Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

In Bekushiru 2077 Nihon sakoku (2077 Japanese Isolation) or Vexille, as it is known to the world outside of Japan, director Fumihiko Sori has concerned himself with the cumulative effect that technology is having on society. In this world of ever more "connectivity", there is an ironic trend taking place, as noticed by Sori and many others who are observant. It seems that the more gadgets we acquire, the faster our networks become, and the more channels and data we can access at our fingertips, the less human interaction we actually take part in.

Vexille presents a dystopian future where this sort of technological isolation has spun out of control; where our technology has taken us over. Setting the story in Japan, some 70-years into the future, cybernetic technology has advanced to the point where the world's governments and societies feel the need to curtail research. The United Nations has issued an international ban on further development of the technology. The world's leader in cybernetics, Japan, now entirely under the control of the powerful technology corporation Daiwa Heavy Industries, withdraws from the U.N. and decides to isolate themselves from the rest of the world so they can continue their research and development and be the world's dominant superpower. Expelling all foreigners and banning any citizen from leaving, the country embarks on 10-years of isolation from the world, aided by a technological veil using electromagnetic frequencies that block all signals from getting in or out.

When it is discovered that Japan may have violated the international embargo against cybernetics development, a Special Forces unit known as S.W.O.R.D. from the United States is sent in to penetrate the nation's electronic veil and send information on what has been going on in Japan back to the United States. One member of the team is Vexille, a lieutenant commander. Eventually the entire mission comes to rest on the film's eponymous character as most of her team are killed in the first wave of their mission.

Whilst in Tokyo, Vexille discovers that the Daiwa Heavy Industries' experiments have gone much further than mere advancements in cybernetics. Almost the entire population of Japan have been wiped out by a virus that the corporation has purposely given to the population, turning them all from humans into vessels waiting to turn into complete androids. Those that do not transition perfectly turn into useless pieces of junk metal that are cast off into the wasteland surrounding Tokyo that separates the city from the Daiwa headquarters. There they are attracted together and form gargantuan, mindless pieces of junk called jags that seek out anything metal and wander the wasteland like giant sand serpents.  These jags will eventually play a pivotal role in helping Vexille and a group of resistance fighters in Tokyo in their plan to infiltrate Daiwa and halt their human experiments.

The Picture

FUNimation continues the trend of high quality on their new-release Blu-ray Disc titles with Vexille. Appearing in an excellent 1.78:1 AVC/MPEG-4 encoding averaging around 30Mbps, Vexille's digital palette of extreme contrasts, deep blacks, bright reds and prevalent blues is rendered without so much as a hint of artifacts caused by the transfer itself. The CG renderings occasionally display some jagged edges and slight color banding that are most likely due to the limited budgets that most animé productions are forced to work under, making the end results all the more impressive.

The Sound

Fans of either dubs or subtitles for their animated viewing will be pleased to find that Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless options are provided in both the original Japanese and in English.  Both mixes provide excellent quality and live up to the standards being set for new release animé titles on Blu-ray Disc by FUNimation and other studios. Viewing the film in Japanese with the literal English subtitles turned on, Vexille's soundmix never failed to impress. The numerous sequences of sci-fi action provided ample opportunity for all five main channels to be fully utilized, be it the rumbling sound of high-tech ATV's moving through the soundfield or the pervasive explosions and rapid gunfire blazing, aided most impressively by extensive use of the LFE. Dialogue remained clear during even the most active scenes and emanated mainly from the center channel, however, all channels were used for directional panning of dialogue to follow the action when necessary. Vexille is another impressive, reference-quality soundmix from FUNimation.

The Extras

As is typical of FUNimation's new-release Blu-ray's, Vexille comes with an extensive amount of supplements, but most are brief snippets of background information on the film's director, production and cast and they feel somewhat disjointed in scope. At times, much of it really feels like filler, but the effort is still applauded.

