Darkside Blues

One expects great things of anime. Though the quality is sometimes variable, far more than not one can rely on Japanese animation for beautifully detailed backgrounds and landscapes, realistic and expressive character designs and animation, marvelously imaginative designs for creatures, effects, and other active elements, and superb texture, lighting, shading, and more. Ranging from on-par with to being vastly superior to animation from the United States or elsewhere, I'd hedge my bets with Japanese studios any day alongside or over the likes of Disney or Pixar. And so it is here, as 'Darkside blues' treats us to a veritable wonderland of visuals. Even with the gloom, grit, and violence of a dystopian sci-fi world it's impossible not to be dazzled with what J. C. Staff whipped up based on Ashibe Yuhuo's manga illustrations: alluring characters, gorgeous (if often grim) settings, fluid and exciting action and effects, and so on. It's everything we hope for out of anime, and if to any degree we might say it's "lesser than," it's only in comparison to how the medium has continued to advance in all the time since.

Yes, the creativity in the visuals stuns, and the hard work, skill, and intelligence that went into them. But that's just one part of the equation. Gratifyingly, the remainder is broadly just as excellent. Screenwriter Sekijima Mayori and filmmaker Furukawa Nobuyasu tread in familiar narrative spaces in adapting Kikuchi Hideyuki's manga: a ruined world under almost complete the control of immensely powerful corporate interests, cruel and amoral dynastic leadership of that corruption, a small resistance movement - and naturally, additional elements of science fiction and fantasy, including high-tech weapons, monsters, superhuman abilities, other dimensions, and more. For any comparisons we may draw, though, the doing is very capably well written entirely on its own merits, and in turn engaging and compelling as the story focuses on a few select figures, including a mysterious man who enters the scenario seemingly from out of nowhere. I can't claim any knowledge of the manga, admittedly, but that puts me in a position to judge its adaptation purely on its own merits, and I find it to be actively fascinating and very entertaining, with flavorful plot and scene writing, and some sharp character builds. Really, what more could we ask for?

Well, maybe this: I'll grant that some of the dialogue is a bit clunky, and the storytelling isn't always perfectly focused. Moreover, while not necessarily an abject fault, it's well worth observing that the scenes and overall narrative are written in a manner that throws us headlong into their world, as if viewers are anticipated to already be familiar with concepts herein. Case in point, we never specifically find out who or what "Darkside" is, and the resolution of the plot in the last minutes, such as it is, feels like a curiously inchoate half measure. Maybe that means that one would be well-served by reading the manga first, or maybe it simply means that the anime is a little less sure-footed than it should be on its own legs as we have to just take some ideas and beats at face value. Still, all these are a lot of scrutinizing words that belie the fact that 'Darkside blues' is a terrific genre blast, with touches of horror spicing up the sci-fi and fantasy. To whatever extent we may reasonably critique some facets, more than not the feature is a lot of fun, and fabulously well made. This includes some nice music on the side - some blues, some prog rock, some more subtle and atmospheric pieces, and so on - and adept voice acting that ably meets the needs of any given scene. The movie only wants to provide a good time, and it definitely does just that.

It may not wholly demand viewership, yet with outstanding animation, earnestly engrossing writing, and bigger themes and notions that are all too despairingly relevant to real life, there is much to love in these eighty-odd minutes. Even if we say that the writing could have been tightened - and it absolutely could have, the one most discernible shortcoming here - the sum total is handily absorbing, enjoyable, and satisfying, and it didn't have to be flawless to otherwise be thusly worthwhile. Don't go out of your way for 'Darkside blues,' but if you like anime, and the composite of action, sci-fi, and fantasy, then this deserves a look if you have the chance.

Oh my God.

What a pile of unexplained crap.

This movie is one of those where I'm sure the creator knows the secrets and meanings behind everything...and he think he can get away with leaving the unexplained to people and that maintaining their interest...but he's wrong.

Darkside Blues begins in a state of confusion and while you expect an answer, it ends in exactly the same point.

It's like watching the middle of a movie. You get the meat...but you never know how it started or what ends up happening.

Maybe the MANGA is better. I'd try that.

Avoid this movie. It is a waste and just utterly useless.

you guys are kinda harsh for voting so low. this title at least deserves a 7. this anime is very difficult to understand, but i figured it out the best i could. it contains a deep grasp of psychological and philosophical elements put into what they call "dream renewal." the animation isn't too bad, the characters are decent, but one character i didn't understand was the girl by the piano in the beginning. who the hell was she? if anyone knows, e-mail me. overall, darkside blues is a decent anime.

Being a huge fan of an anime and always desperate to watch as much of it as possible, I must say that this one was lame. I didn't like animation, didn't like the plot and didn't like the characters either.

The plot is a one enormous hole: you can figure that something is definitely happening, but you cannot say what and for what reason. The characters are one-dimensional and have absolutely no development along the movie. The initial conflict is somewhat interesting and even intriguing (a huge corporation controlling 90 percent of the Earth and a bunch of free-thinking teenagers opposed to it - plus some mysterious Darkside planning some 'renewal'), but it leads to nowhere: the protagonists talk a lot, but in the end you get none explanation.

So, I was left utterly confused and therefore irritated. They could at least have made some cool blues soundtrack (for which you could hope having read the title), but in fact the soundtrack was colourless and boring as well.

I don't think that this one deserves to be called an anime. A really frustrating disappointment. If you want to watch something really exciting about some Utopian city and its dwellers made in an anime style, go for Necropolis.

This is a tough one to review. There are bits and pieces that are really striking and a dreamlike quality to the whole proceeding. Actually the film resembles a bizarre dream one might wake from and go, "what was that about?" and then when you try to remember it later you can't.

A strange futuristic city not unlike other anime future cities. Weird mutant humans who can shoot rays from their hands. Mysterious moody strangers with super-powers. Cute teenage girls with mega-fighting abilities. Sound familiar? Well it is but it's not as derivative as it could have been. The design is very good and the characters are all fascinating but...

I watched it with the hope that it would all somehow come together but it never did. A number of important plot points are hidden in vague dialog references. As other reviewers have mentioned, it's like we are in the middle of some larger story. It's an interesting world that deserved better treatment. However it's not as bad as a number of other pretentious animes and you might enjoy it, just expect a disappointing ending.