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duckroll · 2012-12-02, 20:53

I watched this over the weekend, but I didn't see the thread here until now. I guess I'll share my thoughts on the film which I've posted in some other places. If anyone else has seen the film, I'm definitely interested in reading what you have to say about the themes too. It's a pretty interesting film.

Impressions:

For those who are wondering about how the visuals hold up, being a full CG anime film, I would say it's not shabby at all, but there's definitely much more work to be done. There are definitely numerous scenes where the celshading is extremely impressive and extremely close to hand-drawn art in terms of composition and coloring. The most telling thing though, is the hair. CG anime hair never really works right, and it's not any different here. But there were some pretty nice looking action sequences, and there's definitely creative composition and camera work which takes advantage of it being a CG film.

The 3D effect was pretty good too, with many scenes clearly designed for the effect from the start. You can tell it's designed to be a "3D" movie when there are camera tracking shots during action sequences which takes the audience through the environment to emphasis the stereoscopic effect. It's gimmicky for sure, but it can still be entertaining. But my favorite 3D shots are the more subtle ones which play with depth to compose an interesting looking scene - the best example are the shots where a character is looking through a glass window or something similar, and the camera is just behind the window, from the character's point of view. The level of depth differentiates the scene the character is looking at outside and the glass panel itself clear, with the glass panel being "closer" to the audience, and you can see the characters' reflection on the glass as they react to what they're seeing, as if it is your own reflection. Pretty cool imo.

Oh and CG vehicles still look dodgy, even in 3D. Sure, they pop up more realistically, but that just makes the CG anime designs for planes and cars just stick out even more... literally! Didn't really bother me that much, but it definitely wasn't anything to be proud of. Someone really needs to innovate in this department for anime CG.

On the other hand, while the visuals might not be super impressive, the music sure fucking is. Kenji Kawai brought his AAA game to the soundtrack here. Really stunning main theme running throughout the film, great location themes, really dynamic sound range, fantastic audio experience. The music really added A LOT to the movie imo, especially since as I will get to in a bit, this is not really a blockbuster action movie and more of an Oshii-lite philosophy movie pretending to be an action movie. Lol.

Yeah... about the story. It was one weird ass movie. This was the part I really didn't expect at all going on, and it was kinda a nice surprise because that made the film more original than it would be otherwise. It's really set up in a weird way, because the first half of the film is a really well directed modern action thriller setup for rebooting Cyborg 009. I'm really impressed by how capable Kamiyama is at introducing and fleshing out a full team of 10 characters in the limited runtime. Even characters without much importance to the main narrative felt like they had their own unique place in the team. Psycho-Pass could stand to learn a thing or two here! The setting and the conspiracy mystery felt a lot like some of the stuff in GitS:SAC too, but approached with presentation which reminded me a little of Pluto. It was really pretty exciting stuff.

Then it just gets... weird. Instead of the mystery and the conspiracy ever leading to something satisfying and climatic, the movie goes off the deep end into philosophy trying to tie together modern politics, sub-conscious religious calling, the history of mankind, the ultimate fate of the world, and mankind's relationship with the will of god. What is god? What is religion? What secrets lie buried in the human mind? Are we masters of our own destiny? The show never answers any of these questions either, because the purpose is in the asking of questions without an answer.

It feels like Kamiyama was torn between desperately trying to channel Oshii and delivering a movie in a respected franchise which could be sold to fans without coming off as strange. This bi-polar nature meant that they had plenty of footage to put into trailers without turning people away, but also that the movie itself is ultimately unsatisfying because it never really does either thing really well. But still, I enjoyed the movie enough to say it was not a bad film, just a very unusual one. It certainly had more to say than most anime movies, and I give it credit for that, but I'm also not in any particular hurry to watch it again anytime soon.

---

After I wrote those impressions, I took a day to reflect on some of the themes in the story and did another write-up on it. I'll place it under a spoiler tag since I discuss a lot of actual plot elements and the ending of the film:

Spoiler:

After having more time to think about, I feel there's more to say about the themes of the movie itself. I definitely like the movie better today than I did yesterday. Many of the story elements in the film feel better given time to settle, and while my feelings about the overall movie have not changed much, I do think I have a deeper appreciation for what the director wanted to say with the story now.

Don't get me wrong, the overall presentation towards the end of the film still feels unbalanced, and I do wish for a more cohesive conclusion, but what strikes me as interesting is how having had time to consider what each piece of the script was trying to say, I have come to agree with much of what was presented. The direction of the story feels more "correct" the more I think about it, even though it was probably not what people expected from the start.

