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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 5.10 - JANUARY 2001
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New from Japan: Anime Film Reviews
Samurai X: Rurouni Kenshin. V.1, Trust. V.2, Betrayal. [This gets confusing: Samurai X is the title of the video dubbed edition, while Rurouni Kenshin is the title of the subtitled video and the DVD edition. Plus, there is a separate Rurouni Kenshin TV series which is getting a simultaneous U.S. video release from another company, Media Blasters.] Japanese animation first gained a cult following in America for its giant robot battlefests and space adventure epics. But there are many viewers who prefer the historical dramas, which offer a genuine historical background in a setting so exotic and so unknown to non-Japanese that it might as well be on a planet far, far away. This story takes place during the traumatic collapse of the 250-year Shogunate period (1601-1868), which occurred between the visit of Commodore Perry's fleet in 1853 to open Japan forcibly to world trade, and 1868 when the emperor was restored. Rurouni Kenshin began as an immensely popular comic book (manga) historical serial by Nobuhiro Watsuki from 1994 to 1999. It was quickly adapted as a 94-episode animated TV series, running from January 10, 1996 through September 8, 1998 (currently being released separately in America under Media Blasters' AnimeWorks video label); there was also an anime theatrical feature in December 1997. Set in 1879, it tells the adventures of a group of teens who gather around Kenshin, a rurouni (ronin; vagabond samurai) in his late twenties on a self-imposed pilgrimage of redemption. When he was just a young teen, Kenshin was the deadliest assassin of the reformers who fought the Shogunate. Disillusioned by all the killing on both sides in the name of noble ideals, he hopes to atone for his violent past.
Samurai X (the title refers to the cross-shaped scar on Kenshin's cheek) is a two-hour, four episode direct-to video series released as Rurouni Kenshin: Reminiscence in 1999. It is Kenshin's origin story, showing his violent past which was hinted at in the TV series. Kenshin bursts into the shadow civil war as an idealistic 14-year-old whose lithe dexterity is taken advantage of by the reformers to use him as a murderer of their political opponents. The first half hour episode establishes this; the following three switch to somber despair as Kenshin realizes that he is no better than the "enemies of the people" he is ordered to slay. Kenshin's failed attempt to escape into a peaceful life as a farmer, and his resolution to die in battle against the Shogun's agents, move forward with a growing inevitability which portends an unalterable fate. (Yet, since this is a prequel to the TV series, viewers are supposed to know that Kenshin will, somehow, survive.) Director Furuhashi builds an emotional impact with calm, poetic imagery such as slowly dripping blood upon snow which skillfully gets the most out of limited animation. (Production by Studio Deen.)
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise. Royal Space Force was a milestone in Japanese animation history. A small group of young animators persuaded entertainment giant Bandai to fund their new studio's first theatrical feature; an intellectual sci-fi drama with no merchandising tie-ins. The movie bombed financially but won critical raves that established Studio Gainax's reputation. Also, the movie's video release helped demonstrate the potential of Japan's new anime video market. The movie typifies much of anime in emphasizing art -- richly-detailed backgrounds and costumes -- and story rather than full animation. Royal Space Force in particular has stunned audiences with its elaborate setting of an alternate Earth. Rather than merely showing normal society with fictional nations or historical figures, RSF depicts a completely original civilization with unique yet plausible designs of everything from religions to clothes and household artifacts. Even the symphonic score by Ryuichi Sakamoto has an unusually sharp metallic undertone that enhances the exoticism.
Shirotsugh Lhadatt is a young sailor assigned to the Kingdom of Honneamise's tiny disaster-prone space program just as war looms. The commander is determined to orbit an astronaut before the Space Force is absorbed into the military effort. Shiro's enthusiasm at being chosen as the astronaut is tempered by the realization of all the safety testing they are bypassing. An equal worry is that the launch site is right on the border, and is sure to be captured or destroyed if fighting starts before the rocket is completed. Royal Space Force strikes a delicate balance of realistic, serious technological research; the drama of political tension, espionage and warfare; and the inspirational uplift of a young everyman's consideration of the space program's moral and social considerations (Shiro's girlfriend worries that the rocket could be used as a new weapon) and conviction of its positive benefits.
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