Prevalent through the entire film is a supreme sense of mood that largely comes down to the overall aesthetics of the piece, giving the film a foreboding and dark sense throughout it. Scenes such as the start of the movie, for example with a yet-unnamed terrorist/freedom fighter stepping through the water-soaked underground to deliver satchel bombs only to find herself hiding and fleeing from the military that she only hears from afar, would flounder in a film that lacked this must polish. From the blocking to the sound of steps through the water to the grizzly ending it is striking. And this can be seen although the film: The fire of molotov cocktails against dark streets in protest, the contrast of sparkling water to more gritty urban environments and particularly effective use of facial emotion or other cues tha work together with the rather low-dialogue nature of the work. I will also note this movie features spot-on sound effects for the various guns used in it which is a nice touch.
This goes hand-in-hand with the terrifyingly ominous Protect Gear that the Special Unit utilizes, bulky with the menacing glow of red night vision goggles that conceal the user entirely to the point of feeling almost like a horror robot. They are used sparingly in a wise decision that ensures their impact is felt when the right moment comes, especially as this movie is not particularly afraid to go into loving animation on the messier parts.
The animation gets a nine largely due to a few off model scenes with the faces. While good at showing expressions through much of it, especially in the eyes and in very subdued expression, it sometimes struggles when it comes to very outsized ones such as intense grief or happiness. Normally this would not be a big enough deal to drop the score down a point, but one of the worst times it happens is right during the largest emotional climax of the entire film and it took me right out of the moment. And getting a moment that important to the film to the point it takes me out of it is plenty enough to downgrade it compares to others.
This mood helps prop up the plot and characters, which while more than it seems on the surface graded out as mostly a Good. The use of Little Red Riding Hood allegory is smart, but after a certain point wears out its welcome when it would feel stronger if it was more condensed and we instead got somewhat more insight into the characters. This is particularly true since in a move that seems to be going for a more subtle approach elsewhere, everything about said allegory is taken to the film like a sledgehammer and aside from perhaps a brief fake-out (which, if intended, did not fake me out) makes some of the points that are supposed to be more hidden far too obvious. It IS used well in chunks of the movie, particularly the ending, but having good sides doesn't stop it from dragging down other parts somewhat.
The film's sharpest and strongest focus outside of the start is probably on the internal affairs of the government and the twists and turns that come with the Public Security Division, the Special Units Division, the police and the main government clashing and vying against each other. Henmei ends up a notable character due to this and it tends to be when the movie is most articulating a point as well. It also leads into the twists and turns, that I won't spoil, later in the movie that give the plot the majority of its depth.
While this does help a lot, it also leads into an issue I ran into for the characters: The revelations we get may add new context to previous scenes, but it also feels like it emotionally or logically rides up against them as well. It is hard to get into details without large spoilers, but it renders aspects of how Fuse and Kei (the main focus of the majority of the movie) rather fuzzy and unrealistic. Or if not unrealistic, at least not exactly tight storytelling. This is another reason that reducing some of the Little Red Riding Hood allegory for a bit more insight, be it direct or simply giving us some breadcrumbs so that we might come to our own conclusions, would have been a great tool as it could have been used to help paper over or avoid these issues. This goes moreso for Kei, who despite a large amount of promise ultimately ends up rather flat, I would have liked a bit more of a look into her. I will note I appreciate the film's anti-authoritarian and anti-fascist themes, but it does feel like they are largely relegated to the start and end of the film and could have been perhaps explored more.
To a degree I wonder if the film had a tough task to follow after the initial 13 minutes or so as the riot at the start of the film feels like the high point of the film aesthetically. Despite the fact that the entire start essentially is lacking in names, we only find out the name of terrorist girl Nanami later, it nonetheless gets us invested in these events quite naturally. Nanami's walking through the streets juxtaposed against the violence of the protests for freedom, with the kind of cool yet tense music reflective of a dark thriller backing it, is a strong point and the result of her delivery is some very well done animation. It also certainly feels like it had a lot of room to inject plenty of meaning into it if it was a full movie, enough that it could have surpassed the movie in messaging.
Overall, a solid movie that drags its weaker parts along with some strong audiovisuals that help invite interest even at weaker points and drag some scenes beyond what the screenplay would suggest. Well worth checking out if the premise is intriguing, but don't expect anything beyond the norm.
