• She, The Ultimate Weapon

    2005

    published in Empire No.64, Sydney

    2007

    A coldly involving 2-part anime centered around Chise, a girl transformed into the titular Ultimate Weapon - a galvanized angelic bomb. In a semi-conscious state, she is manipulated to engage in fearsome battles highly reminiscent of WWII, yet set in a near-future. The combatants in this war are never identified or explained, their battles charted in a military nerve centre which monitors Chise. There's something disturbingly existential about the way war here seems endless and engulfing. Elder to Chise is Lt. Mizuki - an earlier prototype who feels for Chise and the lost anguish she suffers in battle. A numbing anime with a disquieting (yet cacophonous) perspective on loss suffered in warfare.