A.LI.CE

Last updated
A.LI.CE
Directed byKenichi Maejima
Screenplay byMasahiro Yoshimoto
Produced byKatsuaki Takemoto
Tomoo Itō
Ryūichirō Watanabe
Tsutomu Kuno
Starring Kaori Shimizu
Ryō Horikawa
Mariko Kouda
Chihiro Suzuki
Edited byShūichi Kakesu
Music byAkira Murata
Production
companies
GAGA Communications, Inc.
Chūō Aitoz
Distributed byGAGA Communications, Inc.
Release date
  • February 5, 2000 (2000-02-05)
Running time
85 minutes
Country Japan
LanguageJapanese

A.LI.CE is a 2000 Japanese 3D CG science fiction comedy-drama anime film directed by Kenichi Maejima. It was the first ever anime to be entirely computer-animated. [1] [2]

Contents

Plot

In the year 2000, shortly after her best friend's sudden suicide, a Japanese schoolgirl named Alice wins a competition to be the youngest person ever to be sent into space, on a semi-commercial space airline. However, something goes wrong during the flight, and the shuttle crashes, killing all on board except for Alice and the stewardess robot, SS1X. Finding themselves in a desolate, snowy landscape, they set out to find help.

A young man named Yuan aids them, and reveals that they are in Lapland, the year is 2030, and the world's population is only one billion. At first he does not believe their claims to be from 30 years in the past. Yuan helps Alice and SS1X avoid the army which appears and begins pursuing her. Together they find enough old newspapers to discover what has happened in the years they have missed. A dictator known as Nero, and his computer named SS10X, have apparently been systematically capturing people and removing them to concentration camps, thus erasing all but one billion people. Most towns are empty and technology is old and decaying.

It is revealed that the pursuing army is the Liberation Army, who directly oppose Nero. Alice, Yuan, and SS1X are captured and taken to the army's centre of operations. There, it is revealed that there is a mysterious connection between Alice and Nero's computer, and that, as a result, only Alice is able to hack into the computer and disable Nero's security systems. The Liberation Army plan to disable all the security and storm Nero's base to assassinate him and end his dictatorship. Alice agrees to hack the computer for the Liberation Army, despite being warned that it will be at great risk to herself. She uses a virtual reality device to float through the workings of the computer, disabling much of its workings but causing her mind great pain. With the automated security turned off, the Liberation Army sends all their troops to Nero's base for their final assault.

Yuan and SS1X, meanwhile, escape from their imprisonment and race to stop Alice from hacking any further before she causes herself serious harm. Alice, aware that her connection to Nero's computer, SS10X, is not a coincidence, says that she feels she needs to finally meet Nero. They all travel to Nero's base, narrowly avoiding the security systems which are just beginning to reactivate. The entirety of the Liberation Army are killed by the security robots, except for its leader, Kaspar.

Kaspar reveals that it was he who sabotaged Alice's space flight by replacing her space shuttle with a duplicate which contained a hidden time machine but was otherwise identical to the original. Kaspar had realised that Nero was the only person other than Kaspar himself potentially capable of building a time machine of his own, so he brought the only person compatible with Nero's SS10X computer, Alice, from the past to destroy Nero before he ever had the chance to build his own time machine. By removing Nero, his only obstacle, Kaspar intends to use his time machine to insert himself into key moments of history so that he is ultimately seen as a god.

Nero's security system manages to activate enough to impale and kill the megalomaniac Kaspar, however, not before Kaspar fires shots into Nero's huge computer, causing the beginning of its destruction. Alice finally approaches Nero himself, who reveals that he is her son. He explains that Alice fell into a coma shortly after his birth, and that despite his genius intellect, he only ever wanted nothing more than to communicate with her. He built his computer, based on the SS1X model Alice had known as the stewardess on her space flight, in an effort to see into the mind of the comatose Alice. This is why Alice is the only person able to hack the computer: it is tuned only to her mind.

Unfortunately, in her coma, the older Alice only mentally repeats the last words of her best friend who had committed suicide in the year 2000. Her friend had mused that the sky was not as blue as it should be, due to the pollution caused by human overpopulation. Acting on this, the SS10X computer began to decrease the human population to bring about a natural blue sky. Nero was never the dictator responsible for the wasteland of 2030, but the unconscious and unaware Alice was.

As the massive computer begins to fall apart, Alice begs Nero to escape with her. However, he says that having finally spoken with his mother, he is happy at last. He realises that his attempt to reach his mother inadvertently brought about a dictatorship and mass destruction, so he chooses to die rather than escape. Alice flees the base with Yuan and SS1X just as the destruction of SS10X reaches its peak. In the heart of the enormous computer, the suspended, comatose body of an older Alice is glimpsed.

