Pale Cocoon Review - 69/100
Pale Cocoon: a twenty-minute long OVA, famous for its graphics. The setting is the year 2218, and it’s another one of those post-apocalyptical stories. The earth has been destroyed somehow, and people have been forced to move underground, and gradually forgot the past of a blue and green earth. Now, finally after an unknown amount of years, images and records from the past have been dug up and recovered, and our main character has been fascinated by them.
The graphics are indeed the reason why you should watch this, as they, combined with the storytelling manage to create a subtle atmosphere. It’s just unfortunate that this OVA could have achieved this even better if it extended its length to thirty minutes, because right now, it just forgets to flesh out its characters and setting well enough. We only see a tiny bit of the characters, but we never know how they spend their lives outside of their jobs. One particular character only appears through a voice, and we never see anything about him, despite the fact that he appears relatively often. We also never know what caused humanity to go underground in the first place, and why the surface became so uninhabitable.
Because of this, the climax unfortunately was ruined. The writers tried to be mysterious and pretentious, but because of that and the lack of development on both story and characters, the climax is just way too confusing and contradicting. I had no idea what went on, and that wasn’t a good sign.
The backgrounds may be beautifully rendered, but in the end, Pale Cocoon turned out to be lacking, even for an artistic anime. If you’re looking for something artistic, you could give it a try, but there are quite a few similar and better movies and OVAs out there. For example, even Kai Doh Maru, who also had a really confusing plot turned out more worthwhile than this one, simply because it did spend enough time fleshing out its characters. Wonderful Days also turned into a better watch, and its graphics were rendered even better; despite its storyline was mundane, at least it was coherent.
I have also found this OVA lacking in many ways.
Comment by maglor — September 10, 2007 @ 2:07
I really enjoyed it but in a limited way - it looked pretty, the music was nice and it was an interesting idea. It’s a showcase for what is obviously a very talented animator, but not much more. I found it to be a bit similar in approach to Voices of a Distant Star actually.
I read on ANN somewhere that the same guy is working on another movie later this year called Eve No Jikan. The promo art looks quite Shinkai-esque too - something to keep a lookout for!
Comment by Martin — September 11, 2007 @ 19:32
There are no contradictions in this story! It’s not pretentious. It’s not even complex! You didn’t pay attention. The storyline is coherent, its just not explicit.
These preconceptions are where you went wrong. The director leaves room for the audience to mislead themselves. But you’re supposed to be able to realise the truth at the end. I don’t know why you didn’t. O_o
You might be the reason characters talk to themselves and explain things they should already know. ;)
Anyway, the clever thing about the story is that you get to go through the same thing the characters do. We have the same false assumptions they have and the big reveal shows the truth to both the audience and the characters at the same time.
Comment by snog — September 16, 2007 @ 17:14