X (1996)

Synopsis: Kamui is a young man chosen by fate to return to his native Tokyo and fight for the city. He embarks on a supernatural journey in a futuristic, industrial Tokyo where he discovers that he alone... Kamui is a young man chosen by fate to return to his native Tokyo and fight for the city. He embarks on a supernatural journey in a futuristic, industrial Tokyo where he discovers that he alone must save the earth and all of mankind from the apocalypse. X, a recent Japanimation movie from director Rin, is based on a 10-book series of comics--as yet unfinished--from the 4-person team, CLAMP. Dramatic colors invoke the film's action: bright reds and glowing greens provide the background for battle scenes in which characters fly through the air, jumping to the top of tall buildings or falling into gaping concrete crevasses. Then, with quick cuts to black and serene pans across the sickly green Tokyo skyline, the film slows again. In CLAMP's tale, Kamui has psychedelic dreams about the future of Tokyo in which he sees blood, violence, destruction, and environmental crisis. In his dreams he meets oracles Hinoto (of the evil Dragons of the Earth) and Kanoe (of the good Dragons of Heaven), and becomes a Faust-like character, providing the battlefield where they slug it out. What follows is a terrible war that keeps viewers in suspense to the very end. [More]

Director: Hayashi Shigeyuki

Director: Hayashi Shigeyuki