Publisher: Funimation (USA)Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 94 minutes
Production Date: 2006
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
Story Outline: Several hundred years after a world wide disaster which wiped out civilisation as we know it, humanity has regressed to feudal like state. The forest and its aggressive trees are the dominant force on the planet. A young boy called Agito and his friend attempt to take water from the well in the forest which is forbidden. They are caught and made to do salvage work, taking items from the lost civilisation that existed before the apocalypse. Agito eventually comes across a machine which accidentally activates. Inside is a girl about his age. She is called Toola and was put into stasis centuries ago by her father as the apocalyptic disaster occurred. Toola is just beginning to come to terms with what has happened to here in the town where Agito lives, Neutral City, but she is abducted by a man named Shanuk from a nearby country named Ranga. Shanuk, like Toola, is from the same time period and was revived from stasis a few years ago. He wants to take control of the Earth back and defeat the forest. Agito is determined to get Toola back, but decides to become an enhanced human to do so. A process that will eventually turn him into a plant and finally to death, a process which his father is suffering.
Mini Review: Well first up, the story is absolutely absurd. It starts off with the images of the destruction of the world where we are asked to believe that an experiment on the moon involving plants caused the apocalypse. It’s just too hard to swallow. Sorry, a bunch a dragon like plants made their way through space to Earth, entered the atmosphere without a heat shield and defeated civilisation? Oh come on now. We also have the three sides, the forest, the war like Ranga and (snicker) Neutral City. God, they called it Neutral City for flip’s sake. It’s like a terribly unsubtle early 21st century “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” with all the soul and warmth removed and lots of action sequences added. None of the characters are terribly interesting and plot is rather dull. It’s almost like a Hollywood version of anime. Boxes are ticked, everything is resolved nicely, blah, blah, blah… Compare this film to Gonzo’s other feature of the same year “Brave Story”. Although rather flawed, at least it was really exciting, fun and had a resolution that wasn’t a cliché. Pity that film hasn’t had a decent release outside Japan (though it’s been released in English in UK, Australia and Hong Kong, albeit to a rather lukewarm response). Look, on the plus side “Origin” looks fantastic and if you switch off our brain, the story is passable. I think expected too much from this film. It’s OK, not great. 6 out of 10.
Remaining Backlog: 21 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).
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