A future where the continuity of history has broken off, a world of enormous ruins that continues endlessly. Oceans and continents have vanished, existing only within the archives brought up from the remains. Ura works in the Archive Excavation Department, which restores and analyzes the data left behind. One day, he finds a disturbing visual record... (Source: ANN)
Nenhum episódio encontrado.
Pale Cocoon tells the story of a post-apocalyptic Earth as observed by two humans, a man and a woman. They are involved in the extraction and cleaning of digital archives left by humans many years before. They include all types of media, pictures of Earth, newspaper clippings, video... the works. They are to a certain extent futuristic archaeologists. The story follows them as they hope to unravel Earth's history. Although short, as one off OVA, it doesn't feel like it is short. If that makes any sense. The plot is nicely developed and reaches an interesting conclusion. The animation and direction for Pale Cocoon isabsolutely amazing. I found myself getting lost in the amazing visuals and rewinding to where I was previously. It is meld between 3-D backdrops and traditional 2-D characters. This was pulled off spectacularly and as I said before, looks "absolutely amazing". The "camera" is used in a very realistic manner and often pulls back to give a sense of grand scale and is some of the best cinematography I have seen in an anime. The musical score is phenomenal. With piano piece accompanied with a limited orchestra, the music does an outstanding job of accurately conveying the mood. The insert song is fantastic and played at exactly the right time. Overall it is some of the best music I have heard in a short anime. The characters, who I don't think we ever learn the names of (I have a poor memory for names), are nicely fleshed out over this short story. The male lead is voiced very well and is very believable. He is very serious about his job and is eager to learn the truth about Earth. The female lead is always a little side-tracked and is beginning to lose interest in the project. She is very interested in a particular, for lack of a better word, shaft. This stairwell has a special place for her... Overall I really enjoyed Pale Cocoon, and although it was short at just over twenty-two minutes it didn't feel like anything was left out. It comes to a very satisfying conclusion and is a must watch for any anime fan.
Yawn. Total waste of time. The visuals are pretty, with smooth and life-like animation as well as pleasing character designs. It also showcases some cool-looking futuristic archival technology. However, while better than average, the visuals are not groundbreaking -- easily surpassed by 5cm Per Second and its ilk. They are also repetitive. Plot is thin, derivative and not particularly well presented. The characters are unengaging and underdeveloped. Dialogue and soundtrack are forgettable. Moreover, the pacing is self-indulgently, navel-gazingly slow, making this piece boring despite its short duration.
===== Story ===== “In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.” -Buddah The audience opens their eyes to a set of wrought iron stairs, coiling about a brilliant pillar of golden light. It illuminates the dreary recesses of this world, the rusting iron, the sluggish gait of the excavators leaving their cubicles. This is the fate of mankind, stuffed into the interiors of the planet because the surface has rotted away from overpopulation. At least it’s not global warming that dooms us, Pale Cacoon predicts it’s a lack of protection.My fascination was pulled into the dank crypt of Ura and Riko, the two leads, as Pale Cocoon toys with many concepts. Environmentalism and population pollution are obvious themes but only scratch the surface. More interestingly, the narrative asks whether the past is on any use when there is no escape from your present? The theme is expanded as the characters are asked to question their reality and prove to themselves the sky of once-upon-a-time is truly gone. It’s ambitious, aiming for annals of philosophical abstraction even with its twenty-three minute scope. It’s grand but it has a humble foundation; Most of the story is driven by the interaction of Ura and Riko and their diverging opinions on the archaeology of history. Their friendship is both unnatural and snug, a love-hate push and pull that’s intriguing and advances the plot. It’s the small nuances of this relationship that make Pale Cocoon a moving experience, and the revelations of the final minutes that make it phenomenal. ===== Art ===== Dilapidated never looked so pretty. Seamlessly integrated CGI and artwork come together to form a visual masterpiece. Lines are clear and crisp, serving as frames for the cell shaded images. These set pieces are filled in with an appropriately post-apocalyptic palette. Soiled browns and sooty grays swathed in the pale light of computer screens. Swashes of neon green burn dimly in the underground bunkers as the workers return with their zombie-like strut. It’s a mechanical world that inspires both sadness from its poor condition and awe from the technical beauty the artist took effort in creating. ===== Sound ===== Both grand and haunting, the soundtrack for Pale Cocoon is exceptional. It draws from different genres, a classical back bone of pianos and violins, layered by electronic horns. It even delves into Pop, a guest appearance by Little Moa, who solos a powerful ballad. The voice acting is just as impressive; Ura’s delivery devoid of most emotion while Kiko’s inflections delivers insight into her sorrow. Like the rest of the film the sound is handled spectacularly. ===== Characters ===== From such a short film you can’t expect much development, but the two leads Ura and Kiko have surprising depth. Ura is an excavator, swimming through seas of binary code day by day to figure out the world that was. He’s passionate, teetering on the edge of obsession when it comes to the past, tirelessly trudging through the 0s and 1s, saving what he finds interesting. But he is curiously detached from Riko, the analyzer, a friend of his. Riko has stopped showing up to work favoring the bleak company of emptied stairs. She sprawls herself across the grate looking up into the dark retreat, pondering. The anagnorisis of both characters not only speaks volumes about each of them but the world they are living in. In the brief time we see their conceptions of the world change, Ura finally maturing and Kiko gaining a bit of optimism. ===== Overall. ===== Pale Cocoon brings together excellent storytelling and production to create a miniature gem. Its easy to get lost and not realize that the program is over. It deserves a watch by any fan that believes anime should be more than entertainment but art. Pale Cocoon does what most animation doesn’t: provoke my imagination. Just as Riko gazed up into shadows I was left contemplating my dimmed screen.