The strongest of these messages is the sense that in our modern day and age, the ideals and traditions of what made Cyborg 009 what it was to begin with might no longer be relevant, or at the very least is greatly challenged. The original series is very much a relic of a bygone era where children were readily entertained and accepting of a tale about how individuals from all over the world come together and bond by a common interest and shared connection via their cyborg powers, and fight evil together. At the base of the concept is unity in diversity, and justice overcoming evil - ideals which clearly the author hoped children would embrace and emulate in their lives.

In Re:Cyborg, the stage is no longer a world where evil organizations like Black Ghost function openly as harbingers of terror. It is no longer a world where justice is an ideal above everything else, and where the world can join hands to unite against injustice. The world here is much like our world. One governed by corporate interest, political interest, a world becoming more divided even as it becomes more connected. Governments suspect each other, economic realities require people to look after themselves before others, and nationalities come before common interests. A world where "even a Cyborg needs to make money to eat."

In such a world, is an organization like the 00 Cyborgs even practical? Would such characters have any real reason to drop everything in their current lives to reunite and put aside their differences to protect the world? Any what would they be protecting the world from? The enemy no longer has a face. Much like terrorists of today, global terror threats are invisible in nature, and while suspicions and theories can be cast on the origin of the threat, there is no easy solution to it. The film could have chosen to have a mastermind leading an evil organization behind the attacks, making for a simple conclusion with the bad guys defeated. But it doesn't. Because that's not the message it wants to tell.

Instead, I think the message of the film is that in the world today, there is so much going on, there are so many conflicting ideologies and personal interests, that people can be driven to do extreme things, and sometimes there is no stopping it. What it takes to be a hero in this age is not just the act of saving the world, but rather setting an example for all by how you live.

Throughout the film we see all the different aspects of the 00 team, and the opinions and interests of each of them. There are questions raised about whether 009 is truly fit to lead them, and why he is the leader just because Gilmore decided so. Ultimately, the story was probably never intended to be about stopping terrorism or solving a conspiracy, although it might have led people to think it did. It was about Joe proving that by being the only one who still fully embraced the old ways, no matter how idealistic they might be, he would influence all those who thought otherwise, and prove that he is indeed worthy of leading and reassembling such a unit to take on the global problems plaguing this modern world.

It's also pretty interesting that the secondary theme in the movie about the Voice of God, seems to be a metaphor for the creation of the film itself. I could be misinterpreting it, but having thought more about it, I feel it is much less about direct religious philosophy, and more about characters in a franchise becoming self-aware. This in turn is used as a parallel to religious fundamentalism, where in the real world, to redirect responsibility, individuals can blame a higher power for direct intervention. Except in the case of fiction, characters truly are victims of a higher power.

It seems to me that by reviving a dormant franchise in this way, Kamiyama is aware that he is mostly doing it for commercial reasons, which is rather irresponsible to the characters he did not create, but he also wanted the movie to be more personal as opposed to some generic entertainment. There's a lot of irony in such a project, especially since Kamiyama's own company is behind the promotional aspects of the film, along with tie-ins with NTV and Pepsi, using the actual characters to advertise various products in special commercials made along with the movie. In the end, is that self-awareness in the film a cry for help? Or is it the director simply accepting the commercial reality of such a venture, and using it as a subversive theme in the script, declaring that he wants to have his cake and eat it too? I think it's the latter, but I could be wrong.

A final note about the ending itself: When I first saw it, clearly the reaction was rather negative because it was pretty out there, and even visually it just seemed lame to end something this way. But a little research into the original Cyborg 009 manga revealed that it was in fact a homage to the original intended ending to the manga.

Ishinomori had originally planned for 002 and 009 to die after defeating Black Ghost in space, and as they fall back onto Earth they are seen by children as two shooting stars, and they make a wish - with the girl wishing for world peace. Because of the popularity of the manga, the editors requested that the story continue, and it was retconned in the next arc to reveal that they survived by some miraculous bullshit, and the story just continues.

So with that in mind, the conclusion of the movie is actually really fitting, with a direct visual homage to the shooting stars, and also with Joe waking up after the fact surprised that he, and everyone else who was presumed dead in the film, reunited, without knowing how or why, only that perhaps someone wished upon a star for it to happen, or that maybe God heard Joe's cry and decided to give the team another chance to reunite and bring hope to a divided world once again. It's still bullshit, but at least it is bullshit which has a clear intended commentary on the nature of the original series as well. Pretty cool imo.

