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Bryce Luther

Writing 2010

1/30/2017

Movie review

Jin Roh the Wolf Brigade

Jin Roh the Wolf Brigade is a 1999 animated film directed by Hiroyuki Okiura.

The story takes place in an alternate history, where Germany conquered Japan and

won World War 2. The movie takes place in the 1960s, in the midst of public unrest,

and follows a character named Kazuki Fuse (pronounced foo-say, voiced by Yoshikatsu

Fujiki/ Michael Dobson in the original and english dubs, respectively.) The entire plot

revolves around an interservice rivalry, between Fuses unit, simply called Special

Unit, and the regular police, known as public security. San Francisco Gate reviewer

Wesley Morris praised the film, saying "Jin-Roh," a 3-year-old poli-military Japanese

flick only now washing up on our shores, is animation at its most traumatized, bloody,

discursive, allegorical and disheartened. I love this movie as well, but will admit that it

has some flaws.

Story

In the beginning of the movie we see the beginnings of a riot, which is being used by

revolutionaries/terrorists, whichever you prefer, to attack the police using very nasty

weapons, such as Molotov cocktails with magnesium added, and using the riot to bomb

many police. The special unit is dispatched to the sewers to halt the transportation of
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these weapons, and this is when the audience gets their first view of the special unit,

and its terrifying. This shall be expanded upon in the next paragraph, but for now know

that the results of their deployment are as follows: lots and lots of blood, death and

gore. And it is at this point that we are introduced to Fuse, as he chases down a fleeing

terrorist, a small girl, who he does not immediately shoot. She doesnt surrender, and

blows up the bomb she was carrying in front of Fuse, resulting in a blackout, and calling

into question his effectiveness, and that of his unit as a whole.

Visual Design

The design of the characters mostly relies on dull, realistic colors, and the

animation is very realistic, often attributed to a technique called rotoscoping, despite the

fact that this technique was not used. The most iconic feature of the movie is the look of

the special unit troops, which can best be described as Nazi robot (fig 1) In addition,

the colors of the movie, when used in backgrounds and even foreground objects, look

dull and worn out. The bright colors are usually reserved for gunfire, explosions, and the

glowing red goggles of the Special Unit.

Symbolism-with spoilers

If you want to watch the movie without having anything spoiled, skip this

paragraph. With that being said, there is very prominent symbolism in this movie, most

of it revolving around wolves, and more specifically, the original German fairy tale

version of Little Red Riding Hood (which is really messed up). To elaborate, two
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prominent, or at least significant characters are both A) female, and B) wear a red coat.

In addition, with Fuse himself we can get the feeling that he is not all he seems,

because A) he, when armored, greatly resembles a wolf, because the combination of

steel helmet, gas mask, and glowing red goggles, along with the structure of the armor

itself greatly resembles the idea of a bloodthirsty wolf, (fig 1) B) we hear rumors

throughout the movie of a secret counterintelligence agency within the Special Unit,

named the Wolf Brigade, and we are given hints throughout the movie that Fuse may be

a member (which is confirmed at the end of the film), for example, 1) at one point in the

movie, we are informed that Fuse is quite proficient in espionage, stalking, moving

quietly, and is remarkably agile and quick-witted, all of which are skills of a wolf, 2) Fuse

meets with several main characters in the natural history museum, always within the

vicinity of an exhibit of wolves, 3) in one particularly disturbing and violent nightmare

sequence, we see Fuse running after his love interest, Kei (voiced by Sumi

Mutoh/Moneca Stor in the original and english dub respectively) through the sewers

seen in the beginning of the movie, whilst being followed by wolves. At one point in this

sequence, Fuse and the wolves are unable to proceed due to a gate, and when Fuse

opens the gate to run to Kei, the wolves leap through the opening, and kill her and eat

her (this is probably why the movie was rated R for graphic violence, it is really

disturbing), representing his fear of the organization he is a part of killing her.

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Characterization

Fuse is quiet. In fact, his introverted personality leads him to be more of a

reactionary character, who will happily sit by and listen to others, and he rarely speaks.

He speaks through his actions, rather than his words, which meshes well with his highly

intimidating status as a member of the Special Unit. On the flipside, Kei Amemiya, his

love interest and the sister of the girl who blew herself up at the beginning of the film, is

more expressive by a long shot, speaking much more often, usually saying whatever

happens to pop into her head, and is generally more social, and is very clearly an

extrovert. And yet, both are extremely compelling characters, with very clear

personalities, goals, and motivations.

Conclusion

I believe that Jin Roh is a phenomenal movie. I agree with the reviewer, in all

viewpoints. I strongly believe that, although the pacing is slow, all the setups pay off in a

big way come the finale. The characterization is excellent, the attention to detail is

amazing, and the foreshadowing is brilliant. I love this movie, and recommend it to

anyone who enjoys political thrillers.

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Warning: Jin Roh is rated R for graphic violence. You have been warned

Fig 1