Review of Mardock Scramble: The First Compression

chaos

chaos

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<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/2012-04-0481uGkm5UyUL._AA1500_.jpg">

<b>Review of Mardock Scramble: The First Compression by chaos</b>

<em><strong>'"Blade Runner"</strong> meets <strong>"Ghost In The Shell"</strong> in the cyberpunk action-thriller Mardock Scramble: The First Compression'. That's how Manga introduces the show to us.</em>

Fortunately for me, that was not the first I heard of this trilogy of movies, as I saw the first movie at the <em>Leeds Film Festival</em> in 2010 and then the first again, followed by the second movie at <em>Scotland Loves Anime</em> in 2011. I said 'fortunately', because if I had read that before watching the movie, I'd have had completely unrealistic expectations.

While I can understand the parallels that they want to trace with that comparison, I'd say that the only way that Mardock Scramble pays homage to <strong><em>Blade Runner </em></strong>and<strong> GitS</strong> is in its stylish scenery, with unbelievably pretty exteriors while a certain degradation happens underneath the shining lights. Mardock Scramble has great production values, which show at every moment of the movie.

The story leads us to Rune Balot, a 15-year-old prostitute, who is "rescued" by a show gambler/casino manager called Shell Septinus. Sadly for Balot, Shell is a sadist who picks up runaways to turn them into blue stones: a destiny Balot couldn't escape, and boom she goes...

Enter Dr Easter and Oeufcoque with the Mardock Scramble 09 technology, which allows them to preserve Balot's consciousness and recreate her body using cyborg technology. What is the good doctor's objective? It's to get Balot to testify against Shell, who then sends the Bandersnatch Company of assassins to get Balot.

Without further spoilers, this set-up provides a reasonably good plot for the first instalment of this action-filled trilogy which has something quite unusual for anime. Balot fights in a more or less believable way, rather than with the anime cliche of a 7 stone kung fu girl beating the crap out of a 20 stone muscleman.

The Blu-Ray includes two options for how you want to enjoy Mardock Scramble; either sexed up (director's cut) or toned down (theatrical release). The versions do have a few different scenes, which made me wonder if they animated some parts twice, but in all honesty, my favourite version has got to be the theatrical release, as I didn't feel as though anything really important was lost and at the same time, it's a version I could invite my parents to sit and watch with me.

The soundtrack is not particularly strong, but as the end credits roll you will be presented with an interesting rendition of "Amazing Grace" in Japanese.

The voice cast is strong both in the Japanese and in the English dub, where I actually preferred the English actress for Balot (Hilary Haag) over the Japanese (Megumi Hayashibara). But for Oeufcoque - Norito Yashima (Japanese)/Andy McAvin (English), and Boiled - Tsutomu Isobe (Japanese)/David Wald (English), the voices seems right, even though there is a different feel to the character when you watch in Japanese or English.

One curiosity pointed out by Jonathan Clements at the Scottish event was that the name of the main characters are all related to eggs (Rune Balot, Dr Easter, Oeufcoque Penteano, Shell Septinus & Dimsdale Boiled). The Bandersnatch Company has names related to meat - Rare the Hair, Medium the Fingernail, Mincemeat the Wink, Fresh the Pike and Welldone the Pussyhand.


<strong>Basic facts</strong>:
Directed by Susumu Kudo
Written by Tow Ubukata
Music by Consich
Animated by Studio GoHands & produced by Aniplex

<strong>BD bonus features:</strong>
Japanese TV spots
Japanese trailers
Promotional video 1
Promotional video 2
English dub
Japanese dub with English subtitles

<strong>Runtime:</strong>
69 minutes (director's cut)
65 minutes (theatrical release)<br>
<b>Final score: 8 out of 10</b>

<b>Additional screencaps</b>

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2012-04-04MARDOCK_SCRAMBLE_001.jpg">

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2012-04-04MARDOCK_SCRAMBLE_002.jpg">

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2012-04-04MARDOCK_SCRAMBLE_003.jpg">
 
Whoa, had to do some serious side scrolling action to read this review! Thanks for it, though, as I have been curious about this one for a while, but had no idea it was even out! I forgot that we don't have weekly release updates anymore, and just thought that nothing had been released in a while.
 
chaos said:
I saw the first movie at the <em>Leeds Film Festival</em> in 2010
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I Was There (and largely agree with your assessment, though can't quite believe it was so long ago). It is a stunning looking and very watchable film, well worth the investment on BD I'd say.

