Budo (username ETM) found this wonderful new anime out of Japan called Ergo Proxy. Apparently it started broadcasting in Japan this February. Ergo Proxy is directed by Witch Hunter Robin director Shinichirô Watanabe, and is written by Dai Sato the same guy who wrote Samurai Champloo. By all accounts the production values are high and the story is multi-layered and complex. The anime goes for 25 episodes, and like many cyberpunk animes, chances are that a lot of the story and plot will remain unclear until near the end of the series.

I’ve been surfing around to find out more about this, and have found some decent story write-ups and screen captures. The Cinnamon Ass Anime Blog Summerizes the setting and story as follows:

In the futuristic, post-apocalyptic Romdo City, humans co-exist with artificial androids and other robots known as “Autoreivs”, ranging from industrial models to more humanoid ones. An epidemic of a disease called Cogito has been sweeping through the Autoreivs, corrupting their programming to give them free will. Lil Meyer and her sidekick Autoreiv Iggy investigate Cogito infections, but Lil is attacked by a monstrous humanoid thing; she (rightly) suspects that the central intelligence bureau, newly headed up by Raul, is covering something up, and it seems she may be more involved than she realised as she is placed in danger in her own home; meanwhile, the seemingly innocuous Vincent Rowe, an Autoreiv technician, may know more about what’s going on than it first appears, and judging from the pre-airing info and the credits the Autoreiv child he repairs for an obnoxious aristocrat, Pino, is going to be important along the way.

The Anime on my Mind Blog Describes Ergo Proxy as Follows:

The best way to describe Ergo Proxy is “CSI meets GitS meets Bladerunner” with only a hawt gothic girl replacing hawt military girl and androgynous android replacing ta-chi-ko-ma-kun. Ril is the hawt gothic girl, and she is a detective for the Citizen Security Bureau for Romundo, a city-state where androids live amongst men. Her partner is the android Iggy. The setup is pure Bladerunner… if Ril doesn’t start questioning her humanity by episode six, I’d be shocked.

The Wakaranai Blog has some comments about how Ergo Proxy fits in to other cyberpunk animes and movies:

…In this regard, a lot of people, too many people, have commented on its “similarity” to GitS and/or the Matrix. I’m sorry people, but the Matrix didn’t invent dark clothing or knee-length jackets, and GitS didn’t invent computers. The show is heavily inspired by the cyberpunk genre itself, but has its own unique style and setting, and does not borrow concepts from other entries in the genre. The best way I can think of to describe the atmosphere, is dark, gritty and sexy, a mature combination that works surprisingly well in illustrating a caged society on the edge.

This style is awesomely achieved with engaging direction, from abstract angles to a practical, yet sleek, approach. I cite this as a major reason for my love for the first Matrix film, and this raises the bar to a similar level, making everything far more memorable than it could be. The animation lives up to my demands, despite not being anywhere near as flashy as Samurai Champloo’s was. I think there is a slight shift in focus of animation from fluidity and movement, to detail and artwork. The show doesn’t feel more static than it should be, but, fitting for the dour, shadowy atmosphere there is a slot of standing around looking reflective. I’ll make sure you understand that it wasn’t a problem at all, though, and the attention to detail and consistency more than makes up for it. I guess we have plenty of time to find flaws though.

Ergo Proxy is being delivered in High Definition, which only contributes to it’s polished look. Apparently there is a DVD being produced on May 25th, but it appears to be only for the Japan market, so I doubt there will be English subtitles on it (my preferred language - others clearly have other needs). Budo says he’ll be providing a review as soon as he watches it (he’s downloading it now). I can’t wait to see it :).

Many thanks to the Anime on my Mind blog and the “OK, AQ” blog for the screencaps. I haven’t seen it, so I had to take these and resize to fit my 650 pixel constraints.

