Lovely bosom
Gorgeous animations
Empty visuals
The camera makes sure that we don't mistake Deunan Knute for a boy for in the opening scene it focuses on her bosom. It is hard to miss anyway as it is packed in a skintight white top that sticks out from her otherwise green combat armor. Guys need something to look at, I guess. The camera will come back to her discerning features at times so we can check if she hasn't been turned in a man somewhere along the line. Just so you know.
Her exposed bosom and belly made me think of this book I once read that reported that most soldiers died from harm to their head and belly, both parts of her body that are not protected in her ridiculous outfit.
That is really odd as Deunan is a mercenary eking out a living in the ruined city of New York, in a world not quite our own as it is devastated by a world war and has cyborgs and other artificial beings as inhabitants. One of those is her cyborg buddy with the fancy name of Briareos. Jack could have been enough because he acts like a human being in every respect. My guess is that it is probably because it is cool.
The whole movie is a puzzle for it serves up all the staple manga ingredients: the little girl with the strange powers, the brooding hero, the loyal servant, the deadly girl and so on and so on.
Deunan herself mostly functions as eye candy, for next to some scenes in which she actually fights, most of the time cyborg buddy, or some other guy, has to rescue her. And she is there so she can show her female side by occasionally breaking down in tears so her cyborg buddy can comfort her as the real man, eh robot, he is.
The script is at times downright baffling. Why does this two horns guy try to kill Deunan and her cyborg? Because someone else tries to kill him because he wouldn't want to give them up or kill them.
It is a movie for people who so dearly love manga that they will swallow any rubbish as long as there is a pretty girl in it and perhaps for those who want to see the latest state of animations that hasn't a big budget like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. The big question is why you would want to make an animated movie that aims to look real? You could have used actors instead and they would have had much more soul than these animated graphics..
The movie is nice to watch but otherwise an empty shell.