Demon Spies — Labyrinth of Flames — Otaku Unite — capsulefest movie reviews
Okay, here’s another batch of quick and dirty capsule reviews for films we want to talk a little about, but don’t warrant a full review. Up this week: Demon Spies, Labyrinth of Flames, and Otaku Unite.
Demon Spies
Brought to you by writer Koike Kazuo (creator of Lone Wolf and Cub and Lady Snowblood) and director Takashi Tsuboshima (Mexican Free-for-All), Demon Spies tells the tale of five oniwaban, super stealthy ninja spies raised from a young age to be the eyes and ears of the shogunate. The five’s first assignment is to spy on a feudal lord. However, their mission goes terribly wrong, and the spies find themselves captured and tortured. As convention would have it, it’s up to the demon spies to turn the tables on their captors and complete their mission. To be honest there’s nothing truly exemplary about Demon Spies, but the action is sufficiently wild. The genre staples are all present and accounted for: lopped off limbs aplenty, a healthy flow of the red stuff,and more snap zooms than you can shake a stick at. Furthermore, there is one scene of “face destruction suicide” that is so over the top it must be seen — preferably in a screening with some drunken friends. Direction, set design, acting,and fight choreography are all decent, but immediately forgettable. Demon Spies is certainly not the best ninja action film, but worth a look for genre enthusiasts.
Labyrinth of Flames
Yet another of my ventures into the cheapie anime bin, Labyrinth of Flames tells the tale of a samurai-obsessed caucasian who, after the gift of a sacred sword, finds himself battling to win the hand of a Japanese princess. A gonzo mix of Goldenboy antics, samurai swordplay, and fan-service out the wazoo, this anime is definitely one for the guys. The animation is crisp and fluid, whether depicting massive shouting heads or quietly flowing fabrics, and the character designs prove well rounded. And, in a nice change form the norm, both the Japanese and English language tracks are pretty easy on the ears. It’s a nice nugget of stupid fun, and for $7.00 well worth the price.
Otaku Unite
The first documentary to cover both the history of anime and that of anime fandom, Otaku Unite naturally features more pasty white guys than found on the entire Google campus. The film is pretty informative when it comes to pre 1980’s anime. There are some excellent interviews with enterprising Anime distribuitors and web personalities, and the discussions of the negative and positive connotations of the word “Otaku” were pretty amusing. But the doc focuses a little too much on the Con and Cosplay aspect, and as a result starts to drag well before the end of its 70 minute run time. Being an elitist anime fan since the 1990’s, I didn’t come away from Otaku Unite feeling I had learned anything truly new, nor did the film do anything to warm me up to the newer Naruto/Love Hina/children’s anime obsessors, but the film did a good job of showing that Cosplay dorks are people too. Some of them even seemed like they would be okay to hang out with. I mean, there are certainly worse things they could do with their time than creating crazy costumes (ie: drugs, porn, Conservative Christian sponsored hate rallies). Anyways, when it all comes down to whether or not to pick up the dvd, I guess the doc would make a nice addition for the younger set, but for anyone older than fourteen I’d have to say skip it.
