Gatchaman, Death Notes and rhinoceros

Gatchaman Crowds - Insight

*Contains Spoilers*

At the time of writing we are on episode 9 of the second season of Gatchaman Crowds and I am continued to be impressed.  If you're not familiar with the series you still may have hear the name ‘Gatchaman’ which was an anime/cartoon that was around in the 1980’s that went by a number of different names, depending on where in the world you lived.  You could have known it by:

G-Force

Battle of the planets

Eagle Riders

Science Ninja Team Gatchaman

The 80’s series followed a team of heroes who fought space aliens and donned bird themed costumes.  The Series followed a ‘monster of the week’ format in the same style as Power rangers or Terrahawks where we see the enemy send a monster to attack  earth and the Gatchaman team would fight and defeat it.  Gatchaman Crowds is not the 80’s series, the hero’s still, occasionally, transform into costumes, some of which are bird themed but gone are the weekly monsters, replaced with a series long threat and characters who scheme and plot to their own ends.  And we don't just get one scheme, in the second season we start with a terrorist group who want to get rid of the crowds which are blue or red creatures which can be summoned by their users to help them in anything.  We also have a new visiting alien, Gelsandra who becomes obsessed with  making humans happy and ‘one’.  The crowds are soon remove to make way for the new story but i think they will make a return by the end of the series.

As i stated above we are now on episode 9 and I find myself drawing similarities first to ‘Death Note’, an anime and now live action series from Japan about a boy who finds a book which will kill anyone whose name is written in it (A very basic synopsis I know, I’ll cover more later) but also I found myself comparing Gatchaman to the play ‘rhinoceros’ by Eugene Ionesco.  Gatchaman contains the themes of sociological change and individuality with a number of characters whose’ gender is questionable, I have to admit I was unsure of Rui Ninomiya’s gender for most of the first season.  In Episode 8 we are introduced to the Kuu-sama, creatures that are only concerned with making humanity (or at least Japan) one, meaning that they want a society where everyone is happy but also of one mind.  Anyone who disrupts this oneness is swallowed by the Kuu-sama.  This is where Gatchaman is similar to ‘Death Note’.  In ‘Death Note’ Light Yagami is using the titular book to make a ‘perfect’ society by killing off criminals, thus making most people feel safer and scarring anyone who would consider a criminal act.  As ‘Death Note’ progresses it is questioned where Kira (the name given to Light by the public) will stop, if he starts punishing lower crimes this may affect more of the normal people.  This point is expanded in ‘Gatchaman Crowds’, when the Kuu-sama start absorbing people it is those who are social problems, the people who play their music loud at night and the people who molest women on the tube train but it soon expands to anyone who doesn’t want to doesn’t want to do the same as a group which leads to people joining in with activities not because they want to but because they want to but because they are afraid to do anything different.  We also see the same disregard for the current law enforcement that starts to happen in ‘Death Note’, in Death Note there are a lot of the normal population who start to side with Kira over the police because he is seen to be doing something about the rising crime where the police appear to be powerless and in Gatchaman we see the population turning against the Gatchaman team who are a law enforcement team where aliens are concerned.  Even when the Kuu-sama start to absorb people the majority of the population  react by ignoring the Gatchaman’s warnings because the affected people can be seen to deserve it.

As I have said Gatchaman Crowds also follows covers the subject of individuality and fitting in which is where the comparison with the play ‘rhinoceros’.  There are a few different  groups/identities in Gatchaman, the most obvious are the Gatchaman themselves who are known as the Gatchaman even in their civilian identity but the character within the group some of which are aliens.  As I've already mentioned one of the team members O.D. is a famous cross drag queen who is also a Co host on a popular T.V. show who questions his identity when a second drag queen is brought onto the show.  I found Gatchaman became similar to 'Rhinoceros' with the introduction of the Kuu-sama.  In 'Rhinoceros' people start changing into Rhinoceros (for no reason) and, although it is first seen as strange it becomes a new fashion with those who do not turn being seen as strange and uncool even though it not known what is causing it or if it is dangerous.  This is the same reaction with the Kuu-sama, to begin with no one knows where they come from but, when it is found that they make people feel better about themselves and happier people just accept them and try to make anyone who doesn't accept them.  The comparison is continued when you consider the earlier in the series the public chose to stop using the crowd so, instead of changing from person to rhinoceros we have the change from crowds to Kuu-sama.

