Dear Internet,
"Genocyber"
is the story of a biomechanical living weapon a dystopian future which requires
a human host to function. In the story,
there are numerous major countries that all strive to gain its power and use it
for their own reasons. However, the
weapon is in the hands of a mentally unstable girl who has got more psychological
problems than a nuthouse. It would be more
accurate to say that the manic girl is the weapon and she is far from stable
enough for someone to control her. On
top of that, "Genocyber" throws in a mildly fervent religious group,
cyborg assassins, mad scientists, psychic abilities, and a few other futuristic
elements to try and make it entertaining.
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| Would you believe me if I said this was a little girl? |
What is
the total effect of the five part OVA?
It comes across as a shock value gore fest that can barely keep together
a plot or even my attention. It is even
sadder considering that even if you throw all your attention at the show so
that you can understand what is going on, you will find a lackluster plot. The story jumps around a lot. Sometimes it throws its exposition right at
the viewer so fast that it forgets to make it digestible. Other times the exposition is threadbare and
thinly spread in a strange order which adds confusion to the show rather than
making a suspense filled mood. It gets
worse when the show goes from one episode to the next. There are three stories that take place. The first episode contains a complete story,
and the remaining four can be split down the middle into another two
stories. Each story arc seems disjointed
at first and remains such for most of the length of each arc. They do indeed take place after another, but
they all feel like they were disjointed rather than being parts of one whole
story. Maybe this is due to the way that
the show speeds things along very quickly instead of crafting an understandable
plot.
I had
to listen to the English dub since I could not get the subtitle track to work
properly. I would not recommend that
course of action for anyone else. It is
one of the worse dubs I have ever heard.
Poorly synced and non-lip matching dubs of Hong Kong Kung-Fu flicks are
dome much better than "Genocyber" handles the English language. People talk too quickly if they are not
speaking so slow that it makes them sound like they were just given a mild
concussion. I think the dialogue got even
slower as the show continued. In the
beginning, the henchmen are given loads of profane dialogue that is supposed to
make them seem tough and intimidating, but it has the complete opposite
effect. What happens is that with every guttural
interjection of the hired goons, they become less like agents of death and more
like everyday hoodlums that had been given a cybernetic transplant. It is almost comical after the first five
minutes because nothing they say has any sort of impact once they relinquish a
personality for the sake of being thought of as tough guys.
On that
note, I should talk about the show's gratuitous level of violence. The show does not want to pull any
punches. People die in this show. They die a lot. Entire cities are destroyed in the time frame
of minutes or even seconds. People on
the subway are split in two by chainsaws.
Children are shot at from a helicopter with a mounted Gatling gun. People are merged together as some sort of biomechanical
ship where they remain alive, fused and forced to live as an abomination against
humanity. Blood flows like water from a
fire hydrant. Brain particles splat out
of the skull, and organs are bounced around like tennis balls. The show makes sure to go as far outside its
way to crank up the visual gruesomeness as much as it can. In the end, it makes a good shock effect but
only after the first dozen or so times it does this. Afterwards, the effect loses any emphasis
behind itself. Even when the children
are killed on screen in the second episode I found myself not even caring. This had more to do with the fact that the
show kills them off before making the audience sympathetic towards then and
relying on the fact that they were children to make the sympathy stem from this
fact alone. The fact that death and
destruction go hand in hand with the story to the point that nearly everyone
dies makes the viewer to never place any sort of emotional bond with any of the
characters because the characters are most likely going to die. Not that it matters much since the majority
of the characters are unlikable and rather forgettable.
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| This is the the most graphic thing I feel comfortable posting. |
I will
say one thing in the favor of "Genocyber." It has great imagery. I do not mean the disgusting bits where
organs hit the floor like ravers on a dance floor. No, I mean the monsters it creates and
cybernetic creations are well made to the point of being able to capture the
imagination. The Genocyber is a monstrosity,
yes, but there is something about it that makes it seem more like a well
crafted sculpture than a destroyer of mankind.
Even the characters in the story feel this way, considering that it
becomes misidentified as an agent of God.
When someone is shown with their chest/chassis exposed with wires,
circuits, and chips to the world, there is a real sense of art direction. This is more likely due to the fact that the
show is based on an uncompleted manga. I
suspect the earlier episodes are direct rips from the source material, with the
still designs being mirror copies.
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| The bio-beast in its most terrible form. |
"Genocyber"
is average at best. The shock value it
puts so much emphasis on wears itself away by its own hands. The story is confusing unintentionally and is
perfectly enough as a single episode. In
fact, the first episode is the only episode worth watching before it completely
tumbles down. The show presents a cast
of individuals that are all messed in the head to the point that it is a wonder
that they were able to gain the positions that they hold before being marked as
liabilities. The setting is made to
display a world filled with shades of grey and black with no hope in
sight. It becomes depressing garbage
rather quickly without at least being entertaining. Stuff like this is the reason that cyberpunk
never gets off the ground floor, one filled with dismembered limbs and
entrails.
Yours in digital,
BeepBoop
P.S. Next is "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's
Court."
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