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Oct 6, 2024
“Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland” is a unique animation. Released in 1989, it was a joint American-Japanese production based on an American comic strip by Winsor McCay (cool name!) that originally ran from 1905 to 1914.
It went through insane development hell throughout the 80's. A small sampling of companies and names attached to the project before leaving include Disney, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros., Studio Ghibli, George Lucas, Chuck Jones, Ray Bradbury, Brad Bird, and Hayao Miyazaki!
Why am I mentioning all this? Because its troubled production is evident in the final result, and likely kept it from being an all-time classic.
The story is about a young
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boy, Nemo, who sees a traveling circus perform and then has recurring dreams of being whisked away to the magical kingdom of Slumberland, which has a strong circus aesthetic. Eventually, Slumberland and its ruler King Morpheus are menaced by Nightmare Land, and Nemo has to save the day.
There are a number of strong aspects to the picture. The circus and clown aesthetic is done very well. It's cheerful, colorful, and somehow appropriate for a kingdom of dreams, without ever becoming garish or ridiculous. Nemo playing and enjoying himself in Morpheus' court with his pet squirrel Icarus and Princess Camille is pleasant, at times evoking the fun and innocence of early childhood.
However, the film's strongest element is its imagery. The opening sequence, where Nemo travels on his bed to a dark, haunted, dilapidated city, is outstanding and the most memorable part of the entire picture. I also love that twice, when Nemo becomes overwhelmed by circumstances, he suddenly wakes up in his own bed, and has to find a way back to the dream realm. It's disorienting in a good way, conveying the surreal, ephemeral nature of his adventures. And that in turn gives it a genuine dream-like quality. After all, one frequently accepts all manner of incredible events in his dreams without questioning them, and often wakes up right at the climax.
Alas, all this is in service to a very mediocre, uninspired story! Nemo is given a key by King Morpheus whose only purpose is unlocking a door containing great evil. Why would the king possibly give Nemo this key, if it can only do harm? Why even have such a key at all, since it risks his entire kingdom? I'll explain why. Because it's a deus ex machina plot contrivance, the writers couldn't be bothered with anything more logical and creative, and they hoped the kids watching wouldn't care.
What follows is, aside from the two interludes mentioned above where Nemo wakes up in his bed, a very basic 80's fantasy quest. They encounter few, if any obstacles, a new set of allies who aren't interesting or do much, and have two fights against the forces of darkness, including a very lackluster final battle.
So essentially, we have a very average core film decorated with some amazing bells and whistles. In a better world, we would have a far better story to match its secondary features, forging an all-time classic.
As it is, “Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland” is a decent, if flawed curiosity.
63/100
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 29, 2024
Watching “Memories” in 2024, it's a unique relic one can instantly ascribe to the mid 90's, even without knowing its release year beforehand. For one, it's a compilation film, which were last popular, whether animated or live-action, in the mid 90's. (“Four Rooms” also came out in 1995, amusingly enough) It also features distinct animation styles which I've always loved, but have sadly fallen out of use. And not just an updated version of Katsuhiro Otomo's prominent noses and realistic faces we all know from 1988's “Akira”. Let's examine each of the three segments separately and then discuss how they coalesce together.
1. Magnetic Rose
When
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one thinks of the best 90's anime, Magnetic Rose deserves a mention.
A space freighter receives a distress call and two crew members are sent to investigate. They come upon a gorgeous mansion and see visions of a long-dead opera star.
This was the first significant contribution by Satoshi Kon to the anime genre, who would go on to be one of its greatest geniuses with the movies “Perfect Blue”, “Millennium Actress”, “Tokyo Godfathers”, and “Paprika”. He wrote the script, a fine example of his ability to blend darkness and tragedy with incredible beauty and pure, unbridled emotion.
To talk too much about the short would ruin its surprise, but it clings to the “memories” theme more intensely than the next two segments do. The bitter memories of the opera singer Eva Friedel haunt the mansion and all those who come in contact with it. Crew member Heintz is haunted by memories of a family tragedy which the mansion tortures him with. As with Kon's later work, the symbolism and beauty mix together magically throughout, with a picturesque ending.
My wife complained that much of the segment was predictable, having played survival horror games like “Dead Space” and watched “Event Horizon”. This is fair, but one should note that “Memories” preceded most of those. I'm not claiming it was the first such story; Stanislaw Lem's “Solaris” was published in 1961, featuring a ghostly space station where the protagonist is tormented by visions of his lost lover. However, the subject was much fresher in 1995.
Overall, this is a wonderfully executed, beautiful example of 90's anime.
2. Stink Bomb
Sick office worker Nobuo gets a shot and then unwittingly eats an experimental capsule at his work, the combination turning him into an overwhelming, very stinky bioweapon threatening all of Japan.
The first act is a neat look at 90's Japanese office culture, much humbled from its 80's economic golden age, after crashes in 1990 and then 1992. Perhaps that was an inspiration for the dark comedy, displaying how workplace incompetence, including working through illness, can cause an entire company to perish. In this case literally so.
