Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade Blu-ray Movie Review

A somber retelling of the classic "Little Red Riding Hood" story.

Reviewed by Dustin Somner April 22, 2009

Released to theaters in 1999, Jin-Roh marked the directing debut of Hiroyuki Okiura, and is based on Mamoru Oshii’s Kerberos manga. Oshii is well known in the anime world for his philosophical approach to filmmaking or writing (as evidenced by the Ghost in the Shell films), and Jin-Roh continues that trend. Taking the story of Little Red Riding Hood as the basis for this production, the film incorporates romance, violence, tragedy and loss, to weave an intricate tale about the loss of innocence. Normally I prefer anime films that are chock full of action, but there is something personal about Jin-Roh that I find appealing, and the film has held up well in repeat viewings over the years.

"Red, glowing eyes, and the moon in the background; could this be the wolf of our story?"

Set in an alternate version of the 1950’s, Tokyo has become a land of political unrest, with police used as pawns of the government, and radical guerrilla groups staging violent protests against the actions of their leaders. Within the guerrilla organization, young girls are used as couriers to run satchel bombs to protestors on the front lines. Entrusted with the means to stop these couriers and the protestors, the police force is divided into two factions, with the Self-Police intended to be the first line of riot suppression (using less violent means), and the Capital Police, who serve as a military wing (and use more lethal tactics to suppress violence). Within the Capital Police force, there’s a heavily armed group of brigadiers known as the Kerberos unit, who spend most nights hunting down guerrilla members. One night, a young member of the Kerberos unit named Kazuki Fuse, finds himself confronted by a young satchel-carrying girl in the sewers under Tokyo. Having cornered the girl, Fuse finds himself unable to act, and watches as the girl detonates the bomb she is holding. Fuse narrowly escapes with his life, but is blamed for failing to act, and is sent back to the Kerberos Academy for further training. Unable to get the thought of the little girl out of his mind, he decides to visit the memorial of the girl, where he meets her sister, Kei. The two unlikely companions strike up a bond built on mutual sadness, and become romantically involved over the course of several days. Unfortunately, nothing is as it seems, and we soon learn there is a wolf hiding behind a veil of innocence.

Every now and again, an anime film is released that focuses more on story than animation (I’m not meaning to imply anime lacks quality storytelling). Jin-Roh is a prime example of exactly that. Weaving an intricate plot that sometimes borders on confusing, the film requires viewers to come along for the ride as it slowly builds to a shocking finale. The mood is somber, and you might need to watch your favorite comedy when it’s over, but Jin-Roh rivals even the greatest of anime storytelling (Grave of the Fireflies for example), and doesn’t shy away from difficult subject matter. Having said all that, this film won’t be for everyone, and even longtime fans of anime may not find Jin-Roh appealing. You definitely don’t want to sit down to watch this movie if you aren’t well rested, since there’s a good chance it could put you to sleep. There are several scenes with voice-over narration of the classic Little Red Riding Hood tale (the one that predates the version we all heard as children), and those sequences can sometimes be a little yawn-inducing. I’m usually not a proponent of watching a film over the course of two nights, but you may choose to go that route with this one.

The animation quality is nicely detailed for the most part, but retains more of a realistic feel to it. Facial models are somewhat plain, but character movement is well-rendered (especially in the brief action sequences). The color palette is mostly muted with the exception of Kei’s red cape. It’s a nice touch that brings out the symbolism of the Little Red Riding Hood tale. If there was one aspect of the animation that stands out to me, it would be the excellent design of the suits worn by the Kerberos officers. The glowing red eyes, and the large side-arm cannons are downright awesome to look at, and helped remind me this is anime.

I found the voice acting on the original Japanese track as well as the dubbed English track to be uniformly excellent. You can tell there was sufficient time spent on both tracks (there weren’t any glaring translation flaws on the English dub), and I’m pleased the filmmakers used such talented voice actors in this character-driven piece of work.

