Hello dear readers and thanks for joining me for this quick-fire look at the 1999 anime film Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade. Why not read on to learn a bit more about the film and see if it’s something you fancy watching yourself.
This is my first time writing a post in this format but I thought it would be cool to try my hand at super short reaction articles in order to be able to cover more of the games I play and the anime I watch, so let’s see how this goes!
What you need to know
Title: Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Year of Release: 1999
Studio: Production I.G/ING
Director: Hiroyuki Okiura
Based on: Kerberos Panzer Corp by Mamoru Oshii
Genre: Alternate History, Military, Action
What’s it about?
Set in an alternate history 1950’s Japan, it tells the story of Kazuki Fuse, a special counterterrorism unit member who is deployed to take out a guerrilla group who have been channeling weapons. A moment of hesitation leads him to a situation where he is forced to retrain and he becomes a scapegoat for those looking to put an end to his unit. It tells the story of his strange relationship with a girl he meets in connection to his work and is a dark, tense and violent look at the nature of military and political leadership at this time, whilst also being a quiet and thoughtful look at one man’s humanity.
Should you watch it?
That depends if you’re in the mood for a hard hitting military drama, which to be fair you might not be right now, but if so I definitely recommend it.
There is a lot to like here. The atmosphere is compelling and the story strong, if in parts somewhat hard to follow. There isn’t much to say about the characters but I felt that was part of the story. It makes frequent references to the story of Little Red Riding Hood, which adds a particularly captivating and chilling vibe, and the ending is… well I’ll let you find out for yourself. The visuals are also very cool – I liked the grand brick arches and ornamental gates in the sewer scenes and the parts set in a theme park really drew me in to the time and place. The music, composed by Hajime Mizoguchi and featuring ‘Gabriela Robin’ (aka Yoko Kanno!) was also excellent and really added to the atmosphere.
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade can be watched during January on Screen Anime (UK & Ireland only) – so go check it out!
So there we have it! What do you think? Will you be checking this out anytime soon? Maybe you’ve already seen it and have some other thoughts? Either way let me know below in comments!
Thanks for reading,
Pix1001 x
Shoot the Rookie 
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