Lensman: Secret of the Lens (1984)
Director: Kazuyuki Hirokawa, Yoshiaki Kawajiri
You've probably never heard of Lensman: The Secret of the
Lens because for whatever the reason, this film is very obscure, it’s not
talked about a lot amongst anime fans, or even science fiction fans, which is
strange to me because this movie is so damn entertaining, so well animated,
that it’s a pity it isn't more popular. Even finding decent pics for this review was a small task! But whatever, I’m here to spread the
goodness and inform you lovers of anime out there that this is one of those
movies you've never heard of that you should give a chance to. Lensman was one
of the first anime movies that I watched, along with Miyazaki’s Nausicaa of theValley of the Wind (1984), that taught me that animation could be so much more
than what we got in Saturday morning cartoons; something far superior and complex
than a 20 minute episode of He-Man and The Masters of the Universe. Speaking of
which, the animation was fantastic on this film! You could see the filmmakers
were going for something special, which is something I always look for in anime
films, it has to be something special. So, what’s Lensman all about and why
should you take your time to check it out?
Lensman is the story of a young boy named Kim, who lives a
happy life farming with his father on the peaceful planet of Mqueie. One day, a
spaceship is about to crash land on their corn field, but Kim, being the
excellent pilot that he is, boards the ship before it crashes and lands it
himself! He quickly explores the ship and comes upon a dying member of ‘The
Galactic Patrol’, who hands him a magical Lens which immediately adheres to Kim’s
hand. Kim doesn't know it yet, but the Lens will give him enhanced mental
abilities and telepathic powers. Soon, Kim learns that the Boskones, an evil
race of beings enemies to the human race, are after this particular lens
because it holds the location of the ‘Devil Planet’, home planet to the
Boskones. The film is a chase sequence, as the Boskones chase Kim and his
friends across the galaxy, trying to destroy the Lens. Will Kim unite with the
Galactic Patrol in order to hand them the location of the Devil Planet? Or will
the Boskones destroy Kim and the Lens first?
The cover for 'Grey Lensman' one of the many Lensman novels written by Edward E. Smith
Basically Lensman is this amazing property which has been
around since the 1930’s when its creator Edward Elmer Smith wrote the first
Lensman story and published it in the legendary science fiction magazine ‘Amazing
Stories’. Since then, there have been a whole series of novels, comics (from Eternity Comics) and
manga. There was even an anime series entitled ‘Galactic Patrol Lensman’ and a couple of board games. At one point director Ron
Howard was developing a film adaptation through Universal Studios and Imagine
Entertainment, unfortunately the project fell apart because it was deemed too
expensive by Universal. But of course, it’s a whole universe were talking about
here. This is a story that spans planets and many alien races. We’re talking
spaceships and wars in space, of course it’s going to be expensive. If you ask
me, this whole property has an amazing potential to become a successful franchise,
but Hollywood has famously backed out of many a good opportunity, so it doesn’t
surprise me. I guess they won’t take a chance with it because it isn’t an ultra
popular property like say Marvel comics and a film adaptation could go the way
of the dodo like say for example Ender's Game (2013), a film based on a well
established science fiction series of novels, that went nowhere. But then
again, that movie kind of sucked anyways. But Lensman is all sorts of awesome!
Well, at least this anime film version is. I loved every second of it.
The thing about this film is that it feels a lot like Star Wars.
This film was released in 1984, so I think its safe to say that Star Wars fever
was in full force back in those days (has it ever gone away?) so it doesn't surprise
me that for every character in this movie we have a counterpart in Star Wars.
Hell, even one of the characters has her hair made up like Princess Leia’s
famous hair do. But whatever, Star Wars rip off or not, where this film excels is
in its designs. The spaceships, the aliens, everything looks amazing! For example, the Boskones are all organic beings, so their spaceships, their armor, their everything looks organic and alive. This is a unique
looking universe that I’d love to see translated into a live action film. Yet
while live action films usually have to deal with budget limitations, the cool
thing about anime films is that they don’t rely so much on a budget. Everything
is done on paper, with traditional animation. There is no limit as to where the
imagination of the filmmakers can take us because they don’t have to build sets
or costumes, all they have to do is draw and animate whatever cool idea pops into their heads! And in this respect, the animators behind this film really out did themselves. What I
loved about Lensman is that they focused a lot on doing these long takes of
action where they don’t cut and the camera moves all over the place, following
our heroes around. Best example of this would be the amazing escape sequence
when they rescue Buskirk and the good guys escape on these hover cycles.
Awesome action! Wonderful animation. So be ready for a movie that has some
amazing animation techniques that were pushing what could be done in
traditional animation.
Back in those days, computer generated images where giving
their first baby steps and so animators kept trying to mix computer animation
with their traditional animation often times with bad results. Examples of films
that tried this are films like Rock and Rule (1983) and Disney’s The Black
Cauldron (1985), not bad movies on their own right, but those computer animated
sequences just stick out. I personally hate it when they do this, but whatever,
lets chalk it up to experimentation. Lensman: Secret of the Lens opens with
Boskonian ships that look like giant pulsating brains, but rendered in computer
animation. There’s also some computer animation towards the end, but again,
this sequence just doesn’t look as awesome as the rest of the traditional
animation. Thankfully, these CGI sequences don’t last long and the film reverts
back to the awesome traditional animation that Japanese are so good at. The
traditional animation side of the film is what really makes it special for me. The
computer images seem crude and less detailed then the awesome traditional
stuff. Obviously, animators where trying the next hot thing in animation and this
is probably why we get some bits of crappy computer animation, which was in
diapers back in those days. Still, those scenes are a small hiccup in an
awesome movie filled with fantastic moments of animation.
Lensman: Secret of the Lens is none stop action from
beginning to end. It never stops. It’s a huge chase sequence, we go from
rescuing one character, to rescuing the next. From planet to planet, with all
these crazy alien creatures! There’s this character who is also a Lensman that
is just so cool, his name is Worsel, he looks like a man bat or something, cool
character, again, this movie is all about the uniqueness in its design. The story for this film is all about the proverbial ‘chosen one’, the
farmer boy who becomes a hero, so you see why I make the Star Wars connection.
Still, the concept of the Lens and the Galactic Patrol is an awesome one with
enough original elements to them to keep you entertained. If you feel like
checking out some cool sci-fi anime, with fantastic animation and awesome
action, give Lensman: Secret of the Lens a chance, you won’t be disappointed.
Or bored.