Suikoden Movie

Drizzt · Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 7:57 am Post subject: Suikoden Movie

Well everyone I would just like to know out of all of you who has seen the Suikoden movie? In case some people do not know, it is called Suikoden: Demon Century. And once again for those who may know little about it here is a brief summary:

"The Deadliest Weapon Of All Is The Human Animal". In the early part of the 21st century, the city of Tokyo was devastated by a big earthquake and the like which left it basically without government due to the destruction. Now many crime lords and syndicates look over the remains of the city and crime ran rampant...However a great martial artist is known to be one of the deadliest killers around, and his name is Takateru Suga and is out to rescue his kidnapped sister from the biggest crime syndicate in the area. He is backed up by many different people with different abilities who play an important role in fulfilling a prophecy for the future.

Okay now this movie goes for only less than an hour, and when I first saw it many years ago I thought it was a pathetic attempt at being Suikoden related...now after having beaten Suikoden 1 and 2 many times, I recently watched it and boy did I appreciate it a lot more this time round. One could say this movie is an attempt at creating a â€˜Modern day Suikoden'. The characters are varied and each are important. The locations and events that occur are somewhat relevant to a normal Suikoden game.

In this movie outlanders are treated very badly by the many street punks that hang around the streets. Now Takateru is the hero of this movie, and falls under the Tenkai star. I think he is very funny, though he is an excellent fighter and has very good and strong morale values and will without thought help people when they are in need. In the beginning of his Journey to find his kidnapped sister, he creates a fight in a bar, and there he meets a very strong mercenary named Riou (how convenient) and...a cross dressing street fighter... I would think this character would have been related to, or very good friends with Vincent de Boule LOL.

Now in this bar they meet a very crazy enemy. I would easily say this character is VERY Luca like, because he is supremely evil. A woman describing him refers to "I do not think he is even human" Something very similar a villager says about Luca in Suikoden 2...Well anyway this guy loves to slice his enemies into many pieces and likes to walk around with the blood that falls all over him never washed...Laughs evilly when he dismembers them.

Now on occasion the soundtracks in this movie are quite nice, especially those present during a time of a battle. Very reminiscent of a Suikoden game. On one such fight, I loved it when the hero put his fist straight through a rather big guys face... So yes this movie can be quite violent at times. Not really any bad language, just very gory. Now Takateru (the hero) will always respect good fighters (the cross dresser in particular, even though he is deeply afraid of him/her LOL) and on one occasion is called a country hic, though he is still good in the heart and then he quotes, "Maybe I am a good person at heart BECAUSE I'm a hic."

Now here comes one of the best and interesting parts that really made me like this Suikoden movie. A guy who is a Buddhist who sees the stars. He came to Tokyo in search of the stars...The stars of â€˜Suikoden'. So he is basically a gatherer of the stars, and makes me see him as a Leknaat of sorts. He communicates to the hero and tells him he is destined to be a leader of thousands of men and free the land of tyranny (Takateru pretty much receives â€˜flashes' into the future from this Buddhist, and sees thousands of soldiers gather around him in service.

Okay now I have lots more detailed thoughts and things to write about on this topic, though I will write them in when I receive a few opinions and thoughts of other people from this forum. It is true that this movie is WAY too short to even slightly compare to any of the Suikoden games, though being related to Suikoden, I can easily push past that flaw. I await your responses.
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“Firbolgs die with honor,” Morten explained as the logs beneath Tavis began to burn. “We don’t beg for mercy. We don’t show pain. We just die.”
“Maybe we skin you alive,” Noote warned. “That hurt plenty." - The Twilight Giants, Book I.

Baka · Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 9:10 am Post subject:

Uh....Traz?

Can I borrow your Suikoden anime? or Where did you buy it from?

Marshmallow · Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 9:10 am Post subject:

They really should have made it into a series. One 45 minute movie isn't nearly enough.

Axiose · Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 2:13 pm Post subject:

For you US customers onVHS. Sorry, couldn't find a DVD.

I'm sure there's more copies out there as I've got it for the UK. Probably off ebay.
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[Axiose] [Fliktor]

Drizzt · Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 6:06 pm Post subject:

Yeah 45 minutes for a Suikoden movie is hardly fair...and I thought that concept was quite laughable at first, however it grew on me simply because it was related to our good Suikoden games. It does tend to annoy me however that so much screaming goes on during the fights of this movie...Well I suppose all movies/shows with immense street fighting are like that, it just gets on my nerves at how loud it is. Oh and there was also a character in this moive very 'Fitcher like' (Suikoden 2), though he was your enemy.

