Den-Noh Coil: Collection One

When it initially aired on Japanese TV in 2007, Den-Noh Coil was a heavily promoted series, built around the concept of virtual reality and the Internet (and it predicted something very much like Google Glass). Set in 2026—which, paradoxically, looks colorless, drab, and mid-20th-century-like—the show features digital environments called “e-spaces” that are projected by computer servers throughout the city. Users with special eyewear are able to perceive this hidden pop-up world of display panels, maps, virtual pets, and menacing software-based enforcement ‘bots called Searchmatons. But along with the advance in technology has come unanticipated, unauthorized digital life forms (“illegals”), viruses, and potentially dangerous artificial intelligences. A group of children suffering the loss/corruption of their digital pets meet a girl named Fumie, who represents a cyber detective agency that looks into future-shock enigmas such as the urban legend that human beings can be spirited away into the online universe. With all of the real/unreal artifacts, weapons, and rules, the mind-twisting material has a steep learning curve (even by Matrix standards), but the ensemble of colorful adolescents sets a surprisingly enjoyable Little Rascals tone (if Our Gang were heavily into hacking and IT). Compiling the first 12 episodes from 2007 in separate dual-language DVD and Blu-ray editions, rated TV-14, this is recommended. [Note: Den-Noh Coil: Collection Two is also newly available.] (C. Cassady)