Roujin Z

Story: 9 (this is not shallow. this is not lack of development. this is parsimonious model of story) Art: 9 (i like the art, animation, and pale color...typical old anime style) Sound: 5 (not so engaging, but that's okay) Character: 7 Enjoyment: 9 Overall: 10 When coming to Mecha, often i see similar theme that was either wars between parties involved to get limited resources or protecting their home from evil darkness. This theme was okay for us at appropriate amount but human being cannot accept this amount when it exceed the inflection point where, after that point, the level of enjoyment becomes gradually decreasing. Unfortunately, back from the history ofanime to the recent anime years, this theme has exceed our inflection point. It is just telling the same theme and pattern but at different way, merely repeated re-interpretation. Roujin Z is the only anime that i've ever seen so far that disrupt the doomed cycle of similarity within mecha theme. It's about entirely different things that are unique, creative, original, all of which was meant to criticize the dark side of commercialism and Mediacare benefit for elderly but within Japanese context, while the other party (US research & development) gains in smart way. Typical respond for this political matter was arguably uninteresting for most 20s-age people but Roujin Z manages to cope this problem by involving typical fighting mecha with military, polished with its creativity and imagination to make the fighting to become unusual, and armed with great art and animation of course. This is the aspect that enough for me to give Roujin Z overall 10 ratings because that's the important thing when involving art. Another reason for my 10 ratings is that, although the concern of this anime is the lack of story stretching (we want more story development beyond this. we want more!!), it is quite reasonable to be humble for this aspect and forgive it unless there is incremental development from other authors. Moreover the premise of the arguably simple story is strong enough to tell the whole picture, making it unnecessary to be explained more further. That's why this anime stand on its own in less crowded space. Some might argue this anime was silly or dumb. And some might argue the story is too short and shallow. My counterargument for this: it is silly but not silly and watching anime shouldn't be so serious unless the anime itself forces us to be so serious. So that's why Roujin Z makes more fun to watch than deep political theme of mecha in Jin-Rou or Ghost in the SHell series.

Growing tired and frustrated with caring for the elderly simply because it's cost demanding and physically taxing. The government plans on putting to action "Project Z". They build a supercomputer dubbed Z-001, which is in the form of a bed that is linked to a persons brainwaves, and in theory provides all of the essential needs to care for them, which sounds like a great idea. However, it's devoid of the caring emotion that one needs from other people. Their first unwilling patient is Mr. Takazawa. The nurse caring for him named Haruko is uneasy about his situation, and she attempts to free him butthere is more to the bed itself than expected.-summary I'm not a rocket scientist and I never claimed to be one, but it doesn't take one to see the primary reason why this anime film is hailed as a classic. Can anyone guess why? Well, it's written by the creator of Akira himself Katsuhiro Otomo. Therefore, this film is great and it's a classic because he can do no wrong. Personally, I never bought into Akira's masterpiece status, and I don't buy into this films status as great anime either. I find it to be decent at best. It appears that Otomo was shooting for something thought provoking and he succeeded. Roujin Z definitely has a very interesting concept. I do know what it's like to help take care for an older person whom can't feed or wash themselves. It can definitely feel like a burden a lot of the time, and sometimes one could just wish that the person would go away. It's a very evil and selfish way of thinking but that's human nature. The film uses these feelings to establish an emotional link with the viewer, and at the same time it provides a solution to their problem. The people's reaction to the first live display of the bed's capabilities is proof. At first, the direction was pretty well done painting a picture of the selfish nature of people. Some of the folks in the audience were even uttering that they can now take a vacation. They completely ignored that the person still needs care from other human beings. Otomo had something serious and really deep going on here, but decided to turn it into a satire of Japan's feelings towards the elderly. I wish he could have been more serious with this one. I really didn't care for the direction that the film went, and I wasn't gripped by the plot at all. The film dabbles between comedy and action in the form of a silly cast, as well as uninteresting mecha fights. The only reason why my rating doesn't plummet any lower is because the mecha battle and wacky madness is actually necessary. They play into the themes and the heavy symbolism taking place with Takazawa. The substance present in the film can seriously have some viewers saying "Wow!", once everything finally comes together. I really didn't have a problem with the music, because it fits well with the comedy and action but there's nothing truly note worthy. This also goes for the voice acting which didn't stand out to me for neither language. The bit of comedy present certainly delivers through the animation and artwork. The facial expressions can be funny on certain occasions, and the action scenes have decent animation. The viewer gets to know several characters personalities somewhat but there isn't much for character development outside of Takazawa. Overall, I feel Roujin Z is worth a watch to the more serious anime fan. It's not something I'll be watching again and I don't consider it bad, but it could have done without the silliness. If you come into this searching for loads of blood and action, or even a dark angst ridden story shades of Akira. Then you'll definitely be disappointed. Highs: Realistic and interesting concept Lows: Typical characters, weak plot half way through

Roujin Z is a very imaginative and unique anime, unlike any other you've ever seen. If we take our elders from the loving hands of human beings and tug them under computer supervision, there are bound to be some unforeseen consequences. But I bet you never in your life could have imagined a computer nursing bed, turning into a self-upgrading mecha xD. The sole idea of it is incredibly hilarious! In this satirical tone Katsuhiro Otomo(director of Akira) sets out to discuss the ever incresing problematic of aging population, which is even more actual today, than it was 20 years ago, when Roujin Z came tolife. And he does so in a blatantly direct way, unlike many other anime that choose to address social problems in a more abstract way, under the cover of fantasy. Roujin Z raises an important discussion. It is true that the modern youth has to process incredible amount of information daily, engulfed in work, and are troubled by their bed-ridden elders. But, putting them in hands of a machine is inhumane - as the young caretaker Haruko puts it. If you are curious about how absurd can Otomo get in his funny allegories, I suggest watching the Stink Bomb segment of anime Memories. A lot of famous names have collaborated on this movie, including Satoshi Kon, as an art and scene director. It was the first anime he worked on too. In a perpetually self-upgrading mecha nursing bed, you will instantly recognize the absurd mozaic of elements, which Satoshi Kon later developed to it's maximum in Paprika, with his colorful fantasies. Roujin Z has aged incredibly well. Otomo must have had an exceptional insight into computers and internet, which in early 90s were only starting to seriously pick up. Even though at times his image doesn't completely fit with the technology of today, it's really close in general. You can find out more about Roujin Z on ANN: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2008-04-17/roujin-z .

The story is pretty entertaining and the Otomo vibe is definitely there. You can see Otomos trademark for example in the character of a guy pretty similar to the character of the colonel of Akira and in the animation too, which is pretty good and you feel familiar with it, even though Otomo being not credited for the animation I get the feeling that he did something in that department. The story is about a new invention, a super bed that is able to take care of the elders like a nurse can take and even more. The thing is that this new invention goes berserkas there is more to it than meets the eye. We also had a little of a Akira vibe in the story perfectly mixed with Shynia Matsumoto “Tetsuo the Iron Man”, in the department when [spoiler]the machine went berserk and started to assemble parts of other machines into its own body, that was pretty “Tetsuo” influenced, I wonder if it was intentional. The characters were all decent, except perhaps some moments of the lead girl when she was running around screaming “Ojii-chan!! Ojii-chan!!” And in the end “Oba-chan!! Oba-chan!!”[/spoiler] In terms of entertainment and overall feeling, I can relate this one with Otomos Stink Bomb. The little bits of well thought comedy, allied with political critic are very similar. All in all a nice watch for an hour and 20 minutes. Rate; 7.5/10

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