Now for a couple more characters from the 108 stars of destiny, there is a really strong priest, who is very holy, but even moreso good in a fight. He runs a derilict church in the ruins of Tokyo with another 'Sister' who both protect the orphanage. They are peaceful, though when provoked they would give their lives to protect the orphanage and its children. A few people make their way to this church in service of the crime gang to exploit these people and order them to leave it because it shall be demolioshed...

Now the churches 'Sister' is also a ninja, and reveals her true power when attacked by these invading mercenaries. There is also a Police Chief who is a star, though has a very short role. So there is quite a few different and each important stars of destiny revealed in this short Suikoden movie.

Okay on to the enemy, the main crime syndicate is called the 'Koriukai' (Im am no good at spelling names such as this) and the president 'Osheetar' leads it with an iron fist. He often preys to a powerful diety statue in his private chapel above his palace. Everyone is afriad of him and his powerful syndicate. One of his most powerful people is of coarse the 'Luca Like' character who is very violent and enjoys dismembering his targets to many pieces...

Once again I find this movie to be quite funny in parts and their are a few good quotes here and there.
"Hey! Who are you calling dumb?"
"You, you idiot!" Now for the Buddhist:
"They have been summoned. Now the stars of fate are here. Champions of Suikoden. Born anew..." Something like that, when they are all gathered about halfway through the movie. Another good one is when the Pirest goes into action:
"Sinner prepare to be Judged!" and "Divine retribution is mine!" Very fitting into the mood.

I also loved it when Riou went crazy and was sluaghtering all the Koriukai with his machine gun and grenades. Very messy stuff. Now my favorite part of the movie was easily the 'Duel' between the Hero Takateru and the 'Luca like' character. It was to be a fight to the death and 'Luca' was talking very crazy and enjoyed the whole thing. The hero mostly defends and parries at the start for protection, while his enemy just non stop attacks. He thinks to himself that he may have to sacrifice some pain and be mortally wounded to save his sister and win his battle. When 'Luca' is about to finish everything he yells:
"This fight is mine!" A deathblow attack, which Takatreu defends and then becomes victorious and defeats his enemy. and his enemy replies.
"I killed so many, it was fun while it lasted." Very, very Luca like in defeat I suppose. He was glad his last opponent was Takateru.

So I came out liking this Suikoden movie for its amount of violent action, and of coarse the storyline being in close relation to the Suikoden games. I agree this would have been good/better had it been made into a series but obviously it did not do too well in sales and overall popularity...I would however had preferred a movie/series based somehwat on the timeline of the orignal Suikoden games so it was a better 'fantasy/rpg' series. The modern day Suikoden just does not work for me that well.
_________________
“Firbolgs die with honor,” Morten explained as the logs beneath Tavis began to burn. “We don’t beg for mercy. We don’t show pain. We just die.”
“Maybe we skin you alive,” Noote warned. “That hurt plenty." - The Twilight Giants, Book I.

Noot · Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2004 2:48 am Post subject:

I saw that very same anime in a used video game store, and when I read the back I thought "Well, it SOUNDS like it could be Suikoden, but a transvestite as a SoD?" I coulda bought it for like $10 but I passed because it seemed laughable (it still does).
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~~Harmonian Tenhei Star~~

It's hard to bargle naudle zauss with all these marbles in my mouth.

Drizzt · Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2004 3:45 am Post subject:

LOL, yes that particular aspect made me think twice as well, but I was drawn to it due to the Suikoden name. I will always fall into any trap like that. But I have learned to appreciate it after watching it a few times lately to look out for stuff I might have missed or just simply not noticed because I was not paying attention.

For those who wont be able to see this poor atempt at a Suikoden movie (I still liked it out of loyalty on some parts) here is a bit more information on the stars of destiny and such.

Nine Hundred years ago Takateru was the leader and he gathered the stars of destiny and did battle with the enemy of that time, and eventually freed the land from the evil diety's tyranny. Now in the modern future, the evil diety has arisen again by process of taking over the leader of the Koriukai, and infroms Takateru that he is the reincarnation of that exact hero from 900 years ago.