The only real fault I found was with the villains - They are particularly grotesque (which in itself wouldn't normally bother me) but almost comically so, which I thought didn't quite fit with the tone of the film. I recall there being audible laughter when the aforementioned "Welldone the Pussyhand" was named on screen for the first time.
 
I can't believe it was so long ago, either (although I wasn't there that year) - I wanted to wait for all three movies to come out before starting it, but now I do not know whether I will or not.
 
I don't suppose you noticed any flickering subtitles, Squadron Leader? I'm not buying any Kaze Blu-rays until I'm sure they don't have the same blinky-blink subs as Samurai Girls.
 
I treacherously bought the US version but I don't remember many times where they'd have had cause to flicker. There was one moment in S23's version when the doctor was speaking to his partner and the subs changed colours between yellow and white (to differentiate the lines, when two were up at once) but they didn't consistently keep the same colours for each character, which I thought was weird, but sign subs or differently timed speech subs didn't seem to feature much or at all in the movie.

Hopefully Chaos can confirm though.

R
 
That's quietly encouraging, I suppose. It'd be even better, though, if they fixed whatever's causing it to happen. As far as I can tell, the subs Kaze used for Samurai Girls ARE Sentai's; they're the same colour, size, and font as those Sentai use on their releases. And yet somewhere along the line they developed a flicker.

EDIT: Also, just read that the Director's Cut is sub-only on Kaze's disc. Only the theatrical version is dubbed. EDIT 2: It sounds like they weren't allowed to use the dub until a certain amount of time had passed since the US release, or at least that's how I'm reading it. If that's the case, fair enough. But it's one reason too many for me not to buy this version, I'm afraid.
 
Is there a reason all three parts aren't on one disc? I'm not willing to pay the full price of one BD just for the mediocre part 2.
 
Well, the third film isn't out in cinemas yet, and the second isn't even out on BD in Japan.

I would guess all three will come together when they can finally release the last one, though.
 
vashdaman said:
Whoa, had to do some serious side scrolling action to read this review!
Click to expand...
Apologies for this, those were the pictures we receive straight from the PR company, but unfortunately, the person who uploaded them to the site, didn't know how to resize pics.

ayase said:
chaos said:
I saw the first movie at the <em>Leeds Film Festival</em> in 2010
Click to expand...
I Was There (and largely agree with your assessment, though can't quite believe it was so long ago). It is a stunning looking and very watchable film, well worth the investment on BD I'd say.

The only real fault I found was with the villains - They are particularly grotesque (which in itself wouldn't normally bother me) but almost comically so, which I thought didn't quite fit with the tone of the film. I recall there being audible laughter when the aforementioned "Welldone the Pussyhand" was named on screen for the first time.
Click to expand...
I know you were there. I was stalking you! =3
Anyway, yes there was some laughter at their names, but after reading the manga, I reckon the over serious tones are more evident in the anime, than in the manga. Also, the sex is toned up in the anime, which was the bit that annoyed me the most. I'm happy to show the edited version to others though.

fabricatedlunatic said:
I don't suppose you noticed any flickering subtitles, Squadron Leader? I'm not buying any Kaze Blu-rays until I'm sure they don't have the same blinky-blink subs as Samurai Girls.
Click to expand...
Nope, there was no noticeable flickering on the copy I've received. Also, I've seen Samurai Girls (the DVD version) and I don't recall a lot of flickering in the subs, it did happen a bit though.

MaxonTreik said:
Is there a reason all three parts aren't on one disc? I'm not willing to pay the full price of one BD just for the mediocre part 2.
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The only reason is because the creators decided to release it as a 3-part OVA instead of a 3 hour or a 6 episodes series. It is very likely to be release in a box set format at some point, but I doubt they would actually release all 3 parts as a single disc though.

Zin5ki said:
ayase said:
chaos said:
I saw the first movie at the <em>Leeds Film Festival</em> in 2010
Click to expand...
I Was There (and largely agree with your assessment, though can't quite believe it was so long ago).
Click to expand...
I was present also. It was I who introduced chaos to CeX.
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CeX with you was great Zin! It was amazing to loose my CeX virginity with you. Err, now that sounds really wrong XD
 
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