20130831: Anime Review--Vexille

Vexille: 2077 Isolation of Japan

1. Fundamentals and reception
1. Japanese anime feature length film, 2007, NR, 109 minutes, original title 'Bekushiru: 2077 Nihon sakoku'
2. IMDB: 6.8/10.0 from 5,382 users
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 60%, but 'no consensus yet'; 66% liked it from 4,386 audience ratings.  One sentence summary: '...following female agent Vexille as she ventures into Tokyo to find out if the Japanese are developing robotic technology, which the U.N. has explicitly banned' ~Jason Buchanan, Rovi.
4. Directed by Fumihiko Sori, written by Haruka Handa and Fumihiko Sori.
5. Spoken language is Japanese, dubbed in English.
6. The film is made from a three dimensional animation engine.  It looks quite good, though the movements seem a little stiff at times. Some of the human figures look rotoscoped, and hence not at well-drawn as the robots, androids, and some other humans.  This is the weakest part of the film, but perhaps it saved on costs.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Backdrop: mid-21st century, all nations except Japan agree to stop android development.  Japan shuts itself off from the rest of the world in 2067, and continues robotic research and export, coming to dominate the market.  It also digs in and does android development in secret.  The story starts in 2077.
2. SWORD (headquartered in Los Angeles) versus Daiwa Robotics (inside Japan).  Commandos are sent to check on a high-level meeting regarding android development.
3. Lots of explosions, chases, bullets flying, and people dying.  During the first raid and blowup fight, one of the Daiwa agents escapes by means of cutting off his right leg.  The SWORD agents take the leg back to labs in LA HQ, and find that it's android, and in violation of all sorts of treaties.
4. SWORD mounts a commando insertion into Japan in order to pierce the jamming network, and get new images and intel about what is going on in Japan.  The rest of the world has been cut off for ten years.
5. This does not go well, but is not a total disaster.
6. What Vexille finds in Japan is rather alarming, and the news needs to get back to Los Angeles.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Foreign agents investigate 2077 Japan.
2. Nine of ten.


4. Statistics
Art: 9/10  I like the 3-d look.

Sound: 8/10 Good incidental music and foley.

Voice Actors: 10/10 The dubbing script is well-written, and the voice actors execute well.

Screenplay: 9/10 Well-constructed.  The story moves right along.