On Monday July 25th, I went to Greater Union Movie theatre to see ‘Tokyo Express’. This film was shown as part of the 2005 Melbourne International Film Festival. It consisted of four ‘Manga’ pilot episodes for Japanese t.v series. While the quality of these cartoons was varied they were engaging.
The first pilot episode “Elfen Lied” follows the escape of seemingly genetically modified young girl. She breaks out of a military compound leaving a trail of carnage. She is found washed up on the beach by a couple of kids who take care of her. This pilot episode is one of the better ones as its ultra violent scenes are highly captivating.
The second episode “Midori Days” focuses on a rebel school kid called ‘mad-dog’. He possesses a lethal right punch. ‘Mad-dog’ is desperate to find a girlfriend but struggles to succeed in this department. Strangely ‘mad-dogs’ right hand turns into a young girl who loves him. A bizarre romance between the two begins. This is a really weird episode and i struggled to see where it could possibly go.
In the third pilot episode “Tenjho Tenge” a couple of tough and highly skilled young rebels attempt to rule a high school. However, a warrior female teacher and her prized pupil put up staunch resistance. they managed to smuggle in a romance to. Didn’t enjoy this one.
The last pilot episode “Samurai 7″ is a modernized cartoon version of Akira Kurosawa’s 1960’s “The Seven Samurai”. Seven Samurai’s are hired by farmers to protect them from raiding their village after harvesting.
Lots of action and i think this episode showed alot of potential.
While at times the story lines were nonsense it was an enjoyable experience. Worth getting along to!