Dead Leaves

Shortly after waking up in an unknown street with no clothes or memories, Retro and Pandy team up and begin a life of thrill chasing and violence. Retro's wild antics and Pandy's carefree personality make them the perfect partners in crime to cause mayhem wherever they strike.

When an accidental mistake lands them behind bars, Retro and Pandy are sent to Dead Leaves—a high-security prison on the Moon. Once there, they soon discover that the other inmates are clones, all products of genetic mutation experiments. With nothing better to do, they escape from their cell and lead a prison break with the other captives. Armed with a crew of mutants and a hunger for havoc, the chaotic duo begins their wacky escape.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Retro Main

Yamaguchi, Kappei Japanese

Pandy Main

Honda, Takako Japanese

Drill, Chinko Supporting

Tobita, Nobuo Japanese

666 Supporting

Iwata, Mitsuo Japanese

Dr. Yabu Supporting

Takagi, Wataru Japanese

777 Supporting

Yanada, Kiyoyuki Japanese

Morishita, Katsuji Producer

Imaishi, Hiroyuki Director, Storyboard, Animation Director, Character Design, Key Animation

Fujiyama, Fusanobu Sound Director

Scott-Frazier, Jan Script

Reviews

Mar 28, 2009

Skadi

Recommended

Dead Leaves is the kind of show that would probably blow your mind if you watched it stoned or drunk. It is so completely insane that it almost doesn’t make any sense if you’re sober. The first thing I am reminded of while watching this was another wild and crazy series, Furi Kuri. By the end of that show I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not. That’s not the case with Dead Leaves, it was a great ride that I recommend strongly.

The story for Dead Leaves is as nutty as you might expect. A couple find themselves naked ... and without memories and turn to a crime spree in which they are eventually caught and sent the moon's prison called Dead Leaves for life. They soon manage to free themselves and the other prisoners and find themselves in a life or death struggle to escape, and to recover their own memories that seem to be related with the prison. It’s not incredibly deep but the action is furious and nonstop. Don’t blink or let your attention wander because you’re bound to miss something and become confused.

A word of warning for anyone who is going to watch this. This one is not for the small kids. The humor is perverse, highly sexual, graphic and gory. The body count and level of death is shockingly high. I have railed against violent humor before in the past but Dead Leaves is one in which this actually works. Dismemberment has never been so much fun or humorous.

Characters are a real strong point as this movie features some of the most enjoyable I have seen to date. The two protagonists are Pandy and Retro. They are both drawn in a very bizarre style like everything else in the show. The first thing that will probably strike you is why does Retro have a TV for a head? There is good chemistry between the pair and I can’t see anyone not liking these two from the start. There is a plethora of supporting characters, many of them are quite hilarious. Most noticeably "Dick Drill" and the Doctor. I’m not sure if it’s even possible for me to describe these two to someone who hasn’t seen this anime. Just watch it, if you don’t think they are hilarious then check your pulse because you’re dead.

The animation, well it’s unique. I would say that it is a masterpiece really but I can’t really justify it. It is so odd and so bizarre that it is sure to not appeal to everyone. I thought it was perfect because it set the tone so well for both the story and the characters personalities. It all really fits together well. Like I said before those who have seen Furi Kuri are going to find a lot of similarities here. The acting is also top notch. With so many crazy personalities the cast does a wonderful job of bringing out all these quirky and insane people and giving them life.

I really recommend this movie highly to everyone. If you like zany, graphic, and wild comedy then this show is definitely for you. FLCL fans should also check this out without fail. I would also recommend another series called Trava which is very similar in art style and story pacing. Dead Leaves isn’t for everyone, but I think everyone should give it at least a try.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 28, 2008

krelyan

Mixed Feelings

As a preface, Hiroyuki Imaishi's works seem to be a mixed bag for me. While I've greatly enjoyed what I have seen so far of his latter work, Gurren Lagann, Dead Leaves seems to be more reminiscent of his earlier piece, the infamous FLCL. Unfortunately, for me FLCL was a bit too eccentric to get into.

Art:
The surrealist, stylized artwork was certainly the highlight of the show. Not only is the animation crisp, bright and visually inventive, it's also chaotic and frenzied (almost to the point of headache-inducing). I viewed the show over a television broadcast and the intermittent advertisements may have ... saved my eyeballs from exploding. Scenes are often littered with a frame-by-frame comic book / manga layout which generally works well in the show's frantic environment. My only real complaint is the crude and bizarre character designs evoked comparisons to a Ren and Stimpy cartoon (of which I was not a fan).