After that we get a bunch of scenes of Nobuo, utterly oblivious to the death and destruction he is causing, driving all across Japan as the military repeatedly tries and fails to kill him. It's modestly funny to begin with but gets less comical with each iteration. By the end, one can't help wondering why the hell all the bullets and bombs are magically missing and leaving him unscathed, like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. That might work if this was treated as a pure farce, but we're also subjected to serious discussions between high-ranking military and political leaders, which clashes discordantly with the slapstick.
The ending is supposed to be a surprise, but is fairly predictable, while also being impossible and nonsensical. Despite that negative appraisal, there was no other clear way to end this black comedy.
Overall, it's okay, but a far cry from Magnetic Rose, and the most forgettable of the three shorts.
3. Cannon Fodder
Utilizing a unique visual style rarely found in anime, we get a gritty, dirty tale of some European hellhole which has devoted all its resources and elite human capital to building, maintaining, and firing cannons at an unseen enemy. The characters are ugly, deformed, and dirty, the architecture is brutalist, and the living quarters shabby and cramped. It does a fine job of depicting the terror and risk of firing the behemoth cannons.
One can easily guess where the cannonballs are actually going to, and the segment depicts this for just a few moments, well before the conclusion.
The ending itself lacks resolution, as the main character, a young boy, simply goes to sleep. It's a memorable visual exercise conveying its setting exceptionally well, with a few neat scenes, but ultimately feels pointless. What did we learn here? That militaristic governments are bad, through an especially silly caricature of one? This desperately needed something more. At least a punchline.
Magnetic Rose is by far the best and most significant of the trio, and choosing to open with it was likely a mistake. Frankly, Memories would have had a far stronger ending, and perhaps a larger emotional impact had it opened with the simple, short Cannon Fodder, kept Stink Bomb as the comic interlude, and ended with the majestic, tragic science fiction tale.
All that said, Memories is slightly more than the sum of its parts. The segments are all different enough in tone, style, and even the animation to engage the viewer when one ends and the next begins.
Overall, one excellent segment and two solid, if flawed ones make for a very good anthology.
74/100
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 6, 2024
I've been watching Miyazaki films with my sons over the past months and it's been an interesting experience. I can appreciate that Miyazaki is fantastic at visuals. His animations are gorgeous, evocative, and creative, stirring deep nostalgia or creating a hypnotic effect, as needed. And he has a nice ear for a classic orchestral soundtrack to complement this. Though even here, there is a caveat. His color palette and techniques are limited. With “Howl's Moving Castle” being the sixth Miyazaki film I've seen, nearly every visual motif, aesthetic, and environment is one I've encountered before in his movies, often multiple times. Even the interior decoration
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and design of the moving castle itself offers nothing new. I've seen the same wood floors and beams in “My Neighbor Totoro”, “Kiki's Delivery Service”, and “Spirited Away”, the same lush drawing rooms and chairs in “Kiki's Delivery Service” and “Spirited Away”, the same charming Old World European city in “Kiki's Delivery Service” and “The Castle of Cagliostro”, etc. Miyazaki is superb at what he does, but it's more limited than other visual masters.
However, that's not my chief complaint with the man. Rather, it's how poor of a storyteller he is. The plot is always the weak point of his pictures, though to what extent varies considerably. “Princess Mononoke” can be summed up as “Feminism!” and “Environmentalism!” and little else. Besides being a nonsensical series of fetch quests and skits, “Spirited Away” showed a complete misunderstanding of what made a good fairy tale. “My Neighbor Totoro” made the bold decision of not having any real story whatsoever! “The Castle of Cagliostro was much better, even if it was a throwaway Ruritanian romance, but he wasn't the only writer, and it was based on a different creator's intellectual property. Among Miyazaki's own work, the best was “Kiki's Delivery Service”, which focused on a series of charming individual adventures held together by a simple overarching theme. Nothing special, but it was just competent enough to hold.
Now, one may expect “Howl's Moving Castle” to be better in the story department. It is after all based on a book by Dianna Wynn Jones. (Which I recently bought at a library sale but have yet to read) And yet, it's by far the worst example of storytelling I've seen from Miyazaki yet. It's one thing to have plot holes or inconsistencies, which can be forgiven in a children's fantasy film. It's quite another, however, to make a complete mockery of the very concept of a plot, logic, and any type of coherence.
Almost nothing in this movie is explained. The little that is makes no sense. Character personality traits and motivations change from one extreme to another from scene to scene, often multiple times, and with no justification. What is the nature of the goo men? Are they sent after Howl by the Witch of the Waste or Suliman? If it's the Witch of the Waste, why do they keep coming after she loses all her powers? If it's Suliman, why would the Witch of the Waste come after Sophie and curse her? Speaking of the Witch of the Waste, how is it that she curses Sophie but has no idea how to undo it? And why does Sophie become kind and helpful towards her, even complimenting her “big heart” at the end, and why are we supposed to be sympathetic and forgiving towards her, too? Nevermind that her personality itself changes after losing her powers, as the script requires. What is the nature of Sophie's curse, anyways? Why does she get younger throughout the picture, but at times older again? Nothing is ever explained. And why does her hair go back to black at certain points of becoming younger, but by the end of the movie it's still grey, though the rest of her is youthful? Speaking of Suliman, why is she so hell-bent on pursuing Howl when he escapes? And why is she insist on fighting the war initially? But then, for no reason at all, near the end she decides to “end this silly war”? What the fuck? She's two polar opposite characters, depending on what the script needs. How and why did Howl take out his heart as a youth? What did he get from this? And how did this create Calcifer? Why was a neighboring prince turned into Turnip Head and why is his reappearance so significant in ending the war? What was the point of introducing Sophie's sister Lettie early on when we never see her again? Why is Sophie's mother Honey, who visits her daughter every day, completely unconcerned that she has become much older, and then shrugs and abandons her? And how did Suliman get Honey to betray her own daughter? I could go on and on.