So therefore, basically all the stars in this movie (and ones that would have come if this was made a series) are basically reincarnations of previous stars of destiny in some way/form or another...very intersting. Now the 108 stars are destined to reunite and fight once more, as per usual in a Suikoden game...

Now another good part of this Suikoden movie is when the 'Leknaat' like Buddhist gives out another speach about the hero and his fate.
"After Nine hundred years, the 108 stars have fallen to Earth. Where the winds of evil blow they must gather and fight." And that is basically true for all the stars of destiny of each Suikoden game. So I could say I mainly like this because of what the Buddhist has to say about the Stars of Destiny and their role. It just intrigued me on this level is all.

Oh and another sort of secret about this movie is if you let the credits role, right at the end there is an aditional scene (ala most Suikoden games) where the hero Takateru looks to the future and sees himself leading an army off to war... so therefore he pretty much accepts his destiny and is ready for his mission...So now it would be the perfect time to put this into a series, but like I mentioned above it did soo poorly in sales and popularity (makes sencce really) so this never became an option. Strange really, because I have seen dodgy anime shows that are ten times worse than this, and they manage to stay on the air for dozens of seasons...I will never understand how this process works. Oh well.

Oh and just some more side infromation about this movie should anyone desire it. I recieved my copy of this movie a few years ago. It was actually first produced in 1996 I think...weird that, I could be wrong. Yeah it is exactly 45 minutes long (well more or less I should say) and was dubbed in english. I live in Australia and this was released through Madman Entertainment and availabe by 'Siren'... I am very suprised we even got this over here, if something does so poorly everywhere else it never even sees the light of day over here in Australia. Anyway over here it is MA15+ so it would be rated Mature over in the US then...And the english language version of the movie was produced by A.D.V Films, Houston, TX. There you have it that is basically every little tidbit I know of and can add about this Suikoden Movie. Though I am sure if more people add more opinions and thoughts about it I'll bet I shall return to say this or that...
_________________
“Firbolgs die with honor,” Morten explained as the logs beneath Tavis began to burn. “We don’t beg for mercy. We don’t show pain. We just die.”
“Maybe we skin you alive,” Noote warned. “That hurt plenty." - The Twilight Giants, Book I.

Baka · Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2004 6:41 am Post subject:

Even though it's laughable, I still want to watch it... since it's rather difficult to create a story with 108 character and with only 45 MINUTES! BUt, I still wish Konami would make Suikoden into anime....

Eggith Cyrene · Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2004 12:07 pm Post subject:

yeah a suiko anime would be awesome. it could be something along the lines of record of lodoss war:chronicles of the herioc knight.
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"Hearing the CRY of VICTORY, He rests in Peace"

Suikoden 5 didnt make me less of a fan; it restored my faith after the abomination that was suikoden 4.

Lunarblade · Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 4:07 pm Post subject:

Sounds...very, very creepy...transvestites = no no for me.
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Queen · Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 5:50 pm Post subject:

Speaking of transvestites, I'm surprised that no one's brought up Bishop Sasarai.;p
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Noot · Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 2:22 am Post subject:

He's a Priest, wearing the wardrobe that one of his position is supposed to wear. Are you saying that high church officials who wear robest are really transvestites? (I usually don't find myself defending religion, but when you mess with Harmonia the gloves are off!!!) *wink*
_________________
~~Harmonian Tenhei Star~~

It's hard to bargle naudle zauss with all these marbles in my mouth.

Chad · Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 8:30 pm Post subject:

*edited for pointless comment*

Stormbringer · Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 11:03 pm Post subject:

When I read the description of the movie, my first thought was " gawd this sounds like Moonchild"...for those of you who've never heard/seen that movie, disregard that statement.

The Suikoden movie sounds fun...the thought of a transvestite streetfighter amuses me :P
It's cool that they makers seem to have copied characters from the games(sort of)...now fans can play guessing games during the movie like "Let's guess who this is like."
So is it an anime or is it live-action? (that wasn't really clarified)
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Set 'em on Fire!

Lucied · Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:56 pm Post subject:

A Konami sponsored Genso Suikoden anime would be cool. Too bad none has been made.

Demon Century isn't related to Genso Suikoden, Konami's videogames. From what I can tell, it's a modern adaptation of the Chinese novel.

The posts are pretty long, and I'm not interested in the anime, so I apologize if this point has been brought up already.

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