Sound:
I can't recall any of the soundtrack sticking out as noteworthy, but it was not particularly distracting or obnoxious either. The dub was serviceable. Amanda Lee admirably captured Pandy's melancholic sarcasm. The other lead, Retro, was a bit more inconsistent but for the most part channeled Retro's dementia effectively.

Characters / Story:
The two leads are mildly amusing characters just don't expect any development. Plot exposition occurs in rapid-fire succession, such as the sequence detailing Pandy and Retro's journey to the lunar prison. And let's face it, expecting much character growth or plot in a 50 minute OAV would be asinine. While the literal "Does any of this really matter?" approach to story doesn't really hinder the show as it allows the insanity to flow uninterrupted, it's hard to view it as a plus either.

Enjoyment:
It was able to hold my attention, but not much else. There is a lot of hyper-stylized violence and gore which did not appeal to me, nor did the hardly subtle gross-out humor.


Overall, I felt the show lacked the focus and scope of Gurren Lagann. While Lagann clearly (reverently) satirizes the Super Robot genre popular in the 70's and 80's, I was often confused as to goal of Dead Leaves. Was it insane just for the sake of being insane? Was the bizarre, minimalist plot and devoid character development supposed to be a jab at the convoluted plots found in the philosophical / psychological-scifi genre (Evangelion, RahXephon)? I can't really put a finger on it and it left me feeling rather ambivalent towards the show.

On the other hand, if you enjoyed FLCL's zaniness and wanted an even less subtle take on the penile-drill innuendo found in Gurren Lagann (yes, apparently it is possible), then this show would come highly recommended.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Apr 19, 2010

kekekeKaj

Not Recommended

I was told this anime was "FLCL, except worse". I found it hard to believe... how can anything be worse than "FLCL"?!

Now that I've watched it, I'm sorry to say that, impossible though it may seem, this anime is truly more worse and more insane than "FLCL". If you despise "FLCL", then this anime is not for you. If you hate shows that are just crazy without making much sense, then this anime is not for you.

I think there's meant to be some sort of story behind this, and if the everyone in it would stop pissing about so much then maybe I could figure ... out what. All I know is that it's something to do with a mutated gene. Maybe the plot is actually so full of holes they made everything really crazy so that you wouldn't understand it. If that's what they're aiming for, then by God they've certainly achieved it.

Everyone in "Dead Leaves" act like asses, and should all be locked up in a mental institute till they rot. Just thinking about their voices make me shudder - can't any of these people talk in a normal tone? Ever? It's not just their voices that are odd. The character designs seem to be weird for the sake of weirdness - the main character's a guy with a TV for a head! It certainly gives the anime a... er... unique flavour - a flavour that makes me want to bash my head on my keyboard repeatedly. It's a show that thinks it's a lot funnier than it actually is. All the over the top craziness bored me much more than it entertained me. I can remember one bit that made me laugh, where during a jail break attempt, Guy-With-TV-For-Head gets his hands on a motorbike, and tells the other 20 or so prisoners to hold onto his bike as he's about to ride out of the prison, and they all just looked at him like this: O_o (in fact the animation is so rubbish their expressions were almost just like that). But that's it, that's the only part that I can remember being amused by. The rest were just a mad jumble of random situations backed up by random music that didn't fit it - the only time when the BGM (background music) actually matches the situation is during the final showdown moments when the "final boss" is revealed. Although admittedly, it probably would have been damn hard to come up with anything that would match 99% of the scenes in this poor excuse of a "show".

Because the story had a couple of points of interest buried under the mountain of craziness, it's probably the only department that some saving grace... equivalent of saved from plunging into a painful death in lava to being plunged into a painful death in boiling oil instead - better, but not much better. This whole thing is so nonsensical that I suspect that the people who made it are either aliens who's thoughts we can't possibly comprehend, or were pumped up so full of drugs they had it leaking out of their asses... in the form of this anime. Maybe both. Anyway... don't come within a mile of this if you don't want your brain reduced to mush. And if someone gives this to you as a birthday present, you should kill them before they kill you cos it means they hate you THAT much.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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