The extras provide on this release are:

• Opening Comments from the Locarno Film Festival (4:3/standard definition) --The director talks at the opening ceremony of the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.
• Sori's Work As an Animation Creator (4:3/standard definition) -- The director is shown working on Vexille at Oxybot animation studio.
• Voice Acting Footage (4:3/standard definition) -- Meisa Kuroki, the Japanese actress who voiced Vexille, is shown in some behind-the-scenes footage recording her parts.
• Creating the Cities in Vexille (4:3/standard definition) --  This featurette focuses on the animation team's work designing the cities of Vexille. Interestingly enough, the one-cut aerial view of Tokyo that is used early in the film it is said to have cost as much as an entire film would have.
• 2007 Tokyo International Anime Fair Event (4:3/standard definition)-- The director is shown arriving at the convention to announce the release of Vexille.
• Sori's Guest Lecture at Digital Hollywood Tokyo (4:3/standard definition) -- The director is seen lecturing CGI students at Digital Hollywood Tokyo.
• Voice Acting Footage (4:3/standard definition) -- Some footage of voice actor Soshuke Tanihara recording his part as Leon.
• An Old Friend Visits Sori (4:3/standard definition) -- The director is shown entertaining an old friend and her child when they arrive from the U.S. to visit.
• Behind-the-Scenes Footage of ICHI (4:3/standard definition) -- Sori is shown filming the live-action film ICHI which he was working on in tandem with Vexille.
• Creating Vexille's 3D Animation (4:3/standard definition) -- This featurette profiles the film's animation team.
• Voice Acting Footage (4:3/standard definition) -- More footage of various cast members recording their voice parts.
• Creating the Music in Vexille, Part 1 (4:3/standard definition) -- Paul Okenfold, the techno artist who scored the film is profiled. It is revealed that Okenfold would email his musical ideas to Sori daily.
• Creating the Music in Vexille, Part 2 (4:3/standard definition) -- Japanese pop artist mink is profiled as she records the film's theme song.
• Vexille's Premiere (4:3/standard definition)
• Sori's Closing Comments (4:3/standard definition)
• The Secrets of Vexille (4:3/standard definition) -- In this interview segment with the director he discusses the film's themes and the inspiration behind the story.
• Original TV Spots and Previews (4:3/standard definition)
• FUNimation Trailers:
  • Hana
  • Dragon Ball Z
  • Samurai 7
  • Darker than Black
  • Aquarion
  • Dragon Ball GT
  • Burst Angel
  • Glass Fleet

Final Thoughts

In the realm of animé, Vexille is not wholly original. In fact, the themes of technology running rampant and the blurred lines between man and machine are turned to quite frequently in the genre. Still, Vexille offers a thought provoking and well-designed production, even if its motion-capture animation sometimes looks a bit awkward. The Blu-ray release provides an exceptional picture with a thoroughly engaging lossless soundtrack that is well worth the price of admission.

Where to Buy

• Vexille Isolation Special Editon on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Actors: Meisa Kuroki, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Travis Willingham, Shosuke Tanihara, Christine M. Auten
• Director: Fumihiko Sori
• Audio/Languages: Japanese & English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
• Subtitles: English
• Region: A
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG-13
• Studio: FUNimation
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: November 4, 2008
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• List Price: $34.98
• Extras:
  • Opening Comments from the Locarno Festival
  • Sori's Work as an Animation Creator
  • Voice Acting Footage -- Voice of VEXILLE
  • Creating the Cities in VEXILLE
  • 2007 Tokyo International Anime Fair Event
  • Sori's Guest Lecture at Digital Hollywood Tokyo
  • Voice Acting Footage -- Voice of Leon
  • An Old Friend Visits Sori
  • Behind-the-Scenes Footage of ICHI
  • Creating VEXILLE's 3D Animation
  • Voice Footage -- Other Cast Members
  • Creating the Music in VEXILLE -- Part 1
  • Creating the Music in VEXILLE -- Part 2
  • VEXILLE's Premiere
  • Sori's Closing Comments
  • The Secrets of VEXILLE
  • Original TV Spots and Previews
  • FUNimation Trailers