I've seen low-budget, student slasher films that are better-written and far more coherent. At best I can say that this is a garbled, schizophrenic, lazy, half-baked tale having something to do with pacifism and Miyazaki's typical, tiresome feminism. But beyond “war bad!”, “masculine men bad!”, and “effeminate men/women good!”, there is nothing else here.
I can't imagine the source novel is this wretched and illogical either, which means that Miyazaki made an adaptation that is a lovely, but unoriginal rehash of his previous visual ideas, and an unmitigated disaster everywhere else.
Pretty pictures and a few neat fantasy concepts, however, don't even come close in making up for such an awful, incompetent story.
37/100
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Mar 9, 2023
In recent months, I've watched "Spirited Away" and "My Neighbor Totoro", two of Miyazaki's most celebrated films. Yet, the less acclaimed "Kiki's Delivery Service", released directly after Totoro, is superior to both.
The main difference between "Kiki's Delivery Service" and its predecessor is the existence of a story. While Totoro was a collection of enchanting, hyperreal moving images of the Japanese countryside and fantasy creatures with no further point, "Kiki" follows a more conventional structure. There is a clear premise, with Kiki coming of age and needing to live independently as an adult for a year. This larger narrative is interspersed with small adventures throughout
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the film. Most take the form of Kiki delivering packages by flying on a broomstick, but a few are related to her adventures with the boy Tombo, who loves her.
These are entertaining on their own, with connections to the overarching theme. They incorporate action and humor well, and in one case, the adventure ends in an ironic twist, with Kiki fighting through the soaking rain to make a delivery for a kindly old woman, only for her sacrifice to be in seeming vain. Perhaps my favorite part of the movie, as it's a rare instance of Miyazaki morally condemning a young woman, and rarer still, for a sin against her elders.
One must temper this praise, though. These adventures work well as part of a beautifully animated movie. Written down, it would make for a series of drab, mediocre stories. "Nils and the Wild Geese" or one of Astrid Lindgren's classics this is not, though I wouldn't be surprised if Miyazaki took inspiration from those sources. It's just good enough for the medium of film, with its lower requirements for thought and ingenuity.
Since we're examining the film's flaws, it should be noted that Miyazaki's laziness as a writer comes through at two moments.
Firstly, how do witches, of which we meet several besides Kiki herself, exist in this world? Do they have to hide their powers for fear of being captured and burned at the stake? Are they an accepted, known part of society, and if so, what is their status? It's a fascinating question which Miyazaki largely ignores. We see Kiki's mother, also a witch, mixing potions, which is her specialty, and it's mentioned she is the town's witch, whatever the hell that entails. When Kiki arrives at a large, developed city, however, her ability to fly on a broomstick elicits a few "wows!" but nothing more. No one is eager to learn about her powers. Crowds of adoring kids don't follower her every move. The city's leaders don't meet with Kiki, despite her being a very powerful and potentially disruptive entity that just moved in. Nope! Miyazaki just ignores it, making the story feel thin and artificial.
And then of course, we get to the ending. Miyazaki, the proud feminist, can do nothing more than a simple gender swap of the most standard fairy tale trope. Instead of a boy saving a damsel in distress, it's the girl saving the boy! Rather than inventing something new or interesting, all he can do is leech off the most basic story trope with an intellectually bankrupt, corroded version of it.
Speaking of Miyazaki's feminism, my favorite anecdote about him has to do with when he and his wife had kids. Miyazaki's wife was an animator, and at first, being a progressive couple in the 1960's, they swore that they would both continue working. Neither would give up their careers for their children! So they would ship their two sons off to daycare, letting strangers raise them. A few years later, with two young boys who were distant from their parents and tired from walking home every day from daycare, the decision was made to have mom stay at home while Miyazaki continued being a typical workaholic of his generation.
Thus, the young progressives ended up being exactly the same as every other traditional Japanese couple. So much for all their feminism! Funny how getting married and having kids has this profoundly right-wing effect on people, eh?
Surprisingly, the movie's animation is unique among Miyazaki's works. I've noted that Miyazaki reuses visual themes with hardly any change from one movie to another. And yes, there are the same lush greens, bushy trees, magical forests, and streams running through farm country that were in Totoro, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, etc. However, Kiki has a wholly original aesthetic all those others lack. It isn't just focused on nature and the country, but incorporates a bustling Old World city. Seemingly based on the celebrated cities of Italy, especially with its narrow streets and cobblestone paths, it's as beautiful and charming as any of his rural creations. In particular, it invokes what we recognize in more recent times as the cozy aesthetic. One can practically smell the rising bread of the delightful bakery where Kiki works. The colorful streets are full of energy, but the people are friendly and familiar. All of the abodes are cottages straight out of a picture book, whether it's the artist who lives alone in the woods, the old lady's grand house, or even the attic where Kiki resides, with its strong wood floors, considerable space, and soft bed. Moreover, the flying dirigibles are impressive, really conveying their weight, power, and brand of beauty.
