I have seen a LOT of really weird anime, but I have never seen anything like Cipher. This anime comes completely out of left field and just leaves you speechless. It is basically a 40 minute music video that tells the story of a famous teen actor and his twin brother, who often attends school in his place. It was made in the 1980s, so the soundtrack is mostly Kenny Loggins and Phil Collins. It is PURE 80s cheese! I guess you have to consider that "AMVs" didn't exist in the 1980s, so the very concept of watching anime mixed with popular music was brand new and exciting. However, the first isn't usually the best. Just like the Wright Brothers' plane isn't exactly a high quality airplane by modern standards, Cipher isn't a very good AMV...or a good anime in general.
Every once in a while, the music stops and we get to watch a conversation between the characters. In his infinite wisdom, the director of Cipher didn't hire professional voice actors. I think he just held auditions for any Japanese citizens who could speak English. Of course, that doesn't mean that these people can act or get to practice English very often. So we get to listen to the most stilted, wooden, awkward line delivery I have ever heard. Yes, I am including "The Room" in my assessment of that statement. Laughing at these simply God awful line reads is probably the best part of Cipher.
There are 2 different kinds of spectacular failure anime. The first kind is when you know exactly what the director/writers were trying to do, but they managed to botch the execution beyond belief. An example of this would be Green Green. The second kind is where you honestly have no idea what the FUCK the crew was thinking. Why was this made? Who the hell thought this was a good idea? Who looked at the finished project and allowed it to actually be released?! Those are the kinds of questions you will be asking for a long time after watching Cipher. At least it gained 2 points for hilariously bad line reads and awesomely cheesy music!
