Independent anime productions are not exactly the norm in the Japanese movie industry but occasionally some productions do stand out, and this one by Saku Sakamoto, who handled digital effects on “Ghost in the Shell: Innocence” definitely falls under this category, despite its obvious low budget nature.
“Aragne of Sign of Vermillion” is part of the Asian selection at Fantasia International Film Festival
University student Rin's life is in shambles. The apartment she has rent is hardly the sunny palace the rental listings suggested, not only visually and practically but also in terms of circumstances, which can only be described as extreme. Ghosts seem to lurk in the vicinity, weird strangers roam the area, including Nasuha, a middle schooler who emits a strange aura, and Saion, a shaman, and a number of crimes take place quite frequently. The terror however, has much deeper roots, as Rin realizes after visiting the local library and the acquaintance of a nice and helpful young man named Tokiyo there does not help so much, particularly when strange bugs make their appearance.
Saku Sakamoto directs an anime that could be described as a combination of “MushishI” and “Garden of Sinners”, with the existence of bugs and the mixture of psychological and supernatural terror. The film frequently blends reality with fantasy, in an amalgam that retains a sense of disorientation for the viewer, which serves its aesthetics quite nicely. As we watch Rin drowning in a sea of unlikely events, one starts wondering how much of this actually happens and how much is the product of the mind of a troubled individual. The film retains this confusion to the end, which again, serves the horror/thriller aesthetics. Add to that much violence and blood, and a number of extreme characters and you have the backbone of the anime.
Since Sakamoto did not have in his hands the big budgets usually allocated to anime by the major studios, he had to get innovative to make his title work, leaving aside the fact that he acted as writer, director, animator, and even producer of the score. This innovation is presented chiefly through two tactics. The first one involves the frequent depiction of frames that show the character in the initial, sketch form, just the inking, in manga fashion with very little movement. The second one involves the “camera” appearing as if moving up and down, shakily, which seems to aim at giving a sense of movement to some scenes that do include much animation. The first of those works quite well, but the second occasionally becomes a bit annoying, although not to a point to fault the overall experience significantly.
The characters are a bit simplistic in their sketch, something that does not apply to the drawing of the bugs, the buildings, and the background in general. The action scenes are very well animated, with the depiction of the violent sequences being one of the production's best assets.
The voice acting is on a nice level, with Kana Hanazawa presenting Rin's downward spiral with gusto and the rest of the cast, Ayana Shiramoto, Yousuke Ito, Fukujuro Katayama, and Shogo Batory being quite convincing in portraying the mystery surrounding their characters.
” Aragne: Sign of Vermillion” is an intriguing project with its combination of thriller, horror and exploitation aesthetics, which could have benefited from a larger budget, although the experience it offers is quite unique as it is.
