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by Dan Borses |
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Premise
For years, a clandestine organization known as White House has experimented in transforming adults and children
into mutants known as Chimeras. Young Elk, master of the spirit of flame, has managed to escape and transform
himself into an up-and-coming member of the Hunter's Guild, tracking down targets for money. Following a hunt
involving a crazed hijacker on the run from White House, Elk meets Lieza, herself an escapee from a village attacked
by White House and master of the docile dog-monster Pandit. Following the incident, Elk devotes himself to
uncovering the motive behind it, and exacting revenge on the rouge known as Arc, who ostensibly led the attack on
Elk's village and killed the young man's parents.
Episode 4
When the bounty on Pandit is suddenly withdrawn, Elk and Shu redouble their efforts to discover who is chasing
Lieza and the monster, and for what reason. Meanwhile, Mayor Galuana of Prodias unveils his statue of the Goddess
of Peace and spares no expense, including the hiring of White House chimeras, to guard the statue against Arc. When
the statue is unveiled, an orb in its hand begins to glow, immobilizing the audience. But a bolt of laser fire from
the Silver Noah, the airship of the renegade Arc, destroys the statue.
Episode 5
When Elk realizes that Arc is responsible for the attack, he springs into action immediately, pursuing the
villain he believes killed his family. A chase ensues in which Elk tries to reach Arc, Arc tries to reach Mayor
Galuana, Mayor Galuana captures Lieza - who initially tries to restrain Elk - and threatens to resume the
experiments she had endured before her escape. Arc, not Elk, ends up rescuing her. But when the girl tries to
persuade Elk that Arc is not a villain, Elk refuses to believe her.
Episode 6
Elk pursues the Silver Noah in his airship Hien in a desperate attempt to catch up with his nemesis, destroying
its engine and crashing the ship on a remote island. Elk, Lieza and Pandit awaken in the care of two of the
island's inhabitants, Dr. Vilmer and his granddaughter Lia, but Shu is nowhere to be found. Although Elk does not
recognize him, a flashback reveals that Dr. Vilmer had worked with the young fire master in White House, though the doctor has since left
Prodias to hide. On the island, Elk tells Lieza about his boyhood experience with Arc, when soldiers destroyed his
native village of Pilka in an attempt to capture the statue of the spirit of flame. With the help of some islanders,
Elk begins to repair the Hien so he can return to Prodias, locate Shu, and continue his quest to bring Arc to
justice.
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Seldom can films based on videogames live up to the excitement of the source material, and those that have
managed it have often done so by re-conceptualizing themselves so as to work in their new format. "Arc the Lad" is
one of these series, creating a new vision of itself by working into its video game conceit a complex conspiracy
plot line. Though not entirely seamless - the story vacillates between action-mode and plot-mode - the final product
is more film than videogame, an overall entertaining adventure story that challenges traditional conceptions of hero
in a world afflicted by the insidious machinations of White House.
The back-story of "Arc the Lad" borrows, to a degree, elements from other science fiction stories: a secret
society with mysterious motives; experiments on children in an attempt to create a super being; etc. The monstrous
Chimeras, artificial half-men half-monsters, transform themselves with the aid of pills, but differ only slightly
from beasts in numerous demon-oriented anime. Fortunately, back-story wells up through "Arc's" characters. And
since director Itsuro Kawasaki keeps these characters constantly on the move, he allows little time to dwell on the
more derivative aspects of the show.
Elk, the central protagonist, inherently misunderstands his world, casting the renegade Arc as his antagonist.
So two views of Arc surface - the first in which Elk uses childish logic to deduce that Arc is his lifelong nemesis,
responsible for the death of his family; and the second, in which events on the bridge of the Silver Noah portray
Arc as the respected captain of a crew of freedom fighters battling the tyranny of Mayor Galuana. Even Lieza, Elk's
new companion, sees the heroic version of Arc and attempts to persuade the young fire master to end his pursuit of
the captain of the Silver Noah. Now Elk must struggle to suppress his childhood preconceptions and accept the fact
that Arc is likely not the dastardly villain who destroyed his village and killed his parents. But headstrong and
emotionally driven, Elk tenaciously clings to his hunt for Arc, crashing the airship Hien and losing Shu in the
process. (The writers pursue this conflict nearly to the limits of the potential drama, but let Elk off just a
little too easily by the end, making it seem that the Hien can be repaired and Shu can be found. Elk deserves to
pay more dearly for his temerity.)
Arc turns out to be a much more appealing character than Elk. Arc is strong and confident, inspiring his
followers as he coolly thwarts the plans of Mayor Galuana. In contrast, Elk acts on childhood memories that
consistently drive him to the wrong conclusions. While his dedication to avenge his parents at the beginning of
this saga is admirable, Elk's continued refusal to see Arc for the hero he is makes Elk himself less the hero.
Even the trumpeted, video-game-style music seems more a tribute for Arc than for Elk, as only the former is well
rounded and heroic enough to justify the fanfare. Elk, himself, is merely a misled novice with the potential to be
a hero. This complex presentation of hero mythos adds welcome texture to the central contrivances of the plot to
create an entertaining, though not always electrifying, tale of adventure.
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