Vexille: 2077 Nihon Sakoku

Vexille is in the same vein as cyberpunk thriller franchises Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell. There is excellent animation and world/mecha design on display, with great music by Paul Oakenfold.

The story is intriguing and has moments of awe, but is overall generic and subpar. The premise of having the main protagonist from America and treating Japan like current-day hermit North Korea is very cool but not expanded upon creatively.

Vexille settles for obligatory action setpieces and clichéd villains to fill the running time. All stuff straight out of the Rebels-Fight-Empire 101 textbook. A textbook that is in need of a new edition, ... I think we can all agree.

Vexille - 2077 Nihon Sakoku shares the same inspiration as Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed, following an almost straight forward cyberpunk plot line.

The story is fairly good and had some potencial. All flows around the isolation of Japan during 10 years because the disagreements in a Treatment for the preservation of mankind during the Robotized era. In short the denial of creating androids.
It is a simple plotline with good potencial for plot twists but unfortunatly it starts entering in a downward spiral to failure due to some bad decisions of the directors.

Art and Sound are simply Amazing. Superb animation not only for the ... mechas but for all the scenarios the story passes by. Sound is also superb, with great tracks by Paul Oakenfold and great tracks choosen by the Sound Director (wich is Paul Oakenfold).

The Characters could be way better. They are just plain and simple with no really great mistery behind them. They are what you see.

Enjoyment: Vexille Is a feast to your emotions. Great Animation with Great music quickly lead you to forget about the mediocre plot line and plain characters. You can simply shut your brain after the first 20-30 minutes of the anime and still you will enjoy it.

Overall Vexille had the potencial to be a better movie but the story and the characters cripled that possibility. Still Vexille - 2077 Nihon Sakoku is a good movie that can be enjoyed not only by the CG and Cyberpunk fans but also by the normal watchers.

I watched Vexille not long after watching Appleseed; Ex Machina, and if the two weren't made by the same studio one of them needs to sue the other. However I found the CGI to be even more amazing in Vexille, a true feast for the eyes with razor-sharp action scenes and beautiful cel-shaded characters. If you hate 3D anime you may find yourself turned off by this, but unlike most 3D anime it's actually well done. It still feels like watching a two-hour video game cutscene at times, but at others it feels like watching a live-action movie, the animation gets so ... photo-realistic. If anime characters came out of the monitor and interacted with us, they'd probably look like the ones in Vexille.

The story features Vexille, an American secret agent trying to infiltrate Japan along with a team of SHIELD ripoffs (SWORD in this case), who manages to get inside Japan's high-tech isolation shield and joins your atypical group of resistance fighters trying to struggle against the evil tech company that turned the country into a wasteland. It's nothing original, really, but the classic elements still fit well and there are a few nice swerves in there too. Vex herself strongly reminds me of the girl from Appleseed, both badass CGI babes part of a paramilitary outfit who try to protect their much larger, stronger male counterparts. She's tough but has more of a heart than the icy leader of the resistance, Maria; at one point the latter shoots a child point-black in the face without blinking.

Overall a pretty excellent piece of animation. Recommended watching, you can stream it on Netflix if you have that service (and most people seem to these days).

Story - 7 (nothing too original but the familiar pieces work well)
Art - 10 (some of the best CGI I've ever seen in a 3D anime)
Sound - 8 (good voices on the dub, nice BGMs, lots of explosions)
Character - 7 (again, nothing original here, but badass hot chicks are badass and hot)
Enjoyment - 8 (the fact that I fell asleep midway through is unrelated)
Overall - 8 (recommended for those who like action, CGI and/or cyberpunk themes)

-- [ Vexille - 2077 Nihon ] --

In one line: "Awesome graphics, very Appleseed-like. Nice OST. Unimpressive characters in a very much cliché'd story."

