‘X: 1999’ a trip into an apocalyptic future ■ Thejapaneseanime feature film explores the beginning of the end of the physical and spiritual worlds By Jack Clifford Oregon Daily Emerald Not being an aficionado of ani me — in fact, having only seen clips here and there of the Japan ese animation craft — I didn’t ful ly know what to expect before watching “X: 1999,” the newest offering from Manga Entertain ment and director Rintaro. Now that I have seen at least one solid example of the art, all I can say is, “Wow, that was weird.” But, weird in a good way. The 59-year-old Rintaro is con sidered to be one of the top anime artists in the industry, beginning his professional career in 1958 by working on “White Snake Leg end,” the first ever Japanese ani mated feature film. Rintaro — a pseudonym for Shigeyuki Hayashi — also worked with ani me legend Osamu Tezuka, direct ing TV episodes of “Astro Boy” and “Kimba the White Lion. ” Rintaro directed his first ani mated feature film, “Galaxy Ex press 1999,” in 1979, and has since directed six others. If none of this press kit informa tion — you don’t think I just know this stuff off the top of my head, do you? — registers in your memory cells or recognition bank, that’s OK. You don’t have to be a huge fan of Rintaro’s nor an expert in anime to appreciate the lush, dreamy lookof“X.” The story is set in 1999, the Year of Destiny, a time that some seers call the beginning of the end of the world. The main character, Kamui Shiro, receives a message from his mother during a dream sequence that a battle between two oppos . , ■ . . courtesy of Manga Entertainment Hinoto, the dreamwatcher, is afraid for the future of humanity, and rightly so — opposing forces struggle for a pure universe. ing armies — Dragons of the Earth and Dragons of Heaven — will de cide the fate of Earth, more specifi cally Tokyo. Kamui, whose name means God’s Power (he’s called the Promised One at one point in the film), must decide whether to al low civilization to be destroyed, therefore purifying the universe, or to protect civilization. There are seven dragons from each side, with the Earth representatives fill ing in as the baddies, and the Heaven contingent — directly from the seven stars of the Big Dip per — trying to save Earth. All of you negative population folks out there will cheer when one character says, “If mankind is eliminated, the Earth will sur vive.” And down-to-earth types might hoot when another says, “Mankind, so vain and self-im portant. My eyes look way beyond the future of mankind. ” Kamui’s dilemma is which side to fight for, but similar to all of your basic Evil vs. Good dramas, there are more twists and turns here than any daytime soap opera. That isn’t to imply that “X” is in sipid, just that there are a lot of dream sequences and maybe one or two corny cases of “Aha! I fooled you; this is the real me.” Most of that silliness comes from the scenes with Hinoto and Kanoe, two sisters and oracles who can foresee the future. To add even more suspense and head-to head competition, each one pre dicts a different outcome. Oy vey, does it ever get confusing. In addition to the basic premise of survival and caretaking of the Earth, “X” also explores the role that technology might play in the ultimate destruction or salvation of the universe. That’s no big sur prise, since Rintaro has said in in terviews that he likes a good game of “Final Fantasy VII” every once in a while. Oddly though, this film is Rin taro’s first foray into computer an imation. His other films have been hand-drawn — which is amazing in today’s byte-dominated world — and with nothing else to com pare, Rintaro’s leap into the mod ern world is a success. The true kudos go to Japan’s an imation studio Clamp, however, which is run by four female ani mators. The attention to detail, es pecially to the softer features — in fact, most of the characters in “X” could be described as androgy nous — is remarkable. Fans of the Disney-oriented ani mation may not appreciate the look of “X.” In a recent interview, Rintaro admitted that his genera tion of animators were heavily in fluenced by Walt and associates. Yet, he also said he wasn’t “so keen about Disney’s work and had a different idea.” Therefore, this movie is some what similar to a Disney flick — well, that is, if Walt’s animators had taken two doses of hallucino genic instead of just one. Overall, “X” is rife with symbol ism and suggestions of a deeper meaning to our subconsciousness. One character asks the age-old question, “Do dreams really tell us what we maybe?” “X” opens Friday at the Bijou Art Cinema, 492 East 13th Ave. Showtime is 11 p.m. nightly. 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Excluding skateboards, snowboards, scales and tobacco products 100s “boards — hot 3_ 686-2458 ■•'It 492 E. 13th Avc www.Dijou-cinemas.com Rant the Bijou any morning orTj| afternoon forj>artjesj>tc. 11 TRIXIE moriwrw a~ pandora 5:00 and 9:20pm Next: SUNSHINE (Ralph Fiennes) “Romantic...Captivating!” IBIJOU LateNite S3 TH-SA/S2 SU-WE buffaloexchange.com J Oregon daily emerald WORLDWIDE wwwtdailyemerald.com • deli • espresso • snacks • coin-la undry • fluff-n-fold service • tanning packages available 595 E. 13th St. • Eugene 343-3240 Open Gam-11 pm “ Buy one ESPRESSO get one FREE (equal or lesser value) expires 5/31/00 no cash value