Beneath the usual Japanese anime trappings of a leggy heroine, dirty old men spouting sexual innuendo, and robots running amok, Roujin-Z offers up something a little off the beaten track: socially conscious commentary. From the creators of Akira, Blood: The Last Vampire and the recent art house hit Metropolis, 1991's Roujin-Z envisions a not too distant future in which financially strapped social welfare services personnel look for economically sound means to help care for an aging population. When student nurse Haruko's elderly charge, the ailing Mr. Takezawa, is drafted to be a test subject for the advanced Z-001 hospital bed (featuring a feeding mechanism, excretion clean-up system, complete bath, entertainment center, and vital signs monitor, among other options), Haruko--amidst all the cheering press--asks "how can a machine give him the love he needs?" Outnumbered, Haruko is initially forced to stand by as Mr. Takezawa is strapped into his high-tech crib, but later comes to his aid when she learns that he is miserable. Thanks to a biochip that allows the smart-bed to evolve (turns out there's a subplot in which the Pentagon wears villain's robes), man and machine meld and eventually leave the building--not on a destructive rampage, but rather on an odyssey towards the beach, where Mr. Takezawa recalls fond memories of time spent with his late wife. Sporting animation over a decade old, Roujin-Z is not the spiffiest looking anime title on the shelf, but it boasts something much more rarely found in the genre: a heart. Recommended. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)
Roujin-Z
(1991) 87 min. DVD: $24.99. Central Park Media (avail. from most distributors). Color cover. ISBN: 1-58664-164-6. Volume 17, Issue 3
Roujin-Z
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