* THE EMPIRE OF CORPSES / JAPANESE / 2H 6M / 2015
— The movie's original Japanese name is 屍者の帝国 the romanization of this is Shisha no Teikoku. — Hosoya Yoshimasa as John Watson and Takasugi Yoshimitsu as Sherlock Holmes. — Murase Ayumu as Friday, Hanazawa Kana as Hadaly Lilith, Kusunoki Taiten as Frederick Burnaby, and Yamashita Daiki as Nikolai Krasotkin. — Directed by Ryoutarou Makihara, produced by WIT Studio, and distributed by TOHO Animation. — Based on the novel written by Project Itoh and co-authored by Toh EnJoe. — Favorite Quality: The animation is incredibly stunning, specifically the movements of the revived corpses; though, honestly, the entirety of the design of the corpses from their animation to their sound effects is incredible.
The Empire of Corpses is a movie based on Sherlock Holmes in the absolute loosest of ways; however, it is a story being told using familiar characters and, while most people don’t consider it an adaptation, I’m going to. To explain my thoughts, I need to explain what this movie is about, and why you normally wouldn’t find it in places listing adaptations of Sherlock Holmes (or, if you have, why many others haven’t). The easiest way to understand this movie is to consider it a retelling of John Watson’s adventures in the war—if the war was about finding Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s work so that John can fully reanimate his deceased (currently undead) research partner. In this borderline dystopian world, Dr. Frankenstein’s reanimation of his monster was something that the whole of society tried to replicate and now corpses are used as unpaid labor, soldiers, or any other type of work dangerous to the living; however, these corpses do not have souls, thoughts, or opinions. The only corpse recorded to have a soul is Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, but his notes that indicated how the late doctor was able to do this have been lost—until recently, which is largely where the story starts. After John Watson illegally reanimated his deceased research partner Friday, he was drafted into the war to find Dr. Frankenstien’s missing notes due to his deep understanding of and desire to recreate the human soul to keep his promise to his friend and bring him back from the dead as an individual. There is much this movie tries to fit into its runtime, sometimes to its detriment. I was fairly confused in major moments throughout the story and needed to look up what was happening; however, I will be open I sometimes have context issues and don’t believe this confusion was fully the fault of the writing. That does not mean the writing was flawless, there were times it certainly could have been clearer or better paced to keep the audience from being lost. While it sounds like I didn’t enjoy this movie I, quite frankly, was enraptured by it, it is the most confusing mash of characters and storylines that I have ever seen—like an original doctor character was written and then John Watson’s story was somehow shoved in with no explanation. I loved it. There is likely a significant amount of context I didn’t understand as I have yet to read the manga or the novel (which has not been fully translated). It doesn’t feel like an adaptation; I don’t think it fully is one, but it still fits into a retelling of John Watson’s past. The premise is really what makes this movie what it is, I found it while looking for something else entirely, and couldn’t help myself but immediately watch it regardless of anything else I had to do today. The art style does not immediately stand out; it is par for the course if you have seen any significant amount of well-made anime, but it shines in its animation. It is beautifully animated, with the characters' movements, alive or otherwise, so distinct and fluid that it is visually appealing. The subject matter of the movie does mean that it leans heavily into body horror and violence, and there are scenes animated wonderfully, that are extremely difficult to watch if you have a fear of medical procedures (specifically needles). The sound design for this movie was also incredible, I don’t particularly remember much of the music, but the sound effects and background noise were incredible. The sounds of bones, footsteps, explosions, and movement were so well done that some scenes were only great because of the sound design. I highly recommend this movie if it is something you are interested in, it’s something so entirely out of left field it’s difficult to review without simply telling you you need to watch it just to understand and be as confused as I am. So do it, watch the movie, and be confused and intrigued.
