Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Overview
Jin Roh takes place in an alternate past just after World War II. It looks to be set around the 50s. This time Japan has lost World War II... to Germany.
Storyline & Narrative
Firstly, Jin Roh is a Drama. It's not a thriller. It's not action or adventure. (Well, not much.) Most of the movie is paced story and changing plot dynamics.
The elite Capital Police Special Unit were formed to handle a terrorist coalition named The Sect. These well trained and supplied radicals seek an end to the Government's policies that have resulted in widespread poverty.
Additionally, beauracratic infighting between the Special Unit and the Public Security Division on practices and idealogy, and the rumours of counter intelligence unit called The Wolf Brigade create the setting for a strange kind of spy/intrigue story.
The original Little Red Riding Hood by the Brother's Grimm loosely wraps itself around the story, and indeed is part of the telling of the story. If you've never read the original, it is, as most Grimm Tales are, macabre and cold. Perhaps more about the real world than the fairy tales they were turned into.
Characters & Dynamics
Kazuki Fuse, the star of the movie, is a member of the Special Unit, a powerful special forces type group. When he fails to shoot a young "Red Riding Hood", a young Sect girl who transports weapons, he becomes the scapegoat for the Capital Police and is demoted.
Kei Amemiya is the older sister of Nanami, the Red Riding Hood Fuse could not kill. Fuse comes to her sometime after Nanami dies, and the two develop a relationship.
Atsushi Henmi was a classmate of Fuse's during his training at the academy, but transferred to the Public Security Division. He helps Fuse look further into Nanami's past.
Most of the other characters are beauracratic talkers, deciding people's futures around coffee.
Animation & Visual Direction
There are several things that set Jin Roh aside visually. First off, the characters LOOK Japanese.
The colours in the movie are deliberately washed out, and help set the overall dreary, almost hopeless, atmosphere.
There is almost nothing outside reality in the anime. The Special Unit's combat suits are a bit unusual, but certainly not science fiction.
One of the things I enjoyed about the animation was the quality of movement of characters and camera. It was treated and directed more like a movie and less like a cartoon, with the inherent tricks cartoons usually use.
Voice Acting & Soundtrack
Dubbed: Not bad. There's more range and just general INTEREST in the voice acting that in most, without coming off as over acting.
