Novel: Perfect Blue - Awaken From A Dream

Content Warning: Violence, female masturbation, obsession, torture, gore, misogyny, gender bending fetish, and creepy idol fans

Oh boy, here we go. This book is actually a collection of short stories that are disconnected not only from the original work but from each other as well. The only common thread connected them is that they all feature pop idols and creepy fans. Let’s get started

Wake Me From This Dream:

The first story is the shortest and the weirdest. We’re introduced to Toshihiko, a lazy man and idol fan. We just follow him around in his crappy apartment and learn little bits about him. And then things get weird when he sudden transforms into his idol, Asaka Ai. He starts out shocked and then, well, he “explores” this new body, shall we say? However, he’s being stalked by someone. That someone turns out to be his original body. And they’ve come to kill him. Or her? It’s a real weird one, as it’s Ai’s body but Toshihiko’s mind and apartment. Like I said, it’s a weird one.

Cry Your Tears:

This one starts one with yet another unnamed creepy fan who is obsessed with Kawasaki Yuma, an idol that is just starting out her career. She’s a relatively normal girl, who gets bonus points from me for being introduced wearing a Milky Momo vs Godzilla t-shirt. She’s done a single or two and TV performances but gets a job doing commercials for an appliance company that forces her to dress up like a younger girl. Yeah, I know. She also has a boyfriend who’s an up and coming actor but it keeps them apart sometimes. Once again, everyone ignores the creepy letters and things and they really shouldn’t. Because our creepy stalker this time is all about Yuma and carries around a box cutter. He stalks her and even turns up at a meet and greet for her fans. Yuma picks up on his weirdness but no one else cares.

Before too long, Yuma is spotted by a photographer with her boyfriend and it hits the newsstands. I really love how Yuma stands up for herself and her boyfriend when the news hits her office. She’s one of the best idols we’ve seen so far and we’re not even to her best part. After getting home and feeling that something is wrong, she calls her boyfriend and asks him to come over. When there’s a knock and she opens it, it isn’t him, it’s the stalker. He binds her with tape and then starts to assault her. In many ways but doesn’t penetrate. Thank goodness. To stop her from trying to escape, he cuts the bottoms of her feet. Yeah. This stuff is bad. And just when you think she might be saved, when her boyfriend finally turns up, the stalker slits his throat. This gets worse as the stalker gets ready to assault her again but she turns the tables and fights back. It actually works out as she’s able to stab him a few times and even cuts his Achilles tendon. She tries to escape, making it slowly out of her apartment and starts trying to go down the stairs, in a slow speed chase. He wins and drags her back into the apartment. He tricks him and says she’ll sing for him. What song? Why her number one hit, Lariat Of Love. I’m betting you can figure out what she does when he gives her the microphone with a cable attached…

Even When I Embrace You:

Our final story is about Yukiko and her stalker. This one is different as she has a female manager and her stalker wears a bunny mascot suit. One that has been partially burned. And he is just as dangerous as the others.

Yukiko first sees him in an empty display of her that’s been set up for her next big performance in a mall, caressing her wax statue the venue has commissioned. It freaks her the fuck out, like most of us would. This guy must have super powers as he keeps managing to disappear several times in the story. Yukiko knows this creep is after her but no one else seems to believe her, even her manager.

The rabbit appears several more times, stalking her at her events and when traveling home. He finally lets himself be seen during her appearance at a TV studio but vanishes yet again. Her manager mobilizes her fan club to walk patrols around her home. And one of them is killed by the rabbit, showing just dangerous he is. Of course, he is smart enough to vanish with the body, so no one knows exactly what happens. It does make them increase security and get police protection at her next event, the one with the display in the mall.

Just as she’s getting ready to preform, two things happen: Someone starts a rumor that Yukiko is going to be on the roof and the officer watching the freight elevator lets the rabbit walk past him because no one told him to look out for him specifically. With all this going on, Yukiko is on her own and has to flee from the rabbit. They end up on the roof and, with equal measures of intelligence, luck, and skill, Yukiko is able to get away from the rabbit. Of course, since this is pretty much a slasher movie, the rabbit’s body vanishes at the end.

And that’s all of the stories. I don’t think I liked this one as much as I liked the last book. The first story wasn’t engaging to me and felt like fetish fuel. The next two were pretty good but were either too gory or relied on old horror tropes that I dislike. The author just makes these obsessive fans but rarely gives them names or personalities of note. They exist to stalk and hurt the idols. On the flip side, I actually do like the idols and their personalities. They good people and don’t deserve what’s happening to them. Which I think is the point of all this. However, if it were me, I would never ever get involved in this world because of these freaks and weirdos. I am by no means perfect, and I do follow and interact with a few idols online, but I try to be polite and not weird. Just, normal I guess. But I hesitate to talk with them because I see how creepy their fans get. And I don’t want to be seen the same way.

Rating: 2 out of 5
Suggestion: Read it if you like thrillers or really liked the first book, as it’s just more of the same.

Anime: Perfect Blue

Content Warning: Violence, blood, nudity, graphic murder, sexual assault, and mind-bending images

Last time, I talked about the novel of the same name. Today, we talk about the better known film of Perfect Blue. And before I go any further, I have to make it absolutely clear that this film (and thus this review) are going to be very graphic and hard to read. It’s a-ok if you want skip it, I will totally understand.

