Jin-Roh is definitely a surprising anime.
Set in an alternate history where after Hiroshima, Japan enacted a policy focussed
on heavy economic re-growth. This drew many out from the countryside and into
the city, consequently creating huge slums, crime and even anti-government
protestors. To deal against these protestors a special “police” (thus not
military) force, called the Capitol Police, was made apart from Local Police. In
response the protestors became even more violent and unified, becoming The
Sect. This inturn leads to both public outcry and the creation of an elite
Special Unit within the Capitol Police, called Kerberos. Jin-Roh thus follows
one of the Special Unit (a man named Kazuki Fuse) and his inability to
shoot a girl of The Sect before she blows herself up with a satchel bomb. From
the first fifteen minutes where we see this whole history set out and a public
riot exploited by The Sect, I expected more of an action film where the
conflict would be about Fuse’s recovery from his demons (perhaps discovering
the motivations of those he fights) and the Special Unit trying to destroy The
Sect before the whole Capital Police are disbanded by the government. However,
what we really get is a complicated internal conflict between the secretive and
unknown “Wolf Brigade” who want to keep the Capital Police running, especially
the Special Unit, and the Public Security Division who would rather see it
disbanded for a more unified police force. I was looking for something more
action based, but what I got was a much deeper and slow paced plot. From the
outset the film shows its political sophistication, but this is not the topic
of this post. I was definitely not disappointed just surprised, especially with
the way the film had a fairly touching (although not entirely unpredictable)
plot and character twists and how it achieved this through a very artistic
manner.
Because Jin-Roh is such a deep film I feel
the need to briefly summarise it here, so hopefully you have watched the film
first. As I said the film starts out with The Sect taking advantage a public
riot but as the extremists escape in the sewers they are tracked by the Special
Unit of the Capital Police. One girl, who is a courier for The Sect (nicknamed
a Red Riding Hood), breaks off from the group and as they are killed she looks
to escape. However, she runs into a member of the Special Unit, Kazuki Fuse, who
doesn’t shoot her and she is left to determinedly pull the cord on her satchel
bomb, killing herself but not him. Kazuki is sent back to military training for
his hesitation to carry out orders. After talking to his now politically
involved friend (Atsushi Henmi), he goes to the grave of the girl (Nanami
Agawa) where he meets her older sister and they become romantically involved. The
sister gives Kazuki a book of Red Riding Hood and takes him to a fairground to
reveal she wants to run away. They date more and more, during this time Kazuki
has a nightmare about her being eaten by wolves in the sewers. At the same as
this, higher powers than Kazuki talk about a plan to combine all policing units
and dissemble the Special Unit and thus to destroy the secretive Wolf Brigade
who are all part of Special Kerberos Unit because they are ruthlessly doing
whatever they want. It is thus revealed by Henmi that Fuse’s love interest is
not Agawa’s sister, but is in fact a former Sect courier (named Kei Amemiya) now
being used by Henmi, and the Public Security Division to help destroy the
Kerberos Unit. Kazuki then gets a picture of this conversation. Kei then calls
Fuse asking him to come to their meeting spot, but this is really a trap for
him set up by Henmi and the Public Security Division. However, he realises this
and is able to disarm the Public Security Division agents and escape with Kei
to their rooftop amusement park. Kazuki then leads her to the sewers from the
start of the film where they meet the other members of the Wolf Brigade. The
leader of the brigade, Hachiro Tohbe the instructor of the academy, then
explains how he knew Kei had a tracker in her bag and this will lead Henmi and
the Public Security Division to the sewers and their demise. Kei breaks down
thinking she had found her love and asks Kazuki not to kill them but he puts on
his Capital Police armor and kills all the Public Security Division Agents and
Henmi. Afterwards Kazuki is given a pistol and told to dispose of his lover Kei
for the sake of the Wolf Brigade. After she tearfully quotes the ending of the
Red Cap story Fuse shots her. Then a sniper looking to shoot both of them
un-cocks his gun and Hachiro Tohbe then quotes the last line “… and then the
wolf ate Red Riding Hood.”
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade had a very complicated
plot and was in fact much more artistic and complex than it would first seem.
This is because Jin-Roh’s very intricate and deliberate plot is set against
that of Red Riding Hood. What is used is an alternate and early version of Red
Riding Hood, or rather Rotkäppchen ('Red Cap'), which is narrated by various characters
throughout the film. Red Riding Hood is put in metal clothing by her mother and
said once she has worn out her clothing she can come visit mother in her
cottage in the forest. Once Red Riding Hood has worn out her clothing by
rubbing them against the wall she makes some food as a gift for her mother and goes
off to visit her mother. On the way she meets a wolf who asks her what she is
doing and which path to the cottage she will take: the path of pins or the path
of needles. Red Riding Hood answers the path of pins so the wolf quickly goes
down the path of needles, gets to the cottage before the girl, eats her mother
and disguises itself as its victim. When Red Riding Hood gets there she is told
to just come in, and even though the door won’t open she comes in through a
hole in the wall. Red Riding Hood then says she is hungry and thirsty and is
told by the wolf in the mother’s guise, to eat the meat in the cupboard and the
wine in the pot. Although the girl is warned by a cat and a bird that she is
eating her mother’s flesh and drinking her blood she ignores them after advice
from “her mother”. Red Riding Hood then says she is sleepy so the wolf says to
come and lie in the bed with it. After Red Riding Hood notices the wolf’s large
ears, eyes, claws and teeth, the wolf proceeds to eat her.