2012-12-02, 20:53	Link #46
duckroll 綺羅星★！ Join Date: Jan 2004 Age: 42	I watched this over the weekend, but I didn't see the thread here until now. I guess I'll share my thoughts on the film which I've posted in some other places. If anyone else has seen the film, I'm definitely interested in reading what you have to say about the themes too. It's a pretty interesting film. Impressions: For those who are wondering about how the visuals hold up, being a full CG anime film, I would say it's not shabby at all, but there's definitely much more work to be done. There are definitely numerous scenes where the celshading is extremely impressive and extremely close to hand-drawn art in terms of composition and coloring. The most telling thing though, is the hair. CG anime hair never really works right, and it's not any different here. But there were some pretty nice looking action sequences, and there's definitely creative composition and camera work which takes advantage of it being a CG film. The 3D effect was pretty good too, with many scenes clearly designed for the effect from the start. You can tell it's designed to be a "3D" movie when there are camera tracking shots during action sequences which takes the audience through the environment to emphasis the stereoscopic effect. It's gimmicky for sure, but it can still be entertaining. But my favorite 3D shots are the more subtle ones which play with depth to compose an interesting looking scene - the best example are the shots where a character is looking through a glass window or something similar, and the camera is just behind the window, from the character's point of view. The level of depth differentiates the scene the character is looking at outside and the glass panel itself clear, with the glass panel being "closer" to the audience, and you can see the characters' reflection on the glass as they react to what they're seeing, as if it is your own reflection. Pretty cool imo. Oh and CG vehicles still look dodgy, even in 3D. Sure, they pop up more realistically, but that just makes the CG anime designs for planes and cars just stick out even more... literally! Didn't really bother me that much, but it definitely wasn't anything to be proud of. Someone really needs to innovate in this department for anime CG. On the other hand, while the visuals might not be super impressive, the music sure fucking is. Kenji Kawai brought his AAA game to the soundtrack here. Really stunning main theme running throughout the film, great location themes, really dynamic sound range, fantastic audio experience. The music really added A LOT to the movie imo, especially since as I will get to in a bit, this is not really a blockbuster action movie and more of an Oshii-lite philosophy movie pretending to be an action movie. Lol. Yeah... about the story. It was one weird ass movie. This was the part I really didn't expect at all going on, and it was kinda a nice surprise because that made the film more original than it would be otherwise. It's really set up in a weird way, because the first half of the film is a really well directed modern action thriller setup for rebooting Cyborg 009. I'm really impressed by how capable Kamiyama is at introducing and fleshing out a full team of 10 characters in the limited runtime. Even characters without much importance to the main narrative felt like they had their own unique place in the team. Psycho-Pass could stand to learn a thing or two here! The setting and the conspiracy mystery felt a lot like some of the stuff in GitS:SAC too, but approached with presentation which reminded me a little of Pluto. It was really pretty exciting stuff. Then it just gets... weird. Instead of the mystery and the conspiracy ever leading to something satisfying and climatic, the movie goes off the deep end into philosophy trying to tie together modern politics, sub-conscious religious calling, the history of mankind, the ultimate fate of the world, and mankind's relationship with the will of god. What is god? What is religion? What secrets lie buried in the human mind? Are we masters of our own destiny? The show never answers any of these questions either, because the purpose is in the asking of questions without an answer. It feels like Kamiyama was torn between desperately trying to channel Oshii and delivering a movie in a respected franchise which could be sold to fans without coming off as strange. This bi-polar nature meant that they had plenty of footage to put into trailers without turning people away, but also that the movie itself is ultimately unsatisfying because it never really does either thing really well. But still, I enjoyed the movie enough to say it was not a bad film, just a very unusual one. It certainly had more to say than most anime movies, and I give it credit for that, but I'm also not in any particular hurry to watch it again anytime soon. --- After I wrote those impressions, I took a day to reflect on some of the themes in the story and did another write-up on it. I'll place it under a spoiler tag since I discuss a lot of actual plot elements and the ending of the film: Spoiler: After having more time to think about, I feel there's more to say about the themes of the movie itself. I definitely like the movie better today than I did yesterday. Many of the story elements in the film feel better given time to settle, and while my feelings about the overall movie have not changed much, I do think I have a deeper appreciation for what the director wanted to say with the story now. Don't get me wrong, the overall presentation towards the end of the film still feels unbalanced, and I do wish for a more cohesive conclusion, but what strikes me as interesting is how having had time to consider what each piece of the script was trying to say, I have come to agree with much of what was presented. The direction of the story feels more "correct" the more I think about it, even though it was probably not what people expected from the