Welcome to Astral Animations, where we'll examine the imports of Japanese animation currently available in the United States.
This review does not represent the opinions of the general public. It reflects my personal thoughts and opinions on the movie.
That said, on to the review!
In the history of China three great Diao have ruled the hearts and minds of the nation's citizens. Now archaeologists have discovered the tomb of the legendary Genghis Kahn, one of those three. What they find is definitely not what they expect, for a restless spirit abides in that tomb, one that reveals a dark and chilling prophecy: within 1000 days (of the tomb's opening) the end of the world will come unless three individuals with a special birthmark are found and killed. This birthmark is called a "hong lang" and resembles a crimson wolf. There's no way of knowing who bears this birthmark or where on the body it might lie, but the order goes out to locate and destroy the three.
Now the servants have tracked down one of the hong lang: Kai, a streetwise martial artist training in Beijing. It is his master, however, who dies in that first confrontation, with Kai landing in prison (or at least "protective custody") soon after. It is in his cell that he learns the truth: he has been targeted because of the birthmark on his forehead, that of a crimson wolf. After defending himself against the assassin locked inside with him, someone puts him in a car and drives off. The man later draws a gun and prepares to kill him. Fortunately for Kai, his friends have arrived, and through their distraction and the assistance of a mysterious stranger, Kai escapes.
Jump to Tokyo where Mizuo, a young window-washer and who knows what else, has a near brush with death shortly after inadvertantly seeing a message about a hong lang being spotted in Beijing. Later that night she witnesses a drive-by shooting. The dying man--coincidentally the last of the archaeologists who uncovered the tomb--presses a diskette into her hands before breathing his last. Then, in her apartment, she is attacked in her shower. She survives that attack long enough to discover that she, too, is a hong lang and that the data on the disk pertains directly to her. The police arrive--rather conveniently after the death of her attacker--and she immediately realizes that she is in greater danger than she thought. She makes her escape and attempts to reach Beijing, but as she flies on a commercial flight from Japan to China, a military aircraft looms on the horizon.
Kai, meanwhile, has discovered that his unexpected savior is none other than Ruku Dan, a black market smuggler who was publicly "executed" but was kept alive because of his ability to procure unusual items, including a powerful supercomputer. Ruku Dan believes Kai could be a valuable asset to his organization. Kai is skeptical and leery of trusting the strange dusky-skinned man with the long face and white hair, but events soon prove that it's actually better to trust the devil you know rather than the ones you don't know. As Kai and a miraculously recovered Mizuo (she was found floating in the sea, the only survivor of a mysterious plane "crash") await their fate in a dark underground cell, they suddenly understand what their destinies are and the links they had to one another in an earlier age. Now, as the world moves headlong towards a war that no one but the great and powerful Diao wants, it is up to Kai, Mizuo, and the third hong lang--who in its previous existence was a wolf who'd been shot with an arrow in the neck (Kai was shot in the forehead and Mizuo in the hip, if that's a clue about the birthmarks)--to stop that darkness from falling over China. But will they be able to overcome the evil that threatens the world, especially since its methods have given it control over nearly all the world's computers?
Crimson Wolf is an hour-long anime feature uniting outstanding characters, a compelling storyline, and great animation with elements of ancient and recent history to produce a terrific example of storytelling at its best. It doesn't run too long as some Western movies do, nor is it so short that it leaves the story untold and you wanting more. It's just the right length, with just the right amount of details to make it interesting without being overwhelming.
I think the best part of all is the way the writers bring together three compelling characters, each with different motivations for fighting the Diao, into a force that--though completely untried and untested--will ultimately decide the fate of the world. The connections between the characters (other than those three birthmarks) make for an interesting read, especially since it is the loner/outsider Ruku Dan who brings the hong lang together. I don't think he really intended to, of course, but he did, which makes him--despite being a villain, a smuggler, and a crook with questionable moral ethics and sexual practices (the guy keeps a harem)--an okay guy in my book.
I don't know enough about the Chinese language or Chinese history to know what "diao" actually means, but from context I'd say that it is something like "great leader" or some such. I also couldn't tell you who all three were, since it was hard to catch it from the dialogue. One is Genghis Kahn and another seems to be Chairman Mao Tse Tung. I think the third one is Emperor Shih Huang Ti (first emperor of China), but I could be mistaken. In all, though, I'd have to say that the three great Diao were men who strongly influenced China during their respective life times. It makes for an interesting backdrop to the overall story, doesn't it?
A warning to you: although the cover has a label on it recommending parental guidance because of "scenes of graphic animated violence," there are also several scenes involving animated nudity, including Mizuo's shower scene. If those things don't bother you, then fine. To my mind it's far more dignified and elegant than some of the movies airing nowadays on cable television. But if these things do bother you, then don't pick it up. Of course, you'd be missing out on a great anime, so maybe you could get it and close your eyes during "those" scenes. Just remember that the Japanese are considerably more circumspect and discreet than American animators and movie makers. You've been warned, though.
As far as I know, only the DVD version of this movie is available. Perhaps a VHS version was once available while Streamline Pictures was still in existence. Having been bought out, however, you'll just have to accept the release of the DVD version. No subtitles, unfortunately, which is a minus. I'd have liked to see how it played out in orignal Japanese. You can change the language to Japanese, but I don't understand enough to watch it without the subtitles, so I'm stuck with the English dub, which isn't really all that bad.
You should be able to purchase Crimson Wolf on DVD only at any video store. Otherwise, you can contact Image Entertainment or The Right Stuf International to find out how to order it.
Interested in buying this video? You can! Just follow the link to order the DVD version. You can also visit the Stellar Video Store for other titles.
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