MARDOCK SCRAMBLE: THE FIRST COMPRESSION, or "Cyborg Prostitute: The Anime Legacy of Molly Millions"

Rune Ballot is a fifteen year old prostitute who gets blown up by Shell, a client who turns his victims into blue diamonds (I don't know why he does this, maybe the next two films will explain that). Her body is repaired by Dr. Easter, who runs medical experiments under government order using top-secret body modifications. Ballot wakes to find herself with a mix of wireless computer hacking skills and electromagnetic manipulation, abilities she must use to help apprehend Shell. As with any good cyberpunk story, there's some healthy corporate warfare going on between Dr. Easter's financial backers and Shell's financiers, the October Corporation.

Mardock Scramble: The First Compression. Go Hands.

ARMITAGE III OVA

I have seen online advertisements promoting the recent release of Armitage III: The Complete Saga for some time now. At some point Funimation's massive advertising assault finally paid off and I decided to watch the series. Lest I sound like a miserable victim of commercial enterprise and subliminal messaging, I also happen to love cyberpunk anime, so Armitage III was a nice treat. Having already seen a myriad of cyberpunk classics like Akira and Ghost in the Shell, I wanted to see if Armitage III achieved something its more famous counterparts could not.

 

GHOST IN THE SHELL: STAND ALONE COMPLEX

There's a large number of American anime fans who readily acknowledge Stand Alone Complex as a really confusing show that comes on Adult Swim late at night. There are others who feel as if the deeply philosophical themes present in the 1995 film are all but missing from the anime series. Still, some hail the anime as a post-cyberpunk masterpiece. The most profound fictional works can also have the most polarized critics; Stand Alone Complex is undoubtedly part of this tradition and will surely stand the test of time.