Anime: Vexille: 2077 Nihon Sakoku

"Ping Pong" is one of the greatest and most well-directed Japanese live-action sports movie ever made. I am quite disappointed Souri Fumihiro's second attempt at movie direction turned out to be such a failure. The setting of this film was very creative and promising. Japan became a closed nation in 2067 in retaliation against international restriction on robotic technology. "In the past 10 years, no one has seen the true Japan" was an extremely powerful quote to begin the story. Unfortunately, things take a downturn once the heroine reaches Japan.


Other than its story, this movie had many other disappointments. Some scenes were excessively cheesy even for anime, and other than intro, music choice was very poor. The most disturbing thing was the inconsistency in computer graphics. Backgrounds, various machines, and special effects were fascinating, yet all the characters and some objects were in extremely low quality that reminded me of Playstation polygons. Characters also seemed to be very stiff and movements seemed very unnatural. I know Japanese films have lower budget than American films, but a 2007 3D animated film with less convincing CG than 1995 Toy Story is simply unacceptable.

If you've seen Appleseed (2004) you probably know what to expect from this. Not that it's identical but there are a lot of similarities, and in the end the result is basically mecha/tech action porn much like Appleseed was.

Acting
One thing I'll definitely give it over Appleseed is that is voice acting is significantly improved, both in casting and in the acting itself. It still suffers from some flatness of character in the writing, especially in periphiral characters, but it felt like there were far fewer moments that basically left you cringing. Here I really can't fault the actors themselves though, they did probably as best as could be expected from the characters they were given. Overall, there's not a huge amount to work with but what's there is pefectly acceptable for an action film. This is all regarding the subbed version by the way, I have no idea what the dub is like.

Story
Now the film's biggest flaw is probably the story. On one hand the premise is really interesting and a lot of the ideas are really interesting too. But as the pace of the film accelerates in the latter half it really throws a lot of crazy things at you with really brief explanations that really stretch credulity. The ideas and settings themselves are actually okay but far too little time and effort is spent "selling" them to the audience. Ultimately what feels like semi-realistic near-future sci-fi at the beginning of the film begins to feel more like a bunch of mixed-up stereotypes all jumbled together to create an absurd scenario by the end. I really wish the film could have come up with better, more detailed explanations for a lot of its setting but it really didn't bother, which is pretty disappointing. By the end it has a very sort of comic book "who cares if it makes sense" feeling to it which is really opposed to the much more subtle first half.

Animation
Probably the main appeal of the film other than its interesting (if poorly justified) setting is the action. I'm gonna put that together with the animation because it's really one and the same thing: CG eye-candy, often featuring robots. And it works pretty well I think. Advances have been made since Appleseed and they show, the character and facial animation especially is much more sophisticated and realistic. Action-wise there's a number of cool mechs and some interesting if slightly stupid things later on too. I found myself rewinding 5 seconds a number of times to see some cool shot again, which is exactly what I liked about Appleseed also. Other visual constructions such as the cities are pretty nice too. Basically it's a showcase of CG in almost every sense, and if the look of the film in motion doesn't offend your sensibilities it's something that's just plain nice to have on your screen.

Conclusion
Overall, as I said in the intro, the film basically amounts to a bunch of CG mecha/tech porn. If you like seeing neat gadgets and rendered robots running around and shooting each other, you'll probably get something out of this. The story is ambitious which I like, but ultimately fails to live up that ambition, which is probably the film's main failing. But if you can forgive that and appreciate it for what's there as opposed to what's missing, I think it's an enjoyable experience. And notably, if the acting and character animation was the main thing that turned you a little off Appleseed, it's nice to see that much done right (even if the writing isn't improved quite so much).

For those who like numbers, I'd rate it about a 6 out of 10, which isn't a bad score in my book. This won't win anyone's movie of the year award, but it's got plenty of technical merit and enough nice visuals and action to entertain you for an hour and a half. And it prompted me to write this review, which probably means something.

[br][br][br]Animation + Story [br]Seriously, there is so much talking in the show (some quite unrelated) its 3D animation, I will say not too bad. But if were to put it on par action-to-action with Appleseed, it will definitely lose out. Probably the fact that if you have watch Appleseed Movie before, certain scenes are similar, making you lose interests in it. One example would be the 'humanoid robot armor' they wearing, its basically the same as the one in Appleseed except that it is a small size, different colors etc etc.. [br]As for the story plot, I will say that it does not flow quite well and not to mention certain parts of the doubts you have are all answered in the movie. Not to mention that you can no ending in the story, well I apologies if I have dampen your mood in watching this, but this is my opinion. [br]Sound + Character [br]Characters' voice fits in alright for the characters, as expected of Japanese production film. Background music-wise is not bad too. If you are those that likes to listen the stereo-sounds of action like guns etc etc. with your home system, this show on the other hand, fails to bring it out. It will be much better if it can. [br]The character designs also holds a bit of similarity with the characters of the Appleseed. [br]Value + Enjoyment [br]Since this movie was made from the creators of the Appleseed, actually I was expecting more, maybe slightly too much and so was disappointment as a result. And so, the enjoyment and the value I will give it as a 7 then. [br][br]Anyway, if you still want to watch this movie, give it a go. But be warned. Watch this before watching Appleseed Movies. (Just kidding on the 'be warned' part XD)
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Rate me!! This review is based on the DVD R2J and the AVCHD subtitled version. It is therefore considered fair and final. Come on, rate me!