I criticize Miyazaki a lot, but this is a unique wrinkle, and shows that his mastery of animation extends beyond mere nature and fantasy. Shame that he didn't use it more in his other films.
There was one scene that I find especially memorable, where Tombo is riding a modified bike with Kiki on the back. The style of the visuals and music is straight out of one of those Japan-only video game releases of the late 80's or early 90's, whether on the Famicom (Nintendo in the West), Super Famicom, or disc-based system. It's an utterly hypnotic scene, and far more interesting than the movie's climax.
Overall, this is a truly good film, the second best Miyazaki work after "Castle of Cagliostro", and the best of those he wrote. The story is notably better than his other scripts, though it still has flaws and exposes his limitations in that area. Visually, "Kiki's Delivery Service" is a spectacular accomplishment, even compared to his other output, seamlessly melding the country and the city, nature and humanity, cozy and cool together.
71/100
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 7, 2023
I decided to watch this movie to entertain my 3 year-old, which it accomplished. However, this simplistic cartoon inspired more thoughts in me than almost any anime or movie I've ever seen. Wave after wave of insights washed over me, a few of which I wouldn't have realized even a year earlier. If nothing else, that's an impressive accomplishment, and something that none of the previous Miyazaki flicks I've seen ("Princess Mononoke", "Castle of Cagliostro", and "Spirited Away") managed.
Now, let's begin with the most obvious observations into the picture and work our way to the buried treasures;
MOST SHALLOW: This is an achingly gorgeous
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film. The way the grass moves when blown by the wind and the vistas are bathed by the Sun's golden, glorious rays. The intersection of the deep blue irrigation ditches with the calming green of the fields with the light blue sky. The wonder and sadness on the faces of the little girls. The hidden, mystical world of the forest spirits, including secret paths through the trees and comfortable, lush grottos. It's all evocative and stirring, and not only looks phenomenal for 1988, but holds up great in 2023, over a third of a century later. The music, which tries to be emotional and conjure up nostalgic memories of childhood, works well. The movie is evoking a mood rather than telling a story, and it succeeds.
A LITTLE DEEPER, BUT STILL CLOSE TO THE SURFACE: Miyazaki is one-dimensional and predictable. I knew nothing about "My Neighbor Totoro" prior to watching it other than the name, iconic cover, and a short synopsis, yet it was exactly as I predicted. An idyllic appreciation of nature and cute spirits with no story. What's more is that I see a bunch of the same ideas repeated again and again in his pictures, right down to specific yokai and visual motifs.
Is there anything in "My Neighbor Totoro" that isn't also present in the later "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away"? The dust sprites and elevated wooden flooring are only two obvious reused elements in the latter. On the one hand, it's fine to repeat ideas in one's works. But Miyazaki takes it to a point where he is making slightly different versions of the same film. I like to be surprised by pictures. If I know what a movie is based on nothing more than a director's style, a cover image, and a short synopsis, that's disappointing, even when it's beautiful and evocative.
And of course, there is no story. One can argue that this is emblematic of daily Japanese life, but that's not true. I like to watch the Japanese series "Old Enough" with my children, about kids aged 2 to 5 completing chores on their own, in similar Japanese countrysides as in "My Neighbor Totoro". There is more story, conflict, and character in those 15 minute episodes than in the 90 minutes of Miyazaki's picture.
ATTAINING SOME DEPTH: This movie is significantly better than "Spirited Away", which I watched a few months ago. Ignoring the visuals, "Spirited Away" tries to tell a fairy tale and fails horribly. As a story, it's lousy and amateurish, which again reveals Miyazaki's severe limitations as a creator. However, "My Neighbor Totoro" is free of such requirements! It's not trying to tell any story!
It's just two cute girls exploring their rural environment. It aims for a more modest target, but it completely succeeds at it. There's no obvious way to improve "My Neighbor Totoro". It is simple to improve "Spirited Away".
THE TRUE CORE: Think about what this movie is. It's a glorification of nature and traditional Japanese rural living.
But how does it accomplish this? With the most high tech animation techniques available in 1988, which Miyazaki made as part of a corporation in a giant Japanese metropolis. Miyazaki is no traditionalist, either, with his feminist and environmental views. The circumstances of creation are the exact opposite of what it's producing!
And what is the depiction of nature in this movie? It's what French philosopher Baudrillard called a "simulacrum". An imitation of the original. But this need not be an ersatz copy, a faded photo of the genuine article. Oh no. It can actually be brighter, sharper, and in some ways "better" than the original.
This is what we call "hyperrealism", yet another concept from Baudrillard. It's more exaggerated, more detailed. And that is true of "My Neighbor Totoro". I spend countless hours every week chasing after that same three year-old of mine in parks, forests, and other nature preserves. It's beautiful, but I've yet to see the sparkling green from "My Neighbor Totoro". Even in videos I've seen of those exact Japanese rural villages, as in the aforementioned "Old Enough", there is never such a beautiful contrast of green fields, irrigation ditches, and sky. Nature is never so bright and detailed in reality. It can be smudged, dirty, and unaesthetic, too.
