Towa no Quon – Review

Towa no Quon is a new movie-series done by Bones who have received the reputation as of late as being one of the best in the business. In a futuristic Tokyo, humans who have awakened distinct powers are being hunted by a secret organization named Kestos. Denominated as Attracters, these exceptional individuals are joining forces to defend themselves. They are led by an idealist named Quon who is determined to save all Attracters he can. The most interesting was Quon, whose defining characteristic is that he wanted to save everyone. This movie tries desperately to build up a dualistic tension here but the story is somewhat similar to X-Men but in a Japanese style, however that is not a bad thing. Quon is anything but cookie-cutter archetype at the beginning of the film, they quickly skyrocketed out of such restrictive characteristics and actually boasts about his abilities. In the parallel universe of X-Men, Gambit manages to steal a valuable, then proceeds to think that they should stick around and win a few hands of blackjack just to rub it in. Subtle movements like these end up being largely responsible for the magical aura that surrounds the entire story and encompasses it in the end. The animation is definitely good with a nice story line. Despite the other low rated reviews with no-logic-whatsoever in here, you should definitely check this animated film out and see it yourself.

There’s still another six parts, and I have no idea when they are supposed to be released but just the general concept of releasing a series of movies gets me excited. The information I can provie is that the first installment in the Towa no Quon series opened in five Japanese cities on June 18. The next two films premiered on July 16 and August 13 in Japan. The fifth installment will open on November 5. Admittedly it took me a few months to track this film down so hopefully it gains some momentum and we can grab copies of these earlier. I suppose the biggest shortcoming about Towa no Quon is it is only 40 minutes long. In that time, there aren’t really much meat and potatoes as far as a real plot.

The soundtrack is also pretty good, and the movie was well paced aside from the battles. I feel like Bones has a lot left to give us in term of content. I love mecha, that is no secret, but due to the lack of in depth explanation, the transformation scenes just didn’t make sense at all. The scenarios also did not bring any depth as to the motives. Sure the pacing was spot on but I just had a hard time trying to enjoy the source material. Alot of hype went into Towa no Quon, and it has not lived up to that yet.

In summary, potential is lurking, but for now it still is a bit too cliched. Most time were spent on transitioning from one fight to the other. And because it’s only a half-length movie, there were really no time to explain what’s actually going on aside from identifying who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy. With a story that moves along very predictable ways, Towa no Quon may have been a solid Mainstream-Shounen-Movie. I haven’t seen much from director Umanosuke Iida but I am curious to see where his career ends up at. Even though I didn’t feel there was nothing original about the movie, I’ll definitely be looking out for the rest of the series. As there are a few characters here and there that look like they can become very interesting to watch over time.