Roujin Z
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is a 1991 Japanese
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
action thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo and written by
Katsuhiro Otomo is a Japanese Mangaka, manga artist, screenwriter, animator, and film director. He first rose to prominence as a pioneer founder of the New Wave (manga), New Wave in the 1970s. He is best known as the creator of ''Akira (franchise), Akira'', bo ...
. The animation for ''Roujin Z'' was produced by A.P.P.P. in association with other companies including
Movic is a Japanese company which specializes in the publication of trading cards, figures, CDs, and other general media related to the anime industry. Movic is a part of the Animate (retailer), Animate group. Anime involved in *''Oh My Goddess!, Ah ...
,
Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation and is ...
,
Aniplex Aniplex, Inc. (株式会社アニプレックス, ''Kabushiki-gaisha Anipurekkusu'') is a Japanese entertainment company and a subsidiary of Sony, Sony Group Corporation, founded in September 1995 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The company fo ...
, and
TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...
.


Plot

''Roujin Z'' is set in early 21st-century Japan. A group of scientists and hospital administrators, under the direction of the Ministry of Public Welfare and led by lead programmer Mr. Hasegawa, have developed the Z-001: a computerized hospital bed with robotic features. The Z-001 takes complete care of the patient: it can dispense food and medicine, remove excretory waste, bathe and exercise the patient lying within its frame. The bed is driven by its own built-in
nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...
reactor—and in the event of an atomic meltdown, the bed (including the patient lying within) would become automatically sealed in concrete. The first
patient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by Health professional, healthcare professionals. The patient is most often Disease, ill or Major trauma, injured and in need of therapy, treatment by a physician, nurse, op ...
to be "volunteered" to test the bed is an 87-year-old dying widower named Kijuro Takazawa. He is an invalid who is cared for by a young nursing student named Haruko. The electronic elements within the Z-001 somehow manage to transcribe Takazawa's thoughts through Haruko's office computer, and he uses the communication to cry for help. Although she objects to such treatment of elderly patients, Haruko begrudgingly seeks the aid of a group of computer hackers in the hospital's
geriatric Geriatrics, or geriatric medicine, is a medical specialty focused on addressing the unique health needs of older adults. The term ''geriatrics'' originates from the Greek γέρων ''geron'' meaning "old man", and ιατρός ''iatros'' mean ...
ward to create and install a vocal simulation of Takazawa's deceased wife Haru in the Z-001. However, once Takazawa wishes to go to the beach near
Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...
to relive his happier times with Haru, the Z-001 detaches itself from its moorings and escapes from the hospital with the man in its grasp. Haruko's fears are then justified, as it is discovered that the bed is actually a government-designed, experimental weapons robot. Once the Ministry learns of the bed's escape, their field representative Mr. Terada and Mr. Hasegawa decide to give chase in the latter's corporate helicopter, only for Haruko to force her way in as it takes off. The bed incorporates multiple machines, including cars and excavators, into itself while using Haru's voice to argue with Terada, agreeing to return to the hospital as it rampages into the last tunnel on the road to the beach. Hasegawa and Terada argue upon landing, while Haruko and the elderly hackers (working via radio link) successfully persuade the bed to release Takazawa. The bed, however, continues its rampage. Hasegawa then reveals a more advanced prototype of the Z-001, commanding it to subdue the bed while he prepares a cybernetic
ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...
to take Takazawa to the hospital, only for the ambulance to malfunction with Takazawa inside. Terada works to disconnect and smash the bed's peripherals and safely escort Takazawa onto the beach, while the hackers are able to program the Haru simulacrum to help Haruko destroy the bed's chip core by blowing up an oxygen tank. In her dying moments, the Haru simulacrum promises a despondent Takazawa she will see him again. They watch the sunset, while unbeknownst to everyone, a cat runs off with the chip core's remnants. In the epilogue, Hasegawa is arrested and Terada says the Ministry will not comment until the trial (though he notes documents on the bed and ambulance have been leaked, implied to be Haruko's doing). The reassembled bed makes a surprise visit to the hospital, this time much larger (with the large Kamakura Buddha incorporated in her upper body) and as willing as ever to take Takazawa to the beach, much to his delight.


Cast


Themes

In his review of ''Rojin Z'', Tony Rayns stated the film focuses on three primary issues: health care for the elderly, the stand-off between traditional values and modern technology and the Right's covert plans to re-militarise Japan.


Production

The animation for ''Roujin Z'' was produced by A.P.P.P. in association with other companies including
Movic is a Japanese company which specializes in the publication of trading cards, figures, CDs, and other general media related to the anime industry. Movic is a part of the Animate (retailer), Animate group. Anime involved in *''Oh My Goddess!, Ah ...
,
Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation and is ...
,
Aniplex Aniplex, Inc. (株式会社アニプレックス, ''Kabushiki-gaisha Anipurekkusu'') is a Japanese entertainment company and a subsidiary of Sony, Sony Group Corporation, founded in September 1995 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The company fo ...
and
TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...
. The film was directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo, who previously directed the "A Tale of Two Robots" segment in the APPP anthology film '' Robot Carnival''.
Katsuhiro Otomo is a Japanese Mangaka, manga artist, screenwriter, animator, and film director. He first rose to prominence as a pioneer founder of the New Wave (manga), New Wave in the 1970s. He is best known as the creator of ''Akira (franchise), Akira'', bo ...
provided the film's story and screenplay. The characters were designed by Hisashi Eguchi, the
manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...
known for '' Stop!! Hibari-kun!''. He used his now current wife as a model for Haruko. Eguchi also played part in some of the film's animation, such as its smoke effects, alongside key animator Takeshi Honda. Both Otomo and
Mitsuo Iso is a Japanese animator and director. He worked as a freelance artist through Neomedia, Studio Zaendo, and Studio Ghibli. When he participates in anime works as an animator, he sometimes uses aliases such as Mikio Odagawa and Hideo Tateda, or do ...
were responsible for the mechanical designs.
Satoshi Kon was a Japanese film director, animator, screenwriter and manga artist from Sapporo, Hokkaido, and a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA). He was a graduate of the Graphic Design department of the Musashino Art Univer ...
acted as the film's art director and set designer. Kon previously wrote the script for Otomo's live-action
black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
''World Apartment Horror'', though ''Roujin Z'' was the first anime on which Kon worked. Otomo opted to not direct the film, as he was more eager to work on ''World Apartment Horror''. The musical score was composed by Bun Itakura. Anime localization pioneer Carl Macek was the film's sound design producer. The closing song is performed by Mishio Ogawa.