Overall rating: 8/10

The story revolves around a hardened military girl named Vexille who is a member of S.W.O.R.D, which is some kind of high-tech military force. According to the plot, it has been 10 years that Japan has withdrawn from the U.N and became a loner, completely sealing off its frontiers, using high-end technological wizardry to filter incoming and outgoing transmission. It literally vanished off the world map. Then, the S.W.O.R.D is assigned a mission to infiltrate Japan and see what's going ... on there. When they reach, they find a land devoid of all humanity.

- [ Animation - 9/10 ] -

Animation and graphics is definitely Vexille's strongest point. The graphics, à-la Appleseed, is pure CGI and cel-shading. It really matches Appleseed's quality and fluidity. The level of detail is simply outstanding. I thought Appleseed was the sole ruler, but now it has a rival! A real feast for the eyes by all means.

I must say that the Animation is so "perfect" that the characters look too artificial. Like painted dolls. I attribute this to the sometimes excessive shading and lighting effect. Not too noticeable, but still it's there.

- [ Sound - 9/10 ] -

Sound really got my attention in Vexille. The OST is really good, with pumping music that really brings renewed vigor to the action scenes. Really gets your heart pumping at some moments. I also appreciated the Orient-sounding instruments, which brings a nice touch to the general sounds. Overall, I liked the choice of music. It really befits Vexille.

Nothing to complain about the voice actors too. They performed resonably well. Nothing too special, but it works.

- [ Characters - 6/10 ] -

The characters are unimpressive. This is because there has been no extensive character development in Vexille. They are just plain generic Military personnel. They are not particularly likeable, and you will definitely not be identifying yourself with any of them! "Emotionless." That's the word that describes the characters best according to me. I'm sure that in a week's time, I'll forget all of them. None of their backgrounds are overly interesting or touching, nor are their actions during the course of Vexille. Just plain automatons.

To illustrate my point: if one character dies, you are not going to be missing them, since they are not very likeable. Most plots have you totally like a character, then when they dies, you feel sad. This sadness is nowhere in Vexille. Remember Kamina from Tengen Toppa? Nothing like him in Vexille.

Another flaw. Only 2 or 3 characters get most of the screen-time. Vexille, Maria and some others. There is almost no male lead in Vexille. The main male character, Leon, vanishes from the screen at the start, and appears at the end, with almost no role to play in the plot! That's bad use of characters in my opinion.

- [ Story - 7/10 ] -

First the good points. Vexille's plot brings a number of new elements to the Sc-fi genre. I liked the way they showed a completely new Tokyo. We usually know Tokyo as a tech city. Not in Vexille. I won't spoil, so go see yourself. There are also the Jags which are an essential part of the plot. I liked the change from plain "bad cyborgs, good humans" stories. The story also has its points of suspence, which really keeps you stuck to your screen. There are not many of them, but they are evenly scattered, so it's satisfactory. You'd probably not believe, but the story will also give you some things to ponder on, about humanity and immortality. Unexpected by all means!

Briefly, expect to see cyborgs, humans and some weird things like Jags. At the start, and ending parts, you will get some fast-paced action scenes which accelerates your heart-beat. Not bad actually.

The bad? The second part of Vexille and the ending are totally cliché. I'd go as far as saying that it was rushed! Basically? Rebels vs the bad guys. Lost love, then re-found. Loss of friends. You get the idea. That's what you will see in the second part of Vexille. You can actually predict what is going to happen after a while. Forget suspence, there is hardly any in that second part.

The plot-line actually held some potential if it was correctly exploited, but it was rushed, not paying enough attention to details. There are some plot-holes like what Jags actually are. Instead we are just told "failed experiments", nothing more. Another example? There is nothing mentioned about the Japan government. Everything is about Daiwa industries. What is lacking is the detail elaboration, making the story somewhat mediocre.

- [ Enjoyment & Rewatch - 7/10 ] -

Here, I'll be biased. I'm a CGI-animation lover, so I really liked Vexille. Just for the high-quality CGI and the good OST, but not for the characters and the story. The story is not that bad in fact, but the characters are no good.

