So I tried out Viz Media’s Neon Alley channel on my Playstation 3. As a long time anime fan, I used to wonder what it would be like to have station that showed my favorite entertainment medium 24 hours a day with commercials between shows, just like any regular channel on my TV. Toonami, Adult Swim, Sci Fi Channel’s mini marathons and other blocks of anime programming were decent samples of this to be sure, but still they were only short sets with non-anime related promos and bumpers. Ever since I started actively collecting and watching anime, I wondered what a full-time anime channel with English dubbed titles would be like to experience.
So I checked in with the login information (which was pretty easy once registered), and set about looking at an episode of Tiger & Bunny for a bit. I looked up the Neon Alley website to see when the Berserk movie would be playing, and it said 1:30 am that evening. Making a mental note to check it out then, I looked at other shows coming on. The commercials in between were decent enough. It was nice to see promos for anime from Funimation, Right Stuf and Aniplex alongside Viz Media ones. But then every so often there’s some of the Warner Animation DC Universe stuff such as Superman Vs. the Elite or The Dark Knight Returns. I also caught a glimpse of the CBS drama Person of Interest on there too. So it was a good even mix. The ranking vignettes listing DVD and manga sales were nice touches too. There’s also some handy information about various upcoming conventions taking place that month, as well as a bit called “This Week In Anime History” provided by Anime News Network.
Eventually 1:30am came and… there was no Berserk movie; another show was running. I went back to the website and looked at the schedule grid and it did say 1:30, but then I noticed the really small font saying ‘PST’… Pacific Standard Time. Since I’m on the east coast and the west coast is 3 hours behind whatever I experience, this meant I wouldn’t be watching the movie until … 4:30am. Yeah… called it a night and decided to watch it another day. Since the continental U.S. is divided into 4 time zones, and many potential viewers live 1-3 hours ahead, it might help for the site schedule to reflect the times for people outside of the west coast area, with just a simple time for a showing with EST or CST next to it.
As to the movie itself, it starts in middle of medieval battle, with one force trying to storm a castle full of soldiers. Everyone stops when a large man with axe begins to hack away at folks and challenges people to come at him. No one will until one warrior with a big sword shows up. He offers to fights for 10 coins (and is counter offered 7 instead.) Accepting the deal, he fights the axe man and hacks at a mid-section crack in his armor to defeat him, and eventually kills the axe man as he yields and begs for mercy. Meanwhile, a small group of soldiers led by a mysterious man looks on from distance.
After the battle is over, the sword warrior named Gatts gets his coins but refuses to stay on permanently as the army conquers castle and leaves bodies piled up. As he rides away, Gatts is attacked by the onlooking force who watched his earlier fight. No one is able to take him down however. A female lieutenant enters the fray but she’s unsuccessful until the group’s leader named Griffith comes and defeats Gatts with single thrust to wound him and knock him out.
Gatts has nightmares about seeing his father beheaded. He wakes up the following day next to the female, named Casca, and finds her nude. Gatts realizes he’s in the group’s camp and is told she was to look after his healing. He tries to leave camp but winds up fighting Griffith for right to leave. Griffith wants him to stay with his army and tells Gatts he would be the one to determine when and where Gatts would die, and the two have a fierce battle…
As the movie progresses, we’re given interesting bits of intrigues, and more of Griffith’s affiliations and past come to light. The screenplay by Ichirô Ôkôchi (Code Geass, Rahxephon) based on the manga by Kentaro Miura gives a good balance of action and character development. The group gets into a pretty hellified battle against a monster with a dire warning for Gatts, setting up potentially interesting sequel films to come.
Director Toshiyuki Kubooka makes excellent use of Studio 4*C and their talents, particularly in the action sequences and the overall animation. The general look is clean and is a bit of a contrast to the TV series which had a grittier look. The only issue is that at 76 minutes, this beginning feels much too brief, especially if we’re to be given a larger amount of the story than the Berserk TV anime did. It’ll be nice if the ending isn’t the same when all is said and done, but time will tell after the other two films are released.
So overall, my experience watching Neon Alley was a positive one. In writing my thoughts I was trying to balance my own time in this hobby as an 80s anime fan more into Japanese language productions than English ones, with the actual product I saw here. For many years I’ve wanted to see a channel like this and now it’s here but meant to cater to modern anime fans. I can’t blame Viz Media for that at all. Actually I commend them for it. The fans of today know what they like and this is a legal and genuinely informative way to deliver anime entertainment. It’s not free as it’s about $6 on your existing internet connection (and soon the Xbox 360 as I understand it), but it’s damn sure more accessible than options I and fans from subsequent generations have had over the years until now. Outside of that time zone bit, it’s a rather decent service. Here’s hoping both fans and the industry can take advantage of it.