Miyazaki calls himself an environmentalist, but what is he promoting here? Not nature itself, but a hyperreal simulacra made from the sweat of a large corporation in a major city, aided by computers.
"Okay", I hear you say, "But won't this still cause people to go out and appreciate nature?"
Does it, though? I've met plenty of huge Ghibli fans over the years. None were big nature lovers or hikers. On the contrary, most were the classic basement-dwelling anime fans sitting all day in front of the flashing pixels of their monitor, never once going outside and "touching grass". Considering how many people mention they were first draw into anime thanks to Ghibli classics like "My Neighbor Totoro", and there is a good chance they would have enjoyed and appreciated actual nature more if not for this movie.
So not only is the process of "My Neighbor Totoro" a betrayal of its product, but the influence is, paradoxically, to draw attention away from nature and into the beautiful, hyperreal worlds constructed by cutting edge technology.
If Miyazaki understood this and was genuine about appreciating nature, you know what he should have done? Burned the final reel of "My Neighbor Totoro" and quit making anime on the spot. It was hurting the very thing it claimed to promote.
66/100
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Nov 25, 2022
"Spirited Away" is an excellent Rorschach test to determine what a viewer values most in a picture. On the one hand, this is an absolutely gorgeous film, full of amazing, inspired animation. From the bizarre yokai to the sumptuous bathhouse to shots of the forest and blue sky, this is a memorable, utterly beautiful film. Although even here, my brain reminded me that certain visual motifs from the only two other Miyazaki films I've seen, "Castle of Cagliostro" and "Princess Monoke", were reused. Still, one can't say enough good things about the ingenuity and majesty of the animation. The music, a wistful, classic score inspired
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by old-school Disney, is good if neither great nor particularly original. Surely, a young child will love this. But personally, I don't love it now, and would have loved it even less when it came out, when I was in my early teens.
Why? Because narratively, the movie is a mess. On every level. There is the plot hole that Haku tells Chihiro to persistently beg for a job from Kamaji and not be tricked into leaving and certainly to avoid seeing Yubaba. Instead, Chihiro IS talked into leaving Kamaji to see Yubaba, who she successfully begs for a job from. Chihiro foolishly disobeys and does the exact opposite of what she's told, and this is never brought up again.
Structurally, there are a bunch of magic MacGuffins that randomly appear as the plot needs them to, with no established rules or explanation, then are randomly used as the plot requires them to be. There is no rhyme or reason, but it always works out for the protagonist, and hopefully the animation and music distract you from thinking too hard about it.
One could partially overlook both of these, except that Miyazaki wrote a fairy tale while utterly failing to understand what gave them their power. Namely, a strong moral message. Perhaps a grim and tragic one, like Hans Christian Anderson's "The Little Mermaid", but a clear, heartfelt idea of what constituted right and wrong, and how transgressors were punished and the virtuous rewarded.
There is none of this in "Spirited Away". Yubaba turns humans into pigs and devours their souls, isn't punished for it, and will presumably continue to do so by the movie's end. Chihiro learned what, exactly? Not to eat meat? To be brave?
Nevermind that the whole affair is painfully drawn-out. In the interests of showing every bit of awe-inspiring animation, the story slogs and drags at times, with a shockingly limited number of scenes for a 2 hour picture.
This movie is like the gold spouted by No-Face; magnificent on the outside, and mud on the inside.
While this is by no means a bad film, especially for very young kids, I was ultimately underwhelmed at its conclusion. THIS is the movie so heavily praised as a masterpiece among masterpieces? By adults? To begin with, there are other visually stunning anime movies paired with actual great stories, like all of Satoshi Kon's works or "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodust". Hell, there are even more visually interesting, unique, and weird animations, like "Cat Soup". But those lack the hype of "Studio Ghibli" and its sublime genius, Hayao Miyazaki.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Oct 6, 2022
My initial reaction to Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was confusion. Who was this made for, exactly? On the one hand, you have a simple, predictable story with every character being cliche to the point of parody. Any popular 80's shounen you can think of had more nuance and complexity. So it's an anime for kids, right?
Well, on the other hand, there is a bunch of nudity, sex, drug consumpion, and endless amounts of gory death, with mangled body parts and pieces of brain scattered everywhere. So is it for adults?
I recall back in the 90's when critics would dismiss anime as "children's cartoons
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with a bunch of sex and violence" and with Edgerunners they would have a perfect argument.
I arrived at an answer to this conundrum by the very end of the series, but it's one you will have to wait for at the bottom of this review, too.
To Edgerunners' credit, the action scenes are plenty of fun, being hyper-stylized, violent, and plentiful. If there's one thing Imaishi excels at, it's style, and the anime has it in spades.
The first four episodes are fairly mediocre, being a nonsensical set-up for the world and its bland characters (more on that later), but the fifth and especially sixth episodes are a notable improvement. In fact, in many ways episode 6 functions as a better, more touching ending than the actual one in episode 10. Imaishi brings all his powers of style to the anime's big emotional moments, and while it works to a certain degree, it ultimately rings hollow for two reasons which go beyond even the cardboard characters or countless plot holes.
