Darkside Blues

The Persona Century Corporation has purchased nearly every parcel of land on earth. Dissension is not tolerated within the corporation's borders and those who oppose Persona are dealt with swiftly. Of those few places not yet under Persona's control is the free town of Kabuki-cho, also known as "The Dark Side of Tokyo". Within the town, under the leadership of a woman named Mai, is a small resistance group called Messiah. Into this world steps a man who takes the sobriquet of Kabuki-cho: Darkside. Sealed up in another dimension eighteen years ago by Persona Century, Darkside now returns to aid Messiah using his unique mystic power of renewal.

(Source: ANN)

Darkside Main

Ou, Natsuki Japanese

Kenzo Main

Ootsuka, Akio Japanese

Mai Main

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Katari Supporting

Sasaki, Nozomu Japanese

Tatsuya Supporting

Matsumoto, Yasunori Japanese

Jingo Supporting

Yanaka, Hiroshi Japanese

Old Woman Supporting

Enji Supporting

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Delirium Supporting

Horiuchi, Keizo Japanese

Selia Supporting

Okamoto, Maya Japanese

Abe, Michihisa Producer

Kogawa, Yoriyasu Director

Fujiyama, Fusanobu Sound Director

Okao, Takahiro Episode Director

Reviews

Jun 24, 2010

BlackMagic

Recommended

If you are a fan of 90s anime, then I'd recommend taking a look at Darkside Blues. If you haven't seen many anime from this time period, then this is a fairly good example of the visual styles of the 90s. However, most people will probably find the story somewhat mediocre and maybe even confusing.

Darkside Blues is a nice little gem from the 90s based on a manga by Hideyuki Kikucho who is one of the most respected horror writers in Japan. Often called the Stephen King of Japan, many of Hideyuki's novels have been adapted to anime such as Vampire Hunter D, Wicked City, ... and Demon City Shinjuku.

Animation - 8
I'll go ahead and draw attention to the elephant in the room: this is an old anime. The art and animation styles likewise reflect the 90s. Whether you enjoy 90s style or not is your choice, but compared to other works of the time, Darkside Blues fares very well. The art and animation themselves are slightly above average, but I don't think many people can deny the style this show brings to the table. While there's nothing too progressive as far as the direction or choreography at work here, I still can't help but be impressed at how easy everything seems. By this I mean that it seems the style just flows off the screen naturally and can be seen in the fluid movements of the characters in many scenes. While there are many action sequences, they aren't so much edge-of-your seat and jaw dropping as they are seamless and fluid which is very pleasing to the eye.

Sound - 9
While maybe a handful of people out there won't like the music here, I think the sound is perfectly done. The melancholy music does a great job setting the mood and enhances the feel of Kabuki-cho as a city.

The Japanese voice actors do a good job and are obviously cast well for their roles. Natsuki Sakan is a great fit as Darkside and this is one of those times when a female voice actor really does seem more appropriate for a male character.

Story - 8
Set sometime in the future, Darkside Blues depicts a world almost completely owned by the Persona Corporation. One of the few free areas is the slums of Kabuki-cho, often called the dark side of Tokyo. There are various 'enhanced' humans running around who boast supernatural powers, though it's never explained whether this is actually magic or achieved with technology. Taking place in the future, there is quite a bit of technology around in the form of watches that fire lasers, robotic attack drones, and even a massive quantum cannon.

Something interesting I noticed was how similar this movie is to the Clint Eastwood movie Pale Rider (which was in turn a retelling of the classic western Shane). The reason I say they are similar is that, just like Pale Rider, Darkside Blues follows a small group of people (Messiah) whom are resisting oppression at the hands of a wealthy group (Persona Corporation) and then inserts a mysterious stranger (Darkside) who has a score to settle. While Darkside may seem to be the main character, the movie really seems to focus more on the effect his presence has on the members of Messiah.

Unfortunately, the movie seems like a small part of a whole that the viewer is never fully aware of and some things are left unexplained. Despite that, the sub-plot involving the escape of an Anti-Persona resistance fighter is covered well. The main confusion involves the backstories of many characters.

Character - 7
There are a lot of good things here, unfortunately most of the characters are undeveloped with only hints given regarding their past. The only characters really explored are the resistance fighter Tatsuya and Selia, an acquaintance of the Messiah members.

Darkside himself is almost a walking cheat code as time and time again various Persona assassins run across him only to find their attacks have no effect. Darkside only bothers to take his hands from his pockets on a couple of occasions and really he never seems worried no matter what attacks are being thrown at him. Darkside's past is only ambiguously explained, but really his character is in the movie to bring about change in others.

Through a process he calls 'renewal', he enables various characters to overcome hurdles formed when they were emotionally scarred in the past. Though for some people, this renewal simply brings about their death.