[This review contains a few minor spoilers] The OVA has a fairly straightforward message: that Earth and its beauty is irreplaceable, even by the most advanced of technologies. In the dark, gray world the characters live in, the only faint resemblance to earth among all the steel is a color -- green. The characters keep going down the levels of their own world to live closer to a fake green - the "ocean" -, yet all they ever do is lose themselves even more amid all the machinery. In the end, when one of the characters finally gets to see something natural he realizes just howlittle he knows about what the world used to be. His very own definition of natural is changed, the last word of the OVA echoing that thought. Theme-wise it is an interesting OVA, but a good theme alone does not make a great anime. Taking care of our planet and home being irreplaceable are things that have been talked about for decades and using a grim tone to approach the subject seems self-contradictory. Instead of celebrating the life of the celestial body we inhabit, the OVA decides to persist on the idea of human stupidity and irresponsibility. It paints humans as undeserving of the perfect Earth, turning the relationship between them and the environment something almost divine-like in its depiction. The case can be also made that showing human failure and sorrow makes the point more memorable, so how much someone likes or dislikes the OVAs take on the issue it presents will be up to personal preference. All that being said, whether I agree or not with what the anime presented does not make the way it presented it any less good. Pale Cocoon is very dull and claustrophobic, but that was its purpose all along. The animation does a good job of creating those feelings when the music does just as good of a job undermining the entire work. On the flip side, the same thing which makes it good also makes it bad when we are presented with CG that often times feels to be in all the wrong places (for example, when the screen pans over CG wires laid over a CG desk). Yet, once again, despite the shortcomings of the animation, the music is the only truly awful aspect of it, with a song towards the end of Pale Cocoon serving as the lowest point of a mediocre score that makes itself far too noticeable. Pale Cocoon is a good watch for the people who don't mind meaning over enjoyment, but unfortunately I'm not one of those people. Although it does feel like almost everything in it serves a purpose, it is one of the least enjoyable things I've watched in a long time, and therefore not worthy of a rewatch, regardless of how well it may explore a theme or how many hidden meanings it may have.
Pale cocoon is an anime short film about an unlucky generation living in an artificial colony below earth’s surface after its inevitable demise brought upon by possible pollution, possible war and maybe other devastating factors. Our main protagonist Ura is an excavator who recovers lost archives containing facts including: images, audio and video footage from the beautiful world where humanity once existed. He is the last excavator as the rest of them (including our female lead Riko) had been disgusted by how their ancestors came to destroy that beautiful world and decided against digging up more facts as it would only sadden them further. Uraone day uncovers an archive that could change his perception of the world forever. Pale cocoon is a good example of where humanity could be heading in the near-distant future with the continuation of war, high levels of pollution and over population. Ura one of the last excavators to remain recovering the lost archives and most likely the last human in this colony to still be enthusiastic about uncovering those lost facts. Ura goes through the daily motion of uncovering new archives containing things such as photos of animals and green land, his friend Riko who gives her thoughts that recovering lost information was a stupid thing for them to do. The two have conflicted opinions as Ura believes there is still hope that the world will be restored to what it once was. Whilst Riko has excepted mankind’s fate of being destructive leading their generation to the life of the underground colony. Ura and Riko are the only two main characters and get good development in such a short time as the movie comes to a climax they both have their thoughts and feelings about the world and state that mankind has gotten themselves into changed drastically. As Ura has learned that the world is not what he had hoped it to be “its blue” (Ura had hoped that there would still be parts of earth with green land, such as fields with cattle). Riko had given up on mankind and believed that they would never redeem themselves, but she later discovers that in the midst of the destruction that there is always a glimmer of hope. Their personalities are very conflicting and it’s surprising that they can be friends despite their differences on the state of humanity. The style of pale cocoon can be comparable to the work of Makoto Shinkai. As the character designs were very plain and simple but the background looks stunning. As I said previously it’s very much like the works of Makoto Shinkai. The sound is very futuristic and sweet throughout, its not the greatest OST but is good nevertheless. The downside of this short anime film is that there isn't enough time to elaborate on the story, such as how this generation managed to get forced into an underground facility. Was it pollution that caused it? Was it war? I would like to have known the specific reason for them all living underground. I didn't fully understand what Ura was thinking after he saw the video, did he conform with the rest and have hatred for the current generations new life underground? and was he going to stop digging up archives and acknowledge that the world may never be what it once was? A few things I would have liked to know for certain, but it doesn't take away much from how good this movie was. This anime short was very good telling of humanity’s downfall and the state that the next generation were left in, the story is very straightforward with two contrasting opinions on the earth and the future of humanity, followed by their eyes being opened to knew information found in archives. The animation is very good but character designs could have been majorly improved. This work is very similar to the likes of Makoto Shinkai and maybe that’s what the creator attempted to mirror the anime around. He did a great job of this anime short and I would give this a definite recommendation to the fans of post-apocalyptic and science fiction genres. Thanks for reading, have a good day/night.
