Vexille

I enjoyed this Anime film. It's the first Anime movie I've watched. The thing is, it has a very odd backstory for one of the main supporting female characters. The flashback sequences are a bit unnerving. In her narration, during the flashback, you see Japan during the pandemic. It was before the country tore itself apart (from the inside out). This was due to Japan turning itself into an export only economy and due to the mandates that were imposed on the general public in the middle of the outbreak. Weird, right?For me, this was a random movie I chose to watch, not knowing the backstory from the narration by the female character during the flashback sequences. It visually showed Japans troubles while she spoke of it all. She began remembering the details of all that happened as she narrated that segment.The female character said the disease swept in out of no where, all across the land. No one knew why or how. But, Japanese people were told by the gov't the virus was very deadly. What they didn't know, was they had just become victims of a biochemical test, run by their gov't. The virus was created in tech firm labs. It was inflicted upon the masses, across the entire country of Japan.The world would never suspect Japan as the architect of the virus and release. And, seeing as the Japanese gov't had already begun decimating their own people with the virus, they had a diabolical plan to inflict the virus on the rest of the world. They were trying to begin a monopoly of all industries and sectors.The female supporting character said the gov't ordered mandatory vaccinations to be in public. The gov't said the virus attacked your respiratory system like an incurable or a bad flu. They said there was no cure. The character said it became widely known it was all a gigantic lie. The whole societal ordeal was a hoax! She said the vaccine WAS the virus. That everyone in Japan bought into the lie on a mass scale. It was a complete fabrication. Completely run by the tech firms and govt using propaganda mills and constant news media lies, force-feeding the narrative to misinform and confuse the public to make them go get the vaccine. She claimed all the ao-called science-based evidence was a lie. Since Japan had turned into an export only economy. This was a retaliation towards the U.N. Council, who was investigating Japan's gov't, implying their unethical, dangerous, and global threat.The female character stated the vaccine altered your DNA, making the public slow, dull, not able to move, and like on factory line getting injections.Japanese people became too tired and weak to go to work (she is still narrating flashback). People got angry, fought with each other, protested the virus wanting answers. We fell apart from the inside out. Japan became a waste zone under authoritarian control by the private sector and its paramilitary force.Honestly, on the surface this is an entertaining film from way back in2007. But, from a 2020-2022 perspective, this is a frightening plot outcome during the real-life pandemic we are suffering through. It's an eerily similar backstory. No spoilers here! This was a 10-minute sequence in the movie at most. It's creepy segment (as of this era) while SEEING what her character is narrating in her flashback during the film.This was a random Anime film I watched released way back 2007. Oddly, the more the film went on, it began to feel like some predictive programming taking place. Best place to hide it is in a B-grade straight-to-video movie or category not many people watch.H*ll, I've come across bad movies that have all but shown real world tragic events, but made many years prior to it happening. Really creepy stuff in these movies. Especially, bad ones that aren't highly funded or with primetime release. I guess those are now like a documentary (for some films) no longer fiction. I think that's how the phrase or it's meaning goes.I recommend this movie if you want to watch a film as though it was a 2007 release. Not with a 2022 outlook.Letter grade: B+Number ratio: 7/10. Enjoyable, in a 2007-2019 way :-/

There is a lot of goodness to say about this movie and very little drawback. Let's start with the one thing that I didn't fully like then move on to the good stuff. Vexille Soundtrack The soundtrack, done by Paul Oakenfold was really good - but a little to hardcore in some of the action/fight scenes. We had to keep turning the volume down during those parts then turn it back up for dialogue. This is just a personal preference - many of you will likely love the heavy feel to it.Ok that's it for what I didn't completely like!Animation - superb. There was however, a very interesting aspect to the animation. The details on the characters (the people) were scaled back when compared to the details on the environment/effects/buildings/etc. You could see rich wood grain on the walls of buildings, but the character's hair barely moved in a harsh wind. Skin features were missing, yet mechanical aspects to body armor were complete with detail. It was an interesting perspective that the environment was more detailed than the actual people. Even things such as lighting effects from a vehicle were amazing to watch.Plot - also superb, and very impressive offering from Japan. Vexille is the main character of the movie - but you don't find out that it's actually the character's name until half-way into the movie. It starts out with a bang - Japan has cut off all uncontrolled contact with the outside world and has erected a very impressive barrier/shield around the entire island to prevent signals coming in or out - basically a total blackout of the island. A team of elite soldiers operating outside the auspices of the US and United Nations is tasked to infiltrate the island - the first "visitors" in 10 years - to determine if they are building a prohibited bio-mechanical technology. What's been going on in Japan for the last 10 years since the blackout? You'll have to watch the movie and see.This is a full length feature with exciting action sequences, violence, a bit of romance, and an effective storyline that has made me want to watch more animated movies like this. Sci-fi is thick in the plot, so expect a lot of "tech".We watched it with the English audio track and no subtitles, but you can watch it in native language with English subtitles if desired. There are a few special previews on the DVD, but they are mostly advertisements of other Japanese animations that are now available for purchase. Highly recommended for fans of action/adventure, sci-fi, and animation - even for those who don't necessarily choose animated movies, you'll forget that you're watching animation!