Enjoyment - 9
I personally love 90s anime and Darkside Blues is a great one. This show walks a fine line of psychological and action so there is substance to chew on mentally, or if you just wanna sit back then there's plenty of action as well. While I wouldn't call this an action anime, I don't think more than 5 minutes ever go by before the next altercation starts.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Aug 5, 2013

Huntsman

Mixed Feelings

Beware for Darkside is coming to Earth. No I am not talking about the DC comic super villain who terrorizes the heroes of the DC universe. I am talking about the unnamed dark clad man who comes through a dimensional portal on a horse drawn carriage arriving in Kabuki-cho "The Dark Side of Tokyo" which is one of the last places on Earth that isn't controlled by the Persona Century Corporation. This mysterious Darkside brings a coming change and renewal to poor and disenfranchised people of Kabuki-cho, as well as the power hungry rulers of Earth that run Persona Century, and the rest of the ... citizens of Earth.

I had originally watched Darkside Blues around fifteen years ago, and at the time I really enjoyed the film, but after seeing the film again after such a long time I realize that while Darkside Blues is an entertaining film with some grand ideas it is also a very flawed anime film as well. The film follows a whole cast of characters from wayward rebels living in Kabuki-cho to members of the anti-Persona group to Persona representatives. There are so many plot threads, genres and themes taking place in a miniscule running time of eighty three minutes that it takes away from the quality of the film. There is the plot thread revolving around Darkside and the Persona Corporation. Apparently the Persona Corporation sealed Darkside in another dimension, but the film never tries to explain the reasoning behind it only implying that the return of Darkside will be extremely bad for Persona. I found the plot and the character Darkside interesting and wished the film could have explored that plot thread better. There is another plot thread that revolves around Mai and her past dealing with the Guren the heir to the Persona Corporation, and there are many more plot points, and plot twists in Darkside that might have worked better if Darkside had been a longer film or had a thirteen episode anime series.

There were obvious messages that writer Kikuchi Hideyuki and director Yoshimichi Furukawa wanted to convey in their film as "renewal" or "rebirth" in overcoming loss, rape, or some other kind of hardship and being reborn. There are many religious undertones to the film and other themes about peace, like whether world peace can be achieved peacefully or must it be achieved by force and ruled by a dictator, and if that is achieved is that truly peace. There are many interesting themes that could have explored better if the film had been longer or had Darkside Blues been turned into a short series. You can see the running theme I am going with as I continue my review. The other problem with the film is the all the different genres being blended together. Darkside Blues is a Dystopian film that blends fantasy, action, science fiction, drama, suspense and romance to name a few, and at certain points in the in Darkside it did work well, but you know where I am going with this so I'll stop here.

While the plot, characters, themes weren't fleshed out enough one of the things that did work for the film was the tone of Darkside Blues. The anime film was dark in color to emphasize the themes of the film and it works really well. Even when it is daylight you can still see the shadows of the darkness and it just emphasizes the points the writer and director are trying to convey. While I am sure the animation was good nearly twenty years ago when the film came out Darkside's animation certainly does not hold up as well as other anime films, but is still decent and enjoyable. Now to what is perhaps the best part of the film which is the music scored by Kazuhiko Toyama. The music is beautifully scored and fleshed out fully encompassing each scene in the film. Then there was the ant-persona ballad song. I don't know who sang the song, but it was wonderfully written and exquisitely performed by the singer with a simple guitar. I tried to looking online to find who sang both the Japanese and English words for the song, but I could not find out who performed the ballads.

I truly believe Darkside Blues could have worked extremely better as an anime series. The plot, characters and themes could have been completely fleshed out in a twelve or twenty four episode series. Unfortunately instead we get a jumbled mess that is at times an entertaining film in Darkside Blues that blends to many plot threads, themes, genres and characters into a short film that. I give Kikuchi Hideyuki and Yoshimichi Furukawa props for trying to create a meaningful film, but they have sadly failed and I can't recommend Darkside unless you are a true anime fan then you might find the film worthwhile or entertaining like I did.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Aug 13, 2013

bedheadred

Not Recommended

The evil Persona corporation dominates most of the earth with their iron fist, excepting small resistance movements, one of which is located in the free town of Kabuki-cho, also known as “The Dark Side of Tokyo”. Here a group of juvenile delinquents known as Messiah dwell. For a fee, they shelter and assist a terrorist who opposes Persona.

I really wanted to like this movie because it was based on a manga by Hideyuki Kikucho who also wrote Vampire Hunter D. You can see the similarities in the animation (which is superb for its time,) supernatural themes and mysterious, romanticized character of ... Darkside. Unfortunately, the movie did not live up to the D.

Call me dense, but I never did understand Darkside's power or why he was at odds with the Persona corporation. Had he not been a part of the movie, the story would have been complete--an oppressed society rising up against its oppressor. In fact, the most explored characters are the terrorist and the Kabuki-cho resident that nurses and shelters him.

Where the anime does excel is the music. In the opening sequence, a street musician breaks out in a blues number during a struggle against Persona. The blues music portrays the heavy air of oppression in Kabuki-cho.

There is thought provoking dialogue regarding peace and whether peace achieved through force is actually peace. Had the movie followed these themes without the supernatural element, it would have been a success.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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by Salvaged »» Jan 14, 12:13 PM