Der Untergang der Küchenschaben

In 1987, a now fairly obscure Japanese live-action / animated hybrid feature was released known as Twilight of the Cockroaches. Although largely forgotten nowadays, it was one of the first exposures for American audiences to see the kind of surreal allegorical narratives Japan could tackle through the art of animation when the anime craze was growing in the early 1990s. In regards to this film's genre, it can best be described as a fantastical political allegory on prejudice and enmity human beings show to lesser species, albeit from the perspective of cockroaches residing in a Japanese apartment building.

The main storyline focuses on a society of cockroaches who live peacefully in the apartment of the slovenly Saito. Once a woman moves in, the roaches become victims of extermination and are forced to go to war. What's interesting about Twilight of the Cockroaches is how it distinguishes its two separate species through different forms of filmmaking. The cockroaches are depicted as animated caricatures whereas the actual people are depicted through live-action footage executed with a monotone color palette. While the compositing might look crude even for its time, the allegorical message is what makes the film work well for the most part. Given that these cockroaches reside in one man's apartment, there is a fascinating insight between the roaches who take life for granted by partying lazily and the ones who stand for pride and bravery against the higher forces who would kill them at first sight. As writer-director Hiroaki Yoshida claimed the film was meant to be a parable on neglecting one's purpose in favor of blind luxury, the message remains timeless even through sub par filmmaking.

Admittedly, there is a lot to juggle in the film storywise that it can become hard to keep track of who is supposed to be the main focus. While the central protagonist Naomi is represented as carefree and affluent at first, she ends up realizing the dangers of people beyond Saito through the militaristic cockroach Hans. In addition to her love of the soldier conflicting with her relationship towards fiance Ichiro, sometimes Naomi is left out of the picture long enough for the other cockroaches to move the plot forward, thus making it hard to determine who we're supposed to be focusing on to begin with. That being said, the entire cockroach community is meant to be a target for murder from simple minded humans, so the message of mindless destruction towards innocent lives remains intact nonetheless. The score by composer Morgan Fisher has as much serenity in it as it has intensity, as one can sense a disturbing presence lurking through the soundtrack. As far as anti war films are concerned, it's rare to see the focus be centered on a species we as people treat like scum.

While Twilight of the Cockroaches may have some visual and narrative setbacks here and there, its grounded message and empathetic view towards an otherwise revolting species is worth commending. As this film was once a minor cult favorite of anime fans during the 1990s, here's hoping it will gain somewhat of a new audience in this day and age. Even if the weak filmmaking and frightening tone sets you back a little bit, I still recommend giving it at least one watch just to see what can happen when we are shown a different world beyond our own that we can still find ourselves worrying about.

How much you will enjoy this film depends greatly on whether you can set aside the usual reactions to verminous insects. Do that and Naomi, this movie's star, is actually kind of cute, in the way that naive 17-year-old girls often seem. With a human face and torso beneath her antennae and black carapace, she enjoys pool parties in the toilet bowl, smooches with her childhood sweetheart and is attracted to Kurt, the handsome soldier cockroach from the neighboring tribe. Her tribe's human host is a live-and-let-live sort of fellow, unlike the girl next door, sexy but merciless toward roaches. Disaster comes when the two people fall in love.

Everything is seen from the bugs' viewpoint, full of large and potentially dangerous objects. Trash, on the other hand, is full of wonders. The photography and animation are extremely well-handled. The biggest flaw is that the characters are pretty much one-dimensional, with the differences you'd expect between roach and human society too-little explored. But this is far more adult and more thought-provoking than the usual movie cartoon. And unlike other animated animals, these roaches don't sing.

Twilight of the Cockroaches is one of the strangest films I've seen in a while, and even though I only learned of its existence within the past week, I can't remember how exactly I stumbled across it. Still, it's not so obscure that it can't be found on YouTube, which - to be perfectly honest - sometimes feels like the only place to find older, lesser-known movies, outside of paying some obscene price for a second-hand DVD copy off Amazon.

This is a Japanese movie that mixes live-action footage with animation. Usually, it's animated characters with backgrounds that either are or simply look photorealistic, with some human characters appearing in live-action footage every now and then. The animated characters are all humanoid cockroaches, and the film's about their struggle to survive in an apartment that once had a peaceful occupant who let the cockroaches live alongside him, but circumstances change and the insects find themselves threatened.

It's not about to make me change my mind about cockroaches (anyone living in Australia will understand - they're a nightmare here), but I don't think that was the point. I'm pretty sure it's all an allegory for the Second World War, and how easily one side can dehumanize and obliterate the other. That might be a simplistic reading, but one of the genres this is tagged with is "family," so it may be a way to get that sort of anti-war message across to younger viewers. That being said, there are some bizarre moments and slightly edgy scenes that make this very much not feel like a family movie at times.

It's oddly paced and not always entirely engrossing, but it is pretty consistently interesting, and I appreciate how strange it is. It's probably good for Japanese animation fans who might feel like they've seen it all, but I could also see people getting turned off pretty quickly, due to the odd tone and strange premise. Definitely an engaging curiosity, if not quite a great movie.

The cockroaches replace humans while the humans replace gods?

That's one way to interpret it no?

A commune of cockroaches live and play in a dude's apartment in modern day (well late 80's) Japan. Nobody bothers them. They bother nobody.

Until said dude's girlfriend moves in.

Stereotypically, the female decides this place needs cleaning and what we get is Armageddon seen from the floor.

Of course there's your rivalries between the peace-nicks and the aggressors. And Naomi is our female eye of the storm. Do they fight, run, or die? Find this to find out. It isn't easy. Not even in Japan. There are a few old VHS copies floating around the used shops however.

This combination of live and anime reminds one of "Heavy Traffic" at times. I caught this in an art theater in Philly during a run on rare anime showings. Didn't stand out like "Robot Carnival" but still kept my attention.

And anyone with knowledge of Japanese life might like it too.

TWILIGHT OF THE COCKROACHES (3 outta 5 stars) Even if you hate the sight of cockroaches this movie shouldn't bother you too much. The film's roaches are actually cute little animated characters in the Japanese style. The humans in the film are live action... never speak... and are terribly unkind to the poor little creatures who just want to be left alone to live in peace. When we are first introduced to them the roaches are living in peace in the apartment of Mr. Saito. His wife and children have left him and he seems to have a bit of a drinking problem so he doesn't have any motivation to clean his filthy apartment and get rid of his tiny guests. This all changes when he gets a new girlfriend from across the way... a woman fanatical in her hatred of the creepy critters. Massive doses of bug spray send the roaches for cover, alluding perhaps to the horror of Hiroshima. It's a pretty good movie... maybe the roach characters could have used a little more depth. The main sub-plot, a love triangle between the cute Naomi and her two boyfriends (one a heroic military man and the other a sensitive artist-type) is well-handled. Even though the movie is mostly animated it might be too adult for the younger kids.