Human Lost: Ningen Shikkaku

Half a century after a devastating war that brought Japan on the brink of destruction, a centralized network named Sound Health Everlasting Long Life (SHELL) has become the basis of the new society. Thanks to cutting-edge research on nanomachines and medical treatment, people are guaranteed a life free of diseases, but they are expected to work 19 hours a day in return. Moreover, when someone disconnects from the SHELL system, an extremely rare phenomenon called "Human Lost" takes place, transforming humans into monsters—"Lost"—that need to be destroyed, lest society will collapse for good.

However, in this society where the fear of pain and death is absent, antisocial behavior is on the rise. Factory worker Takeichi plans to besiege the Ministry of Interior to protest against his inhumane living conditions and manages to convince his friend, the unknown painter Youzou Ooba, to join his cause. But when their suicide operation inevitably fails, Takeichi is left with a body beyond repair and mutates into a Lost, with Youzou immediately following suit.

In the ensuing fight, a member of the dispatch team, Yoshiko Hiiragi, uses her ability to detect the Lost and discovers that Youzou has the unique capacity to return to human form. As the third person who survived after becoming a Lost unit, Youzou soon joins Yoshiko in investigating the recent outburst of Human Lost phenomena that threaten the last chances civilization has to be reborn.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ooba, Youzou Main

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Takeichi Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Hiiragi, Yoshiko Supporting

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Horiki, Masao Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Herek, Samantha Assistant Producer

Kizaki, Fuminori Director, Storyboard

Iwanami, Yoshikazu Sound Director

Reviews

Jul 17, 2020

evilunikitty

Recommended

Despite the poor reviews if you have read the 1948 novel you realise that this is much more than a CGI anime film witha convoluted story line that makes little or no sense. It is in fact a vivid reimagining of a japanese classic, putting the plot and character in to a futuristic world. Initially I came in blind before erading the book ,And even then i could comprehend the plot. However my full amazement at this film came once i started reading the novel. Once I rewatched it I began to feel nostalgia, remembering the book and marvelling at the epic that was Human ... lost. This is a brilliant film, however if you go in blind with no intention of reading the novel then you will, most likely, have wasted your time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by evilunikitty (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jun 29, 2020

Oreo_Cheesecake

Mixed Feelings

I don't understand why this show is rated under a 6.00 average. Sure, the show has problems, and I *did* rate this a 5/10, but it's definitely not a *bad* movie in any sense of the word. At its worst, the show felt a bit cliche and predictable, but at its best, it does pose some fairly interesting questions (none of which however I would say it answered to a good extent). However, at its core, this movie is fairly underrated, especially for a show with a 5.85 average.

Story: 6
The first few scenes absolutely drew me in. A society in which people can't die, ... a sci-fi setting that speaks volumes by itself, and a social structure that could've easily been analyzed further? To me, this was absolutely enthralling to watch. Heck, the first time the audience meets the protagonist was already rather creative in itself and aided in the viewer in understanding the complete scope of how the fictional society functioned. The main threat within the story felt a tad bit cliche, but it was an idea that could've easily been explored bit by bit. However, further analysis of these themes was never really present, and much of the later half delved into a lot more boring, and predictable territory. Felt like a waste of an interesting setting and themes.

Art: 7
I actually kind of liked the CGI art style. In many cases, the art style was rather breathtaking, even if it was CGI, and contributed greatly towards my enjoyment and understanding of the film's settings and characters. The paintings in which the protagonist drew were highly expressive, and contained much thought towards the mental state of the protagonist. Pretty much the high point of the film. Pair that up with the interesting setting, and you have a story waiting to be told.

Sound: 5
The sound was rather forgettable, but it served its purpose in the film. Nothing else really to say about this section.

Character: 4
Now, this is where I personally have my issues with the film. With a proper setting, artistic style, and themes to dive into, this film honestly had so much potential. Its characters absolutely broke that potential faster than putting a melting ice sculpture into an oven at 250 C. Every single one of the characters were incredibly cliche, which meant that most of the dialogue were also incredibly predictable. In fact, during part 2, there was a confession sequence of the protagonist that was laughably bad because it came out of nowhere. One moment, he was talking normally, and the next he was on the ground having an existentialist crisis. Incredibly disappointed in this section with the film.

