StoryWith a love for the sick and twisted, Midori holds the tempting
promise of a tale built entirely from the perplexing macabre of manga
artist, Maruo Suehiro’s, crazed mind. The allure from comments of the
show being the most depraved and vile animation to surface from Japan
piqued my curiosity with their forbidden promise.
Opening in a dark and depressing rundown suburb, a young girl called
Midori sells flowers to raise money to feed herself and her sick
mother. Pursued by the owner of a travelling circus, she is offered a
better life in which she will be cared for and able to live
comfortably. Events take a swift downturn, and the true guro nature of
the creator's freakish nightmare is revealed; the psychological
devastation of Midori within the freak show will have a varied
reaction, depending on how tolerant the viewer is to cruelty. Leaving
no subject taboo, Midori depicts
graphic rape, violence and sexual fetish that will appeal to an
extremely small minority of the anime community. Much of this
horrendous spectacle will remain with you for a long time – the eyeball
licking scene has become infamous for this exact reason.
With the initial disturbing events out of the way, Midori reveals a
vaguely interesting plot with an unlikely love story at its heart. The
young heroine finds herself drawn towards the newest member of the
circus – a midget wizard named Wonder Masanitsu who can contort himself
through the neck of a bottle; with a mysterious past and dangerous
magical power, the dwarf is intriguing but shows a softer side to
Midori. The introduction of this new character causes some interesting
jealousy to propagate throughout the rest of the troupe, especially
when he proclaims Midori as his own. A twisted relationship blossoms –
almost to the point of being creepy, with the implied age difference
being significant – and the two start to plan a contented future
together.
Sick and twisted does not breed happiness, and so the show concludes
with a visually perplexing montage of symbolic tragedy. I can’t pretend
to understand the ending, or the rest of the show for that matter;
Maruo’s gruesome creation weaves together a confused assortment of old
reel films, postcards and explicit sexual violence. Only the most
astute and devoted viewer will fully appreciate Midori – taking it at face value will causing analogies to be missed and much
of the directors intentions to be lost. As cleverly obscure this show
is, I found the repugnant imagery to be too distracting, leaving me
feeling unsettled and a sick to the stomach.AnimationDescribed by some as a kami shibai or paper play, the traditional
Japanese influences are apparent throughout the show, especially in the
characterisation. Mixing together different styles and creative ideas
from the original manga works, the entire movie was created
singlehandedly by one man over five years – a feat which deserves
recognition. The contrast of bold colours and delicately detailed
artwork is genuinely stunning, probably to a fault, as the horrific
contorted forms of victims of the circus take on a life of their own.SoundThe unusual soundtrack of the show is very fitting with an atmospheric
feeling of a carnival Wurlitzer serenading the freakish performers.
Although structurally simplistic, it is not memorable and does not suit
the unusual artwork. Suffering from poor recording quality, the voice
acting has some very apparent flaws; sounding hollow and tinny, it has
a reverberating echo that attests to the limited budget. The amateur
cast struggle to bring alive the characters, adding to the sense of
“wrongness” to the overall audio.CharactersMidori is weak and helpless; used for pleasure by others and having her
dreams trampled to satisfy the jealousy of her lover, you never see any
development or backbone as she is subjected to ritual humiliation. The
fear of abandonment keeps her tied to the circus, and with no future or
happiness on the horizon, she clings to the next best thing – a
menagerie of freakish human beings, but the closest thing to a family
she has. From the snake-like contortionist, to the gender bending
gymnast, they are all depraved individuals who thrive on the suffering
of others.
By far, the most intriguing individual is Masanitsu, the dwarf. I still
have mixed feelings about this character – on the one hand, he uses
cruelty to keep Midori by his side, but at the same time he shows her
love and grants her peculiar but blissful visions. Using his dark magic
to control people, he bestows love on those he believes worthy and
causes sickening nightmares for those he doesn’t. The supporting cast's
vicious and despicable treatment of Midori leaves a bitter taste in the
mouth – the explicit and vulgar acts come as second nature, but will
probably alienate the viewer from the peculiar onscreen happenings.OverallRegardless of stunning artwork and fascinating characters, I still
found myself walking away from this show with nothing but the graphic
violence and tormented visions. Maybe I “didn’t get it”, but a show
that relies on degrading sexual deeds and outlandish carnage to gain
reputation did not deserve concentration and focus to unravel the
knotted plot. Outstanding for many reasons (some of them not good), Midori could have been a lot more, but the frequency and intensity of
abhorrent scenes will not sit well with the majority of anime lovers.