Vexille (Fumihiko Sori 2007): Japan

Watch out! Run! And don’t forget to pick-up a cup of coffee. The human race is becoming fragments of what they used to be in the computer-animated film from Japan, “Vexille.”

Starting the pace off with a snow-covered mansion, politicians from around the globe gather to discuss the state of robot manufacturing.

Enter from above, Vexille, and ass-kicking beauty from the elite government agency SWORD. Her and her team drop from the sky in robot clad suits of armor.

They break into the dark home, wiping out a group of burly robot guards in a flurry of glass shards and fire.

From there the story embarks on futuristic twists and turns that feed into the action sequences flawlessly. The story is executed in such a way that keeps the tension high with a tale that combines a message of hope against a barren industrialized land that is quickly becoming the new world.

The director, Fumihiko Sori, takes the audience into a world of vast animation. Bright colors and shiny backdrops create a world that is almost unrecognizable to what is seen today. Everything is run by robots even the Los Angeles coffee shop where Vexille obtains her morning jolt.

The character of Vexille is a tough yet vulnerable individual who holds her own in the still male dominated business of her government agency. When she is sent into Japan along with her team she is thrust into chaos as she later finds herself in the home of a rebel fighter Maria, an even tougher, women with her cigarettes and black ponytail.

While most of the characters are American the film is still in Japanese with English subtitles. The language provides an insight into the culture at hand and to the people living in the landscape.

As huge metal snakes, known as Jags, gobble down any remaining garbage with ferocity, the people of Japan are forced to live in a land of destruction and ruthless rule.

While all this is happening there is a message of hope for the people of not only Japan, but also Earth as a whole as the world is further and further entering into a period of a bleak and forceful nature.

It won’t be long until we as citizens are being served our morning coffee by an emotionless and steel object. Yet we as humans must remember what makes us human is our will to keep moving forward in a land that is rapidly leaving us in it’s wake.