Enjoyment: 5
With all of the interesting themes, setting, and social structure left mostly unanswered except for a few simple explanations, as well as dreadfully boring characters, and a story that gradually sprialled into mundanity, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by the end. However, the intro section of this film is rather interesting, and had made me interested in this film long enough to finish it. Overall, disappointed, but still enjoyed it.

Overall: 5
I know that some people working in this project put some amount of thought. However, the film just turned into a mindless show attempting to act smart by posing questions without ever having interesting solutions to the questions. Meanwhile, I still believe that this film is underrated as of the moment. Overall, the film started off rather strongly, but absolutely fell apart in the later sections. I give this film a mid 5/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Oreo_Cheesecake (6)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Nov 18, 2019

GBF

Not Recommended

TLDR: This is one to skip. It's both mindless and devoid of entertaining action - unsatisfying in every regard.

I was lucky enough to get in to the U.S. premiere at Anime Expo, but my expectations weren't nearly low enough for this. Miyano Mamoru tends to be attached to good projects, but this one felt like a mistake.

The movie makes use of the title of a very famous piece of Japanese literature by Osamu Dazai, "No Longer Human." Unfortunately, any relation this movie has to that book is all surface-level. The character names are mostly used (Youzou, Horiki, Takeichi, Hiiragi), but their personalities and motivations ... don't really draw on the book at all. This in itself is not necessarily a bad thing; plenty of adaptations of written works become something entirely different on the big screen.

In this case however, the result doesn't have much merit on its own. The movie is a vague and generic story about humans succumbing to some kind of corruption that turns them into monsters, and the oppressive government and police agencies that keep society running as they see fit. The art style gets the job done but it's not a standout. It's average 3DCG animation, average character designs, and the main physical transformation that Youzou undergoes is fairly generic in appearance. Guyver-esque is how I'd describe it.

I'm not going to go into spoilers really, but the main takeaways for me were as follows:

1. The character motivations are weak/cliche (hero wants to be good, villain wants power and destruction, good girl is sweet, submissive, kind).
2. The story doesn't really go anywhere interesting, and at times it's completely nonsensical. The first two acts aren't awful, but they don't lead to a satisfying conclusion in the third. I would describe the story as both incoherent and unmemorable. It slipped off my brain an hour after I saw it.
3. The only reason they named it after Dazai's novel was for marketing. Crossover appeal to both fans of the novel and Bungou Stray Dogs was definitely the primary factor, because they didn't even try and address anything the book focused on. Youzou attempting suicide is window dressing. A throwaway gag. "He tried to do that in the book!" "He does that in the show all the time haha it's so funny." I'll admit the book is impossible to film or adapt to a movie, or at least very difficult, but they could have at least done something that tapped into one of its core acts, like drug dependency, or being unable to identify socially with other people. They didn't.

Before the movie, the interview with the producers and Miyano Mamoru confirmed that they made this one with a western audience in mind. It's why we got to see it before Japan did. While that makes me happy to hear (that they care about their fans worldwide), the final product left me wondering what kind of view they have of western viewers. If this kind of thing is what they think plays to our tastes, then I'd prefer they just keep us as a secondary or ancillary audience.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by GBF (6)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

In Name Only

by Ionliosite2

49 Entries · 51 Restacks

Reboot please pt 3

by Idk5008

17 Entries · 2 Restacks

Films Distributed by the Konnichiwa Festival Part 2

by bolakabuto666

22 Entries · 7 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for August

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for August Week 1: August 4 - 10 Anime Releases Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka II (I...read more

Aug 2, 2020 10:29 PM by ImperfectBlue | Discuss (3 comments)

PV Collection for Nov 11 - 17

Here is a collection of promotional videos (PVs), TV ads (CMs), and trailers for the last week. This thread excludes videos that have already been featured in an art...read more

Nov 17, 2019 2:23 PM by Sakana-san | Discuss (2 comments)

	Poll: Human Lost: Ningen Shikkaku Episode 1 Discussion djmintlaw - Oct 18, 2019	21 replies	by abystoma2 »» Mar 28, 1:06 AM
	What's up with this? Thorf - Mar 23, 2019	5 replies	by KiroTheAssassin »» Sep 27, 2021 1:00 PM
	New PV removed-user - May 3, 2019	7 replies	by _MushiRock11_ »» Nov 15, 2019 2:09 AM
	In Showa 111, I was disqualified as a human removed-user - Mar 23, 2019	5 replies	by WinterEnlighten »» May 3, 2019 1:08 PM