The setup was good; the metaphors potent; the music and animation dead on point. Serious anime being serious anime, it uses the lovely and reliable formula of long still shots combined with fluid moving sequences. We follow the drilling, the walks, and the sweat of our characters in excellent detail. We dive into dreams, sit with allegorical monologues, and do the other Serious Art tricks that you'll either love or hate. You know who you are and what you like.
Unfortunately, while the journey is good, the destination is subpar. In my eyes, Jin Roh failed as a character drama. I understand the journey of Constable Fuze, but I did not feel or learn from his journey. None of the little quirks, the non-lethal takedowns, the relationships, none of it results in any interesting changes or discussions.
The tagline is: "We are not men disguised as mere dogs. We are wolves disguised as men."
Your out-of-context reaction to that line should dictate to that show. If you buy it immediately, you'll love the movie. Personally, I was not sold on the tagline, but I wanted to be bargained and coaxed through some interesting themes. Personally, I wanted to be sold on it. See a little anguish, struggle, philosophical debate, whatever. It's a serious and dark movie, so I figured we deserved some deep themes to wank ourselves off with. Nah. The Red Riding Hood allegory, the symbolism, it's all shallow water in the end. Nihilism is not a replacement for philosophy.
On the whole I had a good experience, and despite my moaning, I don't really feel that bad about the disappointing end. I had a good enough time on the way there. I'm going to rate by the good I had rather than the good I missed, so it's a 7/10 for me, dog.