The movie opens with some kind of event taking place with a Sentai group doing a live performance (think Power Rangers) and a large crowd of mostly young men who don’t even react to this show. From here, we cut between the performance and Mima’s evening afterwards. We see Mima as part of an idol trio called CHAM but this her last day with them, as she wants to focus of acting and advancing her career. We’ve given a little introduction to idol culture here as things are starting, listening to the fans talking about the group and how they’ve already heard that she’s quitting. We meet Rumi (Mima’s assistant?), Todokoro (Mima’s manager), and the guy who will be known as Mr. Me-Mania. Take a wild guess what he looks like… As Mima’s evening continues, she talks with her mom and then gets a “heavy breathing” phone call. After that, there’s a fax that’s covered in the word “traitor.”

As we continue, Mima gets a small part on a show called Double Bind, playing the part of a victim’s sister, with the single line of “Excuse me, who are you?” This line is something you should hang on to as we start the trip that is the rest of the this movie. It’s only a bit part but we see her manager pushing the producer and writer to expand her part, as she’s no longer an idol and that won’t cause issues. After discussion, Todokoro opens a fan letter for Mima that was sent to the studio and it explodes. Not too much but enough to make the manager’s hand bleed. As we can see, things are going to be very different than the novel. However, there are little nods to it that start here. The first is the name of the actress in the series playing the psychologist is named Eri (who was Mima’s rival idol in the novel) and the plot of the show is clearly taken from the original novel.

After this point, I will warn you that things are going to get bad and terrible, so hold on to your butts. I’m also going to skim over this as you really need to watch it.

After seeing mention of “Mima’s Room” in a fan letter, she has Rumi help her buy a computer and visits the site. On the site, Mima discovers that someone is posting things about her life, soon discovering that they’re things that only she would know. Unless, you pay very close attention to one line from a character, in which case you might be able to put everything together right away. Exactly one person I know was able to do this.

Mima gets called back to the show, as they want her to be raped. I mean, have her character raped. I did try to warn you. Mima acts like she’s fine with it, but this scene is very graphic and very intense and I do not know how anyone would be able to act this out. And this is where Mima starts to fall apart. She said she was okay with it but she really wasn’t. When she starts to see another version of herself, this one still in the CHAM outfit, she says that she didn’t want to but she does want to be an actress. The other Mima says she’s lying, Mima has only wanted to sing and be an idol. Scenes start to repeat, as Mima starts to fall apart, unable to tell the show Double Bind and her reality apart. And then there’s the murders. The writer, who had Mima’s character get raped, is brutally murdered. When Mima does a photo shoot, it gets very erotic and explicit. Like, we see EVERYTHING. And then the photographer is killed. Mima visits the Mima’s Room blog and sees that the author went shopping and Mima says “I guess I went shopping today.” She is totally falling apart. And she’s not the only one. Mr. Me-Mania has also popped up here and there and we see him speaking but hear Mima’s voice. At another point, he reads an email from “Mima” and all of his posters and pictures of Mima are talking to him. Yeah. This is all kinds of freak-deaky.

The climax of the film comes in two halves. Mr. Me-Mania has been told by the “real Mima” to kill the “imposer.” And this is where I really like Mima, as after all of this, when Mr. Me-Mania comes after her, she fights. She fights hard. She does try to run but fights when she has to. The fight ends with Mr. Me-Mania attempting to rape her on the same set as the scene of her character getting raped, but Mima is able to grab a hammer and hits him in the head. He screams, walks a bit, and falls over. Stumbling around, wearing nothing but the tattered rags of her outfit, she finds Rumi. Rumi takes her to “Mima’s Room.” Yeah. It gets worse. Rumi has gone totally nuts and thinks that SHE’S the real Mima and tries to kill Mima. And Mima, once again, fights back. She’s Mima and she doesn’t want to die. This fight is so fantastic and well done, you’ve probably seen parts of it around the internet. How does it end? I am not telling you. Watch it your own damn self. You really need to.

This movie is one of the best I’ve ever seen. When I was younger, anime was for giant robots, martial arts, and magical girls. This is one of the first ones we got in the US that wasn’t something like that. This was a psychological thriller that could go much further because of the medium used. We could have Mima’s other half jumping from streetlight to streetlight because it was animation. When I talk about this being a masterpiece, it’s not just the plot or the visuals, it’s the whole package. The music, the direction, and the voice work in the Japanese version are some of the best I’ve ever seen. Period. Full stop. And that is why I want you to watch it. Because this is art. It’s also something you can show people who don’t like giant robots or magical girls or stuff like that and show them why we like anime.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Suggestion: Watch it, if you can, it's a solid film. Buy if you can and then watch it again. It really does get better with repeated viewings.

Novel: Perfect Blue - Complete Metamorphosis

Content Warning: Violence towards women, child abduction and murder (implied), regular murder, sexual assault, dismemberment, psycho killer stuff, and frightful things

Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis as a novella (or “light novel” as kids call it today) that inspired the animated film “Perfect Blue.” But it is it's own beast.

The novel opens with The Stalker (or the Darling Rose) kidnapping a young girl, letting you know that we are In For Some Shit. While they don't show him killing her, we know it happens at some point later.

After that, we're introduced to Kirigoe Mima, a moderately successful idol, as she gets out of the shower to hear her phone ringing. She answers and hears heavy breathing. The caller speaks, apparently for the first time. It's The Stalker, telling Mima he wants to “save her” and stop her from going down her current path. This little interaction is core of the story that is about to unfold...

From here on, we're somewhat rapidly introduced to the people in Mima's life. Her assistant, Rumi, who is a woman who failed to make it as an idol. Tadokoro, her manager, and later, Eri, Mima's “sworn enemy.” I'd like to say that this book will teach you about idol culture but it's all 30 years out of date, so it's very much different these days. Okay, there's enough here that still happens but don't take everything as gospel.