If you like good quality CGI animation, see Vexille. If you want character development and story, keep off Vexille, and go see Appleseed or similar.

- [ Conclusions ] -

Vexille is a good CGI animation movie, comparable to Appleseed in terms of animation, detail-level and quality. The music is good too.

The bad part is that it severely lacks in character development and a good, non-generic ending. It's again the plain "good guys win flat out" kind of ending, so nothing special here.

Again, if you want to see a well-made CGI animation, see Vexille, but don't expect too much from the story and characters.

In the year of 2077, Robotic Technology has advanced greatly in the world where robots where used for simple every day tasks. Japan leading in the robotics industry decides to sever its ties with the U.N. so they can research and develop androids ( Human Robots ) which has been banned by U.N. policy. After severing its ties with the U.N., Japan sets relay towers around its country which scramble all communications and basically make the country invisible to spy sattelites. A very good anime in which the graphics and sound were outstanding, kind of reminds me of animes like resident evil degeneration and final ... fantasy advent children. The story was good but it could have been better, i would have liked it more if it had more mechas fighting, but over all it was ok. i recommend this movie if your bored. 8/10

She’s smart, strong, sensitive, clever and beautiful. But foremost, she’s a warrior. More survivor that the superhero type, she still a woman who can kick butt when she need to. Did I mention smart? Hmmm... Just checking. As it so happens, Vexille is living in a future where fear of out of control technology has lead the United Nations (the deciding world body of the time) to declare specified limitations. Japan, far beyond the rest of the world in research and development, refused to comply. As a nation, Japan withdrew from the U.N. and closed itself off from the rest of the world. When a ... meeting of world leaders was called to reconsider the Japanese position, a surprise attack is launched against the facility where the meeting is being held. In the ensuing battle the Japanese representative looses a leg. Under laboratory examination it is determined the leg is an artificially grown biometal. By extrapolation, it is also determined the owner of the extremity was a fully artificial being indistinguishable from other humans; an android! The existence of such a creature breaks scores of international laws and treaties. An army of sucvh creatures would be unacceptable. Obviously, something must be done! Vexille is motion capture animation with the soft, muted color of acid washed film. The story fun, even exciting as it builds in both suspense and intensity all the way to its strong conclusion. The English language version is perfectly performed plus the disc contains a Japanese version with English subtitles. Take your pick. Either way, if you’re at all into anime, you gotta love Vexille!

I see the lower rating this one had and it is hard to believe. The drawing/art is not like most other anime and maybe that is why it is lower rated by some. This is an awesome movie. The story is outstanding.

Everyone writing reviews here seem to just retell the description. ROFL. I won't do that. I think if you are reading this and have not seen this movie then please watch it. You see my rating on this one. Thumbs Up! Don't let the overall rating fool you, watch this one and you will be ... happy you did; at least if you are a sci-fi type of person.

The CG looks dated (especially by the 2021 standard which is the date I write this review), characters might not be amazing and there are anime that tackle thematic of cyberpunk much better. That being said a review is a subjective critical evaluation and for a 13 year old who never before has seen any anime Vexille was looking amazing, the characters felt real and since he never seen or read any cyberpunk before it was the best thing ever. Maybe it's not objectively a 10, but for the 13 year old me it was life changing experience that introduced me to two whole new ... worlds. The world of anime where I would get to discover amazing works such as Full Metal: Alchemist, Mob Psycho, Drifters or Vinland Saga and the world of Cyberpunk were I would read countless books, comics watch countless movies, tv series (including anime) and play countless games.

I still remember when my father came back from work on the day of birthday, holding average looking movie case with an average looking DVD, the DVD I didn't know I would watch god knows how many times. The same DVD that still stands on it's special place on my shelf. Many of you might not care but it's also got a special place in my heart.