Studio: Madhouse
Director: Gisaburō
Sugii
Screenplay: Gisaburō
Sugii
Based on the Manga by Kei Toume
Voice Cast: Megumi
Hayashibara as Chizuna Takashiro; Tomokazu Seki as Kazuna Takashiro; Jūrōta
Kosugi as Akira Eda; Kenichi Suzumura as Kinoshita; Kikuko Inoue as Momoko
Takashiro; Miki Nagasawa as Emi; Satsuki Yukino as Shou Yaegashi; Shinichiro
Miki as Minase; Yoko Sasaki as Natsuko Eda
Viewed in Japanese with English subtitles
In terms of an
obscure title, Lament of the Lamb sticks
out as a fascinating melodrama enclosed in a horror premise, which most will
only know as the source manga was released by the manga publisher Tokyopop in the West. The anime however
entices as it is produced by Madhouse,
its female lead is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara, a mega star in the industry,
and it is, whilst a more obscurer figure in comparison, directed by Gisaburō Sugii, who also wrote the
scripts for all four episodes and worked on the storyboards. His career is
marked with helming the theatrical film Night
of the Galactic Railroad (1985), a highly regarded animated film attempting
to adapt Kenji Miyazawa's post humorous novel, a challenge to adapt the un-filmable
and unfinished book dealing with mortality and life for a young audience that
is hugely well received, and a masterpiece of eighties theatrical anime. He
also directed Street Fighter II: The
Animated Movie (1994), a huge curveball in tones to these two other titles,
but to consider important in showing his talents as it is one of the only well
regarded fighting game anime in existence. It was a staple in the West from Manga
Entertainment even if Alice in Chains
and KMFDM had to be added to the
soundtrack, which shows that Sugii
was no slouch in terms of a director.
Kei Toume is also another
case of a prolific manga artist whose work, and knowledge of her, is sadly
limited in terms of English language access, Lament of the Lamb by itself having been released in the west, but
also having a radio drama and a 2001 live action film to its name. Her story
begins with Kazuna, who is a teenager left with his aunt and uncle by his
father as a child, a famous doctor who disappeared from his life soon
afterwards. Fate conspires to weave him back to his family as, whilst his
father to his shock is dead, his older sister Chizuna who lived with him
returns into Kazuna’s life. It is very obvious from the beginning, when the
illness of the family is brought up, it is clearly a form of vampirism, a
craving for the taste of blood, but this is instead a story whose horror is a
psychodrama, as Kazuna, who was to be spared from the family to have a normal
life, is starting to suffer the cravings for blood, as he is drawn to his
sister.
With a moody
electronic score, intercut with drum and bass freak outs by Ken Miyazawa, more prolific for his
contributions to Detective Conan
films, Lament of the Lamb stands out
with interest as a macabre melodrama that enticed me with its tone and telling
of this drama. The bloodlines is cursed with a craving for blood which is
depicted differently to many vampire stories, including how instead of being
undead or supernatural abilities, there is a greater danger of physical and/or
mental damage to the family itself, something Kazuna can attest to in her
memories of their late mother. The concern, especially for Kazuna is worse as
it includes desiring his female student friend’s neck. Said friend, Yaegashi,
is a student in love with him but feeling pushed away, as dynamic a character in
her own emotional turmoil, as there is also an explicit sense of incest to the
story between Kazuna and his older student. Unlike the titillation of other
anime, this feels here a more potent edge to the proceedings, grave and
platonic barring the neck biting sequence, which fully embraces the taboo and emphasizes
how vampirism became symbolic of sexuality centuries before and is embraced
here.
Even in mind of
how more obscurer this is, i.e. you will likely see this as a rip, Lament also has a deliberately washed
out aesthetic, of pale faces and even certain character designs (especially
with Yaegashi) having a wider span between the eyes, almost more cartoonish but
adding to the tone. It feels disconcerting, especially as whilst a slow burn
drama, even in episode 1 blood is spilt and it is depicted in deep red. The
resulting production is gothic melodrama in the modern day, especially as there
is also the character of Minase, a young male doctor who is in love with Chizuna
and himself has a great angst in regards to her growing platonic relationship
to her younger brother, especially as despite the initial appearance she shows,
she is physically being damaged by her illness, even in terms of the medication
needed to control it having physical harm to her heart. The take on vampirism
here, a psychological and physical craving which causes dizzy spells,
physically wrecking spells and mental collapse is distinct here in terms of
imaging the literalisation of this. The slower tone is a change of pace for a
horror anime, and telling a whole story to its bleak end, without feeling
morose in the slightest, the only real reason this likely never got picked up
for the West is considering the state of anime releases at the time. The
original video anime format was still viable but decreasing in number, and for
everyone still released at the time, you find as many titles from the time
which never came to the West as you fall over them from the eighties. It is a
weird missed opportinity in terms of selling it from the back of Madhouse, who
were highly regarded at the time, and on Megumi Hayashibara, a huge name to
those who watched the original subbed versions of the likes of Neon Genesis
Evangelion.
The only thing
close, in terms of further adaptations of the manga to the West, was at the Tokyo Project Gathering on the 22nd
October 2006, a segment of TIFFCOM,
where Mr. Stuart Levy, CEO of Tokyopop, presented the Lament of the Lamb live-action movie
project as a future plan. It was meant to begin production in 2007, and be shot
in Romania1, which does emphasize how Tokyopop's reputation started to slip in the mid-2000s and hubris
as well, the closest thing to a live action film from them being Van Von Hunter (2010), a low budget
adaptation of a Western parody of manga, by Mike Schwark and Ron Kaulfersch, Levy helped co-write. By 2008, Tokyopop after their success had to
restructure their business due to changes in the manga industry, and neither
helping was that the significant licenses they made their name from - Kodansha published titles, manga created
by CLAMP - were being taken away from
them. Lament of the Lamb's review
should focus on the material, this adaptation a little gem whose absence is sad
as, in terms of a horror anime, this is very different from many as a very
compelling gothic drama.
=====
1) Tokyo
Project Gathering Anime Related Projects, written by Christopher Macdonald and published by Anime News Network on 23rd October 2006.
