Pale Cocoon — Anime Review
“So what about me? Maybe I just wanted to immerse myself in the archives…to avoid this reality, nothing more than the ruins of a gigantic artificial concentration camp. But back then, I wanted even a tiny bit of the world in the archives to remain somewhere in this reality.” In the far future after the surface of the planet has been rendered uninhabitable due to various issues, humans have resorted to living below the surface layer in an artificial environment. The connection to the past world has been completely cut off, save for the various visual records that are dug up from the “archives” to provide insight into the once beautiful planet that humans have destroyed. Released on January 18, 2006, Pale Cocoon by Yasuhiro Yoshiura tells a tragic yet hopeful story of a dwindling human race in the face of a scarred mother planet, a 23-minute tale that is short and compact, yet powerful enough to send a message to the current society about the effects and dangers of issues like population explosion, global warming and environment degradation.
STORY:
Before long humans have been living below the surface of the planet, in artificial habitats maintained by environment maintenance systems. Initially it seems that all events are happening on earth, but it is later on revealed that humans have emigrated to the moon, after the earth has lost its beauty and become “rust-coloured”. Most of the data from before the emigration seems to have been lost. The remaining dregs of the past exist in the form of a vast archive of data, much of it badly corrupted. The Archive Excavation Department works specifically to restore data to shed light on the past. Initially all the workers were full of vigour and energy, but with passing time, humans came to realise that these restored data can only bring sadness and pain, because it represents a lost world in the form of an unreachable utopia. Slowly people start leaving the Department, with the exception of Ura, a particularly enthusiastic young member of the Restoration department, and Riko, his female colleague working in the Analysis wing. Riko has lost her passion for the job unlike Ura, knowing the inevitable fact that decoding these archives would only bring sorrow and sadness by reflecting a past that cannot be rejuvenated. Until one day Ura decodes a record that changes their outlook completely.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND: Considering a meagre running time of 23 minutes, Yasuhiro Yoshiura creates a masterpiece in Pale Cocoon. Because of the show’s brevity, there is not scope for extensive storytelling or plot development. That is where the graphics come into the fight, turning the show into something that the viewer can easily understand and relate with. The technologically advanced post-apocalyptic world, the air of gloom and despair, the monotony of the daily lives, the graphics are simple yet powerful enough to convey the message of how human civilisation has dwindled and retreated into the safe haven of the pale cocoon. About the soundtrack, the background score is mainly composed of computer and machinery noise, interjected with character dialogues, intermixed with a spattering of original score. The excellent voice acting also deserves mention here. The minimalistic music helps to generate the atmosphere of loneliness and desolation. The threadbare soundtrack culminates into a song at the end, a ballad of hope, a fitting end to the movie.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:
In Pale Cocoon, the characters do not have the time for extensive development. Number of characters is also kept to a minimum of 4 active ones, namely, Ura, his female colleague Riko, Ura’s male co-worker who has no visual role in the movie but is felt only through his voice conversations with Ura, and lastly Yoko Yamaguchi, the young girl portrayed as a messenger for the people on earth. The characters here are not defined by who they are, rather it’s what they do and say that defines them. The character design is really simple and threadbare, but their actions speak louder than words, offering a psychologically interesting cast.
MY REVIEW AND CONCLUSION:
As for my opinion of Pale Cocoon, it is a budget masterpiece. Through the melancholy backdrop and character portrayal, the producer is sending what could be interpreted as a wakeup call to mankind. The earth has been rendered uninhabitable due to manmade issues like environment degradation, global warming and population explosion. Mankind then was left with no other option but to retreat into the false utopia of the Pale Cocoon, forced to being content by excavating old records about the once lush green earth. As the initial enthusiasm faded away, people realised the futility of the idea of grabbing onto the past that was gone due to the misdeeds of their ancestors. From the shadows it points a finger at the humanity’s greed and its impact on their future. Although Ura is shown as an over-enthusiastic ideal character, Riko is portrayed in a more realistic manner, reflecting the actual psych of the human race now, depressed and hopeless. Yet Yoko comes at the end in the form of a guardian angel, showing mankind the ray of hope that the Mother Star will once again awake from her slumber for the sake of mankind. And in the end as Ura is falling, just before the anime ends, he sees the blue earth, symbolising that the earth has once again regained its lustre and can be habitable again.
Pale Cocoon contains in itself an atmosphere of simplistic complication. Although answering a lot of questions in the short running span, it also leaves a trail of questions in its wake. What will become of mankind now? Will the earth be habitable again? At first glance it seems too simplistic for such a context and genre. However on deeper probing, the underlying messages start to reveal themselves one by one. This cryptic and mysterious aura, complimented by remarkable graphics and minimal amount of necessary background score, makes the 23 minutes a worthwhile watch.
©Auro_20092014
