Rakuen Tsuiho: Expelled from Paradise

With Earth now left in ruins following the "Nano Hazard," most of humanity has abandoned the planet they once called home along with their physical bodies and rebuilt their digitalized minds into a society within the cyber universe of "DEVA." A. D. 2400, DEVA's central council detects an incident of unauthorized access into their mainframe. Someone on Earth was trying to hack into the system. The only information DEVA was able to retrieve was that the hacker referred to themselves as "Frontier Setter." To investigate the mysterious hacker's motives, the high officials of DEVA dispatch System Security Third Officer Angela Balzac to the Earth's surface. Equipped with a prosthetic "material body," Angela attempts to make contact with a local agent Dingo, but what awaited her instead was a swarm of Sandworms now infesting the Earth's surface. Angela intercepts the gruesome pests with her exoskeletal powered suit Arhan. Will Angela and Dingo be able to find Frontier Setter on this devastated planet? Their journey to explore the secrets of the world will begin now...!

This was definitely a good Sci-Fi anime film.

This is really the first "10" I've given anything, moreover, its' the first anime I've seen, out of many, that deserves it. This feature is simply beautifully animated and produced. The two main characters, Angela and Dingo, are attractive and engaging, having personalities that have been carefully crafted to be quintessentially human. The fact that Angela is as beautiful and sexy as she is, with an astonishingly provocative body, is almost out of place here, since it is the only truly erotic thing that there is in the movie; but the way the creators handle that is just to leave her be, this evocative beauty working her way through an otherwise barren and post-apocalyptic world. I suppose they did that to keep reminding us of the "perfect" world she comes from, and that she is truly out of place here in the far more sublime and tawdry Earth environment. The "real world" and its current state is the reason that whoever created Deva, a digitized, computerized virtual reality in which 98 % of the world population now "lives" - or whatever verb you wish to use to characterize that existence.

There is a real story here, with some philosophical inputs as to what it means to be human. It seems that the Deva people believe a world without any hardship or struggle, and where you can have almost anything you want - providing you have earned enough memory - is the ultimate lifestyle. Dingo, of course, Angela's Earthbound guide, has different ideas about what it means to be free and human, which provides some thought-provoking interest. We are reminded by this comely, savvy Earth man that such ancient types as Hitler, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and Attila the Hun were people who had similar motives to the administrators of Deva!

The story moves along quite briskly, with some satisfying action here and there, but mainly it is a contrast in the two lifestyles, the computerized one Angela comes from, and Dingo's Earth reality. The two of them eventually come up against Deva's totalitarian rules for existence, and Angela comes to wonder whether her Deva reality is the ideal existence she believed; ultimately the two of them have to battle Deva's forces to maintain any life at all, while the Deva big-shots would be happiest if the two Earthbound people, and every free-thinking person like them, were eliminated altogether to protect their "utopia."

Overall, this is a satisfying epic, with decent story, superb animation, which includes simply beautiful backgrounds and characters, and a mindful nod as to what the true value of being a human actually is. It is entertaining and satisfying to watch over and over again.

Honestly it was great fun. The setup was good, the plot was clear and the three main characters were all very likable.

Plot: When a hacker called "Frontier Setter" hacks into an ideal virtual world where most of remaining humanity resides, the Officials of the system dispatch "Angela Balzac" to Earth where she'll not only have to cope with the harsh conditions of wasteland Earth but with her guide "Dingo" and her new body. The unlikely duo track down "Frontier Setter" and discovers a shocking truth that will lead to an unexpected battle against time.

Of course there's philosophical talk. "What makes a person... human? Can robot have consciousness of its own?" It's a familiar theme, almost a standard in big budget Japanese theatrical anime. But it wasn't over-done and the message was straight-forward. Of course the female lead is impossibly hot (even in her "under-developed" "16 year old" body). It's textbook stuff, mate. There will be flashes of her naked body. She will wear clothes that show off her amazing physique and nobody in the film will bat an eye. And of course there will be big showdown involving missiles, lasers, machine-guns, robots, booby-traps, sniper rifles and giant swords.

It is also predictably amazing in its visual aesthetics. Every frame is filled with detail and the sheer clarity of it all makes current CGI animation doodles on photo-shop. Lively camera work also adds to the action taking place while never losing focus on its characters. But you know all of this when you're even searching on IMDb for this film.

This is not a game changer for mainstream anime. Nor is it a must-watch for newbies to get a taste of what an anime genre can offer. What it is that it's a pure entertainment that combines what's best in the industry and jam-packed into 100 minutes of rollicking ride. Your eyes shall water, your mind shall think and it will leave you satisfied. Nothing more, nothing less.

My only wish for improvement is with plot in DEVA. It's a fantastic premise (although yes, it does sound like Matrix) and well deserves its own action sequence within. The possibility of it is endless and yet we are only given teases of it. However it's just a thought that comes way later after losing yourself in the film's world and its attractive characters. Oh and stay in for the credits. You'd be missing out otherwise.

I wrote this as a slight counterpoint to ANN's glowing review: The movie is now rated with a "good" and my big problem is how scenario crazy it is. There is way to much world building and explanations for a film of 100 min. runtime. It felt more like a extended pilot or something. I like the characters(well all 3 of them) and it didn't have the expected 3rd act trouble as i feared. The music/Va's were further good and the Cg is a B- for me. It looked nice when a lot happened but the calmer are looked off. That said it is a bad idea in general to try and make low budgeted(or otherwise)CG characters look sexually appealing as it will backfire as seen here. I also wonder where the 16 year old body came from but let's just assume that it is a clever compromise to look appealing to a wider crowd who would be frightened if their leading lady was an obachan in her 20s. And now in ANN magic points. Overall(sub):B- / Story:B- / Animation:B- / Art:B / Music:B+. A good one time popcorn flick and that is all. Giovanni's Island is 2014's best anime film, the Lego Movie the best overall but this is also twice the movie the similar 009 Re:Cyborg tried to be.

I went into this movie thinking it would just be a cool action movie with nice animation, and too be honest, that is what it is. The movie centers around Angela Balzac, as she is sent down to an now apocalyptic Earth to track a hacker, where the remaining humans try to live their lives. This movie provides a good story of 1h 40mins which you will enjoy, but not think about too much after that.

The movie tries to question whether robot could essentially act and be human, however, it never quite succeeds at that, so going into this movie, don't expect it to have deep questions. Instead enjoy the cool action and interesting animation that is displayed. Overall, I thought this movie was fine, nothing too bad, nothing too great, but I wouldn't mind a sequel to it.