 I wish I could say that I enjoyed “Genocidal Organ” but I felt that it was an animated film that benefits more from its action and violence than its characters and storyline.
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TITLE: Genocidal Organ
DURATION: 115 Minutes
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Japanese and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Funimation
RATED: TV MA
Release Date: November 7, 2017
Originally Created by Project Itoh
Director: Shukou Murase
Screenplay by Shukuou Murase
Music by Yoshihiro Ike
Original Character Design: rejudice
Art Director: Seiki Tamura
Anime Production: Geno Studio, Manglobe
Featuring the following voice talent:
YÅ«ichi Nakamura/Josh Grelle as Clavis Shepherd
Akio Ohtsuka/Christopher R. Sabat as Rockwell
Kaito Ishikawa/Clifford Chapin as Leland
Sanae Kobayashi/Jeannie Tirado as Lucia
Satoshi Mikami/Ian Sinclair as Williams
Takahiro Sakurai/Ricco Fajardo as John Paul
Yuuki Kaji/Clifford Chapin as Alex
Kazuhiro Yamaji/Charlie Campbell as President
Takehiro Hasu/Dave Trosko as Staff Officer
Takuya Kirimoto/David Wald as Lucius
In Genocidal Organ, while developed countries rely on advanced surveillance to free them from the threat of terrorism, other nations are plagued by genocide within their own borders. Strangely, these massacres all link back to one American by the name of John Paul. Special agent Clavis Shepherd is sent to capture the target, but nothing can prepare this soldier—or the world—for the truth behind humanity’s darkness.
Before the release of popular novels “Harmony” and “The Empire of Corpses”, back in 2007, science fiction writer Project Itoh wrote his debut novel, “Gyakusatsu Kikan” (Genocidal Organ).
The novel was successful that the sci-fi magazine “SF ga yomitai” ranked Genocidal Organ as the #1 domestic SF novel of the decade.
The novel would lead to an animated film being created and set for release by Manglobe in 2015, but with the company filing bankruptcy, the film was postponed. This would lead to the staff going by a new studio name, Geno Studio, announced it would complete the film by the end of 2016 and eventually, the film would be released in Feb. 2017.
Funimation would release the film in select US theaters in July 2017 and now “Genocidal Organ” would be released in the US in November 2017.
The animated film is set in 2022 when Sarajevo was destroyed by a homemade nuclear weapon, the developed countries of the world transformed into surveillance states, while struggling countries would endure many genocides.
Intelligence agent Clavis Shepherd of the US govt. is part of a program in which soldiers have their emotional responses deleted and he is assigned to go undercover to find the person who is responsible, an American named John Paul and what type of weapon he is using to cause so much mayhem.
VIDEO:
“Genocidal Organ” is presented in 1080p High Definition. As one can expect from an animated film, production is quite high for “Genocidal Organ”. While originally created by Manglobe, the same staff who went on to form Geno Studio did a fantastic job in completing the film. Closeup details are fantastic, character shading is well-done, mechanical/costume design is highly detailed and for the most part, the film looks fantastic in HD!
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
The lossless soundtrack for “Genocidal Organ” is presented in Japanese and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Genocidal Organ” comes with the following special features:
- Cast Discussion: Philosophy of the Genocidal Organ – (10:17) ADR Director Clifford Chapin and English dub voice actors discuss “Genocidal Organ”.
- Original Trailer
- Promo Video
- TV Spots
- Trailers
EXTRAS:
“Genocidal Organ” comes with a slipcase and the film on Blu-ray, DVD and also comes with an UltraViolet digital code.
For anime fans who clamor for war and violence, will find “Genocidal Organ” to be their kind of film. It’s a film that takes on the question of the price of freedom and how far one soldier is willing to go to uncover the truth of why genocides are taking place in more or less third world countries.
The concept is not new and in fact, if “Genocidal Organ” was a video game, I think the execution would be much more entertaining because as an anime adaptation of a well-known novel, I’m not sure if the adaptation was on point.
Watching an anime series based on the late Project Itoh’s popular novel, I can’t say that the anime adaptations have been completely faithful (as I have not read any of his novels), but I have watched all three animated films and I’ve felt that for novels so popular, I felt the anime adaptations had something missing because may it be “Genocidal Organ”, “Harmony” or “The Empire of Corpses”, none of these three films made me feel excited, nor have they made me feel that I want to watch the film over and over again.
“Genocidal Organ”, I did give it a try twice, because I feel that for an award-winning novel, I must be missing something exciting.
When it comes to the animation, the violence was well-captured, animation was smooth and certain details when it came to mechanical or costume design was great. Backgrounds were well-done and for the most part, Geno Studio made sure to complete the job, considering that it was done by employees who worked for Manglobe before they company filed bankruptcy. It took a while to make and release but for the most part, for what they were able to accomplish, the movie was good but at the same time, feeling that it had the potential to be something more. Granted, you see the differences and while Manglobe did the better part of it, Geno Studio finished it.
In some ways, it reminded me of the unfortunate situation with “Bubblegum Crisis” and “Bubblegum Crash” which led to a different style with the latter and no doubt disappointed fans. People will see differences and some will not like the changes but I’m giving the company the benefit of the doubt that they rescued the film that they worked so hard on and the staff wanted to complete it with what staff and what budget they had.
While the animated film looks great in HD and the voice acting in Japanese and English are well-done, and you do get Funimation English dub interviews with the ADR director and cast, personally no matter how good the acting was, I just felt that the characters were not interesting. None of the characters captivated my attention and if anything, the film’s concept and the revelation at the end and the sheer brutality of this chaotic world was much more interesting. I wanted the characters and it storyline to have some kind of balance but somehow, at times, the film felt incoherent and I kept looking at my watch wondering when the film was going to be over.
Unfortunately, I wish I could say that I enjoyed “Genocidal Organ” but I felt that it was an animated film that benefits more from its action and violence than its characters and storyline.
