Galerians: Rion

Galerians: Rion is a culmination of influence; from the dank, technological nightmare of Resident Evil to the ‘angst-filled kid with amazing psychic powers’ lifted straight from Akira- it’s a cliché but fun slice of science fiction.
Much has been made of Galerians: Rion’s outdated CG animation- but the fast paced story and tense gothic atmosphere leave little room for the viewer to become overly distracted by the admittedly iffy animation.

The story kicks off with Rion, a pissed off teenager, waking in a mysterious mechanical device. As he struggles to break free from his restraints, it becomes apparent that Rion has been gifted some strange psychic energy.
Dazed and confused, he wanders aimlessly down a desolate corridor and bumps straight into a group armed guards who seem determined to stop him. Again, Rion, in a blaze of rage, reveals his explosive and violent psychic tendencies.
Reeling from yet another strange encounter, he hears an echo of a familiar voice in his mind, desperately urging him for help. Why? Who is this girl?

With Galerians: Rion being billed as a 3D CG (computer graphics) ‘ultra-violent’ extravaganza, I assume many will be disappointed to discover this isn’t as gory a movie as it’s made out to be. The story actually takes several surprising (and rather successful) psychological twists, giving each supposed villain a chance to gain an ounce of sympathy from the viewer before they are quickly rubbed out.
I started Galerians: Rion with the lowest of expectations and yet ended it feeling pleasantly surprised; boosted by a few ambitious attempts at characterization and dramatic affect.
If anything, Galerians: Rion is let down by it’s swift running time (clocking in at just 70 minutes) and some already outdated CG animation. While the animation does not render this unwatchable, it didn’t exactly inspire me either; character faces (and especially expressions) seem slow to react and frankly, plastic.

The plot wears its video-game heritage on its sleeves, given it progresses exactly as a video game would. Our hero, Rion, battles his way through 4 different ‘stages’, each suggesting an increasing difficulty and inevitably climaxing with a fight against each stage’s ‘boss’.
This may seem like a simplistic plot device to some but it actually helps the story develop a lot faster, giving each stage the chance to both tell a smaller story as well as illustrating the plight people suffer under Dorothy, a power-crazed super computer controlling the city/world.

Revolver Ent.’s handling of this DVD deserves a special mention too. We are treated to a wide selection of audio tracks and subtitles; from a 5.1 Japanese audio mix to a musical score especially designed for the English language track (though the original Japanese score is also available). This special score features songs from many contemporary big name nu-metal bands; from Slipknot to Fear Factory.
I watched Galerians: Rion with its original Japanese track and enjoyed both the atmospheric score and solid performances from a set of voice actors who went a long way to establishing their soulless character designs with a real sense of purpose.

In Summary

Galerians: Rion is a fun yet all too short sci-fi anime. The 3D-CG animation, which is choppy and out-dated, would have repelled my interest within the first 10 minutes if it weren’t for a surprisingly intriguing and fast moving story– a story that is stifled only by a restrictive running time and the aforementioned animation. As such, this is strictly mediocre stuff, recommended to fans of the cyber-punk genre or those who are just plain curious.