Crimson Wolf Review

Well Ladies & Gentlemen, it’s time to jump off the edge of the cliff again! Having been a couple months since the last time we did this (It was late March when I did this, and it was with the Girls Bravo review), it was only a matter of time before a title that came to my doorstep. A title that’s original, unique, and somehow still batshit insane. Today’s movie is all of these things, and then some. Let’s not waste more time, and look at the original & buttfucking insane Crimson Wolf.

Story/Setup
Taken from the Anime News Network:

“An archaeological expedition finds the mummified bodies of Genghis Khan and his army somewhere in Mongolia. Unaware that the location is cursed, the explorers wake up the former ruler of the Mongolian empire. He warns the intruders that a large calamity will befall the world in one thousand days. The only ones who can prevent this from happening are three persons who bear wolf-shaped arrow scars. They must join forces and kill the "three emperors" so that the Khan's soul can once again sleep for a thousand years.”

There’s actually a little more to it than this. It turns out that since the discovery of Genghis Khan’s tomb, dark forces have been gathering the spirits of the first emperor of China, Genghis Khan, and out of all people, Chairman Mao, and have been putting them into a supercomputer called GOKU (Insert Dragonball Z joke here), with the intent of starting World War 3 so China/the east can take over the world. So, it’s up to our 3 heroes (Ryuko, Shin, and Mizuho) to not only take out the bad guys, but to also destroy GOKU so it’s goals can’t be seen through.

Though it does get confusing at times, Crimson Wolf has the distinction of having one of the more original stories in anime. Mixing Asian-style fantasy, with real-world history, and commentary on Chinese society under Communist authoritarian government and capitalist economic transformation. Plus for creativity!

Setting
For the most part, Crimson Wolf takes place in the real world. Early 90s Beijing China, if I am correct. It’s pretty impressive how the animation studio was able to depict the city, especially the Forbidden City. It feels very realistic (Although the animation is a little weak, but more on this in a bit), and almost manages to draw you in.

There’s plenty of other interesting places in this movie. For example, the Tomb of Genghis Khan: while we never found it, the tomb does look like something that could have possibly been built by the Mongols for their great king. About halfway through, two of the main characters have what is equivalent to a spiritual journey into their past lives, which reveals their role in the upcoming battle against their foes (All 3 heroes also travel into the spirit realm to take on the final baddie, and a myriad of images appear before the viewer. Some good, and some bad). It’s very surreal, mixing Ancient China with metaphysical themes. Perhaps the most unique place in the movie is the chamber that houses the massive GOKU supercomputer, which is an incredible behemoth in it’s size. The chamber is clean & pristine, with not a blot of grime in sight.

A big plus, in my opinion!

Characters
Perhaps the biggest weakness to Crimson Wolf is it’s characters. Let’s divide this into 2 portions:

1) The heroes (Ryuko, Shin, and Mizuho): While you don’t learn everything about them, you learn enough of their background to understand them a little. You also want to support them as they carry the fight to the bad guys, and you want them to win (Even Ryuko, who’s a bit of a scumbag at times).
2) The bad guys (Just about everybody else): Wasted potential. With an original story, you’d think that the villains would be completely original (Or at the very least, partially original). Instead, the villains act & feel far to generic, with only a mote or two of originality popping up in a scant few moments.

The one exception to the above two is GOKU, the supercomputer. On the one hand, he’s introduced towards the end of the movie, and thus you’re not given enough time him him. On the other hand, there’s a surprising amount of originality in GOKU. Essentially a combination of three of China’s most powerful historical figures (Genghis Khan, Qin-Shi Huang, and Chairman Mao), GOKU is cold, calculating, and highly analytical. He has no respect for those that won’t follow him, and those that will betray him will be cast aside. I’m impressed!

Animation
I kinda like the animation in Crimson Wolf. It’s not the most perfect thing I’ve seen, as there are moments that look like there wasn’t as much work put in as there should have been, and there’s scenes where it was darker than it should be. With that said, this movie has some of the most realistic backgrounds I’ve ever seen (This was probably much more realistic back in 1993, when the movie was first released), as well as some of the most surreal moment ever animated (When the heroes encounter GOKU for the first time comes to mind). It’s this balance between good animated moments & bad animated moments that somehow makes the movie works, as far as looks are concerned.

Voice Acting
Once again, this is a Streamline dub. The last Streamline dub I reviewed was Barefoot Gen, and while that movie had a relatively good dub, Crimson Wolf is a little different. It’s not that there isn’t effort put into the voices, because I think that there was. The problem is that characters either sound underwhelming, or characters sound over-the-top in all the wrong ways. There’s a character or two that sounds okay, but everybody else is right in the middle (For the most part, anyways).

Episodes & Episode Length
Running at a little over an hour, Crimson Wolf is a on-it’s-own feature film. As with a bunch of the other OVAs I’ve reviewed so far, this is another film to watch during the afternoon. Be sure to have your popcorn!

Availability & Pricing
Good luck finding this!

I’ve only been able to find a couple copies over on Amazon, with a drastic difference between new & used copies. At this moment, there’s only 1 new copy going for 85 dollars, but there’s a couple of used copies, with the first one starting at $3.50. Go for the used copies people!

Extras/Other
Since I downloaded this, I don’t know what the extras are.

General Impression & Rating
Crimson Wolf is a interesting film. One part fantasy, one part social commentary, and one part real world history, this movie manages to be a unique & entertaining movie. Having said that, the mix of fantasy/social commentary/real world history is coming so far out of left field, you won’t see it coming, and when it hits you, you won’t quite know what happened!

Crimson Wolf gets a 8 out of 10.

See you all next week. Until then, stay Otaku!



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Just a heads up: later next week is Connecticon 2013! Because of the convention, there’s a very high chance that I’ll post up that week’s reviews back-to-back, and they might not be as good as the ones I’ve done so far. My apologies in advance. Also, here’s a clip from the movie, when the three are going up against Chairman Mao:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfsrIr5kM4g

I’ll let this clip sink in.