Alice uses the space shuttle, with its time machine, to travel back to 2000. She intends to prevent the terrible future she has seen. Meanwhile, SS1X reveals to Yuan that she found data log files in Nero's base that reveal where the missing seven billion people are being kept, and that together they can rescue them all, including Yuan's parents. As Alice flies back into the past, she reflects on all she has experienced before passing out from the high forces of atmospheric re-entry. The shuttle lands safely in the ocean, and a rescue crew manage to break into the hull. As she awakens, the first thing Alice sees is a young member of the rescue crew, holding his hand out to her, wearing the same necklace that Nero wore. The film ends as she smiles and reaches for his hand. [3]

Cast

Reception

Joseph Savitski of BeyondHollywood.com gave the film a positive review. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Serial Experiments Lain</i> 1998 television anime series

Serial Experiments Lain is a Japanese anime television series created and co-produced by Yasuyuki Ueda, written by Chiaki J. Konaka and directed by Ryūtarō Nakamura. Animated by Triangle Staff and featuring original character designs by Yoshitoshi Abe, the series was broadcast for 13 episodes on TV Tokyo and its affiliates from July to September 1998. The series follows Lain Iwakura, an adolescent girl in suburban Japan, and her relation to the Wired, a global communications network similar to the internet.

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a secure communication method that implements a cryptographic protocol involving components of quantum mechanics. It enables two parties to produce a shared random secret key known only to them, which then can be used to encrypt and decrypt messages. The process of quantum key distribution is not to be confused with quantum cryptography, as it is the best-known example of a quantum-cryptographic task.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trưng sisters</span> 1st century AD Vietnamese queens and military leaders

The Trưng sisters were Vietnamese military leaders who ruled for three years after rebelling in AD 40 against the first Chinese domination of Vietnam. They are regarded as national heroines of Vietnam. Their names were Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị. Trưng Trắc was the first woman to be a Vietnamese monarch, as well as the first queen regnant in the history of Vietnam, and she was accorded the title Queen Trưng in Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư.

<i>G-Saviour</i> 1999 television film directed by Graeme Campbell

G-Saviour is a 1999 Canadian live-action television film created as part of the Gundam anime franchise, produced by Polestar Entertainment under the supervision of Sunrise and distributed by Bandai Visual.

<i>Battle Programmer Shirase</i> Japanese anime television series

Battle Programmer Shirase is an anime television series aired in 2003 and produced by AIC.

<i>Space Runaway Ideon</i> Japanese anime television series

Space Runaway Ideon is a 1980 anime television series produced by Sunrise, created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, produced immediately following his signature work, Mobile Suit Gundam. It first premiered on TV Tokyo from 1980 to 1981, followed by two feature films in 1982, and was later broadcast in Japan by the satellite TV network Animax from September 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motoko Kusanagi</span> Main Character in the Ghost in the Shell

Major Motoko Kusanagi, or just "Major", is the main protagonist in Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell manga and anime series. She is a synthetic "full-body prosthesis" augmented-cybernetic human employed as the field commander of Public Security Section 9, a fictional anti-cybercrime law-enforcement division of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission. A strong-willed, physically powerful, and highly intelligent cyberhero, she is well known for her skills in deduction, hacking and military tactics.

<i>Es</i> Multimedia franchise based on manga of the same name

E's is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and drawn by Satoru Yuiga. It was originally serialized in Monthly GFantasy from 1997 through 2005, and later published in 16 tankōbon volumes by Square Enix from March 18, 2003, to February 27, 2010. The series focuses on Kai Kudō, an "Esper", who is recruited by an organization called Ashurum to become a soldier to purportedly save other psychics from regular humans. After a mission in Gald goes wrong, Kai finds himself living with a man named Yuuki and his adopted sister Asuka. As he learns more about Ashurum, Kai finds himself wondering what their true goals are, and worrying about his ill sister, who is under Ashurum's care.

<i>Armitage III</i> 1995 cyberpunk original video animation series

Armitage III is a 1995 cyberpunk original video animation series. It centers on Naomi Armitage, a highly advanced "Type-III" android. In 1996, the series was edited into a film called Armitage: Poly-Matrix.

<i>Ah! My Goddess: The Movie</i> 2000 film by Hiroaki Gōda

Ah! My Goddess: The Movie is a 2000 Japanese anime film based on a manga of the same name by Kōsuke Fujishima, produced by AIC and distributed by Shochiku. It was directed by Hiroaki Gōda and written by Michiko Yokote and Yoshihiko Tomizawa. The film's theatrical release took place on October 21, 2000. The film was licensed by Geneon Entertainment in North America, MVM Films in the United Kingdom, and Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand.

<i>Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73: Stargazer</i>

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73: Stargazer is a side story to the anime television series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. In July 2006, it began streaming on Bandai Channel website as an original net animation. The show is directed by Susumu Nishizawa and written by Shigeru Morita, both staff members of Gundam SEED Destiny.

<i>Soul Link</i> 2009 video game

Soul Link is a Japanese visual novel developed by Navel. It was originally released as an adult game for Windows on December 17, 2004. It centers on a group of military cadets' adventure aboard a space hotel called Aries.

