Anime Review: Vexille: 2077 Japan's Isolation (2007)

Vexille (ベクシル 2077日本鎖国) literally translated (Vexille: 2077 Japan's Isolation) is a Japanese sci-fi anime CG film. It is written, directed and edited by Fumihiko Sori, who also produced the original Appleseed

The story is set in the year 2067, the international community has unilaterally imposed a ban on the development and research into cybernatics (or rather the integration of robotic components into the human body). Japan, at the forefront of robotic and cybernatics technology, refuses to abide by the ban and decides to withdraw from the international community, deporting all foreigners and isolating the island nation.

Fast forward 10 years, the American technology police agency "SWORD" comes across an informant who has escaped from Japan, seeking help with his last breath. SWORD decides to infiltrate Japan to finally find out what the nation is up to. What they discovered was that Japan had virtually been turned into a wasteland, with its entire population the victims of an ongoing experiment by Daiwa Techonogies (a mega corporation in Japan). In a way, no one has been left human...

The anime style of Vexille is pretty similar to Appleseed: Ex Machina, though somehow not as detailed. The director wanted to have his own distinct style and not have to implement all the CGI possibilites available like everyone else was doing. For one thing, the hair of the characters in Vexille are like what you see in the Matrix Triologies, they do not move.

Although the anime's background is in the year 2067, supposedly the availability of mecha is abundant, you do not get a lot of scenes with mecha. The storyline is a breath of fresh air, but the characters are not very fully fleshed out, though I might be nitpicking.

All in all, Vexille is a pretty good anime, being the debut film in the 60th Locarno International Film Festival, something akin to Carnes. The storyline is refreshing and the animation quality is good.

I rate it 3.5 / 5.
If you like this, you might wanna read the review on Appleseed: Ex Machina too.

Where to find it

Visit the links below to read more reviews on Amazon. There are other disc formats available also. Do note the region code for the disc and your player before buying.

Country-specific Amazon links for Vexille [Blu-ray]:

Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.fr
Amazon.de
Amazon.co.jp