What's going on with Mima, and inspiring her Stalker to save her, is that she's starting to change her image as an idol. Three years ago, Mima premiered as a normal, wholesome idol, keeping her sex appeal to a minimum and keeping her image clean. One thing that hasn't really changed (according to my limited research) in idol culture is that they have to keep a cleaner image. No drinking. No smoking. No dating. And no sexy stuff. Mostly. Now, Mima is getting older and she needs to change her image. This is something she wants to do, I'd like to point out. Her fans seem to be against it but her agent and the company behind him seem to be for it.

While Mima is preparing for her new single, her Stalker is getting bolder and bolder. He has handed a note to Rumi while her and Mima were at a TV station, followed them to figure out where Mima lives, and then it gets worse. After killing and kidnapping the young girl at the beginning of the book, he's kept a piece of her skin. He then cuts off a piece of his own skin and puts her skin where his was. This scene shows us that The Stalker is obsessed with “purity” which is why he is so focused on Mima not changing.

Speaking of Mima, she does a racy photo shoot for a photo book timed to release with her new single “Sexy Valley” as part of changing her image. This gets Eri all kinds of ticked and she has sex with a fifth-rate tabloid reporter to get him to get some dirt about Mima, telling him that Mima had a relationship with some rocker.

As we get closer to the end, we find out that Eri is having a relationship with the rocker, and he and Mima dated a few years ago, but she broke it off. As Eri is leaving from her tryst with the rocker, The Stalker shows up and kidnaps Eri. Meanwhile, Mima is debuting her new style on TV, wearing some sexy clothes.

Now that The Stalker has Eri, he ends up raping her before cutting her face off. Yeah, you read that right. This is practice for the next phase of his plan. After the show, Rumi goes to Mima's apartment to get up a surprise, only to get kidnapped by The Stalker. He then uses Rumi to get Mima to come to a closed TV station not far from her house. And this is where shit really gets wild...

The Stalker's whole plan is to cut of his skin, then cut off Mima's skin, and become Mima but not really? I don't quite understand it completely but that might because I can't make the logical leaps he is. The climax of the book is Rumi and Mima running around the old TV station, avoiding The Stalker (who has cut off his own face), trying to stop him. Mima's manager and the photographer show up, but it's really Mima's fight. She ends up killing him in a suitably horrific way.

This is a wildly different story than the film (which I will be talking about next time). Where the film is much more about the psychological horror of the lost of identity and reality, this novel is much of a more traditional psychological thriller. And both are good in their own ways, it's just a matter of taste. Now, the novel is also more involved in idol culture, even if it is a few decades out of date, so that might be another reason to pick it up. I really do love the references to VHS tapes and Laserdiscs. That really took me back.

I do have to say that I would enjoy seeing this updated and done as a live action film, as the story could benefit from it.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Suggestion: If you like psychological thrillers, and/or Japanese idols, you will enjoy it a lot. If you liked the film, you should read this just to compare the two.

Manga: Gigant Volume 3

 Content Warning: Violence, nudity, age gap relationship, gore, and governmental stupidity

Okay, this is the middle of the series and boy am I not happy. But, let’s talk about what’s going on with our pink haired porn star protagonist, shall we?

The volume opens with Chiho starting her fight with the God of Destruction, which is where we left off last time. This fight is brutal. Chiho gets the snot beaten out of her and almost gets killed by the God’s fireballs. But, she’s actually really clever and shrinks down, only to grow back to huge size again, after jumping inside the God’s body. She just tears him apart and I was cheering.

After the battle, Rei and Chiho meet up and hug and kiss. And then she meets his parents. They don’t believe that she’s the giant until she changes size in front of them. Somehow, they get a cab and things go bad. Rei’s mother starts to interrogate her while they’re in the cab and we find out that Chiho is twenty four years old. Again, she is twenty four and Rei is, like, seventeen or something. And the mom points this out, and that’s illegal (which I’m not sure of, given Japan’s normally very liberal Age of Consent laws). So, Chiho just starts bawling in the cab sitting up front next to the driver. I fell so bad for the driver.

They get back home and Rei ends up meeting up with Chiho and having some hot sex. He stays until morning and has to head home. Not long after he leaves, the police show up and she’s arrested. Now, during this, we’re seeing news coverage of what’s been going on. The media is begging people to stop using E.T.E. and we see that the police are investigating the “pink haired giant” for possible connections to terrorists. Um, what? And after Chiho is arrested, she ends up getting charged, and convicted of Insurrection. Excuse me? I don’t… I can’t even that whole thing. She literally saved millions of people and they are going execute her. I am so mad right now just thinking about it.

Meanwhile. Rei ends up taking care of Mochi, Chiho’s cute Corgi, and coming clean to his friend about his relationship with Chiho. There’s a lot of stuff just kind of happening in the background and almost nothing of Chiho after she gets arrested. However, I did see some interesting bits involving the other Weirdo in the US. Apparently, the Americans are in love with this guy, while the Japanese seemed to be angry at Chiho and I have no idea why. During his fight with the “closely resembles but is legally distinct from” the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, he shoots bolts of light from his hands. I wonder if this is something all of the Weirdos can do or is it part of the device Chiho also has? I’m very interested to find out.

As we reach the end of the volume, two things happen: at least 853 people are abducted by UFOs after an E.T.E. vote and then not long later, dozens of giant people appear.

