Never thought I'd describe an entry into a franchise that centers around cool looking red-eyed power armor soldier with a machine gun as "vibes based" but here we are.
There's a lot of pretty shots of mundane life in Taiwan with our protagonist just wandering about and chilling.
It's nice, but it's a little too much of nothing going on where the bullet-hose finale feels like it came a little too late.
And I know that these films aren't all about the gun blazing action and more about the message Oshii is trying to say, but the Patlabor films were able to present thought-provoking stories alongside cool explodey shit.

Never thought I'd describe an entry into a franchise that centers around cool looking red-eyed power armor soldier with a machine gun as "vibes based" but here we are.
There's a lot of pretty shots of mundane life in Taiwan with our protagonist just wandering about and chilling.
It's nice, but it's a little too much of nothing going on where the bullet-hose finale feels like it came a little too late.
And I know that these films aren't all about the gun blazing action and more about the message Oshii is trying to say, but the Patlabor films were able to present thought-provoking stories alongside cool explodey shit.

Damn, this film is a much more melancholic and meditative mirror to the characters ans situations we are introduced to in The Red Spectacles, giving us a much more "realistic" look at what the world Todome was steeped in before the events of that film. It also puts us in the perspective of a character that is equally lost as Todome, but lacking his bullish confidence, existing in a steeping somber rage instead. There's a pleasantness to the melancholy here as much of the film is comprised of these travel log style montage sequences and the South Asian summer atmosphere, but it's as fleeting as the characters' time is there as we periodically are thrust from the vibes and comedic slice of life scenes into the much more dread filled encounters that remind Inui what he's there for. It all culminates in a scene that is as horrific and inevitable as it is hypnotic, and eventually ties the knot perfectly to the start of the previous film in a way that doesn't feel as tacky as most prequels do. Took me a while to finally get to this after watching and enjoying The Red Spectacles, but I'm glad I let that one sit for a bit and I'm very excited to check out Jin-Roh next.

Damn, this film is a much more melancholic and meditative mirror to the characters ans situations we are introduced to in The Red Spectacles, giving us a much more "realistic" look at what the world Todome was steeped in before the events of that film. It also puts us in the perspective of a character that is equally lost as Todome, but lacking his bullish confidence, existing in a steeping somber rage instead. There's a pleasantness to the melancholy here as much of the film is comprised of these travel log style montage sequences and the South Asian summer atmosphere, but it's as fleeting as the characters' time is there as we periodically are thrust from the vibes and comedic slice of life scenes into the much more dread filled encounters that remind Inui what he's there for. It all culminates in a scene that is as horrific and inevitable as it is hypnotic, and eventually ties the knot perfectly to the start of the previous film in a way that doesn't feel as tacky as most prequels do. Took me a while to finally get to this after watching and enjoying The Red Spectacles, but I'm glad I let that one sit for a bit and I'm very excited to check out Jin-Roh next.

Damn, this film is a much more melancholic and meditative mirror to the characters ans situations we are introduced to in The Red Spectacles, giving us a much more "realistic" look at what the world Todome was steeped in before the events of that film. It also puts us in the perspective of a character that is equally lost as Todome, but lacking his bullish confidence, existing in a steeping somber rage instead. There's a pleasantness to the melancholy here as much of the film is comprised of these travel log style montage sequences and the South Asian summer atmosphere, but it's as fleeting as the characters' time is there as we periodically are thrust from the vibes and comedic slice of life scenes into the much more dread filled encounters that remind Inui what he's there for. It all culminates in a scene that is as horrific and inevitable as it is hypnotic, and eventually ties the knot perfectly to the start of the previous film in a way that doesn't feel as tacky as most prequels do. Took me a while to finally get to this after watching and enjoying The Red Spectacles, but I'm glad I let that one sit for a bit and I'm very excited to check out Jin-Roh next.

