A review of the 2013 anime anthology 'Short Peace' featuring Katsuhiro Otomo's 'Combustible'

Neo Tokyo is a 1987 sci fi anthology of 3 short animated films. The middle film called Running Man appeared on the 205th episode of MTV's Liquid Television.

Neo Tokyo is adapted from a 1986 collection of short stories of the same name by Taku Mayumura with each of the 50 minute trilogy’s 3 diverse films being scripted by directors Rin Taro Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Katsuhiro Otomo.

Neo Tokyo begins within a maze called The Labyrinth in which a clown leads a little girl to a circus tent where he then shows her the 2nd and 3rd films, Running Man and The Order To Stop Construction. The 2nd film, Running Man, is directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri and set at a futuristic racetrack called La Circus where drivers compete in anti gravity cars and where champion Zack Hugh--nicknamed The God of Death--literally drives himself to death to stay ahead of much younger drivers. The 3rd feature, The Order To Stop Construction, is directed by Katsuhiro Otomo and set in the Amazon Jungle where a project manager is sent to shut down a construction site but finds himself at odds with the site’s robot foreman that wants the project to go on as scheduled.

Neo Tokyo was a direct-to-video release in 1987 and double-billed with a feature length anime called Silent Mobius. At that time, Neo Tokyo was licensed by a company called Streamline Pictures and if you knew about anime back then you know about the classic “State-of-the-art Japanese animation” trailer on all of their videos. When Streamline went out of business, Neo Tokyo and all of the company's anime titles were on moratorium for a while before being picked up by a company called ADV that also went out of business putting Neo Tokyo again on moratorium.

There is no plot unifying the short films; Neo Tokyo was anime’s way of showcasing its top talents at that time, Rin Taro, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Katsuhiro Otomo who all went on to elevate anime out of obscurity and college dorms to the mainstream with classics like Akira, Metropolis (anime), Ninja Scroll, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Each director of this anthology has his own distinct style. You have Rin Taro's surrealistic look against Kawajiri's realistic look; and then there is Otomo's obsession with tech and mechanical details. Of the 3 shorts, Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s Running Man is my favorite. The detail in the cars and the characters-- especially the close-ups of the veins pulsating in Zack Hugh’s face and hands-- are incredible. Of the 3 directors, Kawajiri is the best character designer and all of Kawajiri’s films--from Ninja Scroll to Wicked City--bear this trademark. Neo Tokyo reminds us that as much as animation has gained with computer graphics and 3D, it can never replicate the edgy comic book feel that it once did when anime was hand-drawn and painted, cell by cell, by artists. No, the anime wasn’t smooth by today’s animation standards but it had more flair to make up for it.

Anyway, anyone interested in seeing what real anime is--when it was really good--need to check out Neo Tokyo. It’s not for sale anymore but you can probably check it out on Youtube somewhere. I was lucky enough to get a copy after it was reissued.

Ghost in the Shell Innnocence anime review

Ghost in the Shell: Innocence is the 2004 sequel to the original Ghost in the Shell film which came out in 1995. Both films--the original and this sequel--are directed by Mamoru Oshii, known for intellectual and dialogue driven anime such as 'Patlabors' 1 and 2. Both Ghost in the Shell films are based on mangas by Japanese artist Masamune Shirow.

