#237: Patlabor - The Movie (1989)

 

Director: Mamoru Oshii

Screenplay: Kazunori Itō

Voice Cast: Miina Tominaga as Noa Izumi; Daisuke Gouri as Hiromi Yamazaki; Issei Futamata as Mikiyasu Shinshi; Kouji Tsujitani as Kataoka; Michihiro Ikemizu as Isao Ohta; Osamu Saka as Seitaro Sakaki; Ryunosuke Ohbayashi as Kiichi Goto; Shigeru Chiba as Shiba Shigeo; Tomomichi Nishimura as Detective Matsui; Toshio Furukawa as Asuma Shinohara; Yoshiko Sakakibara as Shinobu Nagumo; You Inoue as Kanuka Clancy

Based on the manga by Masami Yuki

Viewed in Japanese with English Subtitles

 

I feel like I’m playing computer games against God.

Patlabor gets the time frame wrong – the film is set in 1999, and we have yet to get to “Patlabor” work mechs even knee deep into the Millennium – but this follow up to the 1988-9 straight to video series is still very relevant in its themes. Getting very good distribution back in the day through Manga Entertainment with its 1993 sequel, this Mamoru Oshii helmed work, with screenplay by Kazunori Itō, still comes with a lot of salient points decades on with the context and exposition raising many ideas. In futuristic Tokyo, the Babylon Project has been set up to reclaim land in Tokyo Bay, to overcome lack of land in the country and overcrowding, alongside the goal to turn the capital into a cosmopolis. In this world, as mentioned, it has giant bipedal robots but, even if there are some combat machines and a division of the police force, this is a reality where the “labor” is seen as the equivalent of farming and construction machines, the advancement of a bulldozer for a new age.

The film does presume you have seen the straight-to-video series before, but that never becomes an issue here, and as the Manga Entertainment release in the United Kingdom came for VHS and DVD, this was a rare case of a title where the lack of context was never going to be an issue. The film presents the world in a way anyone can quickly catch up on its set-up, in that, after establishing this context of a Japan which uses giant robots for practical use, there is the issue that they can malfunction, and that the police naturally also needed their own, and even divisions to deal with issues involving them, whether abused or out of control. Division 2, our lead team, are unfortunately the cartoonish group in their police force, and it shows their status when they strike fear into a construction worker they are trying to save from his labor going out of control. The recent spate of labor rampages, opening the film, is alarming for them especially Asuma Shinohara, the hot headed young police member, and his seniors, leading them to dig up the cause. It is Patlabor 2, the sequel, which is held the highest, as it became a far more serious political thriller, but this even as a lighter toned work has its pointed moments of relevance. Mamoru Oshii and his screenwriter Kazunori Itō here also have passages of introspection which would be seen in Oshii’s work before and especially grow in the time after Ghost in the Shell (1995) caught peoples’ attentions. Itō was not a stranger for the unconventional and the cerebral, future screenwriter for both Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor 2, as well as live action films such as one of the last of Seijun Suzuki's films, Pistol Opera (2001), an unsung and bizarre crime pastiche, to the late nineties Gamera reboots, and his name deserves to be nodded to for his talents with the narrative too.

This is also however a comedy too, which may surprise some, as until Vlad Love (2021), Oshii’s return to television anime, a large period of time in his directorial career in live action and animation, in mind to many titles of his never leaving his home land, focused more on cerebral and somber existential tones post Ghost in the Shell. The humour here from the previous stories in this franchise, following the misfits of Division 2, including female lead Noa Izumi and her beloved police mecha, does help this film greatly, especially as when the introspection does appear. It means a lot more when brought in when we can also appreciate these characters being ordinary police and even doofuses, especially in mind to the Division 2 leader Captain Kiichi Gotō, held in high regard as talented officer who ended up there for being too good, someone who turned this band of misfits into a family who fish in their off time outside and grow tomatoes on sight when not dealing with the labor rampages.

