(Note: this is the second part of a review of Denno Coil. The first part can be read here.)

It was slightly embarrassing last week, when I sat down to write a post about the Denno Coil art book I picked up in Tokyo, when I realised I’d never actually finished reviewing the series. In fact, it had been so long since I penned the first part, that I had to go back and re-read it to see exactly what i had said:

With still 14 more episodes left to watch I can firmly say that, unless it seriously jumps the shark, Denno Coil is set to be a remembered as a true classic in anime TV history.

Famous last words?

Luckily not. In the remaining 7 or so hours of Denno Coil I can gleefully say no sharks are jumped and no fridges nuked. Even towards the end, when the main narrative starts to worrying lurch towards hints of the paranormal and mysticism it pulls it all back in the final episodes, revealing the truth to be a story of corporate buyouts, cover-ups and experimental software that would make William Gibson proud. In fact, to try and describe the series as Count Zero meets Pokemon directed by Hayao Miyazaki would be to do it’s elegance and originality a huge injustice, but there’s more than a drop of truth to the analogy. Never before has a story about children – and primarily aimed at them – held such strong and prophetic hard sci-fi credentials.

But it’s not just the main story arc that makes DC a classic of storytelling. It holds off on it’s biggest reveals until the very end, and in lesser hands than those of Mitsuo Iso the season could easily have fallen into the trap encountered by so many 26-run series; the tedium of the filler episode. But even the stand alone stories told here are classics of the genre, with highly polished gems like The Last Plesiosaur and Daichi’s Hair Begins to Grow as standout episodes. Even A Record of Living Things, the now obligatory re-cap episode, this time told throw the eyes of a main character’s younger brother, remains a personal favourite, due to it’s witty scripting and the ever impressive character development that is one of the show’s crowning triumphs.

And of course its not just the writing that impresses – the animation is faultless throughout. The immaculate character design is only rivaled by, and often beautifully contrasts with, the futuristic yet believable rendering of the systems of the augmented reality world the show portrays. Virtual pets, user interfaces and black market tools are all presented in such a consistent, feasible and elegant way that the viewer can’t help but feel that all of this is somehow inevitable – a high accolade indeed for any work of science fiction, regardless of medium or perceived demographic.

There’s still no word on whether a second season is to follow, but surely considering it’s critical success and the bevy of awards it earned there must be pressure from NHK for more. Perhaps director Iso and Madhouse have decided the magic cannot be repeated and it’s memory is best left unsoiled, and perhaps they are right. Or more depressingly, perhaps the current faltering financial status of the Japanese animation industry can’t afford to make another such polished, intelligent and less obviously commercial production. Either way, if you haven’t experienced DC yet, make it the top of your list of must-sees. Don’t let it’s apparent childlike appearance put you off, Denno Coil is a masterpiece of not just the anime medium but the science fiction genre as a whole.

So we’re here. Finally.

Actually, we arrived about 48 hours ago, after what seemed like a week of travelling. Hellish. But, of course, with hindsight completely worth it. Shinjuku is everything all the cliches say it is – Akira, Bladerunner and Neuromancer all rolled into one, but somehow weirder for not actually feeling that futuristic. Or at least, it’s a kind of retro futuristic, a reminder of the that 80’s cyberpunk vision that it inspired but never quite happened anywhere else. Like all sci-fi, they got some things wrong. Example? Well, it seems damn near impossible to find any public Wi-Fi round here. But why would you need it when everyone’s had 3G capable phones for over ten years?

Anyway, there’s another cliche about pictures and word counts…

Whilst surfing over the weekend, I stumbled over a quote from sci-fi author Ken MacLeod. Now, I haven’t read any of MacLeod’s stuff for years, and it never struck me as being amazing, but this quote (apparently from his novel ‘The Cassini Division’) hit a chord with me.

(The technological singularity)…is the rapture for nerds.

Genius. I’ve been searching for a way of summing up my discontent with contemporary singularity theory, and all the time MacLeod had hit the nail right bang on the head.

For those of you not familiar with the concept of the rapture, it’s a fundamentalist Christian belief that at some point in the future Jesus will return to the earth and transport all true Christians up to heaven to leave in immortal, eternal peace with the Lord.

It’s the perfect get out clause. Belief in this happening means that Christians don’t have to deal with everything that challenges their world-view; homosexuality, the internet, women’s sexual liberation, stem-cell research, the pro-choice movement, rival religions, Darwin…all of this can be just dismissed as sin, and left to perish, when God comes down to save them.

What MacLeod is saying, is that for a large tract of the geek community, the singularity is filling the same role. It’s the perfect get out clause. Belief in this happening means that geeks don’t have to deal with everything that challenges their world-view; ecological break-down, global warming, digital rights management, the hypocrisy of being a corporate IT professional but hating anything not open-source, global poverty, the high price of oil, obesity and heart disease….all of this can be just dismissed as Luddite heresy, and left to perish, when the AI Gods rise up to save them….uploading their brains to immortal digital shells, using nanotechnology to clean up the environment, giving everyone fusion powered flying cars and lots of free cybersex with VR constructs of Kristen Bell.

Of course not all geeks think this way, just as not all Christians blindly believe in the rapture.

And me? In case you haven’t guessed already, I’m a fucking atheist.

Here we go…the first 2000 odd words of my latest story ‘Paparazzi’, hopefully for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think in the comments section…

I can’t put the full thing up yet because of the aforementioned possible publishing deal, but if you want to read more or are interested in publishing it yourself, let me know.

paparazzi_extract_1.pdf

Marrakesh, aside from being one of my favourite cities, is one of the most Sci Fi places I’ve ever visited. Nothing beats the clash of Islamic culture and the ancient architecture with 24 hour Internet cafes and satelite dishes sprouting from every rooftop. Tokyo and Seoul might be your first pick for SF holidays, but I can’t recommend the feeling of being dropped into an alien culture that Marrakesh gives you enough…

Check out my other photos here…