Doomed Megalopolis
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| Doomed Megalopolis
<tr><td colspan="2" style="background: #fff; text-align: center;">Image:Doomed Megaloloplis.jpg</td></tr> | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Historical, Horror, Supernatural |
| OVA | |
| Directed by | Rintaro |
| Studio | Image:Flag of Japan (bordered).svgToei Animation Image:Flag of the United States.svgStreamline Pictures |
| No. of episodes | 4 |
| Released | 1991 |
| Runtime | |
Doomed Megalopolis is an anime rendition of the Japanese literary epic Teito Monogatari (Hiroshi Aramata). It was released by Toei Animation Studios in 1991 as a 4-part OVA. It was also crafted by an assortment of popular executives in the anime studio, such as the famous director Rintaro. In 1999, ADV Films gained the rights to the anime and released it on a four-volume cassette series in the US, under the title Doomed Megalopolis. In 2001, ADV re-released the entire series on a 2-Disc DVD edition. Unfortunately, that part of the series was lacking many features the general audience would expect out of a DVD release (such as the option to change the dialogue to Japanese). As such, ADV gathered the rights to the original Japanese voices, and in 2003, re-released an enhanced version entitled Doomed Megalopolis: Special Edition, wherein the Japanese language option was available and many other features were added.
The plot concerns a spiritual battle being waged within the capital of Tokyo during the turn of the 20th century. In 1908, Japan is undergoing an enormous process of industrial renovation due the influence of radical western ideals. Technology and politics shift the country's emphasis more and more away from the traditions of the past, with Tokyo being the main center of this radical movement. At the same time, Yamumasa Hirai, an Onmyoji of the Tsuchimikado Family, has been called from Kyoto to Tokyo in order to participate in a secret meeting concerning plans to turn Tokyo into the most commercial and blessed city in all of Japan. Unfortunately, the spirits of the ancient Onmyoji from years past are stirred by all the modernization. There is also a dark curse that hangs over Tokyo left by the spirit of the warlord Taira no Masakado. The two forces culminate together to give life to a spiritual warrior who will take revenge upon those who have forgotten the old traditions of Japan. The result is Yasunori Kato, an evil Onmyoji whose only desire is the complete destruction of Tokyo. Yamumasa Hirai and Kato Yasunori meet, and an enormous spiritual battle is waged between the powers of Light and Dark in the middle of Japan's new capital.
Contents |
[edit] Episode Plot Summaries
[edit] Episode 1: The Haunting of Tokyo
The story begins with a long narrative concerning Tokyo's situation in 1908 and how it seeks to become a thriving megalopolis free of desecration and evil. However, the narrative goes down to the grave of Taira no Masakado, emphasizing that the curse of this barbarian from several years ago still persists in this growing city. Eventually two strange figures appear in Tokyo at the exact same time. One is Yamumasa Hirai, an Onmyoji of the Tsuchimikado Family who has come to give advice to the prime minister as to how to make Tokyo a spiritually blessed city as well as a technologically successful one. The other figure is Yasunori Kato, an evil Onmyoji whose only determination is to destroy Tokyo completely so that the spirits of his mystical ancestors will be appeased. He decides to employ the angry spirit of Masakado as a weapon to bring chaos and destruction upon the city. To do this, he attempts to kidnap a young girl, who is a distant descendant of Masakado and carries his blood. Hirai discovers what he's doing and attempts to stop the evil fiend and save Yukari through his own magic. Unfortunately, the two Onmyoji are too equally matched, rendering the complete destruction of each other an impossible occurrence. Thus their battle becomes more of a tug-of-war for the fate of Yukari, as well as a test of skills to see which mystic is more proficient in Onmyodo magic. In the end, Hirai takes the fight his temple, where he believes combined power of his own magic and followers should be enough to stop Kato. However, despite the collaboration of all these individuals against the dark Onmyoji's power, Kato still manages to gain the upper hand by tricking Hirai. Hirai is seemingly felled, and Kato escapes with Yukari.
