Towa no Quon 6: Towa no Quon

(This review goes to all parts of the movie series.)

Now, here’s a thing that I never noticed in most recent anime before and that is called the Movie Series……now this is definitely different from the term “OVA” as in movie series are released theatrically while OVAs are direct-to-video. Many examples of anime movie series include Kara No Kyōukai (or The Garden of Sinners), Broken Blade & Mobile Suit Gundam UC Unicorn. The film series is directed by Umanosuke Iida, known for directing anime such as Devilman, Vandread, Hellsing (the original one), Mobile Suit Gundan: The 08th MS Team & Shangri-La. Unfortunately, before the movies were ... released, he passed away of lung cancer at the age of 49 in 2010, and that’s the same year that Satoshi Kon passed away from pancreatic cancer..…..OK, let’s just get to the review.

In a futuristic Tokyo, unique human beings who have awakened distinct powers are being hunted by a secret organization named Custos. Known as "Attractors", these exceptional humans are joining forces to defend themselves. They are led by a boy named Quon, an idealist who is determined to save all the Attractors he can.

Now here’s the thing about these films: They are quite reminiscent of the dark superhero genre and mostly the X-Men franchise, which are the majority of which they are parallel to, such as, ordinary people who have these powers that they can’t control, which have affected their past and scarred them for life and they are being taken in a facility, much like Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters to an extent and like that, they are being hunted down by a secret organization that wants to do them in. Yeah, this idea isn’t exactly wholly original but it’s an interesting concept and premise and I can say for that reason alone, it works on paper and it does work on the big screen.

As for the characters, they are actually very stock characters with hit or miss qualities about them with having powers that can cause consequences and mostly regret. The main character, Quon, who has lived over a millennia, from witnessing his family being slaughtered and wanting vengeance ever since. Now I say Quon was some similarities to Wolverine but here’s the difference between them….Wolverine has more charisma and personality than Quon as that character seems unmotivated most of the time but he is not the all-mighty God-mode being that most people would suspect as he gets his ass kicked a lot in fights but he does manage to heal himself after. There’s Yuri, the flirty but competent attractor whose powers aren’t exactly developed but can maintain it; Kiri, the innocent young girl whose gift is her voice and with it, she can only use it to heal or to destroy and I got to admit, that trait is close to being the character Rogue. Tei is the telepathic woman who can communicate with others from many distances but can relive painful memories of the past. Miu is the young girl that can communicate to animals but her limiter enables her to speak normally and also the animal’s language. Takao is the smart-alecky, lazy, but complacent attractor who talks shit sometimes but not so much to be an asshole. Yuma is the boy whose power is to erupt colored orbs from his body whenever he’s upset or angry and the antagonist Genji Kamishiro is the class-A comic book-style villain who wants to control all the Attractors and to gain order……so, yeah, he’s the typical villain and last but not least Towa is Quon’s younger brother, who is believed that whoever contacts him will have their powers increased.

As for the animation, I can safely say that BONES did an excellent job on this, especially the fighting animation where it feels so fast-paced and often gritty sometimes and that goes to the art style of the show, too, especially with some scenes that would be gruesome for younger eyes. The main theme for the show called “Reckless” by LAZY is somewhat thrilling and yet unintentionally funny for every time I hear, “Feel Rock Emotion, Burning Rock Emotion” because I know they use Engrish in some of the lyrics, but it still feel silly once you heard it so many times.

For the dub by Sentai Filmworks, I can see why I said that Quon had no charisma and that’s thanks to Corey Hartzog and his lackluster performance as Quon sounds too chill, even in a tense situation, but I will say that, I’m pleased with the rest of their performances including Jessica Boone as Yuri, Emily Neves as Kiri & Monica Rial as Tei.

FINAL VERDICT: After seeing some lackluster titles from BONES (No.6, Ghost Slayers Ayashi), this is an improvement and the kind of quality that BONES should have put in most of their shows. It’s a concept that seems foreign to Japan but if handled well, it can turn to be pretty impressive. I could easily recommend this to people who are akin to any Marvel comic character.

Okay, I will talk about the overall series in other words spoiler warning.

Let me start with the positives:
- animation: it was made by bones so of course it looks fantastic, if you put style over substance you will probably like it

- good world-building: the first parts set up the world nicely with everything we need to know at the time and later on finding out that people at first were all born with these powers and due to a mutation, the population consists mostly of people without powers.

- the soundtrack was good too, fitting to the atmosphere (I am scratching the bottom of ... the barrel now...)

Okay enough, lets get to the negatives:
- the characters: most of the characters felt undercooked like the teleportation guy suddenly starts to talk about missing his mum in the fifth movie after not mentioning her once before aaaand of course that was only to make him betray the group and be completely irrational not thinking for a single nanosecond. (I was annoyed) Next up Quon himself didn't really get much of a character apart from being guilt-ridden (yeah, I think that's all) knowing that he lived for over a thousand years this one motivation isn't enough to call him a well-developed character. Oh yeah, and there was this scientist guy who seemed so important to the cyborgs but served no purpose at the end and was just forgotten by the plot.

- the women: yes extra category, because clearly the show-makers didn't see them as people either. We get introduced to Kiri in the first two episodes and she is completely forgotten about after that instead her struggles with having to connect to the children is just resolved and it feels more like "she woman, she good with children" even though none of the kids liked her at first.
Then there is Tei whom I really liked but, yeah, there isn't anything to say she can read minds and was born in the countryside. Other than that she woman.
Athletics girl is supposed to be a love interest for Quon, I think? There is no chemistry between them at all. If her powers were given to a man they would've probably done more fighting scenes with her but noooo.
Last but not least is Delta (I think that was her), she protected Shun and disobeyed because she loved him, or something. The love was not strong enough to release herself before the finale, so of course she dead.

- I don't know where to put this but the sudden introduction of the shadowy organisation Ordo really rubbed me the wrong way. The fact that you get in there by either birthright or election by those in the group is weird. They aren't part of any government but above every law, even allowed to torture people. It sounds like antisemitism to me, these conspiracies already existed before Jesus was born and if there is a Japanese equivalent minority, it's probably supposed to represent them. Especially because they were introduced out of nowhere and with seemingly no purpose other then "to create peace".
Finally the story: 1. I don't understand why they suddenly go from episodic rescue missions to overarching narrative in the final three movies, to me, it felt draining.
2. The third episode was just shit, terribly executed and only the visuals that were fun.
3. We are being thrown into a part of these peoples story and at the end (other than Quon not being immortal anymore) nothing changed. If you would tell me that Ordo set up a new base the next week to hunt down our group, I would believe you.
4. the story also never really explains the powers and why some people have seemingly more of them than others, for example, Yuuma could make protective shields and destructive bubbles while athletic girl is just fast.

Damn I can't believe I wrote so much, fuck me I guess...
yeah, I think some people might like it, I didn't really at the end.
Okay, bye