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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 6.01 - APRIL 2001
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New from Japan: Anime Film Reviews Blue Seed. V.1, The Nightmare Begins. V.2, Descent Into Terror. V.3, Prelude to Sacrifice. V.4, Nightfall. TV series, 1994-1995. Director: Jun Kamiya. V.1, 7 episodes, 175 minutes; V.2, 7 episodes, 180 minutes; V.3 & V.4, 6 episodes, 150 minutes. Price & format: $29.98 bilingual DVD. Distributor: A. D. Vision Films. A common anime formula is an attack against humanity by monsters that are opposed by a small elite squad. The attackers may be space aliens or technobiological mutants or supernatural horrors, and the defense force may be police or scientists or occult ghost-busters. But the protagonists, if not the whole team, will be women. These are modern sci-fi variants of myths dating back to a culture that believed the world to be crowded with hostile spirits which only a cadre of virginal priestesses could keep at bay. This formula gets closest to its roots, literally, in Yuzo Takada's Blue Seed (the American title), a 26-episode TV serial (October 4, 1994 to March 29, 1995) adapted by the popular Takada from his manga novel. Momiji Fujimiya, a 15-year-old student, is just beginning to blossom into womanhood when she is attacked by a giant vegetable dragon, and rescued by a super-boy who seems part plant himself. She learns that she has an older twin sister who was separated from her at birth and that they are the last descendants of the legendary union of the god Susano-o (yes, that's the correct spelling) and human Princess Kushinada whom he rescued from the eight-headed dragon Orochi. The menace is rising again, and her sister who was being raised to combat it has apparently just been killed in the battle. Momiji is drafted into the newly formed Terrestrial Administration Center to combat it. The menace is not taken seriously by the government and the TAC is a dumping ground for science geeks, computer nerds and gung-ho commando wannabes. But they are all good-hearted and a camaraderie develops. The small team discovers origins tying the mythological monsters of all cultures to a long-dormant vegetative intelligence, the Aragami, that is reawakening to challenge humanity for possession of the Earth. Early episodes are light-hearted. Momiji hopes to enjoy exciting adventures with her new friends and still keep up with her schoolwork. But the Aragami grow more deadly, Momiji is horrified to see people killed all around her, and Japan is swept by religious fundamentalism demanding a return to the old gods; a creed that believes the Aragami can be stopped only by the human sacrifice of the reborn Princess Kushinada. This brief synopsis omits several closely-woven important subplots. The TV serial (by two studios, Production IG and Ashi Production) has the usual shortcomings of animating a detailed, realistic art style on a limited TV budget. What made Blue Seed a success was the intriguing blend of modern technology and ancient mythology, the sympathetic and believable personalities of the cast, and the rich characterization of Momiji, who evolves from a shallow, boy-crazy girl to a young woman willing to accept her karmic destiny. A.D.V.'s separate dubbed and subtitled video releases in 1996 and 1997 (two episodes per volume) are still available, but the new DVD edition offers English, Japanese and Spanish dialogue tracks, English subtitles, many more episodes per volume and several extras.
Silent Service. TV movie, 1996. Director: Ryosuke Takahashi. 100 minutes. Price & format: DVD $29.99 bilingual. Distributor: U.S. Manga Corps/Central Park Media. Kaiji Kawaguchi's Silent Service, a military/political thriller in the vein of Fail Safe or Advise and Consent, set off immediate controversy when its serialization began in 1989. The saga of a daringly pacifistic Japanese submarine commander who seizes control of Japan's first nuclear submarine and uses it to bluff and finesse the world into accepting nuclear disarmament, dramatically humiliating the warmongering American and Russian military establishments along the way, was accused of both overly simplistic pacifism and encouraging a return to Japan's wartime nationalism. A best-seller throughout the early 1990s in bound collections of the comic-book serial, it was not animated until 1995 when the beginning of the story was made into a two-hour TV movie (March 3, 1996). In "the near future," the U.S. Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, closely allied since the end of World War II, share technology to build Japan's first nuclear submarine. It is officially a joint project, but the arrogant U.S. sailors act like they consider the "Japs" their servants. Captain Shiro Kaieda, commander of the new Seabat with an all-Japanese crew, disappears during a training exercise with the U.S. 7th Fleet, radioing a message to the world that he and his men are now the world's first maritime mobile independent nation, the Yamato. The outraged American 7th Fleet declares him a pirate and starts firing torpedoes and missiles at him, while the saber-rattling U.S. President declares it an obvious plot of the Japanese government to steal American nuclear submarine technology and threatens an American reoccupation of Japan. What everyone wonders is whether Kaieda has nuclear missiles on his sub...
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