Dead Leaves

Dead Leaves is the latest installment in the collaboration between Manga Entertainment and Production I.G. that brought viewers Blood: The Last Vampire (2001) and Kai Doh Maru (2003). But Dead Leaves, which suggests a mixture of Ninja Scroll and Inspector Zim designed by Peter Chung, lacks the sensual elegance of the earlier OVAs. Retro, who has a television set for a head, and Pandy awaken with their memories erased. Sent to the lunar prison of Dead Leaves, they contrive an escape with hordes of other inmates. A long, pointless slaughter ensues, with blood, bullets, and body parts flying across the screen. The frame is so cluttered with angular characters, bright colors, Japanese and English words, mechanical devices, and gore, it's difficult to follow the frenetic action, let alone the fragmentary story. (Unrated, suitable for ages 17 and older: brief nudity, extensive violence, profanity, sexual humor, toilet humor, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon