"Full body armor" - the Jin-Roh, although wearing a helmet covering the entire head, were truly only protected by their body armor to the front; a point explicitly stated in the dialog. A great deal of their training was learning how each man must cover the exposed parts of the others. This, to my mind, is the linchpin of the film. It motivates every character in the Jin-Roh not just physically, but politically and emotionally, and only at the end do we see how complete the pack is integrated on all of these levels.
There's a bit more psychology there, too. You're only protected from the front, meaning your armor only protects you if you're facing towards your enemy. You don't even have to preach it for a force so-armored to ingrain the knowledge subconsciously. No retreat, no running away. Always on the offensive.
Sounds exactly like the Sontarens in Doctor Who. They're all genetically engineered clones, with virtually no physical weaknesses - save for the feeding port on the backs of their necks. They can literally never show their backs to the enemy.
@@Pinned2Five in the defensive theory yes however the complete themes of the film cover it as the members all being of one pack always watching their backs, working together and fighting together, much like a wolf pack
Another part of what makes Jin-Roh so amazing is that there is the same amount of care put in to animating someone washing their hands or lighting a cigarette as there is in the action scenes. Jacob Geller talks about this really well in The Intimacy of Everyday Objects, an essay he did about Half Life Alyx. These seemingly mundane moments are what grounds the work and draws us in further. Not many people can relate to shooting an MG42, but everyone has washed their hands.
I remember a scene involving the attention to detail and care put into the animation, where Fusei is looking at a mirror for 3-5 seconds. I may be wrong, but his reflection seemed to look somewhat like a wolf in the mirror.
The very human scenes in this film reminds me also of other works like Evangelion. Where these moments in time of quiet contemplation or mundane actions have just as much of an impact as the action scenes themselves. They carry the mood and ground you as the watcher into the reality of the characters. These are real people doing real things...
@@SchmuckMartin I think Evangelion is a little bit less so than this one when it comes to characters doing mundane things and making it grounded. I watched whole series recently
@@SchmuckMartin like scenes where they take some time to simply show Shinji with his music player, ear buds in, laying down. My fave of these is in End of Eva, where the song counter reads 00:00:00 and battery indicator shows empty...
It's a bit maddening that Jin-Roh isn't as appreciated as other dystopian works like Akira and GITS, but being in the same league as those titans alone is a testament to how fantastic it is. Thanks for covering it.
I think Oshii didn't show the armored troopers too much for the same reason Ridley Scott didn't show the Alien too much in the first Alien movie : the more you see a monster, the less impactful it gets with every minute. And it means that when you get to the end of the movie, where there should be a huge emotional payoff for the audience, you're already numb to the monster's appearance. With Jin Roh, you want to see the troopers kicking ass, but you're only given a sample early on, and then a little training, and then nothing under the final battle. That makes it much more impactful. Besides, it's not really the uniform that is the real monster in all this. It's the man inside, and that's why Fuze isn't wearing his helmet in the final scene. At least that's how I read it.
@@TheNefastorhilarious how low functionings like yourself get triggered by a username. The armor is not the same thing as the Alien. Only being used for one scene at the beginning of a movie is not impactful. Sorry that you couldn’t handle such a simple counter
I knew nothing about Jin-Roh going into it, it was one of those I just watched because it was on a streaming service somewhere. The first time I saw it I was just mesmerized the whole time, and with every subsequent rewatch I notice something different. It really is one of those that I gravitate to every couple years and have to sit down for again. The ending scene gets me every time, and it hurts more and more no matter how many times I watch it.
I love this movie. Anime like this just doesn't get produced anymore. This sits up there with Oshii's other works like Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor 2 as the pinnacle of hand drawn animation with very little digital processing. The artwork and animation is exquisite and the attention to detail is second to none. I love it when anime approaches a subject matter realistically. This movie could have easily been done in live action, nothing fanciful or over the top here.
Oshii had little to do with the making of Jin-Roh. He birthed the conceptual nitty gritty of the Red Spectacles, but Jin-Roh was ultimately the work and vision of one man and one man only; Hiroyuki Okiura. Give credit where it's due, i beg of thee
@@FortuneZer0 For real yo. Just like Oshii's other worksI rewatched it numerous times (and will again). Too much to say for me lol. I could babble forever.
Just watched this film with my 15yo son and, in the middle of it, he just marveled about the animation and how it was *so, goddamn much better than modern anime* and I couldn't do anything but agree. It's a masterpiece.
Every so often I watch Jin Roh. I wish Okiura would direct another movie in the Jin roh saga. And definetely cover the Red spectacles. It would make an awesome video. More people need to watch this movie.
I just wish he would director more in general. I loved Jin-Roh & My Letter to Momo. The man is one of the most phenomenal animators alive, it's a shame he is not as well known.
I remember watching this many years ago with people who don't watch anime. They were impressed by the depth and complexity of this film. As for me, I had to watch it many times just to get a sliver of understanding. Such pleasure peeling this many layered onion of a masterpiece.
I did not know it was part of a series. I remember i first saw it after asking around the net for good anime movies. It was recomended togeder with Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Satoshi Kon movies.
Which are probably the best possible recommendations. Add to this patlabor 2 and angel's egg and those are pretty much the anime movies I'd take with me to a desert Island
Thank you so much not just for covering this, but for acknowledging and giving due credit to the live-action films that preceded it as well. I remember being fascinated by Jin-Roh when I first saw it, especially in how it showed fascistic systems discarding their own people when they’re no longer needed and those individuals trying to reckon with their own identities afterwards. I dove deep into what little English material their was and even managed to snag DVDs from the short print runs The Red Spectacles and Stray Dog received. Calling The Red Spectacles a beautifully shot fever dream is the best description for that film. It still sticks with me 15 years later with its dark comedic descent into paranoia and senseless violence over a battle that is long over. The image of the man (or memory, I guess, depending on how you interpret the scene) in Protect Gear in the rain is burned into my brain. We talk a lot about how bad live-action adaptations of anime usually are (I can count the good ones I’ve seen on one hand, and I’ve seen an unhealthy number of them), but it’s great seeing older films with ties to anime that otherwise get overlooked getting the recognition they deserve, even if it’s only for a moment.
The Red Spectacles sticks with me as well. It is its special way of showing fascism that gets me every time. The dehumanization. The red riding hood The shot of the Armor in the rain Damn I think I never loved a movie as much as this one
Seriously one of my most favorite movies. I like it even more than 1995 Ghost in the Shell which is saying a lot. The subtlety of just how miserable and bleak the world is in Jin Roh is absolutely perfect. Down to the obvious facist aesthetics and the insurgents basically fighting a total losing battle. It stands out as one of the best anime films ever made.
What a beautiful and fitting video. A co-worker gave this movie to me almost twenty years ago, and I've watched it dozens of times. I didn't even know there was more to the story, but it's still one of my absolute favorite animes, and a testament to the power of the genre and medium.
Really a masterpiece. I saw it a long long time ago, when I was quiet new to anime and was immediately impressed by its depth and beauty. It has been in my favourite anime collection ever since.
I had been watching anime for a little while, but I wasn't really that into it. Most of what could be rented was stereotypical giant fighting robots and people flying through the air shooting fireballs out of their hands. I liked the idea of anime, but most of what I was seeing was too goofy for me to really get into it. The I saw this and Perfect Blue. It was like a revelation, anime that can be taken seriously, and I was hooked.
a silent viewer, taking up 5 seconds in the spotlight to thank you for this video. I watched the movie when I was much younger along with Akira and Gits in an attempt to catch up on animated culture, and this movie simply stumped me. I was left speechless ; I still am, frankly. It is a truly masterful experience and this video really encapsulated the reasons why the movie still stuck with me to this day. Cheers, and good luck for the rest. Really enjoying the MOTHER docs !
This is the movie that got me into animated films in the first place, hell I got my family to watch it with me and have since gotten friends and more to as well. No one so far has disliked it, in fact almost all of them have a deep appreciation and interest in it.
@@Lucivius27 I did and honestly… eh? It’s good to be sure but the point of the beast within man is lost with the humane ending in my opinion. Not that it’s bad don’t misunderstand I just prefer the one ending to the other.
Jin-roh is the most effective somber dystopian movie ever. It takes its time but your glued to it the whole time. I don't know why but it reminded me of action-packed 1984 considering how it ends.
i had seen a GIF of the tunnel scene and just decided to watch the movie on a whim with no other info other than i knew there was a really well animated scene with a lot of gore. was surprised by how good the plot was and blown away by the animation and cinematography, has since become one of my all time favorite movies.
I love film/shows like Jin-Roh, Perfect Blue and Monster(Naoki Urasawa) because they really show the beauty and horrors of human emotions and also because they're psychological horrors.
Anything that deals with helmets and gasmask runs the risk of emulating Jinroh style alongside gundam style. Even Fallout New Vegas fell to it with the ranger armor and the hellghast go full force with it. It's not an iconic look, as it's more one that sends the message of purpose built warfare. Something distinctly fascistic, where most forms of war culture before had a great deal of ceremony. This kind of visage does away with all of it, and just screams death and gunpowder.
Amazing video as always Joe, you hit the nail on the head about the anime films tone and the true meaning behind Wolf Brigade as a whole, it's definitely a film I think all anime fans should get around to watching at some point. It touches on very delicate topics but in a very sincere way!
As much as i love Jin Roh, its cinematography, its ost, mamoru oshii, its manga, etc, just please allow me to extend my gratitude of your love-letter worthy narrative. Thank you for your content.
Never forget the day i got this vhs as a gift when i was a tiny kid and it became one of my fave tapes for a while, the amount of detail and motion in the animation always captivated me.
Even as an American with no interest in anime until recent years and who was unfamiliar with the wider series that Jin-Roh is a part of, I loved it. Had me close to tears by the end. The artwork is violent and beautiful at the same time. This, along with Akira and Ghost in the Shell, is the right formula of dark adult anime that I want to see more of.
I just love everything you're doing, Joe. This is such a good channel. And I fully agree here - even as a massive GitS fan, it took me way too long to check out Jin Roh, but boy am I glad I did.
This anime is an art of perfection. It's story. It's visual. It's music. It's action. It's realism. It's tragic romance. All in Perfection. Oh... How I missed the 90's animes
An all time favourite anime movie masterwork, and I've tracked down and gotten hold of most of the Kerberos Saga with dogged (wolf like ?) persistence, and enjoy all of it very much - alternate history SF at its very finest. Wonderful review, of a work of pure excellence, thank you !
Wow, I had no idea that there's more to Jin-Roh than the movie that I've watched and loved half a dozen times. Now, I have to go and appreciate it again with new information...
As a fellow long-term fan of Jin-Roh, I had no idea it was connected to a longer series. I like to periodically watch this film to see what other messages come to the surface. Watching it in 2021 certainly hit harder in light of the US political climate and civil unrest. Thanks for making this video!
I've always been intrigued by this piece of art and today I found it on a streaming service and stopped everything to finally watch it. I wouldn't change a thing about how this all unfolded, it's beautiful.
I've adored Jin-Roh since I was in middle school and now at 25 years old I'm just learning that its part of a much larger franchise. I think that itself is a testament to the strength it has on its own as a film
I have watched and rewatched these films for 10 years, and i must say, the human emotion, and depth of feeling outweigh every live action film ive ever seen, and that, is a fact.
Gotta admit, I have seen Jin-Roh and thoroughly enjoyed it but I had literally no idea it was part of a larger series. I think I may have accidentally proven your point about how it stands alone by virtue of my ignorance. I have some stuff to check out now haha. Amazing video as always.
Because of you; I watched this tonight , And it is not within my top five or 10 favorite anime films of all time, The cinematography the animation the storyline how it hits you in the gut, One of the best films I've ever seen, thank you for putting this up The thing about anime is it's just like feature films, This was one of the best films I've ever seen And I immediately bought it on Blu-ray. Thank you 👊🔥 I've been dealing with some serious depression something like this makes me want to keep moving forward instead of just shut out the lights.
This is such a good video. Jin-Roh is an incredible film that blew me away when I first watched it just yesterday. Beautifully animated, haunting storytelling.
"absolute power corrupts absolutely" is just a fancy way of saying "choose your political leaders wisely, meaning pick people who care, not people who just because they can"
Wow I never heard about this! Mamoru Oshii did wonders to Ghost in the Shell. One of the only couple instances of an anime adaptation being far superior to the manga
IMO what makes the GITS franchise so good is that it is not at all an adaptation of the manga but it is instead a more refined continuation of the themes, characters and world that the manga portrays. Personally i always felt that the manga was more a speculative piece consisting of 50% doodles by a former hentai-artist, 50% technological speculation and 50% metaphysical pseudo babble tallying up to a whopping 150% of a hot mess that is not really intelligible as a coherent story at all, but at the same time containing some of the most interesting world-building i have encountered in a manga.
Gotta say, Oshii-sans movie "Avalon" was different. Interesting, with a mind-wretching twist. The kind of movie you'd want to talk about with someone. 'Sky Crawlers' on the other hand is among my favourite anime of all times. The character design (especially the eyes) is something one has to get used to. But the action scenes, the story, the overall tone, setting and storytelling... i loved that.
@@Sipeari95 A lot of Shirow's stuff unfortunately ends up that way. It feels like many of his stories are more like playgrounds for him to build up incredible worlds and character/machine ideas, but they often come at the expense of the narrative. His attention to detail in both art and worldbuilding is absolutely astounding! I would say it even rivals Otomo's work. But it feels like he gets too wrapped up in those details.
I'm guilty of making those "I'm going to Google this to understand where I should start decisions" thanks for calling me out before I did for this one.
I have no idea what first made me watch this movie all those years ago but I am glad I did. I will admit that I like Illang as well despite it's flaws, then again I didn't judge it as a live action Jin-Roh but simply as an action movie and in that regard I feel it is a good one. My favorite line actually came in the English dub of Jin-Roh, "We are not men disguised as wolfs, but wolfs disguised as men." To this day I can't say why that is stuck in my head so firmly.
Well done, Jin-Roh has a pretty decent English dub as well for those who can't stand subtitles. I'm glad to see that it is actually getting some well deserved attention in the west because it is indeed a masterpiece. Great video, you gained a sub
I've been meaning to watch Jin-Roh for some time and after seeing this video on my home page I opened it in a new tab then went and watched it while keeping this here. Came back after the movie only to find out that this is a series. I had no idea I just figured it was just a classic that stood alone.
I've been watching anime for 8-9 years not counting DBZ in my childhood, and I've never heard of this anime/ movie. Even so, I'm happy I clicked on this video and watched the movie because of it, because the movie is very very good. Thank you.
Jin-Rho was one of the first anime movies I ever saw. I grew up loving darker, heavier stories and I can safely with series like Dark Souls this movie fits so perfectly in that love, and am glad to learn there is more to this universe.
This movie haunted me for a while after having seen it. It is very tragic and has a lot to say about dehumanizing people. And everyone around the main character simply makes him the sole wrongdoer. Where stoicism is bought with blackmail. Also the detail in every scene needs to be commended. The craftsmanship is top notch. Great film.
Jin-oh is just another example of 80s or 90s Japanese anime warning us of the problems we would face in the US decades later as a consequence of power consolidation from corporatism and/or increasing governmental overreach.
Mercy is to end things quickly, compassion is to risk the same pain again. There is no greater oppression than to become the oppressor. Justice cannot exist without freedom.
I find your narration and explanation of this wonderful medium of art to be almost entrancing. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. You've earned yourself a subscriber.
I didn't fully understand the movie, what was happening, or why. But my God did it feel powerful, beautiful. It's an amazing film just for the animation, atmosphere, and anesthetics alone.
i think this is set in the wolfenstein universe, explaining how japan is still its own country but instead a puppet to Germany, using similar equipment to the Wolfenstein soldier except more advanced, bulkier and basically just power armor but with the wehrmacht aesthetic.
this is exactly the type of thing i'm into, i can't believe i've never heard of it! it looks brilliant and i'll absolutely be checking it out. cheers joe, beautiful video as always
The ending is just perfect. When you finally get a sense who you should root for and a happy ending is finally on the horizon it's snached away because a wolf can never be man. Morally grey and "bad" endings are always more intriguing than happy ones.
@@sakkoyaba4482 happy endings give you exactly what you want and you quickly stop thinking about the story but with a tragedy you continue thinking about the story and about what could have been, it's more intriguing.
@@Narko_Marko what kinda disney movie are you watching that happy endings giving you nothing to think about also isnt it also necessary to see the journey up till that point??
@@sakkoyaba4482 Well I can't really think of a movie or show with a happy ending that i thought about for several days or weeks, and i can think of a ton of tragedies that i still think about from time to time. For example we have cyberpunk 2077, in the game you have a bunch of happy endings where you kill the big baddie and live to fight another day, never thought about it after finishing it. Then you have the edgerunners anime which is one of the most tragic stories I've experienced and I still think about it to this day. About the characters motivations and how they brought them to their downfall, who sacrificed what and for whom, who promised what and failed to fulfill it. A lot of sacrifices were made, some paid off, some didn't, you get to think about it and figure out if the characters did the right thing or not. In a happy ending you are explicitly told they did the right thing and everything paid out in the end. You can have a tragic story with a happy ending but it's still a tragedy because the ending usually can't tie up all loose ends and there are still things and people that are gone. It depends on the theme of the story. There are stories I wish had a tragic ending but there are none I wish had a happy one.
I just stumbled upon this movie one day while studying (I don't really watch much anime). I never new it was part of a lager series, but it had this feel of being bigger than just the movie that lent it such an immersive atmosphere. Plus, the machine gun guys were kinda sick.
"Full body armor" - the Jin-Roh, although wearing a helmet covering the entire head, were truly only protected by their body armor to the front; a point explicitly stated in the dialog. A great deal of their training was learning how each man must cover the exposed parts of the others. This, to my mind, is the linchpin of the film. It motivates every character in the Jin-Roh not just physically, but politically and emotionally, and only at the end do we see how complete the pack is integrated on all of these levels.
There's a bit more psychology there, too. You're only protected from the front, meaning your armor only protects you if you're facing towards your enemy. You don't even have to preach it for a force so-armored to ingrain the knowledge subconsciously. No retreat, no running away. Always on the offensive.
Sounds exactly like the Sontarens in Doctor Who. They're all genetically engineered clones, with virtually no physical weaknesses - save for the feeding port on the backs of their necks. They can literally never show their backs to the enemy.
Doesn't that make it more like a Phalanx than a wolf pack?
@@Pinned2Five in the defensive theory yes however the complete themes of the film cover it as the members all being of one pack always watching their backs, working together and fighting together, much like a wolf pack
Thank you for making effort of concentrating analysis! To all commenters~
Another part of what makes Jin-Roh so amazing is that there is the same amount of care put in to animating someone washing their hands or lighting a cigarette as there is in the action scenes.
Jacob Geller talks about this really well in The Intimacy of Everyday Objects, an essay he did about Half Life Alyx. These seemingly mundane moments are what grounds the work and draws us in further. Not many people can relate to shooting an MG42, but everyone has washed their hands.
I remember a scene involving the attention to detail and care put into the animation, where Fusei is looking at a mirror for 3-5 seconds. I may be wrong, but his reflection seemed to look somewhat like a wolf in the mirror.
The very human scenes in this film reminds me also of other works like Evangelion. Where these moments in time of quiet contemplation or mundane actions have just as much of an impact as the action scenes themselves. They carry the mood and ground you as the watcher into the reality of the characters. These are real people doing real things...
@@SchmuckMartin I think Evangelion is a little bit less so than this one when it comes to characters doing mundane things and making it grounded. I watched whole series recently
@@SchmuckMartin like scenes where they take some time to simply show Shinji with his music player, ear buds in, laying down. My fave of these is in End of Eva, where the song counter reads 00:00:00 and battery indicator shows empty...
@@SchmuckMartin
Imagine deciding to shit up a perfectly decent thread about something good by bringing up EVA.
It's a bit maddening that Jin-Roh isn't as appreciated as other dystopian works like Akira and GITS, but being in the same league as those titans alone is a testament to how fantastic it is. Thanks for covering it.
Interesting, I don't think Jin Roh is cyberpunk. What about it puts it in that category for you?
@@themeatpopsicle My mistake, should've been dystopian. Thanks for pointing it out!
@@bepis1791 ahh that makes MUCH more sense! :)
@@bepis1791 Jin Roh is just as a good as those. I agree.
Because as they say, it's a Love Story.
I think Oshii didn't show the armored troopers too much for the same reason Ridley Scott didn't show the Alien too much in the first Alien movie : the more you see a monster, the less impactful it gets with every minute. And it means that when you get to the end of the movie, where there should be a huge emotional payoff for the audience, you're already numb to the monster's appearance. With Jin Roh, you want to see the troopers kicking ass, but you're only given a sample early on, and then a little training, and then nothing under the final battle. That makes it much more impactful. Besides, it's not really the uniform that is the real monster in all this. It's the man inside, and that's why Fuze isn't wearing his helmet in the final scene. At least that's how I read it.
Literally, never using them, or having them be important is the opposite of impactful
@@ExpertContrarian given your chosen name, I won't even a waste a minute trying to convince you.
@@TheNefastorhilarious how low functionings like yourself get triggered by a username. The armor is not the same thing as the Alien. Only being used for one scene at the beginning of a movie is not impactful. Sorry that you couldn’t handle such a simple counter
same thing goes to Hathaway Noa....
I knew nothing about Jin-Roh going into it, it was one of those I just watched because it was on a streaming service somewhere. The first time I saw it I was just mesmerized the whole time, and with every subsequent rewatch I notice something different. It really is one of those that I gravitate to every couple years and have to sit down for again. The ending scene gets me every time, and it hurts more and more no matter how many times I watch it.
Try the live action Illang: Wolf Brigade they added some scenes and the ending is more humane.
@@Lucivius27 the ending in illang ruins the whole point of the plot of jin roh though
@@Lucivius27 Illang is dog shit, I've regretted watching that abomination
@@Lucivius27 you're the only person I've ever seen reccomend the live action one lol
I love this movie. Anime like this just doesn't get produced anymore. This sits up there with Oshii's other works like Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor 2 as the pinnacle of hand drawn animation with very little digital processing. The artwork and animation is exquisite and the attention to detail is second to none. I love it when anime approaches a subject matter realistically. This movie could have easily been done in live action, nothing fanciful or over the top here.
Patlabor 2 is too damn underrated. It is my favourite movie. I get another level of emotion/feeling in it due to my completed draft term.
Not enough people talk about Patlabor 2. The film is amazing.
@@SharinganSora95 I sure hope to see a video on this channel one day.
Oshii had little to do with the making of Jin-Roh. He birthed the conceptual nitty gritty of the Red Spectacles, but Jin-Roh was ultimately the work and vision of one man and one man only; Hiroyuki Okiura. Give credit where it's due, i beg of thee
@@FortuneZer0 For real yo. Just like Oshii's other worksI rewatched it numerous times (and will again). Too much to say for me lol. I could babble forever.
Just watched this film with my 15yo son and, in the middle of it, he just marveled about the animation and how it was *so, goddamn much better than modern anime* and I couldn't do anything but agree.
It's a masterpiece.
"better than modern anime" Not really. yall just need to watch more anime.
@@doggodoggo3000nah, but thanks.
@@paulmuaddib451 don't make such generalizing statements then
@@doggodoggo3000nah modern anime isn't as good and how often do you find an anime like jin roh anymore
@@afriendlycadian9857animation techniques have changed, Jin roh level anime took years to make .
Every so often I watch Jin Roh. I wish Okiura would direct another movie in the Jin roh saga. And definetely cover the Red spectacles. It would make an awesome video. More people need to watch this movie.
I just wish he would director more in general. I loved Jin-Roh & My Letter to Momo. The man is one of the most phenomenal animators alive, it's a shame he is not as well known.
@@axxa5000 he’s a legend in the animation communities
hands down one of the greatest cel animation films ever made! Oshill's script and Okiura's direction is incredible
I remember watching this many years ago with people who don't watch anime. They were impressed by the depth and complexity of this film. As for me, I had to watch it many times just to get a sliver of understanding. Such pleasure peeling this many layered onion of a masterpiece.
9:46 you gotta put a warning filter or something man i nearly chocked to death
I did not know it was part of a series.
I remember i first saw it after asking around the net for good anime movies. It was recomended togeder with Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Satoshi Kon movies.
Which are probably the best possible recommendations. Add to this patlabor 2 and angel's egg and those are pretty much the anime movies I'd take with me to a desert Island
@@authenticbitterleben7434 angels egg? Lol, your taste is lackluster.
Not trash, just lackluster...
I had no idea Jin-Roh was part of something bigger. Watched it on a whim without any knowledge of what it was and loved it.
Immediately watched the movie after this.
I will never see the story of the Little Red Riding Hood the same again.
Thank you so much not just for covering this, but for acknowledging and giving due credit to the live-action films that preceded it as well. I remember being fascinated by Jin-Roh when I first saw it, especially in how it showed fascistic systems discarding their own people when they’re no longer needed and those individuals trying to reckon with their own identities afterwards. I dove deep into what little English material their was and even managed to snag DVDs from the short print runs The Red Spectacles and Stray Dog received.
Calling The Red Spectacles a beautifully shot fever dream is the best description for that film. It still sticks with me 15 years later with its dark comedic descent into paranoia and senseless violence over a battle that is long over. The image of the man (or memory, I guess, depending on how you interpret the scene) in Protect Gear in the rain is burned into my brain. We talk a lot about how bad live-action adaptations of anime usually are (I can count the good ones I’ve seen on one hand, and I’ve seen an unhealthy number of them), but it’s great seeing older films with ties to anime that otherwise get overlooked getting the recognition they deserve, even if it’s only for a moment.
The Panzer-korps is the stick, mindless consumerism is the carrot.
@@NorseGraphic Indeed
The Red Spectacles sticks with me as well.
It is its special way of showing fascism that gets me every time.
The dehumanization.
The red riding hood
The shot of the Armor in the rain
Damn I think I never loved a movie as much as this one
I, a huge fan of the series as a whole, refuse to give in to the confusion, I wholeheartedly embraced it with all my heart.
Seriously one of my most favorite movies. I like it even more than 1995 Ghost in the Shell which is saying a lot. The subtlety of just how miserable and bleak the world is in Jin Roh is absolutely perfect. Down to the obvious facist aesthetics and the insurgents basically fighting a total losing battle. It stands out as one of the best anime films ever made.
You should read the manga. It was also written by Oshii and gives a lot more detail to the world.
No, not "fascist". That word means opposition to globalism/internationalism and extremism.
You mean despotism.
I love how it clearly defined the bad guys as commies and then gives them exactly what they wanted from their own foreign funders.
What a beautiful and fitting video. A co-worker gave this movie to me almost twenty years ago, and I've watched it dozens of times. I didn't even know there was more to the story, but it's still one of my absolute favorite animes, and a testament to the power of the genre and medium.
I absolutely loved Jin-Roh, I saw it when I was a teen and fell in love with the cinematography!
Really a masterpiece. I saw it a long long time ago, when I was quiet new to anime and was immediately impressed by its depth and beauty. It has been in my favourite anime collection ever since.
I had been watching anime for a little while, but I wasn't really that into it. Most of what could be rented was stereotypical giant fighting robots and people flying through the air shooting fireballs out of their hands. I liked the idea of anime, but most of what I was seeing was too goofy for me to really get into it. The I saw this and Perfect Blue. It was like a revelation, anime that can be taken seriously, and I was hooked.
a silent viewer, taking up 5 seconds in the spotlight to thank you for this video. I watched the movie when I was much younger along with Akira and Gits in an attempt to catch up on animated culture, and this movie simply stumped me. I was left speechless ; I still am, frankly. It is a truly masterful experience and this video really encapsulated the reasons why the movie still stuck with me to this day.
Cheers, and good luck for the rest. Really enjoying the MOTHER docs !
This is the movie that got me into animated films in the first place, hell I got my family to watch it with me and have since gotten friends and more to as well. No one so far has disliked it, in fact almost all of them have a deep appreciation and interest in it.
Try the live action Illang: Wolf Brigade they added some scenes and the ending is more humane.
@@Lucivius27 I did and honestly… eh? It’s good to be sure but the point of the beast within man is lost with the humane ending in my opinion. Not that it’s bad don’t misunderstand I just prefer the one ending to the other.
Jin-roh is the most effective somber dystopian movie ever. It takes its time but your glued to it the whole time. I don't know why but it reminded me of action-packed 1984 considering how it ends.
i had seen a GIF of the tunnel scene and just decided to watch the movie on a whim with no other info other than i knew there was a really well animated scene with a lot of gore. was surprised by how good the plot was and blown away by the animation and cinematography, has since become one of my all time favorite movies.
I love film/shows like Jin-Roh, Perfect Blue and Monster(Naoki Urasawa) because they really show the beauty and horrors of human emotions and also because they're psychological horrors.
The art style, the animation quality, the frame rate, the smoothness, the violence, it's all so masterfully done
This anime just leave me so empty after viewing i was scared my feeling just vanished from this world...
Such a masterpiece.
Wait a second.
The new Wolfenstein games take a very similar direction as Jin roh.
I only now noticed this.
Anything that deals with helmets and gasmask runs the risk of emulating Jinroh style alongside gundam style.
Even Fallout New Vegas fell to it with the ranger armor and the hellghast go full force with it.
It's not an iconic look, as it's more one that sends the message of purpose built warfare. Something distinctly fascistic, where most forms of war culture before had a great deal of ceremony.
This kind of visage does away with all of it, and just screams death and gunpowder.
@@josephnigel8811 Beautifully said.
If you look in The New Order in the resistance base with all the clippings, there's actually a reference to the Kerberos series among them.
Amazing video as always Joe, you hit the nail on the head about the anime films tone and the true meaning behind Wolf Brigade as a whole, it's definitely a film I think all anime fans should get around to watching at some point. It touches on very delicate topics but in a very sincere way!
As much as i love Jin Roh, its cinematography, its ost, mamoru oshii, its manga, etc, just please allow me to extend my gratitude of your love-letter worthy narrative. Thank you for your content.
Hiroyuki Okiura is criminally underrated. Thank you for discussing this work.
A Letter to Momo is one of my favourite films :) Okiura is clearly a master of animation, but I would love for him to direct more!
Can we just take a moment to appreciate how well written this video essay is ?
Also thank you so much for covering this piece of modern art
Never forget the day i got this vhs as a gift when i was a tiny kid and it became one of my fave tapes for a while, the amount of detail and motion in the animation always captivated me.
I will never forget this movie. I will always treasure its lesson, and i will give my love to it forever
One of my very favorite movies. Thanks for covering it!
Even as an American with no interest in anime until recent years and who was unfamiliar with the wider series that Jin-Roh is a part of, I loved it. Had me close to tears by the end. The artwork is violent and beautiful at the same time. This, along with Akira and Ghost in the Shell, is the right formula of dark adult anime that I want to see more of.
I just love everything you're doing, Joe. This is such a good channel. And I fully agree here - even as a massive GitS fan, it took me way too long to check out Jin Roh, but boy am I glad I did.
This anime is an art of perfection. It's story. It's visual. It's music. It's action. It's realism. It's tragic romance. All in Perfection. Oh... How I missed the 90's animes
Jin-Roh is one of my favorite animation flims the quote that always stuck with me: "we are not men dressed as wolves, we are wolves dressed as men."
I'm so glad this was my first anime
An all time favourite anime movie masterwork, and I've tracked down and gotten hold of most of the Kerberos Saga with dogged (wolf like ?) persistence, and enjoy all of it very much - alternate history SF at its very finest. Wonderful review, of a work of pure excellence, thank you !
I have the soundtrack and it's fantastic. Very chill and relaxing at time, while haunting other times
Wow, I had no idea that there's more to Jin-Roh than the movie that I've watched and loved half a dozen times. Now, I have to go and appreciate it again with new information...
Definitely one of if not my favorite classic anime, I love this art style.
As a fellow long-term fan of Jin-Roh, I had no idea it was connected to a longer series. I like to periodically watch this film to see what other messages come to the surface. Watching it in 2021 certainly hit harder in light of the US political climate and civil unrest. Thanks for making this video!
Truly a beautiful, timeless anime!
I've always been intrigued by this piece of art and today I found it on a streaming service and stopped everything to finally watch it. I wouldn't change a thing about how this all unfolded, it's beautiful.
Hell yes. This movie is incredible, right up there as one of my favorite anime films, it's so good.
11:35 most underwhelming MG-42 gun fire sound effect EVER.
Especially compared to the terrifying, rib-cage-rattling effect that they used in the anime!
I mostly just disregard korean movies.
@@BeyondGhibli Nothing compared to real life.
I've adored Jin-Roh since I was in middle school and now at 25 years old I'm just learning that its part of a much larger franchise. I think that itself is a testament to the strength it has on its own as a film
I have watched and rewatched these films for 10 years, and i must say, the human emotion, and depth of feeling outweigh every live action film ive ever seen, and that, is a fact.
I watched this film recently out of pure luck having found out about it. I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the phenomenal animation
Wolf Brigade is the only piece of the Jin Roh series I’ve seen, but I love it so much!
Gotta admit, I have seen Jin-Roh and thoroughly enjoyed it but I had literally no idea it was part of a larger series. I think I may have accidentally proven your point about how it stands alone by virtue of my ignorance. I have some stuff to check out now haha. Amazing video as always.
Because of you; I watched this tonight , And it is not within my top five or 10 favorite anime films of all time, The cinematography the animation the storyline how it hits you in the gut, One of the best films I've ever seen, thank you for putting this up
The thing about anime is it's just like feature films, This was one of the best films I've ever seen
And I immediately bought it on Blu-ray. Thank you 👊🔥
I've been dealing with some serious depression something like this makes me want to keep moving forward instead of just shut out the lights.
This is such a good video. Jin-Roh is an incredible film that blew me away when I first watched it just yesterday.
Beautifully animated, haunting storytelling.
JIn-Roh is one of my favorite movies. Never saw the live action because the original was a master piece.
The live action _is_ the original
@@VBx17 The Red Spectacles? Stray Dog? Live action and made way before Jin Roh
Holy moly your voice is soothing and I couldn’t agree more about Jin-Roh truly a hidden gem and masterpiece
"absolute power corrupts absolutely" is just a fancy way of saying "choose your political leaders wisely, meaning pick people who care, not people who just because they can"
I gotta say the audio of the anime is also gorgeous. The fact the guns sound actually loud and punchy is great
So fortunate to have seen this in 35mm during its original release-Landmark Nuart theatre, Los Angeles
Wow I never heard about this! Mamoru Oshii did wonders to Ghost in the Shell. One of the only couple instances of an anime adaptation being far superior to the manga
IMO what makes the GITS franchise so good is that it is not at all an adaptation of the manga but it is instead a more refined continuation of the themes, characters and world that the manga portrays.
Personally i always felt that the manga was more a speculative piece consisting of 50% doodles by a former hentai-artist, 50% technological speculation and 50% metaphysical pseudo babble tallying up to a whopping 150% of a hot mess that is not really intelligible as a coherent story at all, but at the same time containing some of the most interesting world-building i have encountered in a manga.
@@Sipeari95 LMAO that is an absolute PERFECT description
Gotta say, Oshii-sans movie "Avalon" was different. Interesting, with a mind-wretching twist. The kind of movie you'd want to talk about with someone.
'Sky Crawlers' on the other hand is among my favourite anime of all times. The character design (especially the eyes) is something one has to get used to. But the action scenes, the story, the overall tone, setting and storytelling... i loved that.
@@Sipeari95 A lot of Shirow's stuff unfortunately ends up that way. It feels like many of his stories are more like playgrounds for him to build up incredible worlds and character/machine ideas, but they often come at the expense of the narrative. His attention to detail in both art and worldbuilding is absolutely astounding! I would say it even rivals Otomo's work. But it feels like he gets too wrapped up in those details.
I'm guilty of making those "I'm going to Google this to understand where I should start decisions" thanks for calling me out before I did for this one.
I love Jin Roh. It's one of the greatest anime films I've ever seen, it's ending has still left me haunted after all these years.
One of the best animated features I have seen recently.
This was so good! Thank you so much for making this.
Got the collectors edition back in 06 with the soundtrack.. such an amazing series.
When you narrate the movies is like poetry...✌
Whenever i feel like i need a new anime to watch you pop up. Redline was the 1 i'd never heard of I enjoyed the most, keep up the good work
I have no idea what first made me watch this movie all those years ago but I am glad I did.
I will admit that I like Illang as well despite it's flaws, then again I didn't judge it as a live action Jin-Roh but simply as an action movie and in that regard I feel it is a good one.
My favorite line actually came in the English dub of Jin-Roh, "We are not men disguised as wolfs, but wolfs disguised as men." To this day I can't say why that is stuck in my head so firmly.
Well done, Jin-Roh has a pretty decent English dub as well for those who can't stand subtitles. I'm glad to see that it is actually getting some well deserved attention in the west because it is indeed a masterpiece. Great video, you gained a sub
Agreed. One of my favorite films of all time.
I've been meaning to watch Jin-Roh for some time and after seeing this video on my home page I opened it in a new tab then went and watched it while keeping this here. Came back after the movie only to find out that this is a series. I had no idea I just figured it was just a classic that stood alone.
I've been watching anime for 8-9 years not counting DBZ in my childhood, and I've never heard of this anime/ movie. Even so, I'm happy I clicked on this video and watched the movie because of it, because the movie is very very good. Thank you.
Amazing video! I'll have to look into it. I had heard of it before but never realized it was a part of a franchise.
Jin-Rho was one of the first anime movies I ever saw. I grew up loving darker, heavier stories and I can safely with series like Dark Souls this movie fits so perfectly in that love, and am glad to learn there is more to this universe.
This movie is so underrated and under appreciated
I don't know when or where I watched jinroh but I'm glad I did and I'm glad this came through my feed.
This movie haunted me for a while after having seen it. It is very tragic and has a lot to say about dehumanizing people. And everyone around the main character simply makes him the sole wrongdoer. Where stoicism is bought with blackmail.
Also the detail in every scene needs to be commended. The craftsmanship is top notch. Great film.
I didn't realize that Jin-Roh was part of a series. I'm most definitely going to watch the others now.
Jin-oh is just another example of 80s or 90s Japanese anime warning us of the problems we would face in the US decades later as a consequence of power consolidation from corporatism and/or increasing governmental overreach.
Chill man, Democracy would never reach end-stage.
Mercy is to end things quickly, compassion is to risk the same pain again.
There is no greater oppression than to become the oppressor.
Justice cannot exist without freedom.
god this has been my all time favorite movie since i was a kid
I’ve been planning to watch this with my little brother once he gets back from the sleepover he’s gone to. I can’t wait. It’s fantastic!
I find your narration and explanation of this wonderful medium of art to be almost entrancing. Thank you. Thank you very, very much.
You've earned yourself a subscriber.
Was just thinking about this movie a little while ago. Gonna go rent it from the library and rewatch it soon
As someone never hearing of Jin Roh before, the live action movie was a great action drama
*[1,200 rounds of non negotiable judgement being dispensed]*
I didn't fully understand the movie, what was happening, or why. But my God did it feel powerful, beautiful. It's an amazing film just for the animation, atmosphere, and anesthetics alone.
Still one of my all time favorite pieces of cinema I have ever seen.
i think this is set in the wolfenstein universe, explaining how japan is still its own country but instead a puppet to Germany, using similar equipment to the Wolfenstein soldier except more advanced, bulkier and basically just power armor but with the wehrmacht aesthetic.
modern Wolfenstein wasn't even a concept when this movie came out.
"Reckoning with that mistake, the mistake of mercy." That is powerful
this is exactly the type of thing i'm into, i can't believe i've never heard of it! it looks brilliant and i'll absolutely be checking it out. cheers joe, beautiful video as always
One of my favorites. Thank you for covering it
I wrote an entire essay analyzing the RRH motif in the film for an animation class years ago. It truly is a film that gets better with rewatches.
The ending is just perfect. When you finally get a sense who you should root for and a happy ending is finally on the horizon it's snached away because a wolf can never be man. Morally grey and "bad" endings are always more intriguing than happy ones.
Disagree with the last line like thats just a bad take
@@sakkoyaba4482 happy endings give you exactly what you want and you quickly stop thinking about the story but with a tragedy you continue thinking about the story and about what could have been, it's more intriguing.
@@Narko_Marko what kinda disney movie are you watching that happy endings giving you nothing to think about also isnt it also necessary to see the journey up till that point??
@@sakkoyaba4482 Well I can't really think of a movie or show with a happy ending that i thought about for several days or weeks, and i can think of a ton of tragedies that i still think about from time to time. For example we have cyberpunk 2077, in the game you have a bunch of happy endings where you kill the big baddie and live to fight another day, never thought about it after finishing it. Then you have the edgerunners anime which is one of the most tragic stories I've experienced and I still think about it to this day. About the characters motivations and how they brought them to their downfall, who sacrificed what and for whom, who promised what and failed to fulfill it. A lot of sacrifices were made, some paid off, some didn't, you get to think about it and figure out if the characters did the right thing or not. In a happy ending you are explicitly told they did the right thing and everything paid out in the end.
You can have a tragic story with a happy ending but it's still a tragedy because the ending usually can't tie up all loose ends and there are still things and people that are gone. It depends on the theme of the story.
There are stories I wish had a tragic ending but there are none I wish had a happy one.
The goat returns to us with another video fit for national archives
Jin-Roh is an amazing anime, up there visually with the greats of the past several decades. IMO, it belongs in the top-10 of all time.
I just stumbled upon this movie one day while studying (I don't really watch much anime). I never new it was part of a lager series, but it had this feel of being bigger than just the movie that lent it such an immersive atmosphere. Plus, the machine gun guys were kinda sick.
9:46 Best SFX ever !!!!! LOL