Ranked #1097

Dead Leaves

I do believe I watched this once before, last year I think. Small fragments of memories of this still remain floating about in my head, but I decided to watch this again.

Storywise, this film lost me completely. I got to the point where their past is explained on the train. Then understood nothing after that. It was like there were bits missing from the film. That was how confusing it was. For me at least. I mean, I do have to point that out because there's always one who will disagree.

And I may sound odd in saying this & you may disagree, but I felt that for a heavily action orientated film it was actually pretty story led, from the very beginning there is mystery & our 'heroes' trying to discover the truth. Very loose, but story has a surprisingly big part in this film when you'd except it to take the backseat. So really, it should have been better & easier to follow.

Actually the animation, it's just not that good. I'm sorry, but it isn't. It's fun & quirky, bright & vibrant. Exactly what it says on the tin & works brilliantly to emphasise the over the topness of the film, however as it got towards the end & people seemed to be made of guns or swords it became so unclear it was ridiculous. Just a big blurry mass of bullets or grey things which I think were swords. Which is only made worse because at the beginning, the animation is so incredibly slick & clear. And it's just amazing animated, you wouldn't believe some of the animations unless you see it for yourself. The work & care felt sloppier as the film went on.

I'm not even sure if it was, but I could have sworn Retro's voice actor was Ussop & as odd as this may sound this was almost the thing that ruined the character for me. Because every time he spoke I thought of Ussop & a badass with a TV on his head isn't badass when voiced by the same dude as that coward with the slingshot.

The characters are often disgusting, but they are still amazing. I found it amusing Retro is the only really cool looking male good character since all the others are so darn ugly or down right freaky. And Pandy is really quite attractive in my personal opinion, but the other women...no thanks.

But really there isn't anything to write home about it just seems they tried to make them as ugly & disgusting as possible. Except Three-Six & Three-Seven, who are pure badass.

But seriously, you could say even the ugly ones are good in themselves simply because it's so incredibly creative.

So I have established the story is to hard to follow & so is the animation. But did I enjoy this? FUCK YEAH. There was so much GAR & it kept seeming to remind me of TTGL for some reason. The crazy art, in the crazy world, with the crazy characters. Retro & Pandy with their pure badassery & of course Three-Six & Three-Seven. It's just badass from start to finish, it's pure insane fun. It won't really make sense why, but you'll love it. Much like roller coaster.

So even thought it seems surprisingly story lead for an action film, don't bother watching this for the story unless you want to be lost & disappointed. It is however totally worth it for the badass fight scenes & to see Pandy in her pants! read more

As a preface, Hiroyuki Imaishi's works seem to be a mixed bag for me. While I've greatly enjoyed what I have seen so far of his latter work, Gurren Lagann, Dead Leaves seems to be more reminiscent of his earlier piece, the infamous FLCL. Unfortunately, for me FLCL was a bit too eccentric to get into.

Art:
The surrealist, stylized artwork was certainly the highlight of the show. Not only is the animation crisp, bright and visually inventive, it's also chaotic and frenzied (almost to the point of headache-inducing). I viewed the show over a television broadcast and the intermittent advertisements may have saved my eyeballs from exploding. Scenes are often littered with a frame-by-frame comic book / manga layout which generally works well in the show's frantic environment. My only real complaint is the crude and bizarre character designs evoked comparisons to a Ren and Stimpy cartoon (of which I was not a fan).

Sound:
I can't recall any of the soundtrack sticking out as noteworthy, but it was not particularly distracting or obnoxious either. The dub was serviceable. Amanda Lee admirably captured Pandy's melancholic sarcasm. The other lead, Retro, was a bit more inconsistent but for the most part channeled Retro's dementia effectively.

Characters / Story:
The two leads are mildly amusing characters just don't expect any development. Plot exposition occurs in rapid-fire succession, such as the sequence detailing Pandy and Retro's journey to the lunar prison. And let's face it, expecting much character growth or plot in a 50 minute OAV would be asinine. While the literal "Does any of this really matter?" approach to story doesn't really hinder the show as it allows the insanity to flow uninterrupted, it's hard to view it as a plus either.

Enjoyment:
It was able to hold my attention, but not much else. There is a lot of hyper-stylized violence and gore which did not appeal to me, nor did the hardly subtle gross-out humor.


Overall, I felt the show lacked the focus and scope of Gurren Lagann. While Lagann clearly (reverently) satirizes the Super Robot genre popular in the 70's and 80's, I was often confused as to goal of Dead Leaves. Was it insane just for the sake of being insane? Was the bizarre, minimalist plot and devoid character development supposed to be a jab at the convoluted plots found in the philosophical / psychological-scifi genre (Evangelion, RahXephon)? I can't really put a finger on it and it left me feeling rather ambivalent towards the show.

On the other hand, if you enjoyed FLCL's zaniness and wanted an even less subtle take on the penile-drill innuendo found in Gurren Lagann (yes, apparently it is possible), then this show would come highly recommended.
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