009 Re: Cyborg

Top-level anime director Kenji Kamiyama's 2012 film is an updated, amped-up, and grown-up version of Cyborg 009, the cherished manga franchise launched by the late comics creator Shotaro Ishinomori in 1964. Nine international human cyborgs with different superpowers were created by wizened Dr. Gilmore (the characters here are drawn realistically, not in Ishinomori's whimsical, Astro Boy-cute style) to fight for peace. Enhanced with abilities such as flying, hyperspeed, incredible strength, and psychic powers, they reunite (after an interval of post Cold-War estrangement) when 9/11-style suicide bombings and rogue missiles smite mankind's tallest skyscrapers, pushing the world towards Armageddon-like conflict. The aggressors claim that they are obeying the voice of God—or is it a military-industrial conspiracy between the U.S. and Israel? Key plot details may be a little fuzzy, but Kamiyama's kinetic vision carries this epic material over the sketchy patches. An included booklet explains much of the puzzling background and contains interviews with Kamiyama. Presented in a dual-language Blu-ray/DVD Combo set, rated TV-14, other extras include a prologue segment. (C. Cassady)