The first giants we’re introduced to are children who show up at Rei’s school, pull people out from the building by reaching into the windows, and killing them. Rei is saved by one of them by the police and hunters with a shotgun. As Rei and his friend travel home, they see all kinds of people who have become giants: Salarymen, Yakuza gangsters with swords, Sumo wrestlers, an old guy dressed up in a sailor dress, and more. It’s so surreal and out there. And they’re all killing people. And this brings me to another question I have, who are these people? Are they the people abducted by the UFOs? Or are they E.T.E. users who said they wished they were giants so they could take on Chiho? They’re not as large as the God of Destruction was, maybe half or a quarter of the size, but there’s a lot more of them. One key difference between these giants and Chiho is that all of them are wearing clothes, so their transformation wasn’t like hers.

Speaking of Chiho, this volume ends with a giant hand smashing into Rei’s bedroom at night and someone calling his name. Rei thinks its Chiho but I’m not sure if it is or not. For one, she’s been in jail since her arrest. Also, the arm connected to this hand is wearing a sweater, which we’ve never seen her been able to do before.

When I finished this volume for the first time, I felt angry. There’s so many unanswered questions that are still there. The DVD from volume one? Hasn’t been mentioned since. This should be Chiho’s story but it feels more like Rei’s and I don’t know why. Nor do I like Rei all that much. He’s not growing or changing, I feel. And I am beyond angry about Chiho being charged and sentenced to death. She saved lives and this the thanks the Japanese government gives her? Not to mention that if they go through with it, it mean the loss of their only chance of being saved from E.T.E.’s machinations. I know that they won’t kill her, there’s clearly more to come with her, but I just can’t help but be upset. It defies all logic. Ahem. Anyway. I hope that this volume is the lowest point we reach in this series, and it’s all uphill from here, but I now have reservations about what is going to happen now. I guess we’ll find out together.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Suggestion: If you’ve been reading this series up to this point, keep going. I’m hoping it gets better.

Anime: Harlock Saga (review)

Content Warning: Epic space violence, minor violence and gunplay, implied sexual assault, Wagner's music, and one suicide.

The Harlock Saga is a six episode miniseries that's based on Der Ring des Nibelugen by Richard Wagner. You know this music. You've heard Ride of the Valkyries at least once in your life. So, this miniseries is a literal “space opera.”

Before we get too far into this, you must know that this miniseries is a sequel to the original 1978 series Space Pirate Captain Harlock. In addition, the character of Captain Harlock has appeared in other series by Leiji Matsumoto, and this miniseries contains references to these other series as well. So, you might find things a little confusing if you haven't seen the other stuff but you should be able to enjoy it as is.

The miniseries starts with the Space Patrol arriving at an asteroid colony that appears to be completely devoid of life. The ship soon encounters Emeraldas and Tochiro in a small ship. As soon as the ship docks with them, the Space Patrol finds out that the small ship is carrying a bomb capable of blowing them up. Emeraldas and Tochiro use this to get the Space Patrol to blow open the asteroid's space port and take a ship to see what happened inside the colony. There they find a holographic projection of Meeme playing an organ, as well as the swaying corpse of the leader of the colony. Meeme tells them that they must make their way to the planet Rhien, where the villain who killed everyone in the colony, is now making his way to steal the gold which is hidden on planet Rhein. Things start blowing up and Emeraldas and Tochiro are forced to steal a ship from the space port (as the Space Patrol has left without them) and make their way to planet Rhien. They speak with Meeme, discovering that they arrived too late, finding that Alberich has already stolen the gold and the planet will be destroyed. After Harlock and his ship the Arcadia arrive, Meeme gives us some more details about Alberich. He's one of the last clan Nibelheim and he seeks to use the gold to destroy Valhalla, first by forging it into a ring. Emeraldas leaves the show at this point to get back to her own ship (she also has her own miniseries titled Queen Emeraldas, if you like the look of her.)

This is when we're introduced to the young Daiba, living on Earth and is one of the best metallurgists in the universe. Daiba first speaks with Maetel (who's from Galaxy Express 999, a space fairing locomotive [no, I'm not making it up and it appears briefly]) and she tells him to NOT make a ring out of gold if a man turns up asking about it. Well, Alberich shows up afterwards and shoots out Daiba's tire. And then somehow cons Daiba into making the ring. You know, after he was told to NOT DO THIS EXACT THING! As thanks, Alberich shoots Daiba with his Luger, telling you that he's a real bad guy in so many ways, and leaves him for dead. After a few hours, Tochiro turns up, finding that Daiba was wearing a bulletproof vest, and takes the kid to Captain Harlock.

Now that we have the group all together, Meeme explains a bit more about what's going on. Alberich needs the gold because it controls time and he wants to take down Wotan, god of gods. Meeme used her organ on planet Rhien, in conjunction with Freya playing an organ on Valhalla, to make it so time barely moved on Valhalla and time passed quicker in other places, like Earth. There's one cool space battle, brief as it is, and then the Arcadia is summoned to Valhalla by Wotan, who has awaken and is very unhappy about getting old all of the sudden.

While Alberich gathers his forces, and the Arcadia is being pulling through space, we spend some time (haha) on Valhalla. Wotan has commissioned a pair of giant brothers to finish a fortress that may save him. The brothers are madly in love with Freya and have been unable to work, their thoughts so consumed by her. Wotan gives them permission to “touch” her, in exchange for finishing the fortress in time. They then go on to... Well, they don't show exactly what happens to Freya, but she lets out a scream and, yeah. They mercifully fade to black. Meanwhile, Fricka (Wotan's wife, I believe) and Wotan are visited by Elda, the Prophet of Valhalla and told to NOT summon Meeme and the humans with her, or shit will get bad. Wotan, but mostly Fricka, blow her off and keep summoning the Arcadia.