Gatchaman Crowds is a good thought provoking anime which uses science fiction to bring across interesting points about society and human culture. 

Know your place or the monsters will get you

Title - Society
Language - English
Genre - Horror, monster

Bill - our hero

Milo - Bill’s Friend

David Blancher - Bill’s Friend

Jenny - Bill’s sister

Dr. Cleveland- A Psychiatrist

Shauna - Bill’s girlfriend

Clarissa - A rich girl

This will contain some spoilers

Society is a horror film from 1989 that I've seen a few times and it still creeps me out now.  The Film follows Bill Whitney, a normal kid in his late teens.  He’s popular, is from a rich family in Beverly hills and shouldn't have much to worry about, but Bill has a problem, he doesn't feel like he fits in.  He suspects that there is something strange about his family.  Because of this Bill is seeing Dr. Cleaveland who keeps telling him that is normal for people of his age to feel like that. As the film progresses Bill starts noticing strange things. He sees some people who seem to have twisted themselves into strange positions or people having conversations about a crop of slugs.  Bill is approached by David who is one of his friends and Jenny, Bill’s sister’s ex.  David claims that he knows that Bill is right and that he can prove it.  David gives Bill a tape of Jenny’s ‘Coming out’ party this is a party that 18 year old's go through to recognize that the have become adults.  David had bugged Jenny and recorded the party and, when Bill’s the tape it sound like the part is just an excuse for sex and incense.  Bill takes the tape to Dr Cleveland but, when the tape is played back the next day it’s totally different and before he can get a second copy of the tape David is killed in a car accident.

Society is extremely atmospheric for the first hour of the film Bill is trying to find out what is happening whilst trying to remain sane.  For the most part everyone seems normal but there is always the feeling that something else is going on, there is the odd word here or there such as the references to ‘Shunting’ or strange events like objects appearing in Bill’s car and locker.  The soundtrack helps to set the mood with old classic songs with quite high voices singing.  Unlike a lot of horrors society does not rely on jump scares, the first hour is quite slow paced and the viewer is not sure at the start if there is anything wrong or whether Bill is crazy.  Most of what he sees and hears is explained away or seems to be some kind of a hallucination, even the death of David is brought into question part way through the film.

The last half hour changes the film from the psychological to the horror as Bill finally finds out what is happening and, oddly enough this part of the film has the most humour and this would normally be an odd turn for a film that’s spent so much time setting such a paranoid environment and which is now introducing the true horrors of what is going on. In this case it works though, without the humour the film would turn to dark, there is virtually no sex in the film but the implications of both the feeding and the ‘shunting’ make for dark implications for the true nature of the rich society.

This brings is to the true moral of the film.  Each class of society sees the other classes as different but most classes have one thing in common, to get enough money to live.  The rich don’t have this problem but it seems that they will do whatever they need to to get more.  This can give the impression of the rich being out of touch with the normal people.  Society (the film) takes this to the extreme making the high society a completely different race who feed of humans.

The film is full of interesting characters and the way they interact is interesting. There are always signs that there is something wrong but you can never put your finger on it. The only character that seems to a monster actually comes to Bill help at the end.

The final message rings true, it doesn't matter if you fight the monster or what you uncover, you may get away but nothing changes and in some ways this makes the film a prime candidate for a sequel that it's never got.

Given it’s age Society doesn't come across as being too dated, a couple of the monster effects show their age but, for the most they still stand up.  apart from the fashion the only other thing that could date it is the equipment that David uses to bug bug Jenny.

Over all society is a solid film with a strong story and a disturbing monster that has some great lines and may give you something to think about is well worth at least one watch.