Darkside Blues
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Movie Reviews of Darkside Blues
Movie Review: great and more great.
Summary: 5 Stars
well, i'll be the first to admit that this is a very subtle anime. you really have to be watching it to understand it. i think many americans have trouble with subtle animes and therefore tend to ignore them which is sad because there are some really excellent sublte animes out there just waiting to be watched. if you're just watching it to see some great fight scenes, you might be a little disappointed, cause they aren't everywhere. the ones there are really great though. Darkside is a really interesting character, bringing forth renewal through darkness. i don't think i've ever seen anything else like that before. but hey, you should just make up your own mind, and i hope that your mind will decided to get this movie and watch it. :) have fun!Movie Review: Experimental and Intriguing
Summary: 4 Stars
Darkside Blues / B00007K014
*Spoilers*
I don't know anything about the series that this movie is connected to, so take my review as an outsider's opinion, but I found "Darkside Blues" to be pleasantly experimental and intriguing.
One of the other reviews noted that this movie starts in the middle, ends in the middle, and resolves nothing, and I must confess that this is a fair assessment. There is zero explanation for why (or how) the Darkside character shows up the way he does, nor what his motivations are, nor - for that matter - much in the way of the backstory or motivations of *any* of the characters. Usually, I would absolutely hate that in a movie, but "Darkside Blues" gripped me so firmly with its independent style that I was happy to just be taken along for the ride.
There is so much to like about this movie. There are the strong heroines Mai and Selia, who manage to be both strong, independent, and realistically human - a rare combination. There is the fascinating fighting styles of Mai, Chris, Darkside, and actually pretty much everyone else in this movie, although fighting is definitely not the main focus of "Darkside Blues". There is the overlay of the mystical and the inner mind - for instance, coming directly to the room 'you intended to visit' when entering the mysterious and magical hotel - that reminds me strongly (and oddly, enough, given the name of the evil corporation) of the Persona series.
"Darkside Blues" is intriguing for the dark magical realism it conveys, almost akin to a Gabriel Marquez novel. The futuristic world and setting is real enough, but magical things occur with regularity and the seemingly 'normal' characters observe the magic with quiet acceptance, as though these things are, if not normal, then at least something that must simply be dealt with. Darkside, the character, appears out of nowhere and seems intent on psychically healing the residents of the slum in which he lands, but though he is noted as a threat by the main villains, he doesn't seem particularly interested in threatening them in any way. Instead, he seems to be a sort of catalyst, empowering the people around him to allow them to threaten Persona Company in the manners they prefer. And in the midst of all the magic and unexplained events, the viewer is invited to simply lie back and be swept away by the mystery, magic, and spectacle of it all.
It's hard to say whether or not I 'recommend' "Darkside Blues". Though I enjoyed it immensely, it's easy to recognize that many perfectly reasonable viewers will hate it. The apparent plot, revolving around Darkside's appearance and mission, never goes anywhere or experiences any resolution; and a secondary sub-plot involving the slum-residents and their terrorist activities is never really arresting enough to carry the film in the traditional manner. If you do chose to watch "Darkside Blues", I'd recommend doing so intending to just enjoy the dark, oppressive feel of the movie and the disorientation that accompanies the magical realism genre.
~ Ana Mardoll
Movie Review: The Web of Rebellion
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an unusual anime feature, based on a manga which is largely unavailable in the US. In its multifaceted story of resistance to the Persona Corporation which has come to own 90% of the world, it seems to take no viewpoint, It follows the common Japanese story-telling convention of bringing up the story as an intricate composition of story lines rather than one single driving thread.
Two things trigger the events in the film. A young boy, Katari, flees some troublemakers and falls into a hole into another dimension. Somehow he is rescued by a peculiar doctor driving a stagecoach who will remind you of Vampire Hunter D (Hideyuki Kikuchi did work there as well). And a rebel raid successfully sabotages a Persona control center and only one of them, Tatsuya, successfully escapes and a pretty young gang leader, Mai, becomes involved in his rescue.
The Doctor, takes the name of Darkside after the the place he arrives - the Kabuki-Cho district of Shinjuku Tokyo. There he practices a form of 'medicine' called Renewal. He touches many of the people in Shinjuku, especially Mai and Selia whose fate becomes entwined with Tatsuya's. Darkside has some past with the family who owns Persona, and Renewal has something to do with enspiriting both Katari and Selia so that the opposition to the corporation can continue.
Guren and Tamaki, the owners of Persona are classic villains. She is a sadist who get pleasure from turning people to gold when they are still alike, and he if the cold corporate master who thinks nothing of destroying a Himalayan mountain to kill a few rebels. Thus each character casts a human and an archetypical shadow, and it is not always clear which you are seeing.
And there you have it, a cast of idiosyncratic characters enacting a set of woven storylines to reach an inevitable tragedy and a transcendent moment of hope. All to the background of American blues music. This may turn out to be one of those little known classics which you either hate or love, since it raises more questions than it could ever answer. But it invites the viewer's introspection - what is the nature of opposition to oppression? Are hatred and grief powers, or curses?
Movie Review: Hey pretty good
Summary: 4 Stars
For the firsat part, this movie was pretty good (hence the title). Sure there were random popups of characters but who cares, they die anyways (some in a totally cool battle scene) and also let me point out how much the female leader in the movie looks like releena from the gundam wing series (people whove watched it you kno wht i'm talking about*) For a movie that was made in 1994 the animation was pretty good but I have to say I wasnt to fond of the music even though it had a good honest beat but seriously I think it would have been used elswhere (the wrong scenes with the wrong music) but cheers to the old drunken guy who starts singing that just cracked me up. Another thing I want to point out is, did you ever notice how the guy who made this movie and lets say Ninja Scoll (yes i kno im comparing it with tht movie) always has a string of bad guys, meh thts just me but w/e. All in all I thought this movie was pretty good, the ending was fasinationg...sequal anyone?Movie Review: Excellent, thought-provoking entertainment
Summary: 4 Stars
While this is not one of the most popular anime films out there, it very well may be one of the best. The reason that I didn't give it 5 stars was that to some people the plot may occur a jumbled nonsense. You don't really understant what happens until the very end, but when you reach it, it's quite rewarding.While most of my friends who read the original manga say it was better, I prefer this version of the story - the quality of animation is quite appealing.
If you're the sort of person who likes strange, original anime movies with memorable characters, sense of style and gothic flair, this is perfect for you, I'd definitely recommend buying this. If you like more solid plots, with considerable amount of backstory and no brain-racking, don't buy this.
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