When the Arcadia arrives, it gets stuck in some barren icy wasteland but they do end up enountering Freya, who explains what's been happening. Fricka is all about killing the humans outright while Wotan is just kind of like “eh, they're vermin, we'll deal with them later.”

Soon, Alberich's fleet arrives at the edge of Valhalla's defenses and we get to hear “Ride of the Valkyries” during one of the best space battles I've seen in a while. They really don't make them like they used to. However, Alberich's fleet is decimated until he uses the ring to make short work of the defense satellites. Now, the way to Valhalla is clear, with only the recently finished fortress left to defend it. Now, the reason why we can't let Alberich destroy Valhalla is because Wotan made it the center of the universe and if it's destroyed, the universe will collapse into itself, doing a reverse Big Bang, to the point where NOTHING exists. So, good job, Wotan. You fucking idiot. Wotan has brought this on himself, as he was jealous of the Nibelheim and destroyed them. He's also conquered several species, including giants, and forced them to obey him.

So, should it surprise anyone when the giant brothers refuse to destroy the Arcadia when Freya is aboard? And then take it aboard to save Freya. I will give the brothers some credit as they do realize that Freya will never love them like they love her. That doesn't stop them from loving her, however. And then they start to leave. But Captain Harlock, who has already told Wotan that he's going to return the status quo; not because he likes Wotan but to protect the universe, tells the brothers that he's going to fight no matter what. This gets them to help.

The Arcadia faces off against Alberich's ship but is easily outclassed because of the ring. Then the brothers suck both ships inside the fortress, canceling the power of the ring, but making both ships have to deal with The Dragon inside. Harlock goes inside to get the ring, shooting in the shoulder Alberich with his pistol, and not his cool fucking laser saber thing (he doesn't use it at all in this miniseries and I am very disappointed), and just goes. He does tell Alberich that he should do what he can to get away from The Dragon, which is some glowing slime stuff, but the jerk just wants to shoot at it with his Luger. And nothing of value was lost.

The big moment comes when the brothers decide to blow the fortress, which will allow the Arcadia to escape, as well as The Dragon. They fly away as the fortress blows up, followed by the Arcadia, and The Dragon slime stuff. Which will apparently bring back monsters all over the galaxy. Wotan looks out at the Arcadia as it flies away, promising that he will remember the name of Harlock.

And that's it. I didn't even give all the details, because there's a lot going on here. There's three hours of stuff, and while a lot of it is rehashed from episode to episode, there's some really deep lore to get out. Thankfully, I'd seen Galaxy Express 999, the sequel to that, and another Harlock movie (Arcadia Of My Youth, if I remember correctly), before seeing this and was somewhat familiar with the characters. However, Harlock himself doesn't really speak, much less do anything, until the last few episodes.

That said, this one has fantastic imagery, ship designs, space battles, and of course, music. It's weird, out there, but fun. I only own it as it was collateral for some other anime I loaned out and was never returned. I may try to track down the other movies and do reviews of them, assuming I can still find them.

Rating: 2 out of 5
Suggestion: Confusing if you only watch this but there's enough good looking space ships and battles to help you ignore it.

The Arcadia in flight

Anime: Armitage the Third: Dual Matrix

Content Warning: Nudity and violence

After almost 20 years, Armitage returns...

The movie opens with Armitage being a house wife, making a cake. And then she starts seeing images from a secret Third factory on Earth. We then get to see Ross, who has taken up the alias Kevin Oldman, as he picks up their daughter, Yoko. I have to say that I like Yoko's character design as she really looks like a mix of Ross and Armitage and it works. Of course, Armitage leaves her family behind to travel to Earth and investigate what is going on with the Thirds. While she's gone, Ross foils a terrorist plot, working as a security guard, and is sent to Earth to vote on a bill about “robot rights.” Which feels very forced and I'm surprised they're still dealing with robot rights after the last movie. We return to the plot with Amritage going after the military leader who killed everyone at the facility and finally meet the real villain of the piece, Demitrio. He wants to have robots be slaves so he can live out his power fantasy but is also obsessed with the Thirds ability to conceive, making his whole goal a real mess. The plots link up as Demitrio kidnaps Yoko, forcing Ross to throw the vote on the Robot's Rights thing. Ross and Armitage link up and go to rescue Yoko, and escape Earth, only to have to deal with twin copies of Armitage that have been upgraded for combat. With knives that pop out of their bodies and roller-blades. I wish I was making that part up.

All in all, this was a movie that didn't need to be made. There's nothing really new here, except for Yoko. Ross and Armitage barely get any screen time together and Armitage just seems to abandon her family to put on a sexy outfit to dish out some revenge. The whole thing about the Thirds being able to procreate but wanting a slave race just doesn't follow any sort of logic. I think it should have gone either direction, either Demitrio wanted to eliminate anything to do with the Thirds so he could prove that robots don't deserve rights (as Armitage would prove that they can be just as human as we are) or he should have been obsessed with making his own Thirds to show that they DO deserve rights. I can't seem to wrap my head around his plans here. As I was watching it, I got a very Matrix vibe from some of the scenes. I realize that the Matrix borrowed from anime and this movie came out a few years after the Matrix, meaning that the designs were probably influenced by it. It makes sense, given how much the first Matrix film was hugely successful. I also noticed that the animation quality seemed to have dropped from the first film and it included some very early CGI in one chase scene. I'm not sure if they were cutting the budget or trying to be cutting edge. It's entirely possible that it could have been both.

In the end, there was no reason to make this movie and while it is enjoyable, it's not very good. I bought it when it first came out on DVD and got the collector's edition, including a lunch box (it was a thing back in those days) and an Armitage figurine. I don't regret buying it, I just wish it was better.

