KAKURENBO
And you thought paintball was hard-core
Review by: Craig "King of the Playground" Norris
Length: 30 minute movie
Genre: Mystery, horror
Watched: All, dubbed
Props once again are in order for our friends at Adult Swim. I had never even heard of this anime before, and they went out and got it. Not only that, they wisely decided to premier it the weekend before Halloween, when a good scare is appreciated. And I, for one, welcomed the change of pace. Because, frankly, Inu Yasha is boring me to tears.
Plot synopsis: In an abandoned part of the city, there is a game children play called Otokoyo. It is basically a game of hide-and-seek, but this game has a disturbing twist: children have disappeared while playing it. The latest to disappear is a girl named Sorincha, and her brother Hikura enters the game of Otokoyo in an attempt to find her. However, nothing can prepare him for what he is about to encounter when he enters the abandoned city.
Artwork: The atmosphere was very dark, so it was difficult for me to get a definitive handle on the artwork. All I could discern was that it was predominantly CG, and fairly well done CG at that. The element of character designs was circumvented by having each kid wear a fox mask, a necessity for participating in Otokoyo. However, easily the most noticeable aspect of the animation was the ambience. The dark city filled with alleyways and a general sense of menace was rendered masterfully. I wouldn't want to walk around there in the daylight, let alone after sunset. The animation mimics the mood of the story: dark and foreboding.
Music: Not much to speak of. All of the music (if you can call it that) is just a mish-mash of screeches and drum beats, used solely for mood setting purposes. Thankfully, it avoids using these tracks more than once, thus avoiding the pitfalls of a theme song (think the Jaws or the Halloween movies). Regardless of what it wisely steers clear of, the music is hardly something I would go out of my way to listen to. But the mood works best with the sparse soundtrack, so all is well.
Characters: Character development is at about zero. Understandable, considering the movie is only a half-hour long, and the main focus seems to be invoking terror. The main character, Hikura, only entered the game because he wanted to find his sister. He exhibits an adequate amount of fear for someone his age, but his desire to find his sister makes him push forward. His best friend, Yaimao, has accompanied him, and sometimes seems more dedicated to finding Sorincha than Hikura is. As for the other kids who play, it's a pretty standard bunch, and they aren't given much screen time. The most mysterious character is a young girl who seems to know her way around the game. Hikura suspects that it may be Sorincha, but she acts very peculiarly. The characters are paper-thin, but did the teenagers in Friday the 13th get developed to any great degree? And look at the longevity of that franchise. For better or for worse, character development is not paramount in a horror film.
Plot: What little back story there is is given in the first couple minutes of the movie by exposition. The rest plays out to be a long chase scene until the end, when the true nature of Otokoyo is revealed in a climax that is somewhat shocking, but nothing you'll lose sleep over if you've seen even the first half of Fullmetal Alchemist. There's really only about five minutes of plot, with the rest there to fill some time in the creepiest way possible.
CHICKS!: None. There are eight kids focused on, and seven of them are boys. The eighth is underage and hides her face behind a fox mask. Plus, she's a little spooky. There are no promiscuous teenagers engaging in underage drinking, the consumption of controlled dangerous substances, or premarital sexual relations, like all good horror movies should. Just as well, I suppose, since cute girls and horror are often the seeds of tentacle rape.
Overall: As much as I like fanservice-y romantic comedies, even I love a good scare, and this movie delivered, without being unnecessarily, graphically shocking. This is the kind of movie to watch late at night with all the lights turned off, and preferably with a cute girlfriend to hold you when she gets scared. Even for those without that luxury (like me), this is still a satisfyingly creepy way to spend half an hour.
IN A NUTSHELL
+ A good scare
+ Mood is set perfectly
+ Effectively short
- No character development
- Soundtrack? What soundtrack?
Rating: 8/10
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