Deddo ribusu

If Madhouse's Redline is a "flashy action ride", then Dead Leaves is a "nuts-to-the-wall flashy tripped-out action ride on speed". The movie's high-contrast comic book-like visuals had me expecting something unique, but I don't think I could properly have prepared myself for just how unique Dead Leaves turns out to be. The comic book style applies not only to the frequently grotesque characters and outlandish scenery, but also to the cinematography itself with several "panels" often being shown on screen at the same time, sound effects appearing as actual floating words, and unusual framing used to emphasize certain parts of the scenes. The narrative begins with the protagonists, Retro (a TV-headed man) and Pandy (a woman with a mysterious red spot over her right eye) waking up naked and without their memories only to go on a crime spree which gets them sent for life to a prison on the moon called Dead Leaves. Not for the straitlaced or faint of heart, Dead Leaves' mere 52 minutes zoom by at break-neck speed in a flurry of explosions, gore, sex and nudity, but if you can stomach the off-the-wall content you're in for a very enjoyable if lamentably brief anime experience.

I thought I had seen it all, then I saw Dead Leaves.

Preface:

From the mind of Hiroyuki Imaishi (director of FLCL and Gurren Lagann) comes this cracktastic adventure of the bizarre and insane. Get ready for a 45m long wild ride on ludicrous speed. It goes full plaid.

Story: 8

Retro- a guy with a TV for a head, and Pandy- a woman with an enormous red eye wake up in the middle of nowhere with no recollection as to how they got there, or what the heck they were doing in the first place. Their inhibitions flung to the wind, they take up arms and go buck wild on the city, only to be rounded up and sent to the prison Dead Leaves, which is located on the half munched-off remainder of the moon. Hilarity, violence, and madness ensue.

Art: 10

Everything about this OVA screams Hiroyuki Imaishi. I loved seeing his unique art style on display- Everything in this looked like the bumper slides from Gurren Lagann for reference, and I thought it was awesome. Crisply animated, and so so so many quick cuts, flashing lights, and fast, fluidly moving action pieces. Vibrant colors, and those glorious stars.

Sound: 8

I watched this in sub, and the voice acting was appropriately outrageous and manic. The energetic music pumped along to the explosions, gunfire, and general mayhem going on screen. Great stuff.

Characters: 8

Okay, so, Pandy the Red-eyed leading lady, and Retro, the deranged TV head team up to figure out just exactly what the heck is going on, along with a skeevy doctor that looks like Zoidberg, but swap the tentacles for bad teeth, some dudes with some not-so-subtle reproductive organ parts for heads, and Mr. Chinko Drill, who has an enormous golden drill for a penis. That's right, a drill, and he's not afraid to use it.

They all play their parts with equal bits psychosis and thirst for violence, and it couldn't be much more entertaining to watch.

Enjoyment: 9

What a rush. Nonstop, quick cut, over the top, sheer craziness from start to finish. It never lets up. Blink, and you might as well be watching something else- it goes FAST. Story on hyperdrive, action on lightspeed- I had to rewind several times after trying to find my jaw to put it back on. The absurd situations, the crude jokes, loved all of it. Couldn't stop laughing the whole time.

Overall: 8.8 (rounding this one up, because it was too much fun) - 9

In typical, addictive Imaishi style, it is extremely irreverent, edgy, and a bit crass, but when combined with his incredible art, a tasty soundtrack, and more gonzo than you've seen since Inferno Cop, and we have a formula for success.

Note: I see this as a sort of spiritual predecessor to Gurren Lagann. The art style definitely was inspired by this, and no-one can deny the introduction of the awesomeness of Spiral Power that we have Dead Leaves to thank for

Let me preface this by saying I don't watch a lot of anime, and when I do it's Howl's Moving Castle, or something along those lines. I think I came across Dead Leaves by googling for abstract or surreal movies or something like that, and the synopsis intrigued me so...why not?

The good: inventively insane visuals, unusual but effective animation style

The bad: everything else. Terrible, repetitive music. The plot is somewhere between flimsy and nonexistent. The characters are just vehicles for crude humor and gruesome violence, with no merit of their own.

I watched with interest for about 20 minutes as things just got progressively weirder and weirder, but it eventually became clear that the movie was going to just be an endless stream of pointless violence and crude humor and that's all, so I turned it off. If you already know and are familiar with this type of anime then maybe it will work for you. If you're looking for any degree of substance, then keep looking.

I saw this one night on a whim. I had no idea what this was going to be. On animidnight I catch the occasional anime and this was something different. This is Dead Leaves.

This totally blew away my expectations!! We start with our two heroes who for some reason are sitting alone naked and have amnesia. After a small introduction to our heroes, the mayhem begins. The animation alone is the first thing I noticed and it's so stunningly original and fun to look at and fits the story well. The characters our heroes meet along the way are far too funny and silly. This is also packed with some memorable one liners as well. The action is aggressive, funny, original(there's that word again), and extremely violent. Our heroes are very likable(especially Retro), and totally own the screen. Also watch for lots of crude and vulgar humor and language. This is not for kids at all. One of the many characters is Chinco Doll, a mutant with a drill. Once we meet him, let the crude begin. I'll just leave it at that. The voice acting is fantastic, the story is pretty good too. After all of this, why give this a nine and not a ten? Because this is only 45 minutes long. After this ended, I wanted more. 45 minutes does this no justice.

The Last Word: Fantastic. This is an original work of art. I can watch this over and over and this will not get old. From the humor to the action, Dead Leaves delivers all. Only drawback, too short. Dead Leaves will leave you wanting more.

This is a movie about visuals.. and absurd, over the top fun. An enjoyable ~60 minutes for your mind to take a rest. Let the mind take a break, seat it comfortably and allow the colorful animation splash a bucket of weird Japanese imagination to your face. I must say that this movie is best viewed without the subtitles. When I first was watching it without them I decided to turn the subtitles on so I could follow the story, but right after that I missed half of the anime's lively visuals. So if you really are interested in getting the full experience and don't know Japanese I would recommend to watch this one twice, once to get the story, and second time to actually enjoy the amazing animation.