X/1999

The future of the universe rests on one young man, Kamui Shiro, who must destroy either the Dragons of Earth or the Dragons of Heaven - two opposing armies. He alone must decide whether humanity should be destroyed to create a purified universe, or whether it should be protected to preserve civilization.

Two oracles, the sisters Hinoto and Kanoe foresee the coming of the Dragons and predict opposite outcomes. Each sister gathers strength and ammunition to insure her own vision for the future. However, neither sister realizes that there is one man who has an even greater power than the Dragons, and that ultimately he will determine the fate of the earth.

Which sister will prevail and how does Kamui fit into their struggle? The answer to this question will forever affect humanity.

(Source: Manga Entertainment)

Shirou, Kamui Main

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Monou, Fuuma Main

Narita, Ken Japanese

Sumeragi, Subaru Supporting

Miyazaki, Issei Japanese

Sakurazuka, Seishirou Supporting

Furusawa, Tohru Japanese

Arisugawa, Sorata Supporting

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Kishu, Arashi Supporting

Shinohara, Emi Japanese

Monou, Kotori Supporting

Iwao, Junko Japanese

Kasumi, Karen Supporting

Koyama, Mami Japanese

Nekoi, Yuzuriha Supporting

Yukana Japanese

Yatoji, Satsuki Supporting

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Maruyama, Masao Producer

Ikeguchi, Kazuhiko Producer

Rintarou Director, Script, Screenplay

Endou, Takuji Episode Director, Assistant Director

Reviews

Jul 16, 2021

ReallyBigMistake

Recommended

The movie is a much better adaptation than the series. It has excellent storytelling, huge proportions, and one of the best endings of its time. The entire point of the movie is that human actions are ultimately pointless. Keep in mind that I saw the movie before the horrible anime series that was a complete betrayal. The movie is very dark and fatalistic, it is about the future being inevitable and human actions being insufficient to prevent it from coming about. Everyone who is pulled into this cycle of death and destruction in the never ending war between the Dragons of Heaven and the Dragons ... of Earth is killed, and they are killed simply so that their deaths can have no meaning. The only ones who ever know that some people died to save mankind from the people who died to try ending mankind are the ones who kill each other. For everyone else, life moves on as if nothing happened. All the loss is encapsulated and known only to Kamui. Kamui himself has only two goals, to protect his childhood friend Fuma and his childhood love Kotari. His choice to become a Dragon of Heavens is based on his desire to protect the only two things he cares about, his childhood friend Fuma and his childhood love Kotari and yet this very choice also dooms those two to die. Kamui must kill his best friend in order to protect his best friend. If he refused to kill his best friend then he would doom his best friend to death.

Or looked at another way, Kamui must choose to kill the only two people he cares about in order to protect the billions of people living in the world he doesn't care about. He must lose everything and everyone he has ever known in order for everything to stay the same. In that sense the story is as much about fatalism as it is about a misinterpreted prophecy. The actual eternal war between the Dragons of Heaven and Earth becomes merely the fever dream of a false prophet, a false prophet who sends out people to die simply so that everything can remain the same as it would had they not died. There is no eternal war, just 7 people who kill each other because they believed that a little girl could see the future. And the future she saw was simply them dying. Thus the locations she believes are the lynchpin they need to protect in order to protect Tokyo are actually the places were the two sides will kill each other. The prophecy is self fulfilling, but it wasn't a prophecy about dragons and some eternal war, it was just a prophecy about 14 people dying because of a prophecy about them dying.

The movie has many many levels to it. The tv series is mostly all surface.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jul 24, 2019

Starfleeting

Mixed Feelings

So, I finally found a full version of this movie and I can't say I like it much more than the first time around. The only reason I'm giving this the overall rating that I am is because the animation and art is lovely to look at. If you love animation, this is a great-looking movie.

Aside from that, I can't say it does well as a film. Even if I was more familiar with the characters (and had watched the tv show prior to this), I don't think I would be all that satisfied when barely anyone has a decent amount of time. It just ... jumps from character to character, scene to scene at a speed that feels like mental and emotional whiplash. Characters dying left and right and I'm just "...what the fuck is going on?"

Not really sure why this was made but at least it looks pretty?

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 18, 2024

ghostbishnu

Not Recommended

This was utterly predictable.

At no point was I surprised by any plot element. The narrative leaves no room to develop a reason to care about any of the characters. The main character and his nemesis have no redeeming qualities or possess any nuance that makes them interesting. They are just functions of a 1 dimensional story. The only vaguely identifiable characteristics of the protagonist could be selfishness or cowardice.

Cliches can be useful when they are leveraged to usurp the expectations of the viewer. This was not done here.

-2 oracles gather the chosen spiritual avatars
-The chosen of the light and dark (surprise)
-2 who are ... close, ultimately oppose each other in 'the final battle for the future of mankind'
-The female lead serves only as a passive plot device
-Those assembled neutralize each other at regular intervals (they are disposable and undeveloped characters)
-None of the consequences the conflict or final outcome are explored to imbue meaning or moral value

The only message I can take from this is that the creators want to show that mankind's wholesale destruction of the natural world is 'justified' by the will of god, however they make no efforts to explore this subject and its opposing views in any detail outside of the obvious.

The narrative victory of a heroic figure is only as meaningful as the complexity of the antagonist they have overcome. In this case, the villain has no motive, or humanizing quality whatsoever. The villain only assumes his role as prime antagonist because that is what is required to mirror the path (I would say choices here but there wasn't any) of the protagonist. The dialogue between the two even covers this truly weak reasoning.

The only thing that could have redeemed X/1999 is if the Earth Dragon had prevailed and annihilated both mankind and the natural expectations of the viewer.

Also the soundtrack was so empty - this added significantly to the monotony of what was a foregone conclusion.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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