Geobreeders: Breakthrough

Geobreeders: Breakthrough

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Movie Reviews of Geobreeders: Breakthrough

Movie Review: "Rock Formation Reproducers"?
Summary: 4 Stars

But along with its indecipherable title, it would seem (at least upon the first couple of viewings) that the story itself is likewise indecipherable and incoherent.

...At least that's the impression that one initially walks away with after viewing the ''first chapter'' of this Moriyama Yuuji ("Project A-Ko"; "Jungle de Ikou") OAV series (a.k.a. "File-X: Get Back The Kitty") -- especially for someone like myself, who had no prior knowledge of the story and characters from Ito Akihiro's manga series before taking a chance on the anime stories.

With the release of the "next chapter" in the OAV series ("Geobreeders 2" / "File-XX: Breakthrough"), it was my hope that many of the difficulties in following the events of the first "File" would be smoothed out and begin to have the overall story make some sort of sense. To my great pleasure, much was indeed cleared up ... but again, only after several close and scrutinizing repeated viewings.

In a way, that's good, because it gives the viewer genuine reason to pay close attention to the many details and branches in the plotline which makes the experience even that much more enjoyable as the greater picture becomes clearer and more coherent (plus it allows the viewer to relive all of the hillarious moments throughout the adventure that make this OAV such fun to sit through), but it may not be such a good idea for those who want quick, immediate, spoon-fed answers and explanations ... because it DOES take work to figure out what this story is really all about and where it's all heading.

Which leaves me somewhat in the middle of an uncomfortable dilemma -- either SHARE what I have been able to piece together from my time spent with the OAV series ... or HOLD OUT and not "spoil" it for anybody who may wish to put the pieces of the puzzle together on their own. (...what to do... what to do....)

Well, everybody probably already knows by now that "Geobreeders" is about a team of five young women (all but one of whom are psychological case studies within their own right) and one hapless "do all the dirty work and take all the blame" young man who make up the private organization called "Kagura Sougou Keibi" ("Kagura All-Purpose Defense" ...or, as the original translators prefer, "Kagura Total Security" -- "kagura" being the name of a type of sacred Japanese dance being used by the group as a "brand name"). Their job is ridding Japan of terroristic shape-shifting "bake-neko" or "phantom cats," who are comprised of living data and energy, who are vulnerable in their full "feline" form, but become virtually unstoppable whenever they assume a full "human" or hybrid "cat-human" form (...in these latter forms they can bypass anything with an electronic circuit and access computer information files). Whenever Kagura is not pursuing the bake-neko with "talismans" (used for "sealing" the enemy as information files onto computer discs), they're going after them with big loud guns and big loud explosive devices, which usually results in big loud destruction ... with all damages to the facilities in question being covered by whatever firm is hiring them to do the job.

But there are those aforementioned pesky twists in the plot which complicate the story and make it appear terribly convoluted -- including the lack of unity amongst the bake-neko themselves, understanding the roles of the various "government defense forces," and trying to determine the "official" position, level of involvement, & TRUE aganda of the enigmatic "Mr. Irie." And what did those United States Marines want with Kagura's resident pet phantom cat, the sweet and innocent Maya?

So many questions ... and so many answers, which I'm very anxious to share, but I fear that I will take away from the full enjoyment of each viewer's learning these answers for themselves... so, regrettably, I digress! You'll just have to view them for yourself ... at least a good three or four times in order to understand what is going on -- which will make understanding "Ghost In The Shell" seem like a swim in the "kiddie pool" by comparison. But once you do understand the inner workings of this anime, it'll be so much more appreciated (as a result, I've since updated my rating of the entire "Geobreeders" series from "3-stars" to "4-stars"). Granted, not all questions will get answered in this anime series, and that's probably because Ito and Moriyama-san want to eventually entice the viewers to delve into the manga series for more of the "complete" story (which, upon my doing an amount of online research into the manga stories, will offer only a very little bit of additional insight, but really not anything terribly significant that could add much more to what can readily be deciphered from the anime alone with just a little bit of time and concentration).

The "Sub-Title" purists are going to greatly disagree with me on this next point, but I give my vote of preference to the "English Dub" soundtrack. Although the original Japanese version is equally good (if you can get by Kikushima Yuka's high-pitched squeal), the English voice actors actually breath more life, feeling and character into the individuals they portray -- especially Umezaki Maki, the "Crimson Shooting Star."

Now available either separately or in a "2-disc set," newcomers to this anime feature should definitely go with the 2-disc version and get the full story at one time ... that would be the smarter move, both from the standpoint of better understanding the story as well as economically.

~ Enjoy! (Tanoshide Kudasai!)

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