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VEXILLE – 2077 NIPPON SAKOKU
(THE ISOLATION OF JAPAN)
(Review)
The year is 2077, and it’s been a decade since Japan’s decision to refuse regulation of their robotics technology, precipitating the country’s withdrawal from the U.N. and the rest of the world. But the manoeuvres of Daiwa Heavy Industries, Japan’s leading megacorp, will cause a squad of S.W.O.R.D. operatives led by Commander Leon Fayden (Shosuke Tanihara, from Takashi Miike’s Gokudo Sengokushi: Fudo) to infiltrate Japanese territory to discover exactly what has been taking place within their borders.
This is the basic premise of Vexille – 2077 Nippon Sakoku, and it turns out to be a solid exercise in scifi anime.
Granted, personality is scarce, particularly from title character Vexille (Meisa Kuroki; Chakushin Ari Final), who is little more than a cipher, and Leon, who is arguably, even less.
But this is, after all, the kind of anime where all the characters really need to do is look cool, while most of the heavy lifting is done by the high-flown scifi concepts and the visuals.
It’s to Vexille’s credit though, that an intriguing layer of humanity is injected into the plot when the current situation in Tokyo is revealed. That pocket of emotion proves enough to both fuel the narrative and balance the excellent, adrenaline-laced action. (And even when the emotional blackmail bomb—which you just know will eventually be deployed—goes off, it still bloody works.)
The presence of music tracks by the likes of The Prodigy, Underworld, DJ Shadow, and Dead Can Dance, as well as soundtrack supervisor DJ Paul Oakenfold, also manage to spike the proceedings nicely.
Armed with a great Death Star trench-inspired sequence and curious echoes of Dune and Blade Runner, Vexille is brought to us by Fumihiko Sori (Ping Pong), who was on the visual effects team of James Cameron’s Titanic (working on CG characters), and acted as producer and visual effects director on 2004’s Appleseed.
Co-writing the script with Haruka Handa, Sori manages to explore the dire consequences of a monopoly of power, and how true immortality can be found in the legacy one leaves behind.
Stumbling in a couple of spots—particularly in a pivotal climactic decision that seems to come from nowhere, and the manner in which Leon drops off the narrative’s radar for a significant section of the film—Vexille’s script nonetheless powers an anime that plays some familiar sci-fi riffs just differently enough to warrant some serious attention.
(Vexille – 2077 Nippon Sakoku OS courtesy of sgforums.com; image courtesy of tiff07.ca.)
(THE ISOLATION OF JAPAN)
(Review)
The year is 2077, and it’s been a decade since Japan’s decision to refuse regulation of their robotics technology, precipitating the country’s withdrawal from the U.N. and the rest of the world. But the manoeuvres of Daiwa Heavy Industries, Japan’s leading megacorp, will cause a squad of S.W.O.R.D. operatives led by Commander Leon Fayden (Shosuke Tanihara, from Takashi Miike’s Gokudo Sengokushi: Fudo) to infiltrate Japanese territory to discover exactly what has been taking place within their borders.
This is the basic premise of Vexille – 2077 Nippon Sakoku, and it turns out to be a solid exercise in scifi anime.
Granted, personality is scarce, particularly from title character Vexille (Meisa Kuroki; Chakushin Ari Final), who is little more than a cipher, and Leon, who is arguably, even less.
But this is, after all, the kind of anime where all the characters really need to do is look cool, while most of the heavy lifting is done by the high-flown scifi concepts and the visuals.
It’s to Vexille’s credit though, that an intriguing layer of humanity is injected into the plot when the current situation in Tokyo is revealed. That pocket of emotion proves enough to both fuel the narrative and balance the excellent, adrenaline-laced action. (And even when the emotional blackmail bomb—which you just know will eventually be deployed—goes off, it still bloody works.)
The presence of music tracks by the likes of The Prodigy, Underworld, DJ Shadow, and Dead Can Dance, as well as soundtrack supervisor DJ Paul Oakenfold, also manage to spike the proceedings nicely.
Armed with a great Death Star trench-inspired sequence and curious echoes of Dune and Blade Runner, Vexille is brought to us by Fumihiko Sori (Ping Pong), who was on the visual effects team of James Cameron’s Titanic (working on CG characters), and acted as producer and visual effects director on 2004’s Appleseed.
Co-writing the script with Haruka Handa, Sori manages to explore the dire consequences of a monopoly of power, and how true immortality can be found in the legacy one leaves behind.
Stumbling in a couple of spots—particularly in a pivotal climactic decision that seems to come from nowhere, and the manner in which Leon drops off the narrative’s radar for a significant section of the film—Vexille’s script nonetheless powers an anime that plays some familiar sci-fi riffs just differently enough to warrant some serious attention.
(Vexille – 2077 Nippon Sakoku OS courtesy of sgforums.com; image courtesy of tiff07.ca.)
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