Directed by Kumihiko Yamuya
Produced by Ashi Productions
This
movie is based on an old Japanese cartoon series called Macron One it
focuses on a group of travelling adventurers who arrive in a strange town during
one of their escapades. Upon
arriving they receive letters explaining that they have a limited amount of days
to live. The storys’ protagonists
have to figure out an escape plan before it’s too late.
Meanwhile we are presented with a glimpse of the future – one of the
original members [Rene] of the party has been hospitalised after a car crash the
rest of the gang gather round and wait for her to come round but will she win
the struggle against her subconscious? So we presented with a series of
flashbacks and glimpses of events prior for an hour and a half and it’s one
hell of an hour and a half.
Let’s
just say Goshogun is good. That’ll
give me a good starting point. In
fact this movie is beyond “good”. Goshogun shows a superior level of
storytelling and action throughout. The animation may not look very good
compared to today’s anime offerings but this complements the story.
What I mean by this is that the story and characters take centre stage
and the viewer is truly able to appreciate them.
It’s
understandable that our heroes would feel rather miffed.
So rather than sitting around and waiting for death to come they inflict
it on the crazed cultists that occupy the village.
Armed with grenades, knives and in Rene’s case a revolver the size of
her head the team embark on a quest to paint the town a new coat of red.
The direction of all this mayhem is frantic and very well choreographed
and while skipping on a few frames here and there remains at a fluid and
viewable pace throughout.
Character
designs are very retro [because the movie was made in ‘80s] and may conjure up
nostalgia in some viewers but we all know that nostalgia can be horrible thing.
In this case it’s not, when you see the flying cars and futuristic
cityscapes of the opening scenes fuzzy feelings will awaken within you and
you’ll feel happy for the next hour or so after viewing.
In typical [retro] anime styling each character has his/her own [clichéd]
personality. Many of them echo back to classic shows like Ulysses 31 and The
Mysterious Cities of Gold with starry eyed, blond haired heroes. Interestingly one of the characters is a Frankenstein
look-a-like. It’s all very cool in a retro sort of way.
Full
marks for sound too! For once Manga have employed a half decent voice cast for
this dub there are a lot of French accents and crazed male voices not to mention
the croaky voice of Frankenstein (his real name escapes me). On top of this the
script is rather literate indeed and gets the point across nicely.
The music is also of a high standard and the film features some nice
J-Pop melodies that’ll stick in your head when it’s all over.
If
I was to criticise Goshogun for anything it’d be the pace at which
events take place it almost seems as if there was no forward thinking involved
in the structure of the movie leaving the viewer slightly jerked around when
it’s all over. Apart from this
the movie is “Grade A” stuff. So,
why not a ten out of ten? Well, let’s just say we don’t want to be like
young lovers blowing our load too soon.
Eight out of Ten