Loups=Garous

Japan, mid-21st century. Following a deadly virus, most of humanity avoids physical contact, carries iPod-like “monitors” that control their lives and eats synthetic food provided by the company SVC. Four teenage girls, shy Hazuki, unsociable Ayumi, hacker Mio and artistic Yuko, decide to break with convention and meet in real life. Before they meet, however, Yuko is attacked by two men and vanishes. The other girls and their aggressive older ally Rei Mayo attempt to track down Yuko and rescue her.

Loups=Garous is the directorial debut for Junichi Fujisaku, but it has many of the hallmarks of other anime projects that he has contributed to previously for Production I.G, the most notable of these being the cyberpunk elements to the story and setting. Before the making of this film Fujisaku had been mainly working as a screenwriter on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

Like GITS, Loups=Garous contains many of the same technological themes, not to mention the mystery/crime element of the plot. However, while in GITS the police use technology to foil the crooks, in Loups=Garous technology is part of the problem. The movie does have a somewhat Orwellian theme to it in that the streets are surrounded by “storage devices”, which are security cameras, and everyone always carries around their monitors to record every facet of their existence, including their current location. If anything it could be argued that this surveillance is self-inflicted and that this glossier Big Brother is in fact the creation of the people. It certainly strikes a chord in a world where everyone carries around their own iPods, iPhones and similar gadgets, and even more so when you consider that these devices were only in their infancy when Natsuhiko Kyogoku wrote the original novel in 2001.

Of the characters, it’s the quiet but sinister Ayumi and also the “Loups-Garous” (from the French for “werewolf”) of the title, who describes herself as “an animal who wears human skin,” who is the main attraction. Remaining something of a peripheral figure at the start of the film, she suddenly becomes the focal point.

While some will enjoy and will want to see the film for Ayumi’s more disturbing tendencies, these, arguably, damage the film from a commercial point of view. As Loups=Garous follows four teenage girls, one would imagine that the director would want the film to appeal to that demographic. Despite the cyberpunk themes, though, the movie has plenty to attract a female teenage audience, especially in terms of music from rock pop band SCANDAL, who appear in a cameo. However, in Britain the film has been given a 15 certificate, which given that Hazuki is fourteen seems unfortunate.

Loups=Garous can be considered predictable with its sci-fi themes and, ultimately, in the way the crimes are eventually resolved. The animation also isn’t as smooth as it could be. There are some moments of light relief though, especially from Mio, the most humorous of the characters. For his first time as a director, however, Fujisaku appears to be sticking to what he knows but hopefully he’ll soon expand his range.