Central to its main plot, as more labors are going berserk, is the connection to new hardware software for them, its creator a mysterious man we never see a clear image of and is already dead in the first scene, having committed suicide, but we learn so much of regardless of this. He is the Harry Lime figure that Gotō has detectives from other police sections learn of, his tale emphasizing so much philosophy and existentialism Oshii and Kazunori Itō get into. Even spiritual ideas are there as explicit Old Testament references are rife throughout, including the Tower of Babylon, the building which God was said to struck down when humans dared to make a tower reach Him, re-contextualized in an existential debate here of Japan losing its consciousness as industrialization and capitalist grow progresses into the future. I dare not claim any true knowledge of Japanese culture, but even as far back as a film like Stray Dog (1949) by Akira Kurosawa, made just after Japan lost World War II, destroyed and forced to have to build back up over the fifties and sixties, that film touched on these ideas found here a long time after. Existential concerns beyond the film itself are found of the old Japan being lost as more metropolises and advancement leads to more of their consciousness being lost, something anime has covered greatly, and Oshii would get into the nineties further with even the consciousness of human beings. The sites the mystery man at the center of lived in, creator of a diabolical plant for countrywide labor rampages, turn out to be old buildings which are being demolished when the detectives reach them, emphasizing for the characters as much as the audience these grave concerns of old districts and communities disappearing without trace in the march for progression.

The reveal, full spoilers, also is uncomfortably realistic, that this is all due to software from a major business and tied to the government which has been coded with a deliberate hack to cause these rampages, which the government would happily like to deal with without hassle. Actually, and it says how more positive Oshii and Kazunori Itō especially were, or a drastically different attitude from Japanese business culture, that Patlabor could be seen as less realistic, all because of how quickly this is dealt with. No one pretends this has not been revealed, wishing to still have their boatload of cash from the deals, and deny malfunctioning hardware that could cause deaths ever came up, but that could be me merely being cynical.

There is a lighter touch to the first Patlabor film, especially as Patlabor 2 was a drastic change in tone even in terms of the character designs, but there is a lot to juggle which is a huge credit to the production. This is still an action film and a comedy, but one which has a mind to it, and even with the humour, you see the creativity Oshii had and could be neglected. The introspective scenes, including the symbolism of empty birdcages and abandoned old derelicts, are shown with incredible cinematic style through the animators of Studio Deen and Production I.G., and there are unexpected production choices here which caught me off-guard returning to this film. One of them, one of the best of the film, is the unexpected and inspired use of a fisheye lens for a comedy scene. A fisheye lens is an ultra wide-angle lens that produces strong visual distortion intended to create a wide panoramic or hemispherical image, and for obvious reasons, this would be something you had to animate, and back in this hand drawn era, it makes this an incredibly ambitious visual choice, especially as it is for a moment when a character snaps and gets into an argument with his senior officer, which makes the scene funnier.

Patlabor 2, as mentioned, is the big one of the films, the third film WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3 (2002) not connected to the Oshii films with different collaborators, but the first film does deserve considerable praise.  It has to juggle the comedy and the moments of contemplative philosophy, really pertinent ideas of Japan’s technological advances, which is an ambitious task in itself within a film that is beautifully cinematic. This is before the personality is shown in how the film is made, let alone with its idiosyncratic visual touches, including a hair-raising moment evoking Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963), and action scenes with elaborate mechanical animation, including the finale involving storming a heavily guarded location. The resulting film, all beautifully put together, is exceptional, and whilst this is absolutely a case of a film where multiple figures who are important to its virtues, this in context for Mamoru Oshii is also a good film to return to bring a perspective to him. As a person who I view as an auteur who brings his own voice to the work, Patlabor is fascinating to return back to in showing his flexibility.

#236: Lament of the Lamb (2003-4)

 

Studio: Madhouse

Director: Gisaburō Sugii

Screenplay: Gisaburō Sugii

Based on the manga by Kei Toume

Voice Cast: Megumi Hayashibara as Chizuna Takashiro; Tomokazu Seki as Kazuna Takashiro; Jūrōta Kosugi as Akira Eda; Kenichi Suzumura as Kinoshita; Kikuko Inoue as Momoko Takashiro; Miki Nagasawa as Emi; Satsuki Yukino as Shou Yaegashi; Shinichiro Miki as Minase; Yoko Sasaki as Natsuko Eda

Viewed in Japanese with English subtitles

 

In terms of an obscure title, Lament of the Lamb sticks out as a fascinating melodrama enclosed in a horror premise, which most will only know as the source manga was released by the manga publisher Tokyopop in the West. The anime however entices as it is produced by Madhouse, its female lead is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara, a mega star in the industry, and it is, whilst a more obscurer figure in comparison, directed by Gisaburō Sugii, who also wrote the scripts for all four episodes and worked on the storyboards. His career is marked with helming the theatrical film Night of the Galactic Railroad (1985), a highly regarded animated film attempting to adapt Kenji Miyazawa's post humorous novel, a challenge to adapt the un-filmable and unfinished book dealing with mortality and life for a young audience that is hugely well received, and a masterpiece of eighties theatrical anime. He also directed Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994), a huge curveball in tones to these two other titles, but to consider important in showing his talents as it is one of the only well regarded fighting game anime in existence. It was a staple in the West from Manga Entertainment even if Alice in Chains and KMFDM had to be added to the soundtrack, which shows that Sugii was no slouch in terms of a director.