Rating: 2 out of 5
Suggestion: Watch it only if you really need more Armitage in your life.

Manga: Gignat Volume 2

Content Warning: Nudity, sexual activity, massive urban destruction and death, and teenage stupidity (again).

I hope you've read the first volume of this series because we need to catch up..

The first half of this volume follows a familiar pattern from the last one, namely spending time with Rei and Chiho, after talking a bit about the plot. There's some talking heads going on about E.T.E. And how some people aren't believing it. We also find out that Ryuji, Chiho's boyfriend, hasn't returned. This leads to Rei asking Chiho out, apparently changing his mind from the end of the last volume. After he guilt trips her into letting him become her boyfriend, they start having sex. Like, that night. I had to stop reading after he whines until she says yes. Then, I had to take another break after they bathe together and she goes down on him. I'm also noticing that Chiho is very... Static? Stoic? I don't know how to describe it but she's just... Standing there, looking at him or just going along with things. This continues as they continue dating, with her just going with the flow. The only real moment of her taking action, before all of this, is turning Rei down. But then she reverses it and they go out. I was also a little uncomfortable with the relationship when it started, as Rei is in high school and Chiho is an unknown age but at least over 18, and I think Rei is around 17-18. Now, I did have to stop and think about this, if I would have had the same problem with it if the genders had been reversed. And, yeah, I probably would. But, Japan has a different culture and different laws, so I just tucked those thoughts away and continued reading, wanting to see where things are going.

As the relationship continues, Chiho starts to act differently. I think the moment that really showed me how much she had changed was when she jumps and gloomps Rei when they're starting their date. There's also some touching moments where Chiho talks a bit more about her childhood and a boy she had a crush on. Again, I'm here for this content. And Rei, I have to admit, does act like a decent guy, for the most part. Their dates and conversations are cute. There's a real awkward moment where Rei asks her to marry him. And I just felt so bad for him. He's clearly infatuated with her and she's starting to fall for him. There's another telling moment when Chiho asks Rei if he's losing interest with her and offers to do it “like they do in a porno.” Of course, things can't last and Rei gets caught lying to his parents about what he's been doing. Apparently, he's been telling his mom that he's been hanging out and spending the night with Nakashima (who I'm assuming is his friend, his only friend) but she happened to talk with his parents and busted! He tells his parents he has a girlfriend but nothing else. One thing that really made me wince was how his dad acts. He as a very “boys will be boys” attitude and dismissing his wife's, Rei's mother, concerns out of hand. It made me very uncomfortable, as I don't want Rei to start emulating this behavior. I want Rei and Chiho to be happy, preferably together. So sue me, I like my happy endings, okay?

Now, half way through the volume, things shift dramatically. While Rei is spending time with his parents in Roppongi (a famous district in Tokyo), Chiho is watching TV when a “special news bulletin” happens. We see a “we closely resemble but are legally distinct from the” Stay Puft Marshmallow Man fighting another guy that looks like the weirdo that gave Chihi her device (except he's wearing a American flag tank top and underwear and has a blonde beard) in New York City. And then E.T.E. unleashes a “God of Destruction” in Tokyo. Starting with Roppongi. Rei and his family have a front row seat as this thing starts destroying buildings. Chiho tries to get a hold of him and they breifly speak. He tells her “goodbye.” As the line disconnects, Chiho's heart starts beating and she seems to have a flashback, as we see “Chiho? Daddy had a bad fall.” This scene, watching her crying while those words appear on the page break my heart every time I see them (seriously trying to not ugly cry right now). She uses her device and starts running, giant and naked, towards Rei.

And that's where things end. It's such an abrupt ending, I started cussing out the creator, the publisher, and the American translation company for making me wait several months for the next volume. I am really enjoying this series but we're a third of the way through the story and there's a lot unexplained. Who or what is Enjoy The End? Why was Chiho picked for this or was it really just random chance? Who hit the Weirdo? Will Rei continue to be a good boyfriend or will I need to travel into that reality and slap the shit out of him? Will I ever find out more about Chiho or am I going to need to torture Oku and get the information out of him? Okay, I wouldn't do that, no matter what he does with this story. But, I might be a little rude to him if I meet him.

Yeah, I am excited for the next volume. Which I've already pre-ordered (and volume four) as when I went to buy this one when I got paid, it was out of stock and it hadn't even been two weeks on Amazon. And then I tried other places. And then tried third-party sellers on Amazon, paying more than I wanted, and still had to wait another few weeks until a reliable company actually had it in stock. I am NOT doing that again for this series. Plus, pre-orders look really good to publishers and distributors.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Suggestion: Buy it.

Update: I just received an email from Amazon informing me that volume three won't be delivered until late January/early February 2021 (thus proving that 2020 is still screwing me over hard). As such, I'll probably be doing an extra review to cover it as soon as I get it.

Anime: Armitage The Third: Polymatrix

 Content Warning: Nudity, violence, violence towards women, and a badge toting terror in hot pants.

Armitage the Third: Polymatrix is a near future science fiction “movie” with cyberpunk elements. The film starts with the arrival of Ross Sylibus from Earth to Mars and things start moving fast from there. We're quickly introduced to Naomi Armitage (the aforementioned terror in hot pants) who is our main character, and Rene D'anclaude, the villain of the piece. It's quickly discovered that D'anclaude has murdered a Country-Western music sensation, called the last country singer in the galaxy, and that she isn't really a “she” as such. The musician is an android or robot that is composed of organic parts. And, shockingly, able to conceive a child.