[edit] Episode 2: The Fall of Tokyo
The episode starts off with, what appears to be Kato injecting some demonic seed into Yukari's body via black magic. Kato attempts to employ Yukari's body as a median to awaken Masakado's spirit. However, Masakado rejects the offer, and Kato is once again put at a loss. However, as he views into Yukari's body, he realizes that his magic has been successful, and he has impregnated her with what he believes to be his child. Seeing as he may have another chance with a median, he wanders off into a 10 year seclusion, waiting for the child to become suitable for his next attempt. Hirai's followers find Yukari's body near the foot of Masakado's mound, and take her back to her brother's house and nurse her back to health. Yukari's brother, Youichi Tatsumiya, is left with such mixed emotions for Yukari, that he unfortunately expresses his love for her through a blatant act of incest.
Meanwhile, back at the temple, Hirai is recovering from his previous battle with Kato, and he is attempting to prepare himself for another fight...until tragedy strikes. The Emperor of Japan has died, and Hirai feels obligated to end his time on earth with him. However, through his death, a final act of divination is performed. Hirai's final prophecy foretells the destruction of Tokyo during the year of the boar. Hirai's apprentice, Kamo, takes this information into account, using the year of the Boar as a sign to watch for Kato's return.
Fast forward ten years later, wherein Yukari's daughter, Yukiko Tatsumiya, is now a young girl. Kato decides to strike and kidnaps the girl in her own home. However, his job isn't as easy as last time, as now the defenders of Tokyo are ready for his coming. The guardians of Nihombashi Bridge rise up to fight Kato. Kato breaks through their powers, but upon crossing the bridge to Masakado's grave, he is stopped again by a Kimon Tonko spell. Overcoming that, Kato still has to contend with Kamo, whose proficiency with magic has grown considerably since their last encounter. In a final action of self-sacrifice that Kato would never have antipated, Kamo brings out the knife Hirai used to commit seppuku and charges toward Kato, calling upon Hirai's spirit to aid. The dark Onmyoji is taken aback by the combined power of Kamo and his master. He manages to survive the attack, yet is mortally wounded as a result. Seeing no opposition ahead of him, Kato marches up to Masakado's grave and invokes the tyrant's spirit through the body of Yukiko Tatsumiya. Masakado though, doesn't take Kato's invitation too kindly. The spirit, furious at being awakened, strikes down on Kato with all his power! Unfortunately, since Masakado has been awakened, the spiritual energy released has also awakened the Underground Dragon, which stirs up an earthquake in Tokyo. The outcome is the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, wherein most of Tokyo is decimated and many innocent lives are lost.
[edit] Episode 3: The Gods of Tokyo
Tokyo has been destroyed. Out of the fires of destruction, the citizens of the great city transfer their energy from despair into hope and reconstruction. Eichi Shibusawa's next undertaking is focused on the construction of a massive subway sytem underneath the city. He employs the talents of Torahiko Terada, a physicist and scientist in the field of Earthquake Studies, to help oversee construction and plot out the project. With the advent of all these undertakings, it appears as though Tokyo will once again breath in fresh life.
But Kato is not finished yet...
With the reconstruction of Tokyo comes his revival, as the souls of the dead mystics cry out in agony upon seeing their lands being (once again) desecrated by technology and renovation. Infiltrating the construction sites for the subway tunnel, Kato employs Shikigami and demonic magic to hold the workers at bay while he focuses on a more important task: the awakening of the Underground Dragon. For when Masakado struck down Kato with his power, the black Onmyoji realized that the violent god would never be his ally. Ashamed at his loss, Kato turns to the areas of Feng Shui, where he can work through natural forces that won't consciously oppose him.
When the construction workers encounter monsters and strange occurrences, they are unable to proceed any further and work is halted. Shibusawa calls in a Feng Shui to investigate the source of these dilemmas.
