delfina18 - 2015-05-15 02:24:31

Overview
Standalone OVAs with only one episode have a bad reputation among many anime-fans. It is hard to take them serious at times and seeing as how there is not many standalone OVAs in modern times you always have to endure bad animation and or horrible dubbing alongside them, be it in japanese or in english. Unlike movies they also have the disadvantage of being mostly way shorter (30-45min.) and having a budget that is maybe appropriate for a short-film made my amateurs.

"Cipher the Video" is one of those many OVAs and while you may think it is yet another bad and horrible one of them, it is actually a hidden gem that is mistaken by many as a goofy music video with old songs nobody cares about and incest man on man action.

While it is hard to see anything else about it, it is also easy to actually think more into the entire thing and it's ten minute live-action explanation at the end.

You will most likely think it is stupid after the first watch and seeing as how you are not forced to watch something bad multiple times, it is actually worth it after having a better idea of the deep, thought-provoking  and philosophical plot. 

(Note: I will not rate the outstanding animation or talk about it in this review as it clearly is impossible to say something other than "perfect" about it.) 

StoryCipher centers around the two brothers Cipher and Shiva in New York. Both of them are following their own dreams and we get to see their success and of course their struggles. While that sounds like just another slice of life premise, it is actually a stance on the american dream and it's completion/failure and the problems coming with the road to accomplishing it.

Cipher is an actor and lives a very sucessful life, currently working on a very cliché football movie which is a shot at the lacking creativity in american film-making and the masses enjoying these mindless movies.

Shiva on the other hand is a struggling musician who is faced with an illness and has to cover in school for his brother thanks to his busy life as an actor. While Shiva does show more passion for the things he does, he is obviously worse off than his brother.

Unlike in many other settings where this just leads to a plot about jealousy or a road to glory to overtake his brothers success, Cipher the Video shows us a more realistic approach with both brothers cheering for each other and helping themselves out as much as possible which is deconstructing the cliché approach in films which mostly shows one party as the "bad" and one of them as "good" which obviously almost always leads to the good winning.  

This attempt at an deconstruction of a medium that was considered the most popular back in the days is what makes this story so outstanding and gives the basis for a wonderful experience alongside the two brothers. 

Sound Talking about Cipher without talking about it's sound is impossible as the sountrack and the insert-songs are what turns this amazing OVA into a true masterpiece for everyone. 

While the most parts of the OVA have a silent and slow soundtrack that just ties into the story moments like most soundtracks try to, Ciphers soundtrack really shines when the insert songs start playing, which try to show us the life of the two brothers with great detail while also having fast scenery changes that don't feel too unnatural.

These parts of the OVA mostly are considered the "stupid but fun" parts which turn Cipher into something that is watchable for everyone even if they consider it bad, but if you take your time with analysing you can actually see that those scenes are more than just weird dances too keep your attention from the bad quality. 

The scenes are actually there to portray the prejudices of america that the creator has and is aware of. You often see context-less shots of important buildings and random characters and their daily life which is shown filled with countless stereotypes about american culture. The creator uses those in order to take a stance against the view of other countries by americans which is filled with exactly those things that are portrayed in the music videos. 

This great use of music is why this OVA is a hidden gem in the music genre and the entirety of anime aswell. Instead of just having it alongside the anime, the music and the context running behind it is very important to the message the creator had for all the viewers. 

CharactersI talked a lot about the main characters in the story section of this review, therefore I will get into the secondary cast in this segment. While the focus of the OVA is on the main characters it is impossible to just ignore these unnamed people that might seem like worthless plotdevices due to the unfortunatly short length.

The side characters of Cipher get way less screentime than an average side-character, mostly thanks to the short runtime but nevertheless they are still very important to the story. Few of them have a name and their true purpose is only found in the manga but the OVA does include them in a way that they are helpful to the main cast. By showing their daily interactions with Cipher and Shiva we can see the normal and average life both characters lead which gives us a realistic showcase of what life would be like if we would be one of the main characters which makes these side-characters amazing for the viewers while not having to make them overly important and thus making it way more realistic and believable.  

Enjoyment Cipher the Video was a great experience for me and it lead to my weird obsession with short standalone OVAs. Normally the enjoyment comes from laughing at the "weird music videos" and it often is used the best example for "so bad it's good" but while it is hard to start enjoying the anime with all the interpretations in mind it actually makes the experience much better and boosts the enjoyment to levels that are rarely seen for anything else. And to top it all of, it is easy to rewatch aswell which gives us a great way to have in short 30 minutes. 

Final WordsCipher is way too complex to just be given a simple rating. It has values as shit OVA and also as masterpiece of storytelling, music and animation.

While you can see a rating at the end of this review it is just a simple number that I am force to put there which can't grasp the beauty of Cipher and everything surrounding it.
The only possible way to rate this hidden gem is giving it the only fitting rating it deserves. 

Cipher/10

oran65 - 2014-01-17 11:31:28

I cannot express how good cipher is with the star rating system or the smiles rating system. These are my thoughts on cipher.

The Story is pretty tight

It follows two brothers, Cipher and Shiva. Cipher is an actor and Shiva is apparently a musician. Cipher is making a football movie and Shiva is ill or something.

Story: cipher/10

The Animation and Art of Cipher is nice.

(Example of Animation)

While there may be some considerable aging Cipher still shines with the use of moving images that captivate its audience. The moving images are especially noticeable in the musical portions of the OVA.

Animation: cipher/10

The Sound in Cipher is beautiful.

(Example of Sound)

Cipher has a number of songs from the 1980s. These match the animation perfectly. Other than the songs there is also dialogue. For the most part the dialogue is captivating and captures the emotions of the characters.

Sound: cipher/10

The Characters in Cipher are interesting.

(Example of Character)

Cipher has a sizeable cast of characters, all with their own feelings. Cipher himself is in a romantic relationship with a certain someone. You see this relationship get built upon and you can see that the characters care for each other.

Character: cipher/10

Enjoyment of Cipher.

I have yet to watch anything like Cipher (I hear that Aoki Honoo is better). The character interaction and the deeper meaning behind some of the shots really raised the bar on this. Not to mention that the soundtrack was superb and the story was somewhat relatable.

Enjoyment: cipher/10

All in all cipher is an animation that is a must watch for everyone. It is tight and has good quality animation for the entire duration. As a bonus there is even a ‘making of cipher’ part after the actual anime is done and this really adds to the depths.

I would recommend that if you have the spare time you should view cipher and make judgement for yourself.

And like I said, the rating systems on hummingbird do not work for this anime. It is on a level of its own.

Overall: cipher/10