Mardock Scramble: The First Compression (Anime Review)

[Gigano]

[HEADING=1]Mardock Scramble: The First Compression[/HEADING]​

Basic Plot
Rune Balot was a girl down on her luck, with family matters having driven her to the streets to seek comfort in the arms of anyone who'd pay to hold her. As authorities put an end to that way of life, a new opportunity presented itself in the form of Shell; a casino manager with a mind as warped as his memory, who offered a new life if she'd become his lover and adhere to his rules. Things did not turn out well though, and Balot's dreams of human warmth were incinerated along with herself.

Brought back from the brink of death to testify against her would-be killer, a physically enhanced but mentally scarred Balot is forced to come to terms with a dark past that'll be used against her at the trial. And work alongside a gentle doctor and a golden shapeshifter on even just staying alive throughout it, in the face of the well connected Shell's monstrous assassins.

This time around, it's not the Combine who messed with the world​

Story and setting
Mardock Scramble: The First Compression (2010) is the first movie in a planned trilogy (with the two latter chapters licensed, but still to be released in the US), based on a series of light novels by author Tow Ubukata (who've previously been involved with Le Chevalier D'Eon). It's a dark cyberpunk take on the "Girls-with-Guns" staple in anime, with an initial heavy focus on the social and psychological problems of the main character Rune, as a result of her - to put it mildly - troubled past; and how little her physical empowerment does to abate them.

Being the first of a trilogy, both the first and middle parts of the movie are devoted to establishing characters and their relationships. Having been saved for the explicit purpose of bringing down Shell and the people behind him, and seeing little meaning in living for herself, Rune naturally bonds with Oeufcoque; a sapient shapeshifting tool that can take on most forms, his default one being that of a golden mouse (...the first of several questionable design choices). Through her interaction with him/it as a mentor and professional partner, Rune's fear of being damaged goods, her desperate longing to be "loved" yet inability to get her head around the concept, and even the potential that someone who've been through what she has might misuse her newfound power, is explored. It can drag on a bit, ultimately it's an investment that pays off in the third part when the action kicks in.

On the flip side, the city of Mardock seem to have the worst naming customs ever known to man. For all Rune's family might be, at least they gave her a half-decent name, whereas friend and foe alike run around with egg related names; Oeufcoque comes close to literally meaning boiled egg in French, the primary names of the main antagonists are Shell and Boiled respectively, and take a wild guess from what Dr. Easter derived his name. When it comes to symbolism, there's heavy, heavy handed, and clumsy, and even if I could actually figure out anything this bizarre choice was supposed to symbolize (beyond perhaps a shaky take on "rebirth", for which there would certainly be better motives), this would definitely fall in the latter category. It reeks of artsy weirdness for the sake of artsy weirdness itself, rather than adding anything to the story; And a ham-handedly executed attempt at that.

Yet the above is not particularly notable compared to the opponents faced in the last third of the movie, whose ridiculous ? and all too literal ? names are at least matched by an equally ridiculous appearance though. I understand why they might have been designed so it's not possible to cross any moral event horizon in regard to them, but their take on transhumanism is so ludicrously repulsive and bizarre that it ends up detracting from the otherwise serious themes the movie is trying to push, turning it into more of a freakshow.

Whatever happened to pink elephants?​

Artwork & Sound
The setting of the movie is one of traditional cyperpunk, and the artwork ensures that it's a very well realized one. Visually, the environments range from captivating to good, and the visuals overall has an appropriately ?rough? feeling to it that goes well with the story. Most character designs are suitable for the setting, although as discussed below some do cross the line into surrealist freakshow territory. The animation is smooth, and action scenes have a suitable flow in them, although like in most other anime series, the budget constraint measure of pandering over still images is occasionally used in other kinds of scenes.

The voice acting is overall quite satisfactory, featuring experienced voice actress as Megumi Hayashibara for the lead, as well as stars such as NORIO WAKAMOTO in a supporting role. It was rather jarring to catch the voice actor of Satoko Houjou from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni using the exact same voice for a freakish assassin, and one of the other freakish assassins had an absurdly high-pitched voice some might find insufferable (...though probably not more so than other aspects of the character design). The soundtrack is excellent at setting and maintaining the mood. Pieces used for action scenes are strong, as are more ominous pieces like You Should not know it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FStVvrpuIS8] or ones used for calmer moments such as At the Bar [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGIpTCxTpIQ&list=PLAD4A0EAF0CA12566]. While not quite as strong as the visuals, there's overall little to fault with the aural presentation.