[edit] Episode 4: The Battle for Tokyo
[edit] Criticism
Doomed Megalopolis has been lambasted on so many levels by US and Japanese critics alike. US viewers were utterly confused by the enormity and complexity of the plot, while Japanese viewers despised the shallow translation the plot had to undergo in order to be compressed into 4 hours. US critics constantly attacked the anime for its emphasis on "shallow characters" and a very complicated plot which involved far East Asian references the likes of which many American viewers would not comprehend. For example, many US viewers didn't even know what an Onmyoji was at the time of their watching this, even though two-thirds of the story is specifically concerned with Onmyodo magic. Likewise, American viewers were also disgusted by the solid Buddhist morals that constantly worked their way throughout the story, seeming very pessimistic in comparison to the Christian optimism and happy endings which so many Western viewers are accumstomed to. On the other side, Japanese viewers felt little respect for the anime because it was notorious for butchering much of the character development and plot that was present in Aramata's 10-volume novel. Whether it would have been wiser to extend the OVA series in order to accompany more of the book's plot still remains a skeptical issue, given that its live-action counterpart: Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis, did very successfully in Japanese theatres, told the same story, and was two hours shorter than Doomed Megalopolis. Regardless, the change would still mean little to Western viewers since the main difficulty with them was simply a lack of comprehension of the source material.
In regards to how the film faired in the anime community, many viewers just didn't like it all. Some anime fans appreciated the artistic touches and fan service that many of the creators slipped into the story. Some even appreciated the gothic nature of the film, and its sporadic depictions of violent and sexual imagery earned the favor of many anime viewers who were just looking for some adrenaline-filled excitement in their films. Regardless of the aesthetic attractions that Doomed Megalopolis boasted, that still didn't change the fact that many Western viewers just couldn't understand the story. As a result, many anime critics complained about the film focusing too much on long and explanatory narratives about science, religion, and whatnot, since the only element those fans could find interesting was the violent imagery. Apparently, many anime fans failed to understand that the original novel was filled with nothing but long, explanatory narratives in the first place, and thus, getting rid of those elements would have seriously hurt the film and made it bare little resemblance to its source material. All of the cultural niches embedded in the story were put there in order to accompany the knowledge of viewers who were already familiar with the novel. Since anime viewers never read the novel, and were put off by the drawn-out narrative structure of the anime; the film made absolutely no sense whatsoever from their point of view. Thus, it became an annoying snooze-fest for those individuals seeking a quick thrill (many anime viewers are of this nature), since the core of this film's intention was to quickly sum up an enormous epic in 4 hours.
Doomed Megalopolis has also been harshly criticized for being filled with themes of sexism and misogyny due to the fact that the women of this story are represented more as static objects of veneration, as opposed to more aggressive and realistic human beings. Yukari Tatsumiya, the first girl in the story, only manages to stay to stay sane for the first episode, wherein she is exposed to Kato's sadism and her brother's incestual repression. Throughout the rest of the story, she only remains a background shadow whom Kato occasionally continues to abuse and torture throughout the rest of the series. The character of her daughter, Yukiko Tatsumiya, nevers develops a personality because she's constantly being controlled like a puppet by Kato till the end of the story. The shrine maiden, Keiko Mieko seems to be the most active female in the story, until it's revealed at the end that she is really Kwannon in disguise, rendering her a non-human being from the start. Likewise, all the women of the story are virgins, and any defilement of this pure and sacred status results in utter darkness for the entire city (as shown by the consequences of Yukari's first rape). This courtly love view of women did not bode well with U.S. audiences who were used to seeing females in the media presented as active individuals who have complete control over their lives, and don't have to submit to an immutable position in society. Doomed Megalopolis completely foiled this view because it implies that women must be sentimental and maternal in their eternal role in life so that order would be restored from chaos. The symbol of the all-benevolent mother, the ideal male-oriented view of a woman, is the hero here, as opposed to the feminist-oriented image of a female who picks up a spear and acts just like a man. To put the final nail in the coffin, the character whom the whole story revolves around (Youichiro Tatsumiya) is a misogynist guilty of incest. Feminist-centered western viewers could not identify with him at all.
