Not Much Substance, But What Style! A Review of Catblue: Dynamite

I had never heard of Romanov Higa or of his ROMANoV Films before. His previous claims to fame, Urda and TANK S.W.A.T. 01, neither of which I never heard of, were largely panned by reviewers. Ridian, in a review on AnimeNfo, said that Urda, among other problems, suffered from "the rather cheap and cheesy writing". Romanov Higa's latest film released on December 2006 on the web, Catblue: Dynamite, still holds this quality. But this time, that cheesy writing actually added to the full effect of this 40 minute film featuring a blue-haired catgirl who can wield three guns at once; Catblue: Dynamite was heavily influenced by 70s exploitation films. Though I haven't seen many of those myself, I did show Catblue to a few friends who are big fans of those types of films, and they were amazed. Everything in this cell-shaded CG animation, the 70s muscle cars, the amateur English voice acting, the very well used disco music, came together into what became a highly entertaining, if a bit shallow, action-thriller movie.

Animation

The biggest thing I have to say here is that this is the first time I've watched a complete cell-shaded CG movie where the style actually works quite well. The characters look very good (Especially Blue) and the backgrounds are well modeled, though someone with a very picky eye could lodge a minor complaint that sometimes the characters stand out from the environments they're in instead of looking like they're a part of it, but you can also say that it looked like the characters were standing in front of a blue screen, which would work perfectly in line with the anime's homage to old b-movies.

Though the character's faces may not have looked as detailed as a hand-drawn animations, Romanov Higa really takes advantage of CG to do things that would be prohibitively expensive to do with hand-drawn cells. Not only are the action sequences (of which there are many in the 40 minute run) very well executed, the dialog scenes actually shined in many ways. Props have to given to the character animation work, as the characters move and feel like real humans. I understand that motion capturing was used; I don't know how extensively it was used in this movie, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they also used motion capture technology during dialog, as the characters emote, gesture, and move around like a real actor. In addition, the camera has little shakes and movements, as if a cameraman is shooting the scenes with a hand-held camera. This is really apparent when I watched the movie on a big screen. These are rather little things, but they add up big in addition to the well chosen camera angles when it came to me enjoying the animation as a whole.

Then there are the cars. It does seem apparent that somebody at ROMANoV Films is a fan of 70s muscle cars. I have a passing interest in automobiles in general (I tend to appreciate engine technology much more than car body styles), but I have to admit that the cars in the film are outright eye-catching. I will have to get one of my car-fanatic friends over to watch the film and identify all of the cars for me.

Sound

While reading my intro above, you might have noticed where I wrote "the amateur English voice acting". Yes, the anime was actually dubbed in English and has Japanese subtitles. What I've been reading was that Romanov Higa got a few of his friends who spoke English natively to voice act the parts. And to take it a step further, Higa doesn't have a full grasp of the English language himself; he wrote the original script in Japanese, translated it to English, then told the voice actors to ad-lib the dialog. This is something almost unheard of in the animation world, but the result was something much, much better than I would have expected. This ends up with some real charm and chemistry between the main characters. They may be amateur, but the banter between the two "mules" is just golden to me.

Be warned, as a part of being influenced by exploitation films, the dialog is filled with much cussing. Keep the young ones away if you don't want to expose them to it.

Moving on from the voice acting, we get to the music. And to enjoy this 40 minute film, you will have to be able to endure much disco music. Fortunately for me, I actually like disco at times, and I really dig the offerings in this movie. There's also a theme that I can best describe as "70s detective generic quiet" theme and a "wailing guitar" theme for the few slow scenes in between the action. All of the music was appropriately used and really worked well and making the animation feel like a 70s film.

The sound effects were top-notched. From the firing of automatic weapons fitted with sound suppressors to the engine roars and tire screeching of the car chase, I have absolutely no complaints with the sounds used.

Story

This is probably the weakest part of the movie, given its approximately 40-minute running time and that more attention was brought to the action and the characters, but at least Romanov doesn't try to cover too much. There's a subtitle shown after the opening credits that announce that this is "Episode 05", and looking around on the official site for the movie shows that 8 episodes were planned. Hence, it looks like Catblue: Dynamite is only one piece of a larger story. The movie does do a good enough job of introducing us to the characters and giving a bit of backstory to keep me interested in it.

What we are presented in this one is that Blue, apparently the feline-femme-fatale, was meeting up with Bill and Roberto, a couple of mules (drug couriers) to get some information about something called "Red bird". The setting is somewhere in the U.S. (I've never was able to establish where, but I think in New York City somewhere), the time period was in the 1970s. Blue, as a cat, has the ability to see and talk to ghosts, and one name John Doe accompanies and assists her. They get attacked by a group of masked men led by a woman named M who is after a Frank Sinatra tape that are in Bill's and Roberto's possession. Action ensues.