start. The strongest of these messages is the sense that in our modern day and age, the ideals and traditions of what made Cyborg 009 what it was to begin with might no longer be relevant, or at the very least is greatly challenged. The original series is very much a relic of a bygone era where children were readily entertained and accepting of a tale about how individuals from all over the world come together and bond by a common interest and shared connection via their cyborg powers, and fight evil together. At the base of the concept is unity in diversity, and justice overcoming evil - ideals which clearly the author hoped children would embrace and emulate in their lives. In Re:Cyborg, the stage is no longer a world where evil organizations like Black Ghost function openly as harbingers of terror. It is no longer a world where justice is an ideal above everything else, and where the world can join hands to unite against injustice. The world here is much like our world. One governed by corporate interest, political interest, a world becoming more divided even as it becomes more connected. Governments suspect each other, economic realities require people to look after themselves before others, and nationalities come before common interests. A world where "even a Cyborg needs to make money to eat." In such a world, is an organization like the 00 Cyborgs even practical? Would such characters have any real reason to drop everything in their current lives to reunite and put aside their differences to protect the world? Any what would they be protecting the world from? The enemy no longer has a face. Much like terrorists of today, global terror threats are invisible in nature, and while suspicions and theories can be cast on the origin of the threat, there is no easy solution to it. The film could have chosen to have a mastermind leading an evil organization behind the attacks, making for a simple conclusion with the bad guys defeated. But it doesn't. Because that's not the message it wants to tell. Instead, I think the message of the film is that in the world today, there is so much going on, there are so many conflicting ideologies and personal interests, that people can be driven to do extreme things, and sometimes there is no stopping it. What it takes to be a hero in this age is not just the act of saving the world, but rather setting an example for all by how you live. Throughout the film we see all the different aspects of the 00 team, and the opinions and interests of each of them. There are questions raised about whether 009 is truly fit to lead them, and why he is the leader just because Gilmore decided so. Ultimately, the story was probably never intended to be about stopping terrorism or solving a conspiracy, although it might have led people to think it did. It was about Joe proving that by being the only one who still fully embraced the old ways, no matter how idealistic they might be, he would influence all those who thought otherwise, and prove that he is indeed worthy of leading and reassembling such a unit to take on the global problems plaguing this modern world. It's also pretty interesting that the secondary theme in the movie about the Voice of God, seems to be a metaphor for the creation of the film itself. I could be misinterpreting it, but having thought more about it, I feel it is much less about direct religious philosophy, and more about characters in a franchise becoming self-aware. This in turn is used as a parallel to religious fundamentalism, where in the real world, to redirect responsibility, individuals can blame a higher power for direct intervention. Except in the case of fiction, characters truly are victims of a higher power. It seems to me that by reviving a dormant franchise in this way, Kamiyama is aware that he is mostly doing it for commercial reasons, which is rather irresponsible to the characters he did not create, but he also wanted the movie to be more personal as opposed to some generic entertainment. There's a lot of irony in such a project, especially since Kamiyama's own company is behind the promotional aspects of the film, along with tie-ins with NTV and Pepsi, using the actual characters to advertise various products in special commercials made along with the movie. In the end, is that self-awareness in the film a cry for help? Or is it the director simply accepting the commercial reality of such a venture, and using it as a subversive theme in the script, declaring that he wants to have his cake and eat it too? I think it's the latter, but I could be wrong. A final note about the ending itself: When I first saw it, clearly the reaction was rather negative because it was pretty out there, and even visually it just seemed lame to end something this way. But a little research into the original Cyborg 009 manga revealed that it was in fact a homage to the original intended ending to the manga. Ishinomori had originally planned for 002 and 009 to die after defeating Black Ghost in space, and as they fall back onto Earth they are seen by children as two shooting stars, and they make a wish - with the girl wishing for world peace. Because of the popularity of the manga, the editors requested that the story continue, and it was retconned in the next arc to reveal that they survived by some miraculous bullshit, and the story just continues. So with that in mind, the conclusion of the movie is actually really fitting, with a direct visual homage to the shooting stars, and also with Joe waking up after the fact surprised that he, and everyone else who was presumed dead in the film, reunited, without knowing how or why, only that perhaps someone wished upon a star for it to happen, or that maybe God heard Joe's cry and decided to give the team another chance to reunite and bring hope to a divided world once again. It's still bullshit, but at least it is bullshit which has a clear intended commentary on the nature of the original series as well. Pretty cool imo.