Manga-Rama

The Castle of Cagliostro (Manga)
Devilman (Manga)
Perfect Blue (Manga)

Unless you're a hardcore devotee of the genre, most anime releases tend to blend into one another -- despite masterful animation and visuals, their stories suffer from unoriginality and, all too frequently, incomprehensible plot lines. Despite the groundbreaking brilliance of AKIRA several years ago -- the movie that "broke" anime into the mainstream in the US -- anime has, for the most part, spun its wheels for the past few years.

This month's release of three striking examples of Japanese animation by Manga Entertainment might just change that perception, however. Spanning two decades, the films also explore a variety of genres within the animated medium.

First off, there's The Castle of Cagliostro (1980). Representing the debut feature effort by writer and director Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke), Cagliostro takes the best elements of slapstick, Bond films and Cary Grant in To Catch A Thief. The film follows the adventures of Lupin, a swindler/ spy/ all around rascal, and his shady sidekick Jigen. Although its animation shows its age, its storyline, twists and lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek humor is reminiscent of Spielberg's Indiana Jones series. Not surprisingly, Spielberg counts Cagliostro among the greatest adventure movies of all time. Although the film is free of the usual blood, mayhem and sex of most anime, Cagliostro's cleverness and inventiveness will appeal to adults, while remaining suitable for the Pokemon set.

Go Nagai's incredibly grim two-parter Devilman (1987) follows the story of Akira, who, through a series of disturbing events (including the disappearance of his parents and the dismemberment of his pet rabbit), stumbles onto a dark secret which ultimately leads to his incarnation as Devilman -- a human trapped in a demon's body.

Although extremely graphic and obviously intended for adults, it's an interesting melding of the superhero and horror genres. Despite its cartoonish look, it's not the realism of the movie that disturbs -- it's Devilman's themes of evil and generally dark outlook that separate it from the rest. It's got a distinctly serious, ominous feel to it that is sadly absent from many modern horror films. You get the distinctly queasy feeling watching Devilman that something terrible is about to happen. And, quite frequently, it does.

Finally, there's Satoshi Kon's dark and brutal psychological thriller Perfect Blue (1999). Though the idea of psychological action as opposed to physical action seems ill-suited for animation, it's actually a brilliant conceit. The nature of illusion and hallucination works perfectly in the animated medium. The film follows the adventures of Mima, a 21-year-old bubblegum pop star who decides to pursue a more mature image as an actress on a television drama. But her old image takes on a life of its own through an evil doppelganger of her former pop persona, a violent stalker fan, and a website that is uncomfortably familiar about her goings-on. The further she tries to distance herself from her past, the more forcibly (and violently) it insinuates itself into her life. An additional theme in the film is its ironic take on sexuality -- as a pop-singing girl/child Mina is desirable, but her expression of self as a woman is met with violence. With references to such classic psychological thrillers as Diabolique, Perfect Blue's themes and motifs are obviously well thought-out; but to see these themes in the anime genre is a unique and disorienting experience.

A disturbing exploration of the psychological price of celebrity, Perfect Blue isn't for everyone. But compared to most of the cookie-cutter Japanese animation on the shelves and the anemic state of Hollywood's so-called thrillers, it's a thing of beauty. Most highly recommended.