<i>King of Thorn</i> Japanese manga series

King of Thorn is a Japanese fantastique manga series written and illustrated by Yuji Iwahara. It was published by Enterbrain in the seinen magazine Monthly Comic Beam between October 2002 and October 2005 and collected in six bound volumes. It is licensed in North America by Tokyopop, with the final volume published in November 2008. The series is about a group of people who are put in suspended animation to escape a mysterious plague that turns people to stone, and upon waking there appears to be only seven survivors in a world run wild—including a Japanese teenage girl named Kasumi Ishiki and a British man named Marco Owen. The survivors soon discover that the entire ruin is filled with strange, dinosaur-like creatures and other monstrous aberrations of nature. Thinking that a great amount of time passed since their arrival on the island, soon the survivors discover not only that their sleep was indeed too short to label such dramatic changes as natural occurrence, but also that the situation in and of itself is far greater than they could imagine.

<i>Machine Robo Rescue</i> Japanese anime television series

Sortie! Machine Robo Rescue is a 2003 Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Sunrise. It's the third installment of the Machine Robo anime trilogy, which is based on the toyline by PLEX and Bandai. It is directed by Mamoru Kanbe and written by Hideki Sonoda. It aired on TV Tokyo from January 8, 2003 to January 3, 2004, having a total of 53 episodes.

<i>2000 AD</i> (film) 2000 film

2000 AD is a 2000 Hong Kong action film directed by Gordon Chan, who also wrote the screenplay with Stu Zicherman, produced by John Chong, Solon So and David Leong. The film stars Aaron Kwok, Phyllis Quek, James Lye and Daniel Wu. The film was shot on location in both Hong Kong and Singapore. The film was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 3 February 2000. It was timed to screen during the peak Chinese New Year period.

<i>Bloody Monday</i> (manga) Japanese manga series

Bloody Monday is a Japanese manga series written by Ryō Ryūmon and illustrated by Kōji Megumi. It was serialized in Kodansha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine from March 2007 to April 2009, with its chapters collected in 11 tankōbon volumes. A second series, Bloody Monday Season 2: Pandora no Hako, was serialized in the same magazine from October 2009 to April 2011, with its chapters collected in eight volumes. A third series, Bloody Monday Final Season, was serialized in the same magazine from June 2011 to March 2012, with its chapters collected in four volumes. A television drama adaptation was broadcast for two seasons in 2008 and 2010, respectively.

<i>Elysium</i> (film) 2013 film by Neill Blomkamp

Elysium is a 2013 American dystopian sci-fi action film written, produced, and directed by Neill Blomkamp. It was Blomkamp's second directorial effort. The film stars Matt Damon and Jodie Foster alongside Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, Wagner Moura, and William Fichtner. The film takes place on both a ravaged Earth and a luxurious artificial world called Elysium. The film itself offers deliberate social commentary that explores political and sociological themes such as immigration, overpopulation, transhumanism, health care, worker exploitation, the justice system, technology, and social class issues.

<i>Captain Earth</i> Japanese anime television series

Captain Earth is a Japanese anime television series produced by Bones, directed by Takuya Igarashi and written by Yōji Enokido. It was broadcast for twenty-five episodes in Japan on MBS from April to September 2014. The series follows high-school student Daichi Manatsu who starts working for the Globe organization to pilot a giant robot called the Earth Engine Impacter to protect the Earth from the invading alien force known as the "Kill-T-Gang", that intends to drain all the life force of mankind to empower their immortal existences.

<i>ID-0</i> 2017 Japanese anime television series

ID-0 is a 2017 cyberpunk Japanese anime television series produced by Sanzigen. The anime was announced through a teaser video on August 7, 2016. followed by the official website on January 26, 2017. The series is produced by Sanzigen and directed by Goro Taniguchi, and aired from April 9, 2017, to June 25, 2017. The series is set when humanity has developed I-Machines, robots that can operate in extreme environments in space, in which the human pilot's consciousness can be transferred into the robot's operating system. An astrogeology student named Maya Mikuri joins the Excavate Company, a crew who illegally mine for the new mineral Orichalt, which is used for interstellar travel. However, Maya soon learns about a crew member with no identity named Ido, and his connection to a little girl named Alice found inside an Orichalt deposit within the core of the wandering planet known as Rajeev.

Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary is a Japanese anime television series co-produced by TV Tokyo, Softstar and Nada Holdings, and animated by Studio Deen. It is based on the Taiwanese role-playing video game Xuan-Yuan Sword: The Millennial Destiny. The series is being streamed by Crunchyroll among the world except for Asia. It aired between October 1 and December 24, 2018.

References

  1. ↑ Ａ・ＬＩ・ＣＥ (1999) (in Japanese). Allcinema.net. Retrieved 2011-08-30.
  2. ↑ "A・LI・CE（2000）" (in Japanese). eiga.com. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
  3. ↑ "Fantasia 2000 holds press conference". Anime News Network . 2000-07-05. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
  4. ↑ "A.li.ce (1999) Movie Review". BeyondHollywood.com. 2004-08-22. Archived from the original on 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.