wdeckow - 2017-04-10 20:17:06

Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade conjectures about humanities inner demons in the vessel of a 1950’s conspiracy that is brooding, dark, and dry. A noir, in the traditional sense, it is even set in that classic era. The realistic animation; sparse, curt dialogue; and methodical progression work to this effect and make Jin Roh a standout film among many conformist anime.

The first striking element of the Jin Roh is the detailed, nuanced animation, featuring dusk backgrounds and lifelike figures. Nothing about the animation lacks detail, from the cars and trolleys to the stylized, towering buildings of the fifties. The polish of wood, the movement of water in the sewers, and the darkness of those tunnels are more particulars that don’t go unnoticed. The shading and color scheme, heavily imbued with browns, greys, and blacks, leads to sobering mesmerization. Character designs are similarly exhaustive, with wrinkle lines, honest noses, and properly proportioned features, including eyes, limbs, and torsos. The realism heightens the haunting, slow pace and disturbing gore.

The protagonist, Kazuki Fuse, is a member of the Kerberos Panzer Corps, a special police task force comprised of officers that wear heavy armor, don scary red goggles, and tout massive heavy machine guns. He is troubled and facing punishment for his inability to shoot a young girl acting as a bomb courier for the sect, a group of terrorists. During this time, in which he suffers from PTSD, Kazuki is entangled in a romance with the girl’s older sister, Kei Amemiya. Their relationship is dry, composed of a sullen Kazuki, who seems to have no aspirations or hopes, and Kei who dreams of escaping and reminisces of childhood. The interactions are rough and awkward, but surprisingly tangible, even if the love affair seems askew.

By the end of the film, when the conspiracies unfold, the romance begins to make sense, but up to that point, it is as confusing as the political traps being sprung. The politics require attention to the cabals and illicit meetings. There’s plenty of information given in between the lines, and it is trying to keep up with it all, though Jin Roh does a fantastic job of feeding the audience just enough for them to understand the current situation as it drops further into chaos and plot twists. Wisely, the film has a fairly slow and methodical pacing, so the brains in the audience will have at least some time to process the complexities. A re-watch will probably be necessary, which isn’t at all a bad thing because the movie is so fascinating and nuanced.

The story of Little Red Riding Hood pervades the film. It is used to narrate various scenes, which can come off as pretentious, especially since the narration is overused. However, the story within a story has great effect, drawing out the overarching theme of the movie: humans and monsters. As basically everyone already knows, Little Red Riding Hood is about a monster, the wolf, that disguises itself as her grandmother in order to eat her. The girl naively questions the wolf-like features of her grandmother before she is eaten. Fairy tales are messed up, but so are humans, and this is one reality that Jin Roh explores. The movie parallels this tale, depicting the “wolf” as a human who might have a thread of humanity. There’s plenty of ambiguity to obscure what is really meant, but two questions may add some insight to themes at play. Can humans scarred by monstrous deeds, such as slaughtering and killing, still have a shred of empathy? And, can’t humans be the real monsters?

Spoiler alert for this paragraph. There’s another interpretation of the fairy tale parallelism, one that aligns more with the title of the movie, which literally means “man-wolf.” The character that represents the wolf is truly a wolf in the guise of a human. Because no magical elements appear in Jin Roh, that comes off as a wee far-fetched. Continuing with that line of thought, though, does pose another fun question: is the wolf becoming human? No matter the interpretation, the dark tone, maturity, and mystery surrounding the fairy tale’s re-imagining leaves ample opportunity for hypothesizing and ruminating.

In the end, the conclusion is quite satisfying. It explains the rigidity of the romance and resolves that relationship, while exploring the interplay of humanity and monstrosity. It is more mature, refined, and satisfying than the fan-catering entertainment out there today, while it is not perfect, but is one masterfully stylized feature portraying the traumatized human condition.

rigoberto57 - 2016-04-27 23:40:55

Jin-Roh is very similar in many ways to Ghost in the Shell. Not in terms of science fiction or what it means to be human, but in that it's a political/police intrigue piece where different factions within the government and in particular the police are fighting amongst themselves. If you're looking for a happy ending, this might not be the movie for you. In a movie where the protagonists and antagonists are all members of intelligence and counter-intelligence organizations all fighting one another for power, you don't end up with a feel-good ending.
The story itself is intriguing, though a bit slow in terms of pacing. The animation is pretty typical for the late 90's but still holds up, though it's not as pretty as newer anime. The soundtrack is nothing special but still good, the sound effects are solid and so is the voice acting. The characters are probably my biggest issue with this movie. We learn almost nothing about any of them and there's almost no emotional involvement except with a handful of characters. The characterization is subtle and requires you to pay close attention to all the details if you want to understand any of them. Definitely not a casual viewing. However, it is still a enjoyable movie, especially if you like police and political intrigue. 

mario66 - 2016-01-09 13:46:32

From the cover, Jin-Roh looks like a sci-fi film, but it is in fact an alternate history story of the aftermath of WWII.
The first thing you'll notice is the top notch animation: so incredibly and smoothly animated, with weight to each movement. Accompanying it is good sound design, with every gun cock, foot step and cloth ruffle individually recorded. All in all, it looks and sounds great.

The story itself is also a very interesting one. There is a lot of symbolism in the film, especially about the story of 'The Little Red Riding Hood'. It tells you how the movie ends, but even when it comes, you can't help but to feel surprised.

The only downside I find is that Jin-Roh can be confusing at times. There are a lot of political discussions between characters, and people pulling off counter-intelligence on each other all the time - the plot twists can be difficult to follow.

Overall, an enjoyable experience (at least for me), but be ready to stay invested into the film if you want full clarity.

prince.rau - 2015-12-08 22:03:01

It's really good, but you have to pay attention to it, or else you'll be confused somewhat at the end. It basically covers a police officer(supposedly) who is in a special forces brigade that dresses like warriors from Killzone. Their job is to keep peace and suppress rebellions from the people with some serious firepower, but they can't really do their job effectively, since you know politics, and some other forces in the police force that try to limit their power and get rid of them. Anyways back to the main part, It's good. It has action, plenty of shooting, gore, and drama to go along with it. The politics kind of get boring, but you want plot with it (at least I do). Theres romance to go along with the action, however, don't get your hopes up to high. The ending is extremely satisfying though.

hudson.eden - 2014-07-31 04:22:04

I'm gonna be honest here. I was halfway paying attention the whole time and I was actually kinda confused as to what the plot twist was. Otherwise, it was a good movie.