So now that we have gone through the two
stories, Jin-Roh’s creators used the Red Cap story for many great purposes. They
played upon was the idea of being a wolf and the characteristics of a wolf and
who was the Red Riding Hood, the victim of the vicious wolf. A wolf will eat up
one’s trapped victims, despite their connection to you, just as the wolf in the
story of Red-Cap eats the girl without caring about her despite the love she
shows for her mother. The wolf is seen as something that is a villain, despicable
and ruthless; something that is a beast and not human; something that will do
whatever it needs to do for its own sake; and something that is emotionless in
achieving its goals. The start of the film says if something is like a wolf it
is to be cast out, basically that it cannot be human. The very secretive Wolf
Brigade will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. The Red Riding Hood
character is the one that falls into the trap of the wolf after talking and
providing information for the wolf, just as Red-Cap befriends the wolf and
tells it about her mother’s house but is then trapped. These characterisations
from the original Red Cap story enhance THREE connected aspects of the film:
the twists of the story, the internal conflict within Kazuki and the emotion
that we feel for Kei.
First of all, the twists of the story are
based on who can truly put their emotions aside and actually who is really
involved in the Wolf Brigade. Is the emotionally prone Kazuki really part of
this division; or is it his friend Henmi, who is willing to let his friend Fuse
take the fall to destroy the Special Unit; or is it some other higher ranking
official like Muroto who has their hands in multiple pots at once. We have
Kazuki who is the main suspect of course. Others talk about him like he is part
of the Wolf Brigade, mainly Henmi, and the imagery around him, such as where he
chooses to meet Henmi to get information, is all about wolves. So too the
imagery of his dream shows he is part of a pack, a brigade, of wolves. However
Kazuki is first hesitant to shoot the protestor, then continues this hesitancy
during his training, and also seemingly shows sympathy towards the members and
family of The Sect. However, as the hints and imagery suggest it is Kazuki is
the wolf and not Menmi who in fact becomes the Red Riding Hood, coming into the
drawn into sewers following the “insurance” homing chip he put into the girls
satchel bag, and subsequently being shot by the wolf. Interestingly in the
sewers it is like Henmi is saved to last, just as Red Hiding Hood is saved by
the wolf until he has eaten the mother. It is thus revealed Kazuki is part of
the Wolf Brigade and his trainer Tohbe is the leader of Jin-Roh, despite
providing information to Henmi previously. Tohbe mentions how the Wolf Brigade
are not humans disguised as wolves but really wolves in human disguises. All
the roles of this Red-Cap reenacting become truly apparent in the last part of
this film.
Thus the characterisation of the wolf and
Red Riding Hood plays a large part of the twists of the plot and what make the
film very interesting to watch. In fact it is also notable that there is no
huntsman in the Red Cap story they tell. It makes us wonder whether the Wolf
Brigade will win in the end, even if they eat their Red Riding Hood. Tohbe even
plays on this saying we only have stories of humans beating wolves because
there would be no one alive to tell the tale if the wolf won. Thus the story of
the Red Cap also gives us a twist of who will win.
Who is part of the Wolf Brigade is not the
only twist but, simultaneous to the struggle between the Wolf Brigade and the
Public Security Division, is Kazuki’s inner conflict. Thus at the same time to
this plot of who is the wolf is whether or not Kazuki can suppress his wolf
urges and be a human. Does he have human emotions and feelings or is he really
just a ruthless wolf-like killer. The beginning of the film says how the wolf
is different to the human and the two cannot coexist and Tohbe reminds us of
this when talking to Kei in the sewer. However, this question is raised of
Kazuki’s characteristics right from the off. It starts when he doesn't shoot the girl in the sewer and then cannot explain why in his trial. As I noted above he is reluctant
to shoot others in training exercises, and he shows a
concern for others of the opposite side. He looks to almost empathise with his
victims, namely the fake older sister, and The Sect generally. He asks several others, such as Henmi
and Kei, whether he is to blame for the girl’s death, implying he has feelings
of remorse and guilt. The only reason he joined the Kerberos Unit was because he felt like he belonged, and now he almost looks to understand where the Sect are coming from and their views on society. Most importantly this whole inner conflict is all alluded
to with Kazuki’s dream practically at the half way the film. As he gets closer
and closer with Kei, the fake older sister, he dreams of following her into a
sewer. We notice her face changes from her “sister’s” back into hers but she
remains in the same red cloak that her “sister” wore when she died. As he
follows and chases her a group of wolves, representations of the other members
of Jin-Roh, joins him. Throughout this chase we get glimpses of wolves eating
her and her being shot by some member of the Capital Police. As this chase goes
on Kazuki and his wolf companions are blocked by a gate, where Kei, on the other
side, says you know you cannot come with me. This represents how she wants to
run away but how Kazuki cannot. Finally the wolves catch her and eat her, as
Kazuki tries to stop them. We have one final shot of Kazuki on a snowy mountain
surrounded by wolves, which then turns to a solitary wolf in the same spot as
Kazuki was, with the full moon behind it. The imagery is powerful to suggest,
with some hindsight of course, that Kazuki is definitely part of the Wolf
Brigade but that the real conflict of the movie will be whether he truly feels
if he is a wolf.
