Joker: Marginal City

In these days of heavily policed on identity politics, it is surprising to stumble upon a title which almost seems to retroactively echo it. This consideration set aside, an eccentric production design often makes for an intellectually stimulating watch. The director for Studio Sign was appointed in consequence: Osamu Yamazaki, who has captained his share of somewhat quirky projects, mostly being on the crossroad between science-fiction, horror and romance (Call me Tonight, Cosmo Pink Shock, Ankoku Shindenshou Takegami...). The statement also applies to Joker: Marginal City. sdrowkcab, down under, points out to Robocop influences, but he is incorrect. Elements staged remind more a Blade Runner ... type of story, treading between metaphysical and sentimental disarray, in a context of bio-weapon conflict. Rin Rikudou himself channels strongly Rick Deckard, as a cop witnessing a futuristic turn of era in effect.

This all sounds as intriguing as thrilling in paper but the writing is miserly in providing in-universe clarifications: if androids are state of art bio engineering, how come there is an active special agent able to gender bend at will? How about these electromagnetic waves shortly talked about in the establishing sequence, only to be never mentioned again? Likewise, Joker's gimmick is not even put at use as a valuable plot point, as they only tease their love interest by gender shapeshifting. We don't get any scene where they push for investigative developments thanks to that unusual characteristic. Further undermining this as a valuable plot asset, Saki even recognizes their feminine appearance right away, while she only saw the masculine one. We see wasted potential, for something which can be utilized for angles involving stakeout in disguise or misunderstandings, for instance. So, interest in watching J:MC hardly reside in the scifi/crime investigation intrigue. Are we still on for an action packed ride? Difficult to tip hat off for it either... The first encounter between Saki and Joker is even the object of a narrative skip, as they are set to avoid each other until the final confrontation. Drama appears to be the logical cornerstone of the story. Even then, it is difficult to get invested. As the credits roll on, much is left to rough out. Joker's backdrop isn't conclusively tackled or Saki isn't appropriately made three dimensional to flesh her out as a convincing tragic figure. Much less any major insight about the world building is shown, other than a vague government coverup we will not know further about. The conflict is colored solved as soon as Joker's love interest is saved from the misguided interest of the antagonist, trying to appropriate for herself a semblance of humanity. Nothing more. It is too bad, because Studio Sign delivers in the art department. You can see mastery in animating expressions. The shocked agony of the slain prostitute is startling to see, as the glimmer of passion you see flickering in Joker's eyes at the end of her date is equally lifelike. Background art is unobtrusive, in a worry not to take one's away from the chara design. It doesn't give much away about the unity of place, as the buildings are generic geometric hi-tech frames without much definition to them. The game of panning helps to enliven an illusion of dynamism, during escape scenes among others. It stays basic, nonetheless, due to the aforementioned concern to reach for expressiveness over a more action-focused pliability. Sound is at the image of the art direction, subdued, not exactly injecting extra personality to the body of work through a more experimental approach. All in all, a far from terrible but still underdelivering anime, which doesn't delve into any of its constituents. A waste of potential, for something which could be prefiguring the excellence of "Ghost in the Shell", three years later.
~Praised be unto Sacred Geometry

..| Colophon |..

This section is dedicated to content indication in order to inform audience in a practical way. On the next paragraph, the buzzwords offer hints about the title's strong suits and drawbacks.

Ketchup meter: It is an anime having its heights in violence, such as a fatally wounded sex worker, a badly slashed back or a monstrous body repeated riddled with gunshots. Not exactly for tots. The R rating is amply justified.
xXx meter: Not really aiming for any kind of titillation. Saki's nudity is purposely made akin to the one of a mannequin, as she mopes around for feeling like she is a sentient object.
Fishing scene(s): None.


POSITIVE aspects:
+ The intriguing science-fiction premise.
+ An utmost care put in the animation for the time, even more so given the economic situation in early 90s Japan.
+ A rather pleasant to look at chara-design, allowing for a subtle range of expression.
+ The evenly involvement of all the main characters in the intrigue and its resolution.



NEGATIVE aspects:
- The squandered gender swap gimmick.
- Exposition stingy.
- Not developing any of its genres in a satisfactory fashion.
- The brick and mortar characters without much temperament or personality, unable to service the drama accordingly.

Joker is a special forces super-cop, able to shape-shift between man and woman at will. Along with his cop buddy, they are investigating a series of unusual crimes in the city where the hearts of victims have been cut out. Soon they are battling up against a rogue android creation that yearns for the one thing it cannot have.

And if that confuses you, then you are not alone. Clocking in at just over half an hour, there's not a lot of time to really develop all the twists in the plot. And not a lot of ... time to build up the characters, either, other than to ratchet up the strange sexual tension with Joker.

And yet at the same time, despite not enough time, it also seems like time drags as you are watching this. Probably because I couldn't get invested in the characters or the story, so it was like, yeah, whatever, let's get on with it.

It doesn't help with how corny it can get at times, either. At one point there's a prostitute victim lying in an alleyway, blood everywhere because her heart is cut out. And yet, her mouth is wordlessly flopping open and closed like a fish out of water as one cop shows compassion and the rest of them stand around all bored-like. ALL THE WHILE a totally inappropriate, upbeat poppy tune is running in the background, as if to mock the dying woman. Ugh.

Just avoid this one. Not worth the effort to figure it out.