Also note that the movie can get rather graphical, both in regard to the violence of its action scenes, and the flashbacks to Rune's abusive past. Although as the American release currently available have had 4 minutes cut away in censorship, it should be much easier to stomach (a Director's Cut version will be released to western markets shortly, although there's no word on how much content it'll restore).

If only her aim was as true in life...​

Final thoughts:

In the end, Mardock Scramble could be described as the cyberpunk equivalent to a severely ramped up version of Gunslinger Girl [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/gunslinger-girl/bluray-season-1], or a slightly toned down version of Kite [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/kite]. Another fitting frame of reference - assuming it hadn't been virtually unknown - would be the Japanese visual novel Kikokugai: The Cyber Slayer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kikokugai:_The_Cyber_Slayer], with whom it shares quite a bit of its "feel" (...even if their messages seem to be exact opposites).

The setting and production values are good, and while its first half is pretty slow, it does succeed in establish the characters and their relationships well enough for a trilogy, and even features a bit of well executed court drama with a rare focus on the victim's experience. And once it does gets to its action scenes it really steps up its game, with engaging fights aplenty.

Some of its design choices are quite questionable though, to the point that it can actually detract from both story and setting. And since it's the first part of a trilogy it ends on the obligatory cliffhanger ending that'll postpone some of the pay-off to somewhere in the future.

Overall, I'd say that while it's no classic, the positive does heavily outweigh the negative, and that it's hence worth checking out.

[HEADING=1]Final Score: 8,0/10[/HEADING]

Spoiler: I've also rambled on:

Anime:
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.187959-Higurashi-no-Naku-Koro-ni-Kai-When-they-Cry-2-user-review#5770913]
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira OVA 1 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.302761-Anime-Review-Higurashi-no-Naku-Koro-ni-Kira-OVA-1]

Games:
Assassin's Creed 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.158316-Review-of-Assassins-Creed-2#3940624]
Steins;Gate [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.315473-Steins-Gate-PC-Game-Review]
Swan Song [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.301706-Visual-Novel-review-Swan-Song#12038332]

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

I've just seen it and I enjoyed it a lot. The only thing I didn't like was the ending, I know there's a sequel so it doesn't bother me as much, and the rest of the film overall was great. I wasn't something like Kite: Liberator where there might / might not be a sequel, but either way the anime was still crap.

 

[Deskimus Prime]

This looks kind of cool, and also reminded me I have it sitting around unwatched on my hard drive.

I think I'll take a look. "Like Kikokugai" is a pretty good recommendation in my book. Although Satoko as an assassin is something I can't even wrap my head around.

Great review. I wonder if the "Scramble" has anything to do with the retarded egg-theme?

 

[Gigano]

]I've just seen it and I enjoyed it a lot. The only thing I didn't like was the ending, I know there's a sequel so it doesn't bother me as much, and the rest of the film overall was great. I wasn't something like Kite: Liberator where there might / might not be a sequel, but either way the anime was still crap.

It does end rather abruptly after really kicking into high gear in the third part, but I suppose it can't be much different when it's planned as a trilogy. It'll probably be a while until the sequel is released here though, as apparently it hasn't even hit BD/DVD in Japan yet.

Never did see Liberator, since the consensus on it seemed to be that it's basicly the same as Kite was, only not nearly as good.

This looks kind of cool, and also reminded me I have it sitting around unwatched on my hard drive.

I think I'll take a look. "Like Kikokugai" is a pretty good recommendation in my book. Although Satoko as an assassin is something I can't even wrap my head around.

It's not quite up there with Kikokugai (then again, neither is much else), but one gets the sense they could easily take place in the same setting, the artwork is reminiscent of it, and some of the themes like questionable transhumanism and messed up sexuality overlap quite a bit. No martial arts contests or sisterly headhunting though.

I wonder if the "Scramble" has anything to do with the retarded egg-theme?

Scramble refers to the name of the procedure Balot undergoes, though it doubtlessly doubles as yet another peculiar egg reference. Much like the double meaning to the tough detective having Boiled as his surname; Again, it's really not subtle in this department.