review: cyborg

Reviewed-by: dakkar <dakkar@thenautilus.net>

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+================
+ 009 re: Cyborg
+================
+
+They were born 50 years ago. They were never forgotten. Now the world needs saving, they're back in action.
+===========================================================================================================
+
+:CreationDate: 2014-03-19 12:03:25
+:Id: anime/review/009-re-cyborg
+:tags: - anime
+       - review
+:rating: 4
+:original: http://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/009-re-cyborg
+
+Fifty years ago, in 1963, ISHINOMORI Shōtarō (石ノ森 章太郎,
+1938-1998) started writing what would become the most successful work
+of his hugely prolific career: Cyborg 009. It was the first
+"super-powered hero team" in Japan (for a historical comparison, DC
+launcher the JLA in 1960, and Marvel launched the Avengers in 1963),
+and was so popular and lover that, although Ishinomori tried ending
+the series several times, fans kept demanding more, and he continued
+writing it until 1981.
+
+The adventures of the nine cyborgs have been adapted for the big
+screen four times, in '66 ("Cyborg 009"), '68 ("Cyborg 009 怪獣戦争 /
+The Monster War"), '80 ("Cyborg 009 超銀河伝説 / Legend of the Ultra
+Vortex"), and last year in this latest instalment. There were also
+three TV series, in '68 (in black and white!), '79, and more recently
+in 2001 ("Cyborg 009 The Cyborg Soldier"). Almost everybody in Japan
+knows their names and their special abilities, just as everyone knows
+that they fight in the name of peace and justice against anyone who
+would wage war and destruction.
+
+Cyborg 001 is the Russian Ivan Whisky, with the body of an infant;
+he's super-intelligent, and has various ESP abilities, like telepathy,
+telekinesis, and the power to teleport himself and others. 002 is the
+American Jet Link, who can fly up to Mach 5 on his jet-powered
+legs. 003 is the French Françoise Arnoul, the only woman in the team,
+with enhanced vision and hearing. 004 is the German Albert Heinrich,
+with a machine gun hand and missiles in his legs. 005 is the Native
+American Geronimo Jr, his body is armored and extremely strong. 006 is
+the Chinese Chang Changku, who can breathe fire. 007 is the British
+Great Britain (yes, that's actually his name!), a shape-shifter. 008
+is Pyunma, from somewhere in central Africa, who can breathe
+underwater.  And finally, the main character, 009, the Japanese (did
+you have any doubt about that?) Joe Shimamura, whose body contains
+most of the modifications trialed in the other cyborgs: he's nearly
+invulnerable, he has an "accelerator" that allows him to move and
+react hundreds of times faster than a normal person, he can survive
+without air for long periods, etc etc. Together with Isaac Gilmore,
+one of the scientists who built them, they rebelled against the Black
+Ghosts, weapon merchants who are working to start a new world war, and
+who funded and directed the cyborg program to produce weaponised
+soldiers.
+
+Although most of the stories are action based, and many of the enemies
+they fight are clearly evil, there is space for plenty of political
+arguments and ethical ambiguity, and more often than not the
+characters expound on philosophical themes like the nature of good and
+evil, and what could be the defining characteristic of humanity.
+
+There are two incomplete story arcs in the manga, the "Angels" arc and
+the "Battle of the Gods" arc. They are two versions of the same story,
+in which the Gods come back to Earth to eliminate humans and start
+again from scratch. They're filled with slow, abstract sequences,
+philosophical discussions, and introspective monologues. They have
+relatively few action scenes, and both lack any kind of resolution:
+Ishinomori never wrote and ending for either.
+
+The "009 re: Cyborg" movie is director KAMIYAMA Kenji's (神山 健治)
+effort to give closure to those stories. A new 3D cell-shaded CGI
+technique has been employed, producing very realistic backgrounds and
+giving the characters very fluid movements. The character design has
+been updated to modern sensibilities, getting rid of the racial
+stereotypes that afflicted earlier depictions of Chang and Pyunma, and
+making all of them at the same time "typically anime", realistic, and
+completely recognisable. If I gave the impression that I disliked any
+kind of CGI in anime, it's only because most of it is rather
+poor. This film sets a new, high bar for what's possible with the
+right tools, people, and funding. During the Q&A after the European
+premiere on April 4th at the BFI, Kamiyama said that making this movie
+cost, in money and effort, about four times would it have cost had
+they used more traditional techniques, so we won't see anything this
+good from lower-budget production for quite a while.
+
+Kamiyama has quite a curriculum: started out as background artist on
+Akira and Kiki, worked alongside OSHII Mamoru (押井 守) on "Blood: the
+last vampire" and "Jin Roh", then directed "Ghost in the Shell: Stand
+Alone Complex" (both series and the movies) and "Eden of the East"
+(series and movies). For "re: Cyborg", to fit everything in less that
+two hours, and well aware that most people know all the characters
+already, Kamiyama opted to skip most introductions, and concentrate on
+Jet and Joe, who often argued against each other in the original
+manga. The director also said that using the American and Japanese
+characters to drive the story has resonances with the actual
+international relations of the two countries. One aspect that was not
+discussed in the Q&A, is the way 003/Françoise is written: in the
+manga she's very rarely on the front lines, preferring to act as
+support and coordinator. In this story, instead, she often drives the
+group's decisions, and the only reason she does not save the world on
+her own is the narrative imperative to have the main character in a
+final show-off. Sure, she's still portrayed as a very sexual woman,
+and the 3D very much accentuates her "assets", but she's a far cry
+from the decorative damsel in distress she could have been.
+
+The movie is full of references to the Cyborg manga (a scene near the
+end is the same as the closing panels of the second story arc, for
+example) and to other works, mostly Oshii's (Françoise launching
+herself into the void just like Major Kusanagi, soldiers kitted up
+with the same armor seen in Jin Roh, a diaphanous girl leading our
+heroes like it Avalon). I was a bit perplexed by this abundance of
+Oshii-isms (at least there's no dog), until I discovered that in 2010
+Panasonic sponsored a short (4 minutes) 3D CGI animation directed by
+Oshii, called "009: The Reopening", which forms the basis of "re:
+Cyborg". Also, as is evident in GITS:SAC, Kamiyama quotes Oshii very
+often; here, unlike in "Solid State Society", such choices don't feel
+forced or repetitive, but work pretty well inside the story.
+
+When asked about the possibility of more 009 productions, Kamiyama
+said that since his film is as close as we're going to get to a
+conclusion of the saga, there is now the chance to re-start from the
+beginning, with new adventures. He was particularly ambiguous on
+whether such reboot would be directed by him or by others.
+
+The general theatrical release of "re: Cyborg" is expected some time
+around July, and I strongly encourage everyone to go watch it, and
+watch it in 3D. There may be some aspects of the story that people
+won't like, mostly due to the very Japanese syncretistic approach to
+religion, but it's still a technically impressive and very worthy
+addition to the long saga of the nine cyborgs.
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