The craziest prison break in the world or I have watched "Dead Leaves"...

...and liked it. But let's start from the beginning.

There are different types of movies. There are normal movies – actually, most of them. There are movies that are more or less weird, for example "Ich seh, ich seh". There are also movies that are pure mindfuck.

And there is "Dead Leaves".

If you can't stand the chaos on this poster, don't worry – the movie itself is way worse.

"Dead Leaves'" plot... Well... Exists. Whole story starts when two strangers, Pandy (amazingly voiced by Takako Honda, but I will talk about it later) and Retro (Kappei Yamaguchi) wake up in the middle of the desert completely naked and with erased memories. They quickly decide they need to get clothes and food. How? By ruining half of the nearby city, of course. (Un)fortunately, shortly after they start, the police arrives and, after a very intense battle (loads of bullets and deadly robots included), Pandy and Retro get arrested and sent to Dead Leaves – maximum security prison on Moon.

And this everything happens before opening credits.

As you have probably noticed, "Dead Leaves" definitely isn't an ordinary action SF anime. Primo: it has very interesting, non-anime visual style, which brings to mind western works, especially comics. Actually, the connotation with this particular medium is very blatant – some scenes are stylised as comic pages by dividing screen into several panels...

And damn, it looks great in motion!

...or adding written sound effects.

Sometimes in Roman alphabet, sometimes in katakana, because who the hell needs consistency?

Comic-like stylization isn't only interesting thing about the art style. The colours are intense and vibrant. Everything is so detailed the screen sometimes gets cluttered. But what stands out the most is character's design. While all human characters look the same, the Dead Leaves' prisoners are amazingly diverse. Their bodies are more or less deformed with exaggerated proportions and unusual skin colours, you actually can't find two similar inmates. Of course, Pandy and Retro look more like ordinary people (except for the fact Retro has a TV for head), but they still maintain their originality.

Secundo: this anime was made to look cool and sweet Arceus, it shows. From the very beginning the viewer practically gets swept with action. There are big guns, there are bigger guns, there are loads and loads of ammo for these guns, there are pursuits, robots, gigantic blades and even a tank (personally, my favourite scene). Actually, most of this movie is made of very dynamic fights. And explosions. Everything explodes: cars, motors, robots, tanks, buildings, just every-fucking-thing. Lipsticks too. Especially lipsticks.

Actually, I adore Pandy's lipstick bombs. Is there anything cooler than blowing stuff up with a beauty product?

And tertio: everything in "Dead Leaves" is so batshit insane it's hard to take this anime seriously. While the plot makes sense (probably), the execution makes it feel like an excuse to try pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable in a movie. Fights are filled with grotesque violence and ridiculous splashes of blood. Humour consists of shitty jokes (in a literal way), sex jokes (however, the infamous character with a drill for penis is in fact a clever nod to a classic of Japanese cyberpunk) and black humour (deaths are sometimes so over the top they become funny). Generally, the film itself is so goddamn intense, filled with loud noises and flashy images, it's sometimes hard to catch what's going on.

On top of that, almost nothing of the general weirdness of the anime's world is explained. Why Retro has a TV for a head? What exactly happened to him and Pandy (I mean, it is somehow explained, but during the explanation Pandy starts talking over it and, in the end, we don't hear the whole story)? What was this fucking caterpillar meant to be (except of tying a story with a sinister fairy tale... Or something)?! CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT THE FUCK I HAVE JUST WATCHED?!

Of course, such crazy movie wouldn't do without equally crazy characters. As I mentioned, character design here is just brilliant in general, but Pandy and Retro stand out and I don't talk only about their appearances.

Let's start with Retro. From the very beginning it's clear he's an absolute lunatic. He's a violent (he even says himself he likes it) psycho, who enjoys spreading chaos and killing everyone around. He's also a sex-obsessed jerk. During his first dialogue with Pandy he spends whole scene staring into her and drooling. Later, he talks Pandy into intercourse with him (while she isn't very enthusiastic about it) only because he's bored. On the other hand, he's a pretty good fighter and a charismatic leader (however, given the fact the prisoners are as mad as him, it's nothing surprising they wanted him to lead the prison break). It's also showed, that he actually cares for Pandy – his concern when she felt unwell is genuine.

Pandy, while similarly brutal, is much more rational. She also is an awesome example of a strong action heroine, independent and very skilled in fighting. Damn, her taking down a gigantic battle robot bare handed (while driving at the same time) is one of the most badass things in the cinematography. Also, she manages to fight with 666 while being... Well, I don't wan to spoil anything, so I'll just say that her state wasn't very battle-appropriate at that time.

Also, I find her rather cute.

Technical side of "Dead Leaves" is just brilliant. Once the viewer gets used to peculiarity of the art style, watching the movie is quite pleasant. The animation is polished up and very, very, VERY detailed. Fighting scenes are dynamic, flashy and simply epic. The "effect of epicness" is additionally ramped up by music. Soundtrack consists of electronic beats and catchy guitar melodies, which combine with the action very well.

The voice acting is marvellous. I have to admit, I'm a purist who watches movies almost only with original audio. Of course, I heard many positive opinions about English dub and even thought about choosing this version, but I ended with the Japanese one and it was great. It's easy to hear that actors understand the crazy atmosphere of the story very well and their over the top performance completes it. Of course, Retro's shrieking is horribly annoying, but not because Kappei Yamaguchi couldn't do it well, but because it was MEANT to be annoying. Also, I absolutely adore how Takako Honda played Pandy. Her voice is so sexy and full of confidence, they couldn't find better actress for this character.

As I said in the beginning, I enjoyed "Dead Leaves". Nevertheless, I'm not sure if I can recommend it to anyone. While the movie itself is an audiovisual gem, the general mindfuck and obscenity may be unappealing for most of audience. However, if you can stomach crude humour and not overthink the plot, then give it a try. "Dead Leaves" isn't good when it comes to watching it "normally", but if you just want to experience something mad and unusual, then it's awesome.

So awesome.

Image sources:
"Dead Leaves" poster: https://www.jposter.net/posters/view.asp?partid=34597
Movie frames were screenshotted by me from the version uploaded on YouTube.