Firstly, Cyberpunk's Night City is an insane hellscape. Secondly, it's an insane hellscape that makes no sense.
There is nothing in Night City that is true, good, or beautiful. Not a single damn thing. However, even the ugliness and sin here isn't remotely original. It's simply everything awful about our own modern world pushed to the limit. Crime has exploded in 2022, but in Night City, random people being gunned down by thugs or psychos is a normal part of life. Pornography, pot, and video games is the bane of the modern bugman, and in this futuristic hell, all of them have become even worse, with virtual reality porn, games, and movies, and a slew of narcotics, including the deadly allure of stripping away one's human body to be replaced with metal. Modern man is atomized now, but in Night City, the concept of family has largely been eradicated. Speaking of which, while current elites may be trying to abolish man, as CS Lewis once warned, in this future man has literally been abolished in his entirety, to be replaced with chrome. What hope is there? What is there to root for? Night City makes Sodom and Gomorrah look like the most austere Amish community, and one wishes it condemned to the same fate, although there may be no survivors this time.
However, it's all utterly unrealistic. For one obvious problem, the technology has expanded incredibly since modern times. How is this implemented, let alone maintained? In 2022, much of the Western, "modern" world is struggling to heat their homes through the winter, keep the lights on, fill their cars with gas, or buy groceries for their family. That's if they even have a home or car, of course, as both have become prohibitively expensive and no longer affordable by most in the US. We're going backwards, getting dumber, and unable to maintain the technology of our forefathers. How in the world is the advanced, cutting-edge tech in this series going to be implemented everywhere? It will take tremendous intelligence and hard work. Who in this dystopian hellscape will have that, especially with the allure of being in virtual reality all the time?
Nothing else about the society makes sense. Powerful cyborg alterations that allow a man to kill dozens of police and destroy armored cars are freely traded on the streets, with no oversight or restriction. It's laughable. At present, Western governments are hell-bent on preventing access to mere handguns, let alone rifles, and they have long since banned automatic weapons. Yet, in the future, they will be okay with devices that gives a person a thousand times more power?
The idea of corporations being the only powers in the future is stupid, too. Through all of human history, corporations have been subservient to the state, and will likely always continue to be so. We don't need to go too deep into political theory to understand why; if a corporation could, it would BECOME the state, set up a government, and of course, use that to destroy all competitors. In practice, that doesn't occur for a variety of reasons, but regardless, the main power would still be tied to a government, not mere companies. They would at most be pawns, much as they are now.
However, my biggest problem is that nothing about Night City is self-sustaining. It should die out in a year or less. Without spoiling anything, the last two episodes see incredible devastation to the two main corporations, Arasaka and Militech. The latter loses an entire battalion, and Arasaka loses countless tanks, armored cars, helicopters, and dozens upon dozens of soldiers. Oh, and there are a slew of police and parademics killed, and a specialized, uber-powerful police/military vehicle destroyed. This from a single cyborg. And, based on what we've seen, large losses from a cyborg going psycho, if not quite as disastrous, happen frequently.
How does any of this make sense? Each corporation has lost the equivalent of multiple billions of dollars in modern currency. They would go bankrupt. The police and parademic force would be decimated, and everyone working for them would likely quit for fear of being made into strawberry jam on the pavement.
On a more fundamental level, how does Night City even sustain a population? The modern world has below replacement fertility now, and in this future, it looks vastly worse. Hardly anyone has kids and, given their cyborg alterations, many may be incapable of it. Meanwhile, the number of people killed from violence is immense. I also can't imagine many immigrating to this hell on Earth, while many would likely flee for their lives rather than be decapitated by a cyberpsycho. Thus, the population should be decreasing steadily until it reaches zero. So again, nothing about this hellscape is even genuine or logical.
But it doesn't have to be. Let's go back to my question about who the hell this series is mainly for.
It's for exactly the type of atomized bugman whose mantra is porn, pot, and video games that the series shows an extreme version of. They're technically adults, or close to it, but like their stories simple. Just add enough "mature" elements and oodles of cool stylistic presentation, and all is good.
Maybe our modern world isn't so much better than the fake yet horrifying hell of Night City.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jul 24, 2022
The series actually starts well. The first episode is a genuinely entertaining, funny satire on a superhero origin story. It's got the standard elements of a Mark Millar comic, including high school geeks discussing comics, but ends in spectacular fashion, with earnest Johnny inadvertently hurting (killing?) dozens of people and causing millions of dollars in damage, thus deciding to become...a villain.
Unfortunately, it's all downhill from there.
The next episodes consist of generic supervillain capers with very little humor or ingenuity. Moreover, the entire universe (or "Millarverse" as he likes to call it) is poorly conceived. None of the abilities or battles make a lick
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of sense, and it's a constant source of annoyance. I kept comparing this series very unfavorably to Larry Correia's fine series "Hard Magic". While that was a gritty alternate history fantasy set in the 1930's, the abilities of the characters, like super-strength, telekenisis, telepathic suggest/control, etc. are very similar.
