A tragic , doomed fairy tale.
I first remember watching Jin-roh: The Wolf Brigade when I was only a
kid. It was aired on channel 4 in the UK as a part of its Japan season, as I was only a kid and it was on very late ...well I missed. But then yesterday after a long time, I saw all of it! It is easy to understand why it won all the awards at various film festivals, being that the director is the someone who gave us Ghost In The Shell and this film is nothing short of brilliant in its own field. Set in an alternative Japan just after its defeat in the Second World War , the plot focus is on a special constable(Kazkui Fuse) of a special paramilitary, anti-terror unit dispatched to control an underground terrorist/revolutionary movement known as 'The Sect'. During a mission in which a young lady is killed, Fuse is blamed for incompetence and is sent back to the academy for re-training and whilst at the academy he decide's to learn a bit about the dead girl with the help of her sister but not all is what it seems! Don't be expecting a very action packed , martial arts , all guns blazing and sexy siren flick! no , no ,no! Jin-Roh is a cleverly constructed anime with a love story, politics, and a fairy tale all inter-woven together. One thing that did spring into my mind was that unlike most anime, this one actually uses long pauses and uneasy silences very well with a great depressing tone to it. One cannot help but sympathise with Fuse as we can see that he is a man wanting to reach out for something but is unable to do so as it is inability to socially interact with others is almost very apparent but then his instructor reminds us that for some it is easier to live like beasts, rather than humans and we are constantly reminded that through from the directors references to the Little Red Riding Hood story to the full moon appearing in the back ground which shows us that they are beasts that walk amongst us as men . To conclude Jin-Roh is probably one of the most grim depictions of the human race but it is also one of the finest anime I have watched and it is one hell of a way to do the first anime review. My only complaints were that it was a bit short and I would of liked to see a little more deeper insight into Fuse's character. You don't have to be a follower of the Kerbroras Panzer Corps saga to watch this as it stands out on its own pretty well. Highly recommended to fans of anime or not. JIN-ROH: THE WOLF BRIGADE 8.1 OUT OF 10 TALES BETWEEN HUMANS AND BEASTS ARE BOUND TO END IN TRAGEDY!. Background Required
One of the best film I've ever seen and one of the more readable ones
from Oshii. The difficulty in reading seems to lie in the post-war history of Japan, which is hardly known to people except its economic growth.The detailed history I myself is not very clear yet. The story is mean to project the period around 60s or early 70s, when Japan still has a large group of extreme left wing "communist" activists. That is what "red hat" really are in this movie. Under American's help, the government managed to give them a bad fame among the public. They also used some secret army (the one which the hero stays) to fight against them. On the other hand, as left wingers starts to vanish, the army itself become a problem. Some politicians would like to create some scandal to clean them out. I think that is the start of the story: an abandoned army from government and a group of activists who are considered as terrorists.. |
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