Cyberpunkreview contributor, “Case” has been in discussions with the director for the Gene Generation, a movie coming to theaters this summer. Case passes along a description of the film written by the director himself:

“In the dark decadent world of our future, Mankind has found themselves close to the extinction with the last city on Earth. Forced to implement a controversial Natural Selection process, the government built a wall surrounding the last city named Olympia. By a careful selection process using our genes and DNA, the Kalafkan Government chose only the best and most promising to survive the destruction of Olympia, before building a new city where it once was. This process led to a crime known as DNA Hacking, where people steal genes and DNA in hopes of entering Demeter. The government started hiring assassins, to take out and kill these hackers who have polluted the system. In exchange, the Assassins are granted entry to Demeter. Michelle (Bai Ling) is one of those Assassins. Forced to render her services to the government by any means necessary, Michelle can only hope that death wouldn’t take her soul down like Olympia would. The Gene Generation is a science fiction movie about romance, revenge and redemption”

The description certainly sounds pretty close to cyberpunk in themes, and considering that Case is posting this, I’m guessing the film qualifies. In any event, Bai Ling in Black Leathers kicking ass is enough for me to show significant interest! I have no idea the budget involved, but hopefully Case can enlighten us. The Gene Generation stars Bai Ling (one of my favorites! :)), Parry Shen, Alec Newman, and Faye Dunaway, and is directed by Pearry Reginald Teo.

Mr. Teo, best of luck in finalizing your film!

Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination is definitely one of the best Sci-Fi books of the 50s, and is as close as you could get to cyberpunk. Gully Foyle is one of the all time interesting characters, and Bester’s “Jaunting” is certainly the best visionary use of teleportation that I’ve read. By most accounts, this book influenced later cyberpunk authors.

However, like any great work, it is with trepidation that I am reminded of all the travesties of literary works poorly transformed on screen that forces me to temper my excitement for a potential movie. Variety is reporting that Universal Pictures has obtained rights to Bester’s seminal work, and that Lorenzo di Bonaventura, producer of Constantine and Doom, is going to be producing this along with Raymond Wagner. Hopefully they pick a good director and really adhere to the source material. The Stars My Destination is unique in that time hasn’t past it by - the story still works as well today as it did then.

Anime News Network is reporting that the next installment in the Production IG’s GITS: SAC world will be a movie entitled, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society:

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society, a full length movie based on Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex is currently planned for completion in the summer of 2006.

The production announcement does not specifically state release format, or date. The movie is being produced in Hi-Vision, a format used by Japanese broadcast networks to support wide-screen televisions. The same production team, including main staff, will be carried over from the TV series. The budget, while not specified, is said to be higher in order to achieve a cinematic level of production.

The 100-minute (tentative running time) movie takes place in 2034, two years after the refugee riot incident. A significantly larger Section 9, with over 20 new officers, investigates terrorist actions related to a wizard-like hacker “Kugutsu Mawashi.”

(Kugutsu Mawashi translated into English is roughly “Puppet Master.” Kugutsu Mawashi is not the same as the “Puppet Master” from the first Ghost in the Shell Movie. In Japanese, the “Puppet Master” from the first movie was called “Ningyo Tsukai” which can also translated into “Puppet Master.”)

The production committee will comprise Production I.G., along with Bandai Visual, Bandai Entertainment, Dentsu Corporation, Nihon TV Broadcasting (NTV), Manga Entertainment, Tokuma Publishing, and Victor Entertainment.

GITS SAC is definitely one of the best animes out right now (review forthcoming), with the second season being better than the first (should I review the two seasons separately?). The transition of GITS: SAC to a movie format will be interesting.

~Cyberpunk Review Exclusive!~

Renaissance, the French cyberpunk movie (or Renaissance 2054 as it seemed originally called) directed by Christian Volckman that was released in France on March 15th, is to be released by Miramax to the United States sometime between July 15th - August 15th.

English Speaking Cast: According to their public relations personnel, here is the English cast:

• Daniel Craig
• Catherine McCormack
• Ian Holm
• Jonathan Price

This is exciting news, as all are obviously top-grade actors! Now I can’t wait for July.

Update: The IMDB reference for Renaissance, has (as of today) only lists all French actors listed. Additionally, none of the actor’s above have Renaissance in their IMDB description. Here I’ve always taken that site as leading edge gospel - guess not.

I’ve confirmed that two separate casts were used - one English Speaking, and one French. The actual actors who “shot” the movie did so similar to Andy Serkis’s Gollum character in Lord of the Rings. Their performance was digitized and animated. The voice actors (in both languages) were completely different from the live action actors, and both casts were dubbed at the same time after the shoot. So in this sense, both sets of performances are the “real” dubbed performances. This is very different from most Japanese animes, where the English speaking cast is thrown together after-the-fact.

Also, the Renaissance website has just been updated with all new functionality as of today.