Damn, this film is a much more melancholic and meditative mirror to the characters ans situations we are introduced to in The Red Spectacles, giving us a much more "realistic" look at what the world Todome was steeped in before the events of that film. It also puts us in the perspective of a character that is equally lost as Todome, but lacking his bullish confidence, existing in a steeping somber rage instead. There's a pleasantness to the melancholy here as much of the film is comprised of these travel log style montage sequences and the South Asian summer atmosphere, but it's as fleeting as the characters' time is there as we periodically are thrust from the vibes and comedic slice of life scenes into the much more dread filled encounters that remind Inui what he's there for. It all culminates in a scene that is as horrific and inevitable as it is hypnotic, and eventually ties the knot perfectly to the start of the previous film in a way that doesn't feel as tacky as most prequels do. Took me a while to finally get to this after watching and enjoying The Red Spectacles, but I'm glad I let that one sit for a bit and I'm very excited to check out Jin-Roh next.

Damn, this film is a much more melancholic and meditative mirror to the characters ans situations we are introduced to in The Red Spectacles, giving us a much more "realistic" look at what the world Todome was steeped in before the events of that film. It also puts us in the perspective of a character that is equally lost as Todome, but lacking his bullish confidence, existing in a steeping somber rage instead. There's a pleasantness to the melancholy here as much of the film is comprised of these travel log style montage sequences and the South Asian summer atmosphere, but it's as fleeting as the characters' time is there as we periodically are thrust from the vibes and comedic slice of life scenes into the much more dread filled encounters that remind Inui what he's there for. It all culminates in a scene that is as horrific and inevitable as it is hypnotic, and eventually ties the knot perfectly to the start of the previous film in a way that doesn't feel as tacky as most prequels do. Took me a while to finally get to this after watching and enjoying The Red Spectacles, but I'm glad I let that one sit for a bit and I'm very excited to check out Jin-Roh next.

Damn, this film is a much more melancholic and meditative mirror to the characters ans situations we are introduced to in The Red Spectacles, giving us a much more "realistic" look at what the world Todome was steeped in before the events of that film. It also puts us in the perspective of a character that is equally lost as Todome, but lacking his bullish confidence, existing in a steeping somber rage instead. There's a pleasantness to the melancholy here as much of the film is comprised of these travel log style montage sequences and the South Asian summer atmosphere, but it's as fleeting as the characters' time is there as we periodically are thrust from the vibes and comedic slice of life scenes into the much more dread filled encounters that remind Inui what he's there for. It all culminates in a scene that is as horrific and inevitable as it is hypnotic, and eventually ties the knot perfectly to the start of the previous film in a way that doesn't feel as tacky as most prequels do. Took me a while to finally get to this after watching and enjoying The Red Spectacles, but I'm glad I let that one sit for a bit and I'm very excited to check out Jin-Roh next.

Damn, this film is a much more melancholic and meditative mirror to the characters ans situations we are introduced to in The Red Spectacles, giving us a much more "realistic" look at what the world Todome was steeped in before the events of that film. It also puts us in the perspective of a character that is equally lost as Todome, but lacking his bullish confidence, existing in a steeping somber rage instead. There's a pleasantness to the melancholy here as much of the film is comprised of these travel log style montage sequences and the South Asian summer atmosphere, but it's as fleeting as the characters' time is there as we periodically are thrust from the vibes and comedic slice of life scenes into the much more dread filled encounters that remind Inui what he's there for. It all culminates in a scene that is as horrific and inevitable as it is hypnotic, and eventually ties the knot perfectly to the start of the previous film in a way that doesn't feel as tacky as most prequels do. Took me a while to finally get to this after watching and enjoying The Red Spectacles, but I'm glad I let that one sit for a bit and I'm very excited to check out Jin-Roh next.

Damn, this film is a much more melancholic and meditative mirror to the characters ans situations we are introduced to in The Red Spectacles, giving us a much more "realistic" look at what the world Todome was steeped in before the events of that film. It also puts us in the perspective of a character that is equally lost as Todome, but lacking his bullish confidence, existing in a steeping somber rage instead. There's a pleasantness to the melancholy here as much of the film is comprised of these travel log style montage sequences and the South Asian summer atmosphere, but it's as fleeting as the characters' time is there as we periodically are thrust from the vibes and comedic slice of life scenes into the much more dread filled encounters that remind Inui what he's there for. It all culminates in a scene that is as horrific and inevitable as it is hypnotic, and eventually ties the knot perfectly to the start of the previous film in a way that doesn't feel as tacky as most prequels do. Took me a while to finally get to this after watching and enjoying The Red Spectacles, but I'm glad I let that one sit for a bit and I'm very excited to check out Jin-Roh next.