The difference being that Correia put an exceptional amount of thought into the origin of all these powers, how they work, their limits, energy usage, etc. Meanwhile, Millar and the creators of this series didn't. Now, that would be fine if this was a superhero series aimed at little kids. But no, it's supposed to be mature and self-aware, with tons of sexual content and swearing, so presumably, it's for a more serious, older audience. And yet, it's every bit as stupid as the cheesiest Superman cartoon.
Let's begin with Johnny and his buddy with the ice powers, Frostbite. They are able to create giant electrical storms across an entire city and colossal ice structures viewable across all of San Francisco. How in the hell would "Man Mountain", whose power is being really large and strong, be immune to such large amounts of electricity and ice? He would be able to absorb more than the average person, but Johnny and Frostbite should still defeat him instantly. Similarly, how is the rubber superhero immune to either the electric or ice attacks? He might be immune to physical attacks, but why wouldn't he be frozen, or still feel the elecriticy through the rubber? Again, no thought was put into it.
Kasey is an interesting case. There is a character in "Hard Magic" with the exact same ability as her, except Correia understood how very easily an ability like "mind control" can become broken and boring. After all, what's to stop such a character from mind-controlling the most powerful heroes to be their slaves, or forcing them to commit suicide? Thus, there were very hard limits placed on this in the book. Even a talented telepath could only use it on one target at a time, they couldn't cause the target to do anything he would never do normally, and even then, it can be successfully resisted by a sufficiently tough, strong-willed target. No such limits exist with Kasey. We see her doing it on multiple people simultaneously, on the most powerful heroes like Praetorian and Gladiator, causing them to behave completely out of character or getting them stuck in fantasy worlds for long periods of time. It's an unbalanced, broken power. Why do they need to recruit anyone else to be part of the villain team? Just let Kasey mind-control a high-level supervisor or two and you're done.
I also have a massive problem with TK McCabe. Outside of maybe Kasey, this guy should be the most powerful villain or superhero in the world, and it's not even close. He has the power of telekinesis to the point of throwing giant storage warehouses weighing hundreds of tons at fast speeds. If he can do that, why in the hell doesn't he take the largest caliber bullets in the world, the .950s, which weigh about half a pound, cause human beings to literally explode, and one-shot elephants...and fire them at least a THOUSAND times faster than that? Not only would it be completely unavoidable for even the fastest superhero, but it would have insane lethality against the most superpowered and durable of heroes. But let's even go beyond THAT. If McCabe can fling hundreds of tons of metal at high speeds with telekinesis, what's to stop him from ripping apart the internal organs of any enemy in a shower of blood? No superhero, regardless of durability, could withstand his level of force. He could kill any superpowered being as soon as he sees them. Magneto is presented as a very powerful, important character in the Marvel universe, and he's not even an infant when compared to TK McCabe's power. Yet, instead of being a living god, McCabe is a small-time thief who gets easily beaten by Gladiator, which makes no sense.
The Diesel Brothers should be utterly weak and useless, at least if the series had bothered any time requirement for how long it takes them to regenerate or how much energy it takes, which they can't have infinite reserves of. Of course, this being a lazy series, neither is done.
Moving on to the main group's rivals, Praetorian should actually be fairly weak as he is described. His powers are random, which means he has no clue what he will be going into battle with, or if it matches up well with his opponent. Moreover, it would mean that he has limited practice and competency with any specific power. Gladiator just has super strength, which, as presented, should be defeated by at least 4 of the villains with ease; Johnny, Frostbite, Kasey, and TK, the latter who he beats because the plot needs him to. The Bastard is nonsensical on multiple levels. In terms of powers, he can cause people's heads to explode, but his limits are never defined. How far away does he need to be, how much energy does it take, and can it be resisted at all? As usual, this lazy series never tells us anything. However, even without that, he is hardly invincible. He doesn't explode heads instantly, so there should be plenty of time for any number of superpowered individuals, including Johnny, to kill him if they're in the same room. And let's also talk about how stupid The Bastard is as a character. He's supposed to be a supervillain mastermind so smart and skilled that even the police are on his side. So why then, does he do something as utterly idiotic, reckless, and unnecessary as cause a random SWAT team member's head to explode? What was the fucking point? And regardless of his status, that will create major problems for him. It will, at the very least, be very difficult to cover up and may convince his allies that he is an unpredictable lunatic, and best jettisoned. It destroys his character in the very same episode he is introduced.
I could go on and on here. Avoid this dull, idiotic series that doesn't even bother putting much effort into its world. Read Larry Correia's excellent "Hard Magic" series instead if you want a more realistic, mature story featuring superpowers.
38/100
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jul 1, 2022
"Nightmare Hakusho" is a neat bonus OVA for fans of the series. It features four different dreams that Yuusuke experiences, all featuring the rest of the main cast wildly out of character, in bizarre scenarios. Genkai is a confused, timid elevator operator and Hiei is friendly and smiles at something other than the prospect of killing a foe.
It's not hysterically funny nor tremendously creative and picturesque, but it's amusing enough, and doesn't wear out its welcome at a mere 8 minutes long.