From there, the story is a bit of a detective story, finding out who these androids, or Thirds, are, why D'anclaude is killing them, and why they were created. The androids are called Thirds as there's already a very common type of android called Seconds. One thing I found interesting was that almost all of the Seconds depicted are attractive females, some with inhuman traits like odd colored hair, pointed ears, and glowing skin. While the Seconds seem to be rather ubiquitous, there's a lot of hate for them shown mostly in the background. The reason that's stated is... Well, you've heard it before: They took our jobs! I find that rather interesting as you'd think that having robots and androids to the shit work on a colony would be seen positively rather than negatively. It's also interesting that it's men saying this, not women, given what I saw above. 

Very quickly (too quickly in my opinion) we find out that Armitage herself is a Third, but also claims to be the daughter of one of the greatest scientific minds on Mars. This complicates things as Armitage is smitten with Ross, who lost his former partner, and possible lover, to a renegade robot attack on Earth. This causes a bit of “star-crossed lovers” trope to pop up but not for long. Thirds are still dying and it might be Armitage who's doing it, as D'anclaude is in custody. But, wait! More plot twists! D'anclaude is an assassin bot with multiple copies! And the last Third isn't a woman but a teenage boy. This mystery is never really solved. One thing that I noticed about the Third we see is that, except for Armitage and the boy, all of the Thirds are artists in some way; the first to die was a singer, the next one is a novelist, and the last one who dies is a painter. And a lesbian. I point this out, as if the point of the Thirds was to boost the low birth rate of the Martian colonists, why would she be “allowed” to be attracted to her same sex/gender? And, if the birth rate is so low, is the prevalence of so many sex bot Seconds to blame, even a little? This is important, as one of the last things they throw at you at the end of the film is that Earth is a “Feminist Government” or something like that. You'd think that Mars would want to clean up the gynoids first, before the ones that can live like humans. Androids so perfect at being human, you wouldn't have known unless you saw their insides, and they can do the one thing that has long been the exclusive providence of women: the ability to carry and birth child. It doesn't jive with what I understand of feminism, given that so long as they are treated equally (which they are, given that you don't fucking know that they're not “real” people), it shouldn't be such a major issue. Personally, I find the fact that the Seconds seem to have no rights, are used for sex, and that the Martians don't seem to have a problem with that to be much more problamatic.

Of course, there is a reason for all of these plot holes and very rushed feeling of the whole film. It was originally a four part series of OVAs that was chopped up in the Polymatrix movie. So, we're clearly missing a lot (and I mean A LOT) of character development and world building. The romance between Ross and Armitage is just kind of there, with no real build up and explanation. There's a few other cops in the unit they work in that clearly have personality traits but we only get glimpses. I know there's a lot more going on with Mars and its relationship with Earth. And I will bet good money that there's more Thirds that die. It's just a mess of editing, cutting what looks like half of a story out. And since this was only releases with an English dub, there's more problems. They got Kiefer Sutherland to voice Ross but he barely expresses any emotion with his voice. On the other hand, Elizabeth Berkley is fantastic as Armitage and you believe her performance. The difference between the two is night and day. I wish I could track down the original OVAs because I bet the story in there is much better developed.

As much as I've just ranted, I will say that there are some really good things in this movie. The first is the soundtrack (which I'm currently listening to as I write this). It's a great mix of moody, rock, synth, and industrial that you can actually listen to when doing other things. There's one vocal track, well, really two but it's just an English version and Japanese version of the same song. In addition to the stand out music, there's some fantastic visuals going on. The design of the characters and Mars is outstanding, making you really believe the setting. Each character is unique, visually, so you don't have to worry about getting them confused when they only turn up for their tiny bit parts. Of course, Armitage herself is the best. Her look is iconic and is why I picked up a figurine of her, as I rarely buy merchandise like that. She's got a look that you can instantly recognize, which I think is great. Yes, she's wearing something that would better fit a hooker than a cop but she wears it well. You don't feel like it's forced, it's just who she is and... Yeah. She's a stand out in the halls of cyberpunk characters.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Suggestion: Watch it if you really like cyberpunk stuff

Manga: Gignat Volume 1

 Content Warning: Domestic violence, teenage stupidity, feces, porn industry, sexual content and nudity.

 Gigant is a manga by Hiroya Oku (probably best known for Gantz). Sent in modern day Japan, the story follows Yokoyamada Rei, a high school student who dreams of becoming a film director, and Johansson Chiho, who works as a adult film star under the name PaPiCo.

Our story begins with Rei filming around Tokyo with his phone, shots of crowds and the ground. This brings up one of things I find a bit jarring about the manga. Rei, and most of the other characters, are drawn in a typical manga style, while crowds and minor characters are photorealistic style (and the posters, vehicles, etc). I don't know if there's just a filter applied to pictures, they're traced, or what exactly, but it kind of throws me off when I'm reading.

As our story continues, we're slowly introduced to the characters around Rei: his father, who wants him to do well in school in case he can't fulfill his dreams of becoming a director. His friend, who doesn't even get a name in this volume, who he talks about movies with and is trying to make a movie with. And PaPiCo. Her introduction is a porn BluRay (with the caption: Her Jiggly J-Cups) that Rei buys and watches. The masturbation is implied. Or maybe that's because I was once a teenage boy.

PaPiCo, or Chiho, has a proper introduction a bit later. Rei sees a sign saying she lives in the area and she'll have sex with someone if they ask. Who put this up is as of yet unexplained. After Rei removes the last poster, Chiho comes up behind him and asks if he put up. Soon, she's buying him dinner, telling him her real name (!!!), follows him on Twitter, exchange Line numbers, and leaves both of them happy.

