An elite superhuman agent must stop a foreign military unit from seizing control of an ancient artifact that holds the key to ultimate power.
Direction
Kawasaki channels Otomo's Akira energy with gleeful abandon
Practical Effects
Hand-drawn destruction porn before CGI ruined everything
Editing
Relentless pacing that never lets you breathe
Director
Hirotsugu Kawasaki
Showtaro Morikubo
Yu Ominae (voice)
Ken Shiroyama
Dr. Meisel (voice)
Takehito Koyasu
Jean Jacquemonde (voice)
Katsumi Suzuki
Little Boy (voice)
Sakiko Tamagawa
Margaret (voice)
Kinryu Arimoto
Yamamoto (voice)
Kenji Takano
Fat Man (voice)
Masaaki Yajima
Narrator (voice)
Masaki Aizawa
Excavation Research Agent (voice)
Takashi Yoshida
Announcer (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Studio 4°C's first feature film, made right after their breakthrough work on Memories. The studio packed every yen of their modest budget into making destruction look gorgeous.
The Ark of Noah plot draws heavily from pseudoarchaeology theories popular in 90s Japan, particularly those claiming ancient civilizations had advanced technology. The film treats these conspiracies with dead seriousness.
JP
