Jin-Roh

I saw this at the New York Japan Society two and a half years ago. The director was there to take part in a symposium on Anime. For some odd reason this film has not received wide-release even in the major US cities (as far as I know anyway). Having just visited Japan, I found that it is only now being released on DVD but not on VHS; supposedly there are bootlegs videos of it going around New York but with the visuals this film offers to watch a crappy version of it would be a shame. Anyway, the film's a good one, one of the better anime films, up there with "Akira" and the works of Miyazaki; it's much better than the director's previous work "Ghost in the Shell." Similar to "Ghost in the Shell," the plot is confusing but not to the point of causing frustration and/or sleep. It sort of reminds me of the begining of "Akira": an underground movement vs. the government--minus all that sci-fi garbage. The animation's state of the art as you should expect. The animation featured in anime is usually top of the line but it's the stories that tend to disappoint. This film is the exception, its got the animation and the story something only a handful of anime films can claim. If you can find it watch it. Highly recommended.