This inner conflict continues after his
dream. Whilst he dates Kei he shows emotional detachment often, but this also
seems just like reluctance to embrace her because he killed her sister. Also
when breaks through Henmi’s honey trap to rescue Kei he shows all the cunning
and instinct of a wolf but at the same time he never shoots or kills anyone. After they
run away they go back to the rooftop amusement park where Kazuki admits his
love for Kei, gives her his jacket and kisses her (but at the same time says
they can’t run away). This emotion within him all seems to be faked when he
emotionlessly suits up to kill the Public Security Division, whilst Kei crying
confesses her love for him, and then Kazuki ruthlessly shoots his supposed
friend Henmi. However, it all comes to a head when he is asked to shoot his
lover. He argues that Kei is potentially valuable for the conflict with the
Public Security Division, but Tohbe, Jin-Roh’s leader, throws this argument out
the window saying she is better off dead. Tohbe leaves Kazuki with a pistol to
shoot Kei. Kei, again crying, recites the ending of the Red Cap story, and
Kazuki yells out as if to release all his feelings and pressure he has on him
from the Wolf Brigade and his lover. At this moment is the true climax and
twist of the story. Will Kazuki turn into a wolf like in his dream? Can Kazuki
run away with Kei and is he really sympathetic to others from The Sect? As he
yells his face seemingly turns into the snout of a wolf and he then shoots Kei.
This inner conflict also beckons the main question asked throughout the film,
why did Kazuki not shoot Asami in the first place? Was he really a wolf
throughout and was doing it as a way to destroy the Public Security Division,
was he really becoming human, or is it a bit of both? The ending to this
conflict is so uncertain that the leader of the Wolf Brigade had even order a
sniper to make sure he shot her.
Anyway, this inner conflict is also a part
of the most emotional part of the film, Kei as an innocent victim within the
conflict between Menmi and Kazuki, or rather the Public Security Division and
the Wolf Brigade. Kei is the true Red Riding Hood in the story, the truly
innocent victim in it. She is used by both sides of the conflict for
information, just as the wolf uses Red Riding Hood for information about her
mother. She is used by Henmi and his higher-ups to get Kazuki in hot water and
then destroy the Special Unit (and the Wolf Brigade at the same time). Simultaneously
she is more emotionally used by Kazuki and his higher ups as a fake mole which
means she leads Henmi and his unit to the Wolf Brigade and ultimately their
death. It is how she is used by Kazuki that gets her the most sympathy and
creates the most emotion in the film. We are led to believe Kazuki is not a
wolf because he shows such care for his victim’s sister and continues to
question his role in the Special Unit. It seems like he falls in love with her as
they run away to the amusement park on the roof, but she was using him for
Menmi’s purposes. However, the harsh reality was that he was really using her
and she truly loves him. She reveals this as he suits up to kill Menmi and how
all she wanted to just run away with him or at least die together. She just
wanted to feel loved but all this is gone, as Kazuki ignores her only putting
on his impassive mask, further alienating her. She realises now she will never
be loved by him. She reveals her fear that she will be forgotten, like the destroyed
building they saw at the playground on one of their past dates, and that this
fear has now come true. Although the real question of whether she will be
killed is not answered until the end, we feel the greatest sympathy in the
sewers as her she is really in tears, she must face her fears and she realises
she has never really been loved. Although the art and entwining of two stories
is the best part of this film for me, it is Kei’s story that has the most
feeling with it and it is because of the characterisations that the Red Cap
provides is why it has such pathos.
I feel like Jin-Roh as a film is a rather
underrated masterpiece. It creates such an emotional and twisting story with a
deep internal conflict for the protagonist. However, one piece of it stands
above and helps all the other dimensions of the film. This is how the main
narrative is intertwined with the narrative of the Red Cap story. It is notable
which Red Cap story is used of course too. There is no huntsman to save the
day. This double narrative and they way they play off of each other allows the
film to be truly great in many narrative aspects. Thus the creators use the
characterisation of the Red Riding Hood character, namely Kei, to create a
truly emotional piece of cinema. At the same time the wolf character is used
for twists, both for who is really the wolf and for whether or not the main
character is a wolf or human.