Fans of YYH and its iconic characters will enjoy this, as I did, but don't expect anything remotely as good or memorable
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as the main show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jun 22, 2022
I'm a huge fan of the Yu Yu Hakusho series that ran from 1992 to 1995, which I consider one of the finest shounen ever, possessing many unique qualities rarely seen in the genre to this day. The various spin-offs and side stories from that time weren't bad, either. The first movie, "Golden Seal", was a solid, action-packed, if unspectacular OVA. The second movie, "Fight for the Netherworld", was feature-length at 94 minutes and didn't know what to do with all that extra time, ending up mediocre but not outright bad. Even the 8 minute side story "Nightmare Hakusho" about Yuusuke's crazy dreams was amusing.
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Alas, the later properties done with the YYH name have sucked, whether it's the horrendous picture drama slideshow from 2009 or "Two Shots" and "All or Nothing" in 2019. I'm going to examine the latter two very critically, because quite frankly, who the hell else is going to watch or possibly appreciate them aside from hardcore YYH fans?
Two Shots-
I know Togashi originally wrote this, but there is a reason it was an extra to Volume 7 and not part of the main story. Furthermore, this would have been around the start of the Dark Tournament, and he was notably very ill when drawing the Yuusuke versus Chu match. It's an absolute mess.
Firstly, it directly contradicts the backstory we were told earlier, that Hiei first met Kurama by directly searching for him as the vessel for the legendary demon fox.
Here, they meet in battle. Despite Hiei being consistently shown as significantly stronger than Kurama's human, non-Yoko form throughout the entire YYH series, and certainly when they first meet Yuusuke, here they fight on even terms and Kurama even matches Hiei's speed, which is downright absurd.
Then, out of nowhere, Hiei collapses due to a wound. Nothing is ever explained about this. Did Kurama deal it? Did Hiei sustain it earlier? It's just a convenient, stupid plot contrivance to set up the next scene. Well, one of two dumb deus ex machinas, actually. For absolutely no reason, Kurama nurses the hostile demon who just tried to kill him and an innocent schoolgirl back to health. This is not within Kurama's personality in the least. Despite being soft-spoken and often kind, he is one of the most lethal fighters in YYH, as his plant horrors usually end up killing his adversary. Furthermore, when he and Hiei were ambushed outside the Dark Tournament prior to the Dr. Ichigaki match in a similar manner to how he was ambushed by Hiei, Kurama had no problems torturing an assailant for information before brutally finishing him.
The final battle against the demon Yatsude makes little sense, either. Where do they find this perfect doll representation of Hiei with his exact hair, height, and proportions, and how do they set it up in the brief moments before the demon tracked them down? It's yet another lazy plot hole to get to the desired destination.
Oh, and it still doesn't end there. Kurama uses the Pollen of Forgetfullness on Maya, the schoolgirl who has a crush on him, so she won't remember the demons she witnessed or Kurama himself. That's all well and good, but Maya attends the same school, and presumably, will continue doing so. What happens when she sees Kurama again? Won't her sudden amnesia about him arouse suspicion? Won't she fall in love with him all over again for the same reasons she did initially? And how does this amusing pollen work, too? It ONLY causes the subject to forget what Kurama wants, nothing else, like magic?
Honestly, I wouldn't have minded the plot holes so much if the action was better. However, the fights are presented horribly, just a few frenetic frames here and there, not affording the audience a clear look at what's going on. It's far worse than the action scenes from the main series 25 plus years earlier.
Oh, and they reuse the music from the original show for nostalgia, but it's horribly sloppy, often not matching what's occurring, or simply mistimed, beginning before a certain sequence or event does. This OVA is a mess and an insult to YYH fans.
All or Nothing-
This is a little better, but has problems of its own. It's the second-to-last chapter from manga, widely panned by readers, as Togashi was utterly exhausted and sick at the time from the inhumane schedule of producing YYH for Shounen Jump magazine, and simply wanted to be done with it.
There's a hostage situation in Spirit World led by Otake, the former leader of the Special Defense Force Team, who wishes to eradicate demons and re-establish the barrier between Human and Demon World. Now, the SDF are all a bunch of A-class fighters, and Otake, its leader, is presumably high A-class, making for a potentially interesting clash against any of the main four protagonists, even if they should triumph. Instead, no such clash ever occurs. Otake, who is vastly stronger than Younger Toguro and the leader of a group that strikes fear into the hearts of all but the greatest fighters in Demon World, is treated as an absolute joke and coward that is instantly defeated.
Beyond this, the entire OVA is dull. There's some discussion about how to infiltrate the building where the hostages are kept. Tactical planning was never seen in YYH before and it's definitely not Togashi's strong suit. The action is minimal, with every main protagonist using an iconic technique and nothing else. This is utterly idiotic in the case of Hiei. The hostage situation is perfect for him, a lightning-quick demon who could easily cut down the terrorists and save the hostages. Instead, inside of a cramped room, he uses the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, which is not only unnecessary, but due to its instability and area of effect, would likely kill many hostages. Again, this shows how little anyone cared at this point. At least the nostalgic music from the main series is timed properly and mostly matches the events.
The final ending is especially egregious too, and it's unclear what the hell is even going on before the OVA immediately cuts to the credits.
The two OVAs are pure nostalgia bait, with numerous call-backs to scenes from the main series and cameos from minor characters. But as a big fan of Yu Yu Hakusho, I can't overlook how utterly wretched they are. An all-time great shounen deserved better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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