Synopsis: Vexille is a science-fiction military animated movie with clear antecedents in Shirow's Appleseed, with themes of love, loss, and isolation in the mix. It works best when it’s an action flick, but fails to completely sell either the plot or the characters. It’s very pretty, almost exquisite to look at, but the writers needed to spend a little more money and time on the "book," and the animators at spanking new Oxybot needed to go for something other than ubercool badass in the character animation; in particular, we do like facial animation and small touches in a big screen movie. However, 3D animation is getting good lately.

In the end, it’s a little more miss than hit, but given the pedigree, it could have been better. It debuted in Japan big screens on August 18, 2007 and this review is
based primarily on the HD fansub edition. The English cast the cast they have assembled for voice acting is quite good, so you can feel free to watch the version of your choice.


Animation: Directed by Appleseed’s Fumihiko Sori, this is a mostly-3D movie with obvious animation connections with Appleseed, including the sound and music. The leads look dropped in from Appleseed, and have similar movements and fair facial animation . This is the problem with today's 3D animations: someone has to mocap those faces better. A flying camera is used extensively, and there are unusual camera angles throughout. Look for cinematic conventions (lens flare, forced perspective) as well as extensive wide angle and zoom shots. It's an effective attempt to look cinematic.
The awesome mechanicals and detailed backgrounds are similar to Appleseed in many ways too, including the reliance on powered bodysuits and complex, fully realized backgrounds. This movie includs some whizbang 3D animation setpieces, but the end result on the story is mixed. It’s a very pretty attempt on the part of Oxybot and Avex Entertainment, but with certain exceptions (the opening action sequence and the closing chase sequence in particular), it fails to wow, mostly because the characters don’t show much emotion, and don’t do much to sell their character development. However, the essence of any failures are character and plot failures *see below*, not all animation. I'd give it an 8 plus.


Sound: Technicals: Excellent, wide and deep soundstage, with good foley and some nice sound effects. The BGM is JPOP and the opening is effective at setting tone, but the rest of the music is only an emotional hook, not a standalone mix. The seiyuu do an adequate job with their characters, including Meisa Kuroki in her debut role as Vexille, but I was not overly impressed with the “American” (i.e., those playing Americans) voice actors. It is a big soundstage and great explosions that immerse you in the world, so overall, I give techincals and voice sound an 8.

Music: Opening Theme of "Close Your Eyes" by Basement Jaxx was haunting, and the Ending Theme of "Together Again" by mink was a standard roll credits. Basement Jaxx did the bgm music, and the same for Appleseed, if I remember rightly. This effort earns an 8 in sound.



Story: Points deducted for creating a story that fails to convince. In an alternate reality (or far enough future as to not have a plausible connection with today), it’s 2077 and Japan is isolated from the world behind an impenetrable electronic force shield. Japan’s corporations have perfected the art of biotechnology and robotics, its benefits extending the lifespans of all humans; somehow, the UN does not like this technology, so Japan has gone into isolation (it's the title of the movie) to preserve their technology.

Japan is threatening to leapfrog the world in many technical areas, and there are malevolent (and possibly inhuman) forces behind it. Ten years after going “under the shield,”, an American special forces unit (named SWORD), and its female leader Vexille, are sent to uncover truth. Vexille is a superagent, how we are not told, and as the story unfolds, she will be shocked by what she learns. I'm a little shocked it made it past the script editors, and it feels like it went thru too many revisions.

This is the low score, a 5, because I was talking back to the screen too much. There are plot holes aplenty.


Character development is almost absent. The characters aren’t well developed, and the writers either didn’t care enough to close the plotholes, or thought their audience wouldn’t notice. Still, it’s an interesting premise, including the numerous human interest themes that are mostly ignored even though introduced. Ultimately, Vexille is too distant as a character to invite our concern, and nobody else has much gravitas. The side characters aren't charming enough to keep us from being aware of the absence of character development, an essential in a drama.

Character design: The characters are not completely convincing, and we don’t understand the backstory of either female lead (Maria, Vexille) enough to understand their motivations. The character design of almost all characters is pretty, but the lack of close-ups or internal conflict means you can only guess at their feelings, at least most of the time. Some extra time and expense could have been spent on the facial movements of the 3D character models. However, the seiyuu did match well to the character and did a very good job enhancing their character onscreen. 6 for a mixed bag here, see character below for more comments.


Value and Enjoyment: the DVD has a few extras that may make it marginally valuable as a purchase. It's a good watch for an evening, I'd rate it only a 6 on value. However, I did enjoy it enough to watch it twice, but the second time, I did so much more critically. Enjoyment got points off for my one-way dialog with the screen.

I doubt I'd score it higher than a 7 in this or any other universe.


Concluson: worth maybe one watch, just to see how good 3D is getting, and to watch some good action parts. There is too much of it as talk-back-to-screen. Watch Appleseed if you want a movie with something similar, or Burst Angel as a series. But don't expect this movie to move you.