Ghost In The Shell: Innocence picks up after the disappearance of Section 9 Unit Commander, Major Motoko Kusanagi, who left her cybernetic body to become part of the World Wide Web. In her absence, her partner Batou--whose human body is almost completely cybernetic--takes command of Section 9. His new partner is Togusa and, unlike Batou, has few cybernetic upgrades. The film opens with Batou destroying a gynoid--or robot--that killed 3 people including 2 cops. This particular robot is modified for sex and also contains the souls--or ghosts--of real girls uploaded into them through a process called ghost-dubbing. Curiously, none of the victim’s relatives file lawsuits against the company. Also, fishy is the fact that the robots were programmed with an ethics code against killing humans--who reprogrammed the robots to violate their ethics code and why are mysteries. Robot manufacturer Locus Solus issues a recall; however, being that 2 of the victims are government officials, the incidents are treated as acts of terrorism. The terrorism theory goes out the window after a sexbot kills a Yakuza boss resulting in a revenge hit on Locus Solus’ shipping inspector. Batou follows a lead to the hideout of a Yakuza organization to get answers. A violent shootout produces no results. Later, Batou’s eyes are hacked, tricking him into believing he is under attack in a grocery store. He shoots off his arm and goes on a rampage. But luckily, tech specialist Ishikawa stops him from creating a massacre. His shot off arm is easily replaced. The only man capable of getting past his e-brain firewalls to hack his eyes is Kim, a soldier turned hacker who loves dolls and works at Locus Solus. The hacker hoped Batou’s rampage would create a scandal and get Section 9 pulled off the case. Section 9 Chief Daisuke Aramaki does take Batou and Togusa off the case--officially--but gives them the green light to go into Locus Solus on their own without any support. But they are not alone; they have an angel on their side. Before diving into the World Wide Web, Major Kusanagi promised Batou that she would never leave him. Ghost in the Shell: Innocence touches on philosophical, existential, and even religious themes such as God, reincarnation, sex, obsolescence, immortality, procreation, children, dolls, pets. But the central theme in the film, to me, is this question: what makes us human? In the 1st film, Motoko Kusanagi asks this question as most of her body--and maybe even her brain--has been upgraded by electronics, so much so that she even questions the existence of her soul. If a machine is composed of many parts working towards a particular function then how does this determine whether or not a thing is human? Can human be determined by appearance and if so then why aren’t machines or objects such as dolls that are humanoid considered human as well? If human isn’t physical but non-physical--a ghost or a soul--could not this essence exist in some other form such as the World Wide Web or--as we call it today--the internet? This dialectical argument concludes with Major Kusanagi escaping the restrictions of her body and uploading her ghost--or soul--into the web. Ghost in the Shell: Innocence is based on the same premise as the 1st film but with a twist. In this film, the souls of real children are uploaded into robots called gynoids, robots anatomically designed for sex. The process of uploading human consciousness in the film is called ghost-dubbing, after which the children die, a metaphor suggesting that at some point, cybernetic augmentation will replace all of our natural parts and force us to refine the definition of what it really means to be human both philosophically and morally as the way the gynoids are used and discarded in the film by those who are classified as human is called into question. This metaphor of obsolescence also applies to people and things in this society that become old and outdated, worn out and warehoused together in communities--like junkyards--after a lifetime of service. Or like the doll in this film that Togusa gives his daughter for her birthday that she’ll one day outgrow and throw away. Ghost in the Shell: Innocence is definitely an upgrade over the 1995 film in almost every respect starting with the animation which is more fluid and utilizes more CG elements that are seamlessly composited with hand-drawn animation that is incredibly lush, colorful, and intricately detailed. The standout scenes in the film are the parade in the Etorofu economic zone with the giant floats and the mansion at Locus Solus where Batou and Togusa find the hacker Kim. The melancholy score by Kenji Kawai matches the film’s bleak look--most of which is at night--and serves as a voice for the gynoids. Kawai said that with this film he was aiming for a jazzier mood, particularly for the music box in the doll house scene in the film in which he wanted it to sound like it was playing in a huge space. He did this by recording the track in a studio and rerecording the track in an underground quarry. Of all the films in the GITS franchise, Oshii's films are the gold standard. At the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence competed for the Palme d'Or prize, the only anime ever to compete for the prize. Oshii’s reverence for cinema’s great directors like Fellini, Bergman, Goddard and others shows in this film. In ranking this anime, I would put it beside Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey easily. If you have seen the live action film that came out in 2017 you really should see both of Oshii’s films which are light years better. The Wachowski’s wanted to bring Oshii on board to direct a short feature on their 2003 anime anthology ‘Animatrix’ but Oshii had to turn down the offer as he was deeply involved in the production of Innocence which he called a technical challenge that he wanted to exceed traditional anime limitations. There’s a lot of Ghost In The Shell in the Matrix, especially the first Ghost in the Shell film. Anyway, these are my thoughts on Ghost in the Shell: Innocence by Director Mamoru Oshii. It’s English dubbed with the same voice actors as the original film and it also has the original Japanese voice track with subtitles which I prefer. I had this on DVD when it first came out in 2004 and didn’t think it could look or sound any better until I recently got it on Blu Ray which looks and sounds incredible!

Neo Tokyo Japanese animation review + classic VHS Streamline trailers

Neo Tokyo is a 1987 sci fi anthology of 3 short animated films. The middle film called Running Man appeared on the 205th episode of MTV's Liquid Television.

Neo Tokyo is adapted from a 1986 collection of short stories of the same name by Taku Mayumura with each of the 50 minute trilogy’s 3 diverse films being scripted by directors Rin Taro Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Katsuhiro Otomo. Neo Tokyo begins within a maze called The Labyrinth in which a clown leads a little girl to a circus tent where he then shows her the 2nd and 3rd films, Running Man and The Order To Stop Construction. The 2nd film, Running Man, is directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri and set at a futuristic racetrack called La Circus where drivers compete in anti gravity cars and where champion Zack Hugh--nicknamed The God of Death--literally drives himself to death to stay ahead of much younger drivers. The 3rd feature, The Order To Stop Construction, is directed by Katsuhiro Otomo and set in the Amazon Jungle where a project manager is sent to shut down a construction site but finds himself at odds with the site’s robot foreman that wants the project to go on as scheduled. Neo Tokyo was a direct-to-video release in 1987 and double-billed with a feature length anime called Silent Mobius. At that time, Neo Tokyo was licensed by a company called Streamline Pictures and if you knew about anime back then you know about the classic “State-of-the-art Japanese animation” trailer on all of their videos. When Streamline went out of business, Neo Tokyo and all of the company's anime titles were on moratorium for a while before being picked up by a company called ADV that also went out of business putting Neo Tokyo again on moratorium. There is no plot unifying the short films; Neo Tokyo was anime’s way of showcasing its top talents at that time, Rin Taro, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Katsuhiro Otomo who all went on to elevate anime out of obscurity and college dorms to the mainstream with classics like Akira, Metropolis (anime), Ninja Scroll, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Each director of this anthology has his own distinct style. You have Rin Taro's surrealistic look against Kawajiri's realistic look; and then there is Otomo's obsession with tech and mechanical details. Of the 3 shorts, Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s Running Man is my favorite. The detail in the cars and the characters-- especially the close-ups of the veins pulsating in Zack Hugh’s face and hands-- are incredible. Of the 3 directors, Kawajiri is the best character designer and all of Kawajiri’s films--from Ninja Scroll to Wicked City--bear this trademark. Neo Tokyo reminds us that as much as animation has gained with computer graphics and 3D, it can never replicate the edgy comic book feel that it once did when anime was hand-drawn and painted, cell by cell, by artists. No, the anime wasn’t smooth by today’s animation standards but it had more flair to make up for it. Anyway, anyone interested in seeing what real anime is--when it was really good--need to check out Neo Tokyo. It’s not for sale anymore but you can probably check it out on Youtube somewhere. I was lucky enough to get a copy after it was reissued.