Kei Toume is also another case of a prolific manga artist whose work, and knowledge of her, is sadly limited in terms of English language access, Lament of the Lamb by itself having been released in the west, but also having a radio drama and a 2001 live action film to its name. Her story begins with Kazuna, who is a teenager left with his aunt and uncle by his father as a child, a famous doctor who disappeared from his life soon afterwards. Fate conspires to weave him back to his family as, whilst his father to his shock is dead, his older sister Chizuna who lived with him returns into Kazuna’s life. It is very obvious from the beginning, when the illness of the family is brought up, it is clearly a form of vampirism, a craving for the taste of blood, but this is instead a story whose horror is a psychodrama, as Kazuna, who was to be spared from the family to have a normal life, is starting to suffer the cravings for blood, as he is drawn to his sister.

With a moody electronic score, intercut with drum and bass freak outs by Ken Miyazawa, more prolific for his contributions to Detective Conan films, Lament of the Lamb stands out with interest as a macabre melodrama that enticed me with its tone and telling of this drama. The bloodlines is cursed with a craving for blood which is depicted differently to many vampire stories, including how instead of being undead or supernatural abilities, there is a greater danger of physical and/or mental damage to the family itself, something Kazuna can attest to in her memories of their late mother. The concern, especially for Kazuna is worse as it includes desiring his female student friend’s neck. Said friend, Yaegashi, is a student in love with him but feeling pushed away, as dynamic a character in her own emotional turmoil, as there is also an explicit sense of incest to the story between Kazuna and his older student. Unlike the titillation of other anime, this feels here a more potent edge to the proceedings, grave and platonic barring the neck biting sequence, which fully embraces the taboo and emphasizes how vampirism became symbolic of sexuality centuries before and is embraced here.

Even in mind of how more obscurer this is, i.e. you will likely see this as a rip, Lament also has a deliberately washed out aesthetic, of pale faces and even certain character designs (especially with Yaegashi) having a wider span between the eyes, almost more cartoonish but adding to the tone. It feels disconcerting, especially as whilst a slow burn drama, even in episode 1 blood is spilt and it is depicted in deep red. The resulting production is gothic melodrama in the modern day, especially as there is also the character of Minase, a young male doctor who is in love with Chizuna and himself has a great angst in regards to her growing platonic relationship to her younger brother, especially as despite the initial appearance she shows, she is physically being damaged by her illness, even in terms of the medication needed to control it having physical harm to her heart. The take on vampirism here, a psychological and physical craving which causes dizzy spells, physically wrecking spells and mental collapse is distinct here in terms of imaging the literalisation of this. The slower tone is a change of pace for a horror anime, and telling a whole story to its bleak end, without feeling morose in the slightest, the only real reason this likely never got picked up for the West is considering the state of anime releases at the time. The original video anime format was still viable but decreasing in number, and for everyone still released at the time, you find as many titles from the time which never came to the West as you fall over them from the eighties. It is a weird missed opportinity in terms of selling it from the back of Madhouse, who were highly regarded at the time, and on Megumi Hayashibara, a huge name to those who watched the original subbed versions of the likes of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

The only thing close, in terms of further adaptations of the manga to the West, was at the Tokyo Project Gathering on the 22nd October 2006, a segment of TIFFCOM, where Mr. Stuart Levy, CEO of Tokyopop, presented the Lament of the Lamb live-action movie project as a future plan. It was meant to begin production in 2007, and be shot in Romania¹, which does emphasize how Tokyopop's reputation started to slip in the mid-2000s and hubris as well, the closest thing to a live action film from them being Van Von Hunter (2010), a low budget adaptation of a Western parody of manga, by Mike Schwark and Ron Kaulfersch, Levy helped co-write. By 2008, Tokyopop after their success had to restructure their business due to changes in the manga industry, and neither helping was that the significant licenses they made their name from - Kodansha published titles, manga created by CLAMP - were being taken away from them. Lament of the Lamb's review should focus on the material, this adaptation a little gem whose absence is sad as, in terms of a horror anime, this is very different from many as a very compelling gothic drama.

 

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1) Tokyo Project Gathering Anime Related Projects, written by Christopher Macdonald and published by Anime News Network on 23rd October 2006.