I’ve recently been communicating with Séverine, a public relations person for Renassance 2054, and have found out that the French cyberpunk movie, Renaissance 2054 (directed by Christian Volckman), will given a theatrical release in the US this summer! Miramax holds the US distribution rights to Renaissance 2054, and should be coming out with the pre-hype ad campaign in the very near future.

EDIT: Apparently, the time frame for the release date is somewhere between July 15th - August 15th..

I do have some concerns about its US release though. Apparently it will be released with an English speaking cast vice the original French cast. As we know, this is not always a good development, and in fact, sometimes, destroys the movie. I have sent a follow-up to Séverine asking if she could tell me who the cast members are. IMDB has virtually no information on this film yet, so we have no way of knowing if they are going the “Disney - Miyazaki” top quality, directed cast path or something like the abomination that we get in most dubbings.

I also am still begging and groveling for a copy of this film in French with subtitles, as I’d LOVE to give it a review. It truly looks terrific - hopefully the story holds up as well. But so far, no luck - I can only hope. If not though, I’ll pursue Miramax in the hopes of obtaining a pre-release copy. If anyone knows someone who knows someone who can help me with this, please contact me at sfam”at”cyberpunkreview.com.

While I fully agree that Star Trek is NOT cyberpunk, the Borg CLEARLY have essences of cyberpunk. With the Borg, we get a singularity controlling a “collective” of former humanoids. The Borg are BY FAR the best parts of any of the new Star Trek shows. For this reason, I was really excited when I found out that The Borg Collective was going to be released on March 7th (this past Tuesday). Interestingly though, Amazon appears not to be selling this. I’m guessing this is a temporary glitch in their system, but currently, you cannot find this on Amazon (at least I couldn’t). In any event, Best Buy has it this week for 27 bucks, and DeepDiscountDVD also has it for $27.

IGN has posted a write-up of the 30 minute preview of Scanner Darkly shown at the New York Comic Con (NYCC 06). In it, Chris Carle writes:

In the thirty minutes we saw, the most overwhelming feeling the movie creates is a sense of crushing paranoia. The animation oozes and slinks around, casting an eerie sheen on the proceedings. The film opens with a crazy-making drug sequence where one of the (allegedly) addicted characters claws at his body, feeling he is being attacked by giant aphids. That scene sets the tone for the claustrophobic and desperate film, but what ices the sense of paranoia is the technology known as a “scramble suit,” a sort of camouflage which cycles through millions of random body parts, completely obscuring its wearer. The film invites us inside the suit, where we see the world from the perspective of the main character, played by sci-fi vet Keanu Reeves.

Looks like we’re going to get some pretty incredible visuals of cool technologies which strengthen an interesting storyline. I can’t wait!

~~~UPDATE: REVIEW FOR ULTRAVIOLET POSTED~~~

Ultraviolet, starring Mila Jovovich, isn’t offering press showings to critics - this is never a good sign, as this usually indicates that the Studio expects bad ratings, and at least wants to capitalize on the opening weekend. Aeon Flux took this approach as well. Here’s my problem with that strategy - when the studio does this, they are pretty much DEMANDING that the critics give them bad reviews. Every critic is now UNDER PRESSURE to say the movie sucks.

In any event, I’m still excited about Ultraviolet, and will remain hopefully till my review shows up on the third. I mean how bad could a cyberpunk-vamp flick be (he says innocently)?? I mean at some level this has to be like the wine joke, right? It can only get so bad, and even then, it should still be fun!

BTW, Yahoo has some pretty nice trailers and slideshows for Ultraviolet.

Dammit!!! I fucking hate encountering awesome looking movies that I can’t go see. In continuing the trend of having the majority of the good cyberpunk movies made outside the US, it looks like I’m going to have to lose out on seeing Renaissance 2054 for…um, God knows how long. This movie looks GREAT though. Here’s a few trailers:

• http://www.renaissance-lefilm.com/videos/renaissance_vf_fa1_big.mp4
• http://www.renaissance-lefilm.com/accueil.htm

From a description on AWN:

“Renaissance is a futuristic animated thriller that’s filmed in motion capture, animated in 3D and rendered in flat black and white. In the year 2054 in Paris, police and the Avalon Corp. are trying to find a kidnapped researcher who holds knowledge that can transform the future of the human species altogether.”

Anyone of you lucky Europeans who come here have an idea when this is coming to the states?

EDIT: I just found out that Renaissance 2054 is coming to the US this summer.