Soundtrack


Release and marketing

''Roujin Z'' premiered theatrically in Japan on September 14, 1991. An English-dubbed version was directed by Michael Bakewell with a script adaptation by George Roubicek. The dub was produced by
Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1991, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyr ...
in 1994, and was licensed by Kit Parker Films with a PG-13 rating in the United States. The film debuted in the US at an international film festival in
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during November 1994. It was screened in more than 30 cities in the country such as
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
's
Angelika Film Center Angelika Film Center is a movie theater chain in the United States that features independent and foreign films. It operates theaters in New York City, Texas, Washington, D.C., California, and Virginia. Its headquarters are in New York City. ...
on January 5, 1996. Manga Entertainment marketed the film in English-speaking regions as being "by the creator of '' Akira''". ''Roujin Z'' first saw
VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...
and
Laserdisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...
releases in Japan in 1991, in Great Britain, Europe and Australia in 1994, in North America in 1995, and its first Japanese DVD release on August 21, 1999. An " HD Master Edition" DVD was released in the region on April 13, 2005. The English dub was initially released on VHS by Manga Entertainment in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand in 1994.
Image Entertainment RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 34 ...
distributed the English version on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
in the US on August 26, 1998. Central Park Media re-released the movie on DVD on April 9, 2002, then again on April 27, 2004, under the US Manga Corps label. The
home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...
version is currently out-of-print in the US. The film has also been broadcast on numerous television networks worldwide, including the Sci-Fi Channel, ImaginAsian, the International Channel, and the Funimation Channel in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The ''Roujin Z Original Soundtrack'' was made available for sale in Japan by
Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...
on November 21, 1991. ''Roujin Z'' was adapted into a
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
titled , featuring the story by Otomo and illustrated by Tai Okada. It was originally serialized in the
Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...
publication ''Mr. Magazine'' from March to December 1991. A single ''
tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...
'' bound volume was published in Japan on December 12, 1991. No official English version exists, but Glénat published a French edition on January 22, 1997.
Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1991, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyr ...
UK re-released ''Roujin Z'' on
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
in June 2012 in conjunction with Kazé UK, the European subsidiary of
Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...
as they hold the rights to the English dub, which they produced in-house in 1994.


Reception

From contemporary reviews, ''Roujin Z'' won the Mainichi Film Award for animation in 1991. From Western critics,
Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...
of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' called it an "amusing futuristic morality tale," noting how it "takes sharp digs at
yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...
medical students who welcome a device that will enable them to discard their aging parents and concentrate on their careers." Joey O'Bryan, reviewing ''Roujin Z'' for ''
The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...
'', called the film "briskly paced, intelligent, exciting, and darkly funny."
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
, writing in the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'', observed: "I cannot imagine this story being told in a conventional movie. Not only would the machine be impossibly expensive and complex to create with special effects, but the social criticism would be immediately blue-penciled by Hollywood executives." Tony Rayns (
Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (formerly written ''Sight & Sound'') is a monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Since 1952, it has conducted the well-known decennial ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. ...
) felt the film was "engaging entertainment, not least because it so resolutely counters the expectations of the adolescent males who made up the core audience for ''Akira''." Rayns also noted that "the only real let down in the film was the character design of Haruko", finding her to be "the round-eyed moppet of the type seen everywhere in Japanese schlock made-for-video animation" From retrospective reviews, Helen McCarthy in ''500 Essential Anime Movies'' called ''Roujin Z'' a "gripping movie - an action thriller whose star is even older than
Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining ...
". She stated that it is a "funny film that will keep you entertained and make you think", noting that it is also "one of the most original anime you'll ever see". In 2001, Wizard Entertainment listed the film at number 42 of its top 50 anime to be released in North America. The publisher's magazine '' Anime Insider'' listed ''Roujin Z'' as the seventh-best anime comedy in its January 2004 issue.


See also

* List of Japanese films of 1991


References


External links

* *
Entry
in ''
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (''SFE'') is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo Award, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus and BSFA Award, British SF Awards. Two print editions appea ...
'' {{Mainichi Film Award - Animation Film Award 1991 anime films 1991 films 1991 manga Action anime and manga Animated action films Animated thriller films Aniplex Central Park Media Japanese action thriller films Japanese animated science fiction films Japanese science fiction action films Katsuhiro Otomo Medical-themed films Thriller anime and manga Films directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo Animated films set in the 21st century Animated films set in the future Animated films set in Japan 1991 science fiction films