Mardock Scramble: The First Compression

Familiar Japanese cyber-fiction elements combine with striking chiaroscuro and neo-noir panache in this opening title in a scheduled trilogy (based on a graphic-novel serial) depicting a future with bizarre medical transplants, resurrections, and tangled legalities over what constitutes “human life.” Incest-scarred teen prostitute Balot is the latest victim of Shell, a gangster and serial killer rendered virtually untouchable because he's able to erase any implicating memories after each murder. But Balot is revived as a para-human cyborg witness by Oeufcoque, who was once an ordinary yellow lab-test mouse but now has human intellect and shape-shifting abilities. Oeufcoque serves society as a crime fighter/prosecutor, and Balot is his “litigant” against Shell. A monstrous hit team tries to kill the girl, leading to a cliffhanger ending that will leave viewers hungering for more—if they aren't utterly baffled by the dense literary allusions (especially to Lewis Carroll), mind-blowing concepts, and technology bordering on magic. Presented on a dual-language disc, rated TV-MA, this dark, mature anime offering is recommended. (C. Cassady)