There's a bit more to the story than that, actually, like how Blue came to her current form, but I have to keep some things left without spoilers, as little it would really add to the movie as a whole (Though I will add that it's always "old asian guys" that give mystical advice to characters in those old 70s exploitation films).

Characters

While the story here is sparse it's the main characters and their interactions with each other that Catblue really pulls off well. The banter between the antagonists and protagonists isn't as good, but is quite cheesy. The dialog works well with the style of film this animation is influenced by.

First up is the main feature: Blue. Cute and deadly. She's another form of the martial-arts-knowing akimbo-guns-wielding female characters often found in b-movie action thrillers, but in cat-girl form. Her part in the group is largely like a mercenary, as she takes jobs to protect (and possibly kill) people for money and information on a person referred to as the "Red Bird", but she still manages to befriend the other protagonists through her work. Blue is a character who is difficult not to like, though she won't garner much sympathy from the viewer (except possibly for one part when she's reminicing a bit). I especially like her because she's not the normal catgirl found in anime. She's not overly cute, nor is she hyper-sexified, but just a little of both with a sassy attitude that really isn't all that rare in American action films but that is fun to watch. Her cat side gives her some heightened physical and martial arts abilities, and the fact that she can fire a gun or wield a sword with her tail along with both hands makes her even more deadly against multiple targets. In fact, I'd say she's part New World monkey with what she can do with that prehensile tail. I have to give props to the animation job with her; the modeling, cell shading technique, and the little animations (like her wiggling her ears or how her tail moves) were quite excellently done.

John Doe is a ghost who accompanies Blue. You see, part of Blue being a "cat" is that she can see and communicate with ghosts. He often performs recon for Blue (as normal humans cannot sense his presence) and will catch recently killed spirits for Blue to interrogate. Seriously, I like John's character a lot for his wooden acting. Not just the voice acting, but the actual character model animation gives a feel of an amateur actor trying to act. I don't know why I get a kick out of it; maybe I appreciate the extra effort the animators took to give that feel. Still, it's pretty apparent John isn't just a tool for Blue, but he also gives words of encouragement and allows Blue to speak openly with him. There's also some less apparent clues to extrapolate their past, too.

Then we get to the characters that I feel are the stars of the movie, Roberto and Bill. They are both "mules", or couriers for a cocaine smuggling operation, but as a pair, they are two of the more entertaining characters I've seen in animation in some time. They show an implicit trust with each other, even if they often get into the same arguments. Neither are superhuman in any form, just regular joes in a dangerous career trying to make a living. Also, the voice acting and character animation for both are perfectly suited for their roles.

Roberto is the older, calmer, and the defacto leader of the two. He and Blue know each other from a job Blue did for Roberto's younger sister, Alicia. The official site's cast list (or at least the Google translation of it) seems to suggest that he's a Vietnam War veteren. He also narrates the scene leading up the the opening credit. Roberto is reasonably resourceful when he's placed in a stressed situation.

Bill is the younger of the two, and probably in his twenties. He's also engaged to Alicia, much to Roberto's chagrin. Liable to panic, some of the other character's time is spent calming Bill down. Much of Roberto's annoyance with Bill stems from Bill constantly calling him "brother".

M is best described as a minor boss in a longer story. Her role is to attempt to get something from the protagonists (in this case, a Frank Sinatra tape) and get into some kind of one-on-one fight with the main protagonist (in this case, Blue). Her voice actress used a very flat style of acting her role, and I found it works very well here.

Outside of the masked goons that work under M, we have Charlie who plays a small role at the beginning of the movie, and the unfortunate cook who was at the restaurant that gets attacked at the beginning.

Value

Many of the elements present in Catblue: Dynamite would have killed a greater anime, like the bad voice acting or the paper-thin plot. But it all comes together in what was a very entertaining ride for me that I've rewatched many, many times since I first stumbled onto it.

Yeah, the movie is shallow. It's an action-thriller featuring a catgirl mercenary set in the big city American 70s. There's no deeper themes or messages present. The anime still does leave quite a few clues so that you can make your own interpolations and connections about the characters themselves. There's hints of a much larger conspiracy looming in the background that the film never explicitly explained.

Catblue: Dynamite got my attention with the eye-candy and gimmicks, but I am honestly wanting to see more of this. The 40-minute animation announces itself as "Epsidoe 05", and poking around at the offical site for the movie shows a plan for 8 episodes. I am not fully sure what kind of audience this was made for (not sure about how well the Japanese audience would take it, but I did read that an American audience was planned during production), but it's found at least one member in that audience here in the U.S. who wants to see it. More, actually, as the local friends I screened this to absolutely loved it...

Oh, as a side note, keep an eye out for the Engrish that pop up in a newspaper clipping at the end of the movie... Funny stuff, there.

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Review

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Catblue: Dynamite