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Dead Leaves

Review by Matthew Anderson

OVA

Company: Manga Entertainment

Running Time: 50 minutes

Region: 1

Rated: R (Violence, nudity, language and adult situations)

EXTERNAL EXAM

Pandy and Retro are two clones who have just woken up from a deep sleep with no memories. Or, their Yakuza Bosses that have just woken up from a deep sleep. Actually, their spies that have just woken up. What ever they are, it's not important.

What is important is that they have just been arrested and sent to the DL prison on the Moon. In just one day, they learn the joys of force feeding, tubes sucking out their poop, and how to have sex in a straight jacket. They also have to deal with cruel guards, insane genetic experiments, and petulant wardens.

So, the only thing left to do is escape. Should be no problem for a couple of...whatever they are.

Right?

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: The video is excellent. There are no defects, artifacts, color bleeds or pixels. The motion is fluid, and the image is sharp and clear.

AUDIO: There are 5 audio tracks on this disc; English and Japanese 5.1, a English and a Japanese 2.0 mix, and a 2.0 Audio commentary track.

Both 5.1 will knock your socks off. The sound comes at you from all sides, with a perfect mix of music, dialogue, and sound effects. The Japanese audio track is louder, and has a richer sound than the English dub version.

The English and Japanese 2.0 is a little more subdued than the 5.1. While there are some great surround sound elements, neither are as strong as strong as the 5.1. The Japanese 2.0 is clear and, like the 5.1, has a little more volume than the English 2.0.

The directors commentary is surprisingly well mixed. The Director and the interviewer come from the front, while the English dub track plays in the background.

EDITS: Some of the Japanese closing credits were replaced by English. The only place where there might be another edit is during the sex scene between Pandy and Retro. The scene fades out just when they start doing it, but as much as this movie toys with convention, this may be intentional.

EXTRAS: Quite extensive for a Manga Entertainment release. We have Director's Commentary, coverage of the showing of Dead Leaves at Club Asia, Q&A Film Premiere, True or Doubt with the cast and crew, interviews with the director at a film festival, scenes from the recording session, and the Japanese "Dead Leaves" Trailer.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: There's a plot? Writer Takeichi Honda's story, if you call it that, is nothing but ultra violent gunplay and raunchy sex jokes. Amen for that. It doesn't take itself seriously at all. In fact, it relishes in its stupidity.

ACTING: This is one case where both the Japanese and the English cast are so evenly matched, it will totally depend on what you prefer, subs or dubs.

Real life husband and wife team Amanda Winn Lee and Jaxon Lee both are perfect as Pandy and Retro. Amanda's sexy voice and screw it all attitude is perfect for ultra bad ass Pandy. Retro would not be the sick little twerp that he is without Jaxon's comedic timing and vocal range. His hyper frantic voice works great. Moving up from incidental characters, Keith Burgess absolutely shines as Dick Drill. He and Jaxon Lee play off each other very well, and the giddiness in his voice when he comments about his "drill" are priceless. The rest of the cast is also awesome, each voice actor going totally over the top. Next to R.O.D, this is the best dub Manga has ever done.

Everything I just said about the English cast goes double for the Japanese. "InuYasha" star Kappei Yamaguch, and the sexy Takako Honda are just as wild and sexy as Jaxon and Amanda. Kappei is a master at ad-libing, coming up with some damn funny comments. Takako Honda's deep voice is just plain sexy. The attitude she gives Panda is totally hot.

Like the English cast, I could go on and on about the Japanese voice actors. This is one of the best voiced anime to come out of Japan in a long time.

FAN SERVICE: Well, you do get to see Pandy and the main villain Galactica in the buff quite a bit. You do get a sex scene for your pleasure. There are plenty of in jokes, and over the top gags that will have you going, that looks like......

FINAL EXAM

Holy frickin' crap!

Dead Leaves is the one of the most messed up, entertaining films I have ever seen in 20 years of anime watching. I never expected that I would laugh as hard as I did, revel in it's non-stop violence, and be so enamored with the excellent work of the staff and cast.

When I saw the early promotional work for "Dead Leaves" I wasn't that impressed. I got caught up in that old paradigm "It it doesn't look realistic, so it isn't any good." The character designs looked like the work of director Takeshi Koike, whom I had a love/hate view of his style since "The Animatrix". The turning point for me was when I saw the English Language promotional trailer put out by Manga Entertainment. The fast moving animation, the whole "Peter Chung" vibe, and the very satirical dialogue appealed to my avant guard sensibilities. I was about to request a review copy when Manga Entertainment sent one my way. Excited, I threw this disc into my DVD player, and settled in for what I hoped was going to be a good time.

"Dead Leaves" is 50 minutes of non-stop lunacy. Packed into it's short runtime are multiple murders, destruction on a massive scale, sex, perversion, mutations, eating, craping, radio dishes coming out of peoples butts, pregnancy, vomiting, blood, gore, a million rounds of ammunition, and a gun toting baby that comes out of a woman's panties. Let's not forget the nudity, cool poses, and the attack by giant Nak Nak's.

The best way to describe "Dead Leaves" is improvisational animation. There were many different animatiors, each given their own section or character to work on. Using the story as a framework, the animators (including Takeshi Koike and his brother) went hog wild, giving their own unique style to each segment. The same goes for the actors. According to the director's commentary, actors would go off book, especially veteran voice actor Kappei Yamaguchi. If other anime titles would go this route, I think that this could be the start of a new breed of ultra-hip and trendy anime.

I totally admire Production IG for it's willingness to take a chance. Even for the animators of "Kill Bill" it is very rare for anime companies to take a risk on something like this. Bringing cult superstar Hiroyuki Imaishi (FLCL) as character designer was one of many chancy moves that paid off. His designs are off the wall they become cool because they are so absurd. Using onomatopoeia to enhance the sound effects is something that few anime companies would ever do. The excessive amount of rapid fire cuts, and the use of multiple takes of the same scene are cheats that traditional anime titles get hammered on. Yet for "Dead Leaves" it works. This really is experimental anime at it's best.

The final piece to this puzzle is the awesome work of both the Japanese and English voice cast. Everyone, from Jaxon Lee as "Retro" to Nobuto Tobita as "Dick Drill" delivers their lines with the right amount of gusto and insanity. Amanda Winn Lee and Takako Honda are sexy as hell as uber-bitch Pandy. Kappei Yamaguchi will blow you away with his vocal exaltations. If it wasn't for this awesome ensemble cast, "Dead Leaves" would have not been as entertaining.

Manga did a phenomenal job on this title. "Dead Leaves" looks and sounds 100% better than even their awesome work on "R.O.D. If the rest of their titles go this way, Manga has a very bright future.

If your anime crap tube is full and your feeling constricted by your paradigm straight jacket, "Dead Leaves" is your salvation. From the hyper-kinetic, ultra-violent opening to the out of left field ending, you will never find anything as climatic as this movie. You must go and buy it. Now. Then all of you will become "Retro's Bitches"!

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