Ranked #4601

First Squad: The Moment of Truth

I'll admit, I was sort of excited when I found this when I was randomly searching for some good Original Anime Music Videos. Russian rap and Studio 4°C (S4C) animating the video was perfect mix. But as an avid music video watcher in my hey day (when MTV actually showed music videos), one should know that you don't ever take a music video literally or you will lose the game.

Enter, First Squad: The Moment of Truth. I have seen many of S4C's animated shorts recently and have been a fan of most of their work. So to find a full length movie by them got me excited. And to realize its all in its 'native' language got me even more hyped up because, how often do you get to watch anime (or even movies) in native languages? It also adds to the level of detail this story tries to tell.

If you have ever watched any type of war documentary, the stories the people being interviewed tell are usually somber tales of death or explanations of why things happen. Some people, don't mind telling their war stories but for most people, their experiences are kept so secret that revealing their story for the first time may be hard to tell. Such is the case for some of the war vets (and scientists) in the 'inserts' of this movie. Most of the inserts felt like they contributed to the story well, sometimes explaining what the next scene is. If you think too hard during these segments your head will explode considering it is all fantastical. If you have experienced any S4C anime shorts you already know that most of the time the story is just plain confusing. This is completely an anime story at heart.

Which is why the viewer needs to watch this with an open mind. The story is more of an alternate universe WWII where magic is real. Many anime and movies have taken this approach and met great success (Valkyria Chronicles and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?). Taking this anime serious should be thrown out the window from the moment you realize who is a clairvoyant or during the meeting with 'Gandalf'. The story is a very typical David and Goliath type with the frail looking Nadya Ruslanova taking on insurmountable odds. Almost kind of sounds like a shounen anime right? Well it is :)

Don't let the MAL database fool you, the only main character of this movie is Nadya and you follow her from her early beginnings all the way to the end credits. The other characters are mainly support characters and are not shown enough to matter. As for Nadya, you'll either love or hate her. I grew attached to her because she just looks so frail that you just want to protect her. With all the war and bloodshed and overall grittiness, seeing a little girl barely weighing 100lbs (45kg) walk across the Russian tundra will definitely create some sort of empathy for the protagonist.

I'll say this about S4C, they are definitely not the best when it comes to animating but they are better than most. What they truly do shine in is the amount of detail they put in every scene. Backgrounds and any other inanimate objects gets the largest amount of detail. Varying ink blots from the pressures of a typewriter, all the trails routes and tracks on the battle map, Moscow's skyline and even Moscow's unique Subway/bomb shelter, is all great eye candy. Lets not forget that this is a war anime. There will be blood and lots of it. I did find it weird that there was more blood than action but that didn't hinder the experience.

This movie isn't all that bad at all. It's no different than any other anime in terms of plot holes and inconsistency. It's major selling point for me was the whole visual and audio package. If a movie/anime setting is in Russia, LET THEM SPEAK RUSSIAN ^_^ It adds so much in terms of immersing yourself in the movie. And the overall art quality of this show is just amazing. I'd place S4C just below Studio Ghibli and Makoto Shinkai. I think that's a pretty elite list.

Anyone who is a fan of WWII fiction, Studio 4C fan, or even wants to see something truly unique. should at least give this anime a shot or two. If you truly hate the mockumentary inserts nothings stopping you from fast forwarding them. The whole concept of this anime makes me want another movie of this type. Not a sequel per se but something with this idea. read more

This is my first review, so it may not be literary gold, but bear with me.

First Squad: The Moment of Truth is loosely based on a music video made by Studio 4C, who also made the movie. The story is set on the eastern front during the opening days of World War II. The main character is a young girl called Nadya, member of a secret unit of the Soviet army consisting of teenagers with supernatural powers, who have been drafted and trained to fight off the German advances. With all her squadmates dead, Nadya now finds herself alone in the barren and frozen Russian landscape.

She soon gets involved in a plot to fight against an SS officer who plans to raise an army of 12th century crusaders and have them help conquer the Soviet Union. The cast of characters is largely forgettable, save for a man taking on the role of Obi-Wan Gandalf, and of course, Nadya herself. Her interactions with her crewmembers, as shown in flashbacks, is largely uninteresting, and only one of them seems to actually have been friends with Nadya. The rest might just as well have been strangers, which bothered me.

The brave, little Nadya is a character you grow to like very quickly. She is a frail, young girl, wandering alone over the tundra, and being chased by forces that in comparison seem insurmountable.

The pacing is good, even if it takes some time for the plot to kick off. The animation is sometimes broken up documentary (or if you will, mockumentary) style, with live-action clips of (probably false) Russian and German war veterans and historians talking about the story as it progresses, which I found to be a nice touch.

The animation is very well done, and the incorporation of CG is nearly flawless. While the animation is not mind-blowing, though high above average standards, what sticks out is how detailed everything is. The backgrounds are generously decorated, the characters all look realistic, and the artists have really done a good job of accentuating the loneliness and hardships Nadya must endure.

One thing that makes this stand out from just about all other anime set in Europe, is that it is not in Japanese. All the voices are originally Russian, and while I have little experience with Russians and their language, they do a good job of bringing the characters to life, especially Elena Chebaturkina (Nadya) and Sergei Aisman (the big baddy). The music is also great, especially the opening and ending songs, which of course would be expected from DJ Krush, whose previous works include a song in LittleBIGPlanet and some other soundtracks. It becomes apparent very quickly that the directors have put effort into making the music fit its Slavic setting.

All in all, I recommend this movie to anybody who has seventy-three minutes of free time. It is a good experience, and if you are interested in WWII, the Soviet Union or just fictional war dramas, then you should definitely watch this. read more