As the story continues, we see much more of Rei, until Chiho sees a strange man get hit by a car. While trying to render aid, he puts some strange device on her forearm, and then turns into a cloth doll. Yeah, you read that right. Anyway, she ends up discovering that she can grow in size. Her piece of shit boyfriend, Ryuji, just kind of checks out. Later, she starts using this power in her porn vids. We also get to follow her around some more, which I absolutely loved, meeting her three brothers and her mother, and also see a picture of her Swedish father, and we learn more about how people in her life treat her. Which is to say, rather poorly. When Ryuji asks her who Rei is, after looking through her phone, he doesn't like her answer and then slaps and kicks her. She fights back and they end up in an odd embrace, with him apologizing and saying he loves her. She also reaches out to Rei to help her see what's on a DVD that was left by the strange man (who I call The Weirdo). He watches it and discovers that the disc has over 168 hours of footage. Which, you know, is kind of impossible.

Next, Chiho invites Rei over to her tiny apartment (as her terrible boyfriend is out of the house after losing tons of money at the Pachinko parlor). When she shows him that, yes, she can become a giant, Ryuji walks in. She's giant and naked. All hell breaks loose. But, Ryuji ends up running away. I think this is where I knew I was going to really like this manga.

After this, we start getting some major hints about what exactly is going on. Where (or perhaps “when” is a better word) The Weirdo came from, what the purpose is of the device now on Chiho, and that this very well could be the end of the world. If you want to Enjoy The End, I suggest you read it for yourself.

I absolutely loved this read. While I enjoyed getting to know Rei, even if I want to reach into the panel and slap some sense into him half the time, I really wanted to get to know Chiho more than we did in this volume. The author uses images to tell us about them, not using any internal monologue. The dialogue is also used to say things and NOT say things at the same time. We get a sense of how shy Rei is and his obsession with films and film making just from the dialogue. With Chiho, we find her using a lot of slang and very informal way of speaking. Her facial expressions are also great. While it's not outright stated, it's kind of obvious that she's got some issues. At one point, she mentions that she takes medication for her anxiety. I also think that her father is dead, given how we get one flashback of them together when she's a child and don't see him when she goes back home and meet the rest of her family. He isn't even mentioned more than once or twice at most.

 Rating: 5 out 5

Suggestion: Buy it.

Anime: Serial Experiments Lain (overview)

Content warning: Suicide, homicide, child death, drug use, surreal images, and weirdness

Serial Experiments Lain is a series that deals with reality, perception, identity, and technology, and how they can intermix. That might sound familiar as there was something about the late 1990s and early 2000s and these concepts. While more philosophical, as well as having a Hollywood blockbuster style, The Matrix delved into some of these. At the same time, so did Dark City, but with Noir styling. Lain is something uniquely Japanese in how it views things and the concepts it explores. 

The show begins with a young girl jumping off of a building to her death. That's a hell of a way to kick things off, let me tell you. But this what triggers our inciting incident. It's not the death of Lain's classmate but the email that was sent from the girl's account. After she was dead. This gives us a chance to learn a bit about Lain, mostly that she seems disconnected from the world around her. I don't even think of the girls she talks with as her friends, just her classmates. But this event also causes another change: Lain begins to use her computer and the Wired. I'm not sure if this was suppose to be set “30 minutes into the future” or an alternate reality. There might be an answer at the end of the series, I'm not going to spoil it for you now.

As the series progresses, the episodes are titled “Layers” and it is very apt. We are introduced to the world around Lain, people, places, and things. There's a great deal of mystery in the first few episodes. Not just odd people but there are things that I'm still not sure if they're hallucinations or visions that Lain experiences. As we meet people, some of them seem to know Lain but not her exactly. Is it some kind of dark mirror version or her or is it something she's forgotten? There's also little things that seem like we temporally skip into a different reality. That one is hard to explain but you'll know it when you see it.

Lain, as a character, is somewhat hard to get a grasp on. She's introduced without history, no sense of who is and where she's come from. All we really know is that she's a girl beginning to cross the threshold into womanhood. I find this is best exampled in the first few episodes. At night, Lain gets into a rather cute set of teddy bear pajamas before bed. In one episode, her “friends” (the girls she goes to school with) go out to an underage club and invite her along. While the other girls are clearly trying to show off their sexuality, Lain turns up in a long dress and wool cap. She's laughed at but I think it shows how different she is. She has an older sister that's clearly part of the rest of the world, but the relationship between the two is very fuzzy. If this show was being made now, people who probably say that Lain is Autistic. I don't know if she was suppose to be but I can, in hindsight, see that she was coded that way. I'm assuming it wasn't the intent of the creators but it's there if you want it to be.

I honestly have a lot of trouble trying to communicate just how good this show is. Part of it is not wanting to give out spoilers and part of it is that you really have to see this stuff to understand it. Or perhaps you don't understand. When I finally finished the show, I still had a few lingering questions. The conclusion feels complete and not at the same time, like if it had maybe just one more episode, there could have been a bit more to tell. I do not regret the time I spent watching it at all but do regret not buying the whole series when it came out on DVD. But back in those days, an anime DVD was $30. Which is better than it was on VHS, where it was $30 for subbed (assuming you could find it subtitled) but only $25 for dubbed, as most Americans don't like subtitles.

If there's one great thing about this series, it the opening credits. The song, Duvet by Boa, is fantastic and fits the feeling of the show so well. If you like it, I strongly recommend the acoustic version over the techno remix. If you're wondering if you want to watch this show, see if you can track down the opening and watch it. If it doesn't sell you on this series, after this review, nothing else will.

Rating: 4 out 5

Suggestion: Watch it at least once.