This is a series that as it appears is a cross between the gritty and neon atmospheric tones of Blade Runner but manages include a supernatural element to it to have one genre balancing over the other, interestingly it works rather well. Silent Mobius is based off a 12 volume manga by Kia Asamiya (Martian Successor Nadesico, Kamen Rider Fourze, Detonator Orgun & Hades Project Zeorymer) which centres around a dedicated group of all-female police officers with protecting Tokyo from an invasion of extra-dimensional creatures called Lucifer Hawks. The series itself has not only these 2 films but a standalone TV series that followed from there, however the movies themselves are something to hold in high regard in terms of its budget and how well held together the story is.
The first film centres on Katsumi Liqueur, an American-born woman of Japanese descent who has travelled to Tokyo to visit her sick mother Fukuya Liqueur. Whilst that happens Katsumi finds out about her connection with the Lucifer Hawks from a slight run-in at the beginning of the film and finds out that they’re after her once they realize that her parents waged war with them years ago. With Katsumi not wanting anything to do with the supernatural she tries to block it out as much as possible but it still finds a way to reel her back into planned future with the unfortunate loss of her mother.
The second film continues on from the first film with Katsumi struggling to grips with the loss of her mother and not being able to leave Tokyo, after more unfortunate run-ins with the Lucifer Hawks it becomes difficult for Katsumi to adapt. After meeting up with another member of the AMP Yuki Saiko, Katsumi discovers more about her past and finally begins to realize her true destiny and joins up with the AMP to fight the oncoming attacks of the Lucifer Hawks.
What’s interesting about this is that as all this is going on is we are frequently cut to a present day events following Katsumi Liqueur on her first mission against one of the Hawks, so the bulk of the main story in these films are told mostly in flashback.
The movies (whilst in a few places seem uneven in regards to the forced motivation of the characters and the pressure of having to accept one person’s status that their life is not what it appears) are rather enjoyable to watch, in terms of the animation, characters, voice acting and clever collaborative mix with the traditional Cyberpunk themes going hand in hand with mysticism and supernatural powers. The mood and the atmosphere are a heavy input in these movies when in certain scenes the story unravels into the background of the main character and when she connects with the other members of the AMP are worth sitting through.
Only negative point these movies have is that everything feels slightly rushed. The introduction of the characters and trying to understand who each one of them are and what makes them so special, each character is specifically laid not by development but what power each one has.
- Kiddy Phenil: A tough, uncompromising half-human cyborg with a bad attitude.
- Nami Yamigumo: A Shinto priestess with the power of charms and spells.
- Yuki Saiko: She runs a small time coffee shop in her spare time.
- Lebia Maverick: An augmented visionary that can hack into computer systems.
- Rally Cheyenne: The Leader of the AMP.
To be fair however the character portrayals and how each one presents itself is taken more seriously than in the TV series so there is something lost but gained somewhat from the characters in the movies.
Animation side of things, just about everything of this is a joy to watch. The beautiful character designs and hand drawn backgrounds and set pieces are something to really sit through and enjoy, the way each character moves rather smoothly and how their body language is handled here shows the effort and time the production of these movies went through to churn out something this good, which explains why the budget of these movies is at an all-time high when it has the expenses to put quality in hand with the story to give these movies something to look back on.
From an Audio perspective in terms of the music and voice acting, the music is spot on perfect. A fully fleshed out score by Karou Wada (3x3 Eyes, Ninja Scroll, Samurai 7, Casshern Sins) goes all over the place and plays at the right moments. From being intense and powerful in the action scenes to being emotional and sad and very compelling in the quiet and sombre scenes where the character interaction takes a hold of these movies. The voice acting is spot on for several reasons, another dub done by the Ocean Group where each actor gives in stunning performances. Nicole Oliver plays Katsumi Liqueur very well to add to her character some strength and at the same time fearfulness in trying to come to grips with who she is and where the story will take her. Ocean Regulars like Lisa Ann Beley, Ellen Kennedy, Trevor Devall & John Novak play their roles with some form of believability and calibre that make these characters something worth getting invested in.
Two mentions in particular in terms of the voice acting in the dub are Janyse Jaud (Fukuya Liqueur) & Kelly Sheridan (Yuki Saiko). Both of them play their characters flawlessly, Janyse Jaud in particular when she plays Fukuya with a rather warm and wise representation to give her daughter a good push and at the same time not forget that she is a parent that will sadly have her life taken over the course of the first film. With Kelly Sheridan she does an amazing performance as Yuki, being the one person in these movies that reaches out to Katsumi not as an imposing and aggressive threat but offers her companionship and someone to really care for a great deal more. Especially when in dramatic scenes where you hear Kelly Sheridan break down you can feel that emotional stability in her voice that shows she is putting nothing but thought or effort into her character.
Overall these movies are a solid watch, probably the one part of this series I genuinely enjoyed. The animation is amazing, the characters interesting, the music and English dub flawlessly represented, so much apart from the minor flaw regarding the character development and the running time make these movies worth going back and re watching half a dozen times to see what makes them work.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
Sami Sadek is a lifelong Transformers and Anime fan, and can often be found propping up bars or appearing in the background of Auto Assembly vids. He has also talks on Youtube, Tumbls on Tumblr, Tweets on Twitter, doodles on Deviantart and is a regular co-host on this very site's Cyberritz. He has never had a swordfight atop a church whilst a crow watches. Honest.
