the series could go now that its freed up of the lightness of the plotting that were the norm previously?
Even if you have never seen any episodes of the TV series I think you'll fall in love with the film. You really don't need to know anything since the movie pretty much explains it all for you as you go on. Yes having
seen an episode or two will allow you to pick up on who is who faster, but its not necessary.
The transfer is clean and free of flaws. It is nicely letterboxed to 1.85: 1 . The sound is good. The English track is particularly well done, the result of having been prepared for theatrical release in the early 1990's.
WRAP UP
This is a great movie. Highly recommended especially to those who liked GHOST IN THE SHELL or really good character driven films. This is one of the unheralded great films.
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