First Squad BD [Blu-ray]

"First Squad" has been on my must-buy list for quite some time now, mainly because it's subject matter intrigued me. The animation is handled by Studio 4C, whose pedigree is quite impressive and includes some classic titles like "Tikkon Kinkreet" and "Tweeny Witches." It's also one of the rare standalone anime films that gets a US release without having any attachment to a major franchise or genre. Last time I saw a movie come this out of left field was "Strait Jacket", which I absolutely adored. So after months of wait and a barely promoted release, the movie was of course a first-day purchase for me. But maybe I should've waited until some more reviews came in, because "First Squad" is one of the most frustrating anime films I've ever seen.

It's not that this Russian/Japanese co-production is what one could fairly call "bad." At it's very core, the plot which drives "First Squad" forward is quite a unique one. In the middle of World War II, Nadya is a 14 year-old psychic, the last from an elite squadron comprised of four other children. When the Russians begin to overtake Germany, the Nazis resort to calling in an undead army of 12'th century crusaders to come and wipe out their "oppressor", then proceed to merge the land of the dead and the land of the living. This would bring time itself to a standstill, bringing an end to all history past, present and future. In order to stop this from happening, the Russians enlist Nadya to travel to the realm of the dead and call the rest of her former squad back to life. Together, they may be able to stand a chance against the undead masses.

People expecting this to culminate in any sort of epic final battle, though, are going to be sorely let down. "First Squad"'s climax, if it can even be called that, is among the laziest and most unsatisfying I've ever experienced. When everything is in place, and all of the characters seem to be at their most formed, the writers apparently ran out of time and yanked the rug right out from underneath the feet of the viewer. There is no ending here; the story just stops and the credits roll. Every single character, whether they be hero or villain, never gets a conclusive ending. The villain is not thwarted, two antagonists are simply dropped, and the main character never learns anything about herself or helps her friends achieve redemption. Nobody wins, including the viewer.

The lack of a reasonable ending is the least of this movie's problems, though. My biggest qualm was the inclusion of utterly perfunctory live-action sequences shoehorned into the short movie that make up about 12 minutes of the runtime. These sequences are "mockumentary" pieces, i.e. fake interviews with "historians" and "veterans" that treat the events of the film as factual. Instead of actually making the narrative more fleshed out, the writers relied on a cop-out method of expanding the universe. It doesn't work, though, and the result are a bunch of jarring, misplaced segments that serve no purpose whatsoever. Mercifully, Manga Entertainment offers the "short version" on this release, taking out the live-action sequences. Once those were turned off, the whole thing was noticeably more enjoyable.

Another issue is the animation. While is indeed very crisp and clean, there's a distinct lack of livelihood in both character motions and the desolate backgrounds. The sequences where Nadya is recalling a better time, before the war, are beautiful standouts standing in contrast to the rest of the film, which is admittedly dull to look at. Most of the locales begin to run together by the quarter-mark, which only leaves the characters being distinct. Not that this is a total bad thing, however, because Studio 4C did an excellent job on these. Every character, even the minor ones, have features that stand-out in the desolate backgrounds. Even a character that only gets about 45 seconds of screen time is expertly crafted and given a unique costume that etches him into memory. The plot from this movie won't stick with me nearly as much as the characters will.

One unique aspect about this title is that there is no Japanese voice track. The only two options are Russian and English, and if you value your auditory senses, then you should use the Russian track. While the English is filled with V.A.s that I generally like, they're all horribly miscast and seem to not be putting their all into the whole thing, which by consequence makes every character sound incredibly bored. By contrast, the Russian actors have such bite and vivacity that it somewhat makes up for the lack of content in the narrative itself. Nadya's V.A. is particularly fantastic. The music is another winning factor here, blending modern club music, rock and classic spy film coolness with pitch-perfect smoothness.

"First Squad" isn't perfect, by any stretch of the imagination. But it's certainly not bad, and it's definitely one slight notch above mediocre. Despite the infuriating lack of an ending, the unique concept drives this one up to a rental status. While you should by no means shell out your money to own this, it's definitely worth experiencing via NetFlix or your local video store (they still have those, right?).

Plot: B-
Animation: B-
Sound: B+
Voice Acting (EN): C-
Voice Acting: (RU): A-
Overall: B- (Rent It)

I have to say after reading/skimming the previous comments, I have to agree with that the 'mockumentary' clips are unnecessary. But I have to guess that the filmakers were trying to intersperse the reality of the war and its suffering along with the animated segments. I do enjoy the music along with the 'summer sequence' which I think is beautifully scored, designed, and animated. So touching, of the past.

The English dub was not bad,I think the chosen voice actors fit the characters well but in a certain scene the english actor for Leo tries too hard to say the lines with a dose of emotion in such a short timing sequence. Some lines are too cliche or too mushy on purpose!

I give animation an A+, English Dub an A-.

Finslly, I can't stress enough that the animation was superb but the movie is best watched without the live-action clips unless you want a little bit of 'history' add into it. I also like to criticize that despite what other people have said of the ending that it was 'inconclusive or short or the animators ran out of ideas and pull the rug on us viewers' after watching and rewatching the 'animated' movie, I think what the animators are trying to hint is that the 'First Squad' may have won the battle, but they have yet to win the war...

I was turned off by other reviews talking about "live action" mockumentary sequences. These must have been in an earlier version. The version I watched from netflix was pure anime. I may be giving it higher marks since I have no idea what this "live action" footage is all about. The version I saw had English, Japanese & Russian language tracks, i chose to watch in Russian, assuming that's how the Russian producers envisioned it. It's a great start to what, hopefully, could be a series someday. As others have mentioned, it feels like a pilot for a new series. Hopefully we'll see more of Nadya, Colonel Below, & Nadya's dead comrades in the future. All in all it did seem like an unfinished experience, now I'd like to see the original cut with the live action "interviews" included, simply for reference. A great start to something, but fans will long for more. The ending does leave you feeling cheated, but the 50 minutes or so before that is really fun & quite visually stunning.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 7 reviews  3.3 out of 5 stars