I was expecting Vexille to be something interesting, a codename for some kind of robot or android, it turned out all it was, is the main character's name. This movie is from the same team that brought Appleseed and Ex Machina to the world and they're up to their usual visual brilliance here. Despite the excellent graphical designs and cinematography though, the story is a little flat footed and by the half-way point I found myself caring less about the protagonist and more about those around her who we see very little of aside from their brief appearances in relation to her. The audience is never given any reason to like or relate to Vexille and in fact she comes off as little more than an annoyance frequently enough during her interactions with the other characters who seem far more central to the plot than she ever does. Another issue with the story, is how rushed everything seems, the audience is literally whisked from location to location with little or no regard for pacing and by the end you're left wondering what exactly has happened as you've been given no downtime during the film itself to consider what the story is trying to get at. Despite these shortcomings, the Appleseed team is able to create an impressive world view when the movie slows down enough for you to appreciate it and there are moments which are just as powerful as either of the Appleseed movies. So if you're a fan of those two films, or just of the Appleseed team, take a look at Vexille you might find it to your liking, or you might feel like you've just suffered storyboard whiplash. I suffered the latter effect, and plan to watch the movie a few more times.

The washed out colours (could be described as subtle), movement of the characters, quiet feel to this film reminded me of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which was quite ground breaking at the time it was made. I think the trouble is that things have moved on. The plot could hardly be simpler, and possibly echoed the opening up of Japan in the 1800's. Self imposed isolation, with jealous outside counties desperate to break through and control trade, a special ops force instead of a gunboat, a faded love triangle tainting the air in an attempt to add tension. Only this time around there is no exotic Floating World to discover behind the protective barriers, just freedom fighters holding onto the last of their perceived humanity. It all sounds a bit familiar doesn't it? There are parts of this film I had to admire, but nothing that stopped me breathless in my tracks, compared to some scenes from Ghost in the Shell for example. I probably will watch it again, give it a second go, but I found it disappointing first time around.

It's only recently that I considered watching animated feature films, ands the standard has now reached a suffciently high quality that this opens up a new 'genre', eg Beowulf. I read about the Japanese 'anime' offerings and tried Vexille and Appleseed - they are extremely good. The animation is very detailed and, frankly amazing (especially backdrops, which in traditional animation always looks like stage scenery. These Japanese features are so cleverly made. Add to that an acceptable fantasy storyline and you have a winner. I love it.

Good:Nice FXFast and furiousBad:Sountrack is way below average to my taste except for a few tracksStoryline is weak, a bit inconsistent and violently contradicts with modern science

For most anime fans an equation involving; the creators of appleseed, groundbreaking CGI animation and a promise of a tense modern geo-politcal masterpiece would usually mean that another titan had enetered the anime arena. It would join the ranks of Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell. The tragedy is that Vexille won't ever reach such levels of high appreciation.I won't talk about the plot, as if you are planning on watching this I don't want to spoil it. However what I will say is that the plot is too big for the film, it is really the plot of a series like Gasaraki rather than for a one off film. I'd also say that the characters are not as likeable as their Appleseed companions; in Appleseed the heroes are rebellious free spirits in a utopia that needs their protection. In Vexille the characters are too straight laced is a dystopian tale.On the positive the animation is sumptuous, the quality of animation is a progression for anime, it matches and betters the quality of animation seen in the likes of the two new appleseed films, and almost pretend in places to be the cartoon-photo technique seen in "A Scanner Darkly". It's not, but you half think it is. However having given you such a visual treat to watch they then refuse to dub the film. The film is in Japanese and is with English subtitles, in itself this would not be a massive problem - many anime fans will watch DVDs in subtitles, however it is still nice to have a choice and secondly a film that relies on it's visual impact really should allow you to concentrate on the imagery not the subtitles.The much vaunted sound track is also under used, which is a shame, one would have expected better from the makers of appleseed, who were able to blend in contemporary music into the new Appleseed and Appleseed Ex Machina.All in all the DVD is a crying shame, perhaps overhyped, it delivers stunning visuals at the cost of plot and feel. From the perspective of owning the DVD, a second disc of features hardly compensates for a lack of English dubbing!

Thanks to Funimation for bringing this out on blu ray, happy to have it. As usual, no sign of UK version, but this is region free, so there you go.