Hey all you true bluers out there in the yonder of this big weird tragic world that we all huddle upon, Harry here with a look at the next anime film to get theatrical distribution.... X.... Just that letter, nothing else. Particle Man is once again the proton on the spot with all the ifs ands and buts on the film so take a picachu...
Bluntly, I was hoping for more from X (a.k.a. X/1999), the supernatural anime feature that Manga will be putting into limited release starting next month. There's been a couple of years of buzz behind the film, which is based on characters and plotlines created by Clamp, the celebrated, all-female manga studio. Given Manga's (the company) previous track-record with theatrical releases, I was looking forward to something that would both dazzle the eyes and challenge the mind.
The eye-dazzling part is no problem. The film is practically wall-to-wall _tour de force_, with more indelible images than you can shake a talisman at: a tidal wave inside a train station, a young girl crucified on steel girders, plenty of otherworldly pyrotechnics and mystical jousting. You don't go three seconds without something weird and wonderful on the screen -- it's enough to make me wish I still inhaled.
But the thing that I liked about Manga's other theatrical releases was that they went beyond the visual. They confounded prejudices; there was a depth to their themes that declared that whatever you thought you knew about anime was nowhere near the medium's actual ability to take on subject matter that would daunt even live-action filmmakers. There's no such complexity to X -- this is your standard, bad-guys-will-bring-about-the-end-of-the-world-unless-the-Chosen-One-intevenes scenario, with an extra dose of tension in that the final conflict occurs between friends. The lack of thematic complexity is established right off with an awkward dollop of exposition -- you feel you're being dropped into the continuation of a TV series rather than entering into the broader scope of a feature film -- and then continues on with a story that's heavy on set-pieces and light on anything that would allow you to empathize with the main characters. Those already familiar with the tropes of anime will probably feel right at home -- see it in a theater with a big screen and good sound system -- but I think it's unfortunate that, with efforts like PRINCESS MONONOKE and the forthcoming (oh please, oh please) CASTLE IN THE SKY broadening the audience for serious animation, X feels like a step backward, something more likely to be embraced by the established subculture than checked out by curious newcomers. It's a visual feast, no argument, and worth a look by anyone into bold, imaginative filmmaking. Just don't expect any ground to be broken with this one.