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jin-Roh was the second Blu-ray anime release from the Bandai studio (in America), and marked the point when they started to hit their stride with high-definition transfers. For anyone that saw their first release to Blu-ray (Yukikaze), Jin-Roh demonstrates a dramatic improvement. Presented in 1080p, and encoded with the AVC codec (at an average of 35 MBPS), this is a huge step-up over the prior DVD version. I no longer have the DVD to do a direct comparison, but I always felt the DVD transfer was undefined, with many sequences plagued by unresolved blacks. The black levels on this Blu-ray version are vastly improved, with never-before-seen shadow detail. The blacks still don't rival the best of what Blu-ray has to offer, and contrast wavers from time to time, but I'm still very pleased with the improvements in the transfer, and there wasn't a single scene that didn't provide the clarity and detail of glorious 1080p. As noted earlier, the colors in this film are intentionally muted, so we won't ever see a vivid spectrum on this film (in any format), but they are appropriate to the source material, and never wavered from scene to scene.

By now, I'm sure you've noticed the large black frame around the screen captures. This isn't the only release from Bandai that demonstrates this problem (Akira also has a less pronounced version of the framing issue), and I hope they eventually do away with framing their films in this manner. The reasoning behind the framing is to prevent the loss of picture detail to overscan on the sides. Most modern day televisions (and all projectors) no longer suffer from the CRT overscan problem, so it is somewhat frustrating that films are being released in a manner that doesn't utilize the full area of our screen. What is also odd about this framing, is the source material used to generate this transfer was adjusted for overscan already, and this transfer was also adjusted for overscan. So you basically have two adjustments made to the framing (in the source initially, and now in this transfer). That is the reason why the black bars are much thicker on this release as opposed to the Akira Blu-ray. Your level of frustration with this issue will likely depend on your setup, but I found it annoying that the picture didn't extend all the way to the felt borders on each side of my screen.

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Three audio options are offered on this Blu-ray, but the hands down winner is the Linear PCM 5.1 track in the native language of Japanese. If you're like me and you never had a chance to see Jin-Roh in the theater prior to the DVD release, this track will provide you with a good estimate of that experience. One of the strengths in the film is the ability to convey mood as the story progresses, and it becomes clear the audio track is the primary tool used to create a somber tone. Subtle noises on the streets of Tokyo are accurately placed in the surrouds, to create a feeling of immersion in the scene. Since the audio is mostly dialogue-driven, it would have been easy for the sound engineers to go the easy route and provide a front-heavy track; but that is not the case here.

You may be wondering why I didn't give the audio a score of 5 if the Japanese track is really that good. The reason for my rating has to do with the English dub option, and the fact that there is no lossless offering in the English category. Considering the excellent voice-work on the English dub, I would have liked to see Bandai go the extra mile and include a PCM 5.1 English track. I still prefer to watch any foreign films in the native language (with English subtitles), but out of respect to those that prefer a dub, it's a shame that such a good dub was not given a lossless version for our listening enjoyment.

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All we have for disc supplements is a collection of four trailers with optional subtitles, presented in 1080p with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.

The real treat is the packaging, and a couple of nice additions along with the Blu-ray. The disc is housed in a DVD case (which is unfortunate), but comes packaged in a hard box with a thin booklet of information on the film (as well as a written interview with director Hiroyuki Okiura), and a large book of storyboards by Okiura. The storyboard book is about an inch thick, and contains five storyboards per page (with notes in Japanese next to each picture). Kudos to Bandai for releasing such a nice package for collectors.

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'd have a tough time recommending Jin-Roh to a wide audience. If you're intrigued by the plot, and appreciate a good tragedy every now and again, then you'll probably enjoy Jin-Roh as much as I do. It's the type of film that will stay with you in the future, and I could see the issues of morality dividing audience opinion. Perhaps a group setting would be the best way to view the film, since each member of the group will likely come away with differing reactions to the way the film plays out. From a technical standpoint, the film has never looked or sounded better, but I hope we see an upgrade at some point in the future with additional extras, and a correction to the framing issues I discussed in the video section of this review. It's also worth noting this release is currently unavailable at most retail outlets, so perhaps Bandai already has another release in the works.