Spoilers, read only afterwards. Theme: Pale Cocoon is less about environmentalism and more about the preservation of our history and truth. The humans stuck on the terraformed moon gave up the on excavating the ruins of Earth because they thought they could never return to their mother planet. Faced with the past of knowing and understanding that their ancestors ruined themselves and the future, the excavators rather resign themselves to ignorance and forget, only burrowing themselves further downwards rather then accepting the bitter truth and seeking the origins. The main character refuses to give in to this nihilistic ignorance, he clings desperately to the fading truth asthe rest have abandoned it. He is the embodiment of the historian spirit, who uncovers no matter how dire and bleak. Even though in the end he dies without being able to reveal the new world, Pale Cocoon ends in an awe inspiring scene that offers a hope to those unwilling to compromise the truth. Perspective: Pale Cocoon's message of uncovering the truth is heavily dependent on the motif of perspective. The sham view that they are still living on Earth gets slowly dismantled by subtle acts of digital camera work. The video is flipped, backwards and pictures of nature in the background are in awkward, misleading angles, suggesting that the way that we are viewing the situation is incorrect. Both the main character and viewer reach an epiphany that where we are can control what we think. The use of equivocation in the usage of "Sea" also shows how easily our understanding can be faulty. Pale Cocoon tries to show how we be so easily tricked by presuppositions of our vantage point instead of looking at things critically. One great piece of camera usage is when the view backs out until we look at the characters through the monitor; hinting at the reverse nature of it. "What was she looking at?" Other Thoughts: Yasuhiro Yoshiura is oftentimes put as a Shinkai wannabe. That is lazy and demeaning to both directors and mostly to the one who said it. The motifs, stylistic elements and story message of the two are vastly different and focus on different emotions. Yasuhiro, from his three works focuses on society and its evolution through the ignorance while Shinkai does his work on mono no aware theme of drifting personal relationships. As such Voices of a Distant Star and Pale Cocoon, while both scifi, serious, and relatively indie are very different OVAs.
I understand that “OMG, this anime is so deep!” Really, I do! I understand that it has a compelling narrative that asks us to ponder slightly more philosophical questions than usual, like what the value of the past is, for example, and what makes it worth revisiting. Our protagonist doesn't know why he enjoys researching the past, but at one point he suspects that it helps him to avoid reality. One fellow archaeologist thinks it's too painful to see what humankind had lost, and to witness the course of human stupidity, thus ends up quitting. Hmm, our new and talented director is yet another pessimistcome from university? Surprise, surprise. I think my synopsis says it all, she can't bear to watch the course of “human stupidity.” It is another smug liberal, bent on thinking that humankind is doomed to failure and that the environment will strike back on our weak and pathetic species. If only mankind had paid attention to what these college-bred liberals were saying, if only we'd changed our arrogant ways and accepted the obvious truth, then we might have been saved. You might think you are picking up a bit of resentment here, damn right you are! I am sick of all this doom and gloom crap, and enviro-fatalism is just one other strain of academic sickness that the world has thankfully proven itself immune to. As long as books have been sold and positions hired on fatalism, so has the human legacy proven resistant to any foretold demolition. Surprise, we don't live underground yet. In 15 years, the cocksure college-bred cynics will be once again shown up by the tenacity of the human spirit, we will still live where we please (though probably still on earth), and a new generation of doom will replace the enviro-fatalists, who replaced the nuclear-fatalists, who replaced the totalitarian-fatalists, and so on. Besides the oh so deep setting though, stands a well crafted story that effectively makes use of the 25 minutes given to it. It skims a philosophical issue in the midst of feeling sorry for mankind and propagating a dingy atmosphere, effectively using music and art to make this atmosphere. What this OVA reminded me a lot of is Voices of a Distant Star. Suffice to say our director and writer Yoshiura Yasuhiro has followed in Shinkai Makoto's footsteps in taking on the majority of the duties himself, throwing himself heart and soul into a low-budget melancholic vignette lacking true depth but desperately clinging onto a veneer of profundity. Thanks to very good music and artwork, this approach is surprisingly effective, and I personally would rate it above Voices. The 2D and 3D animation is not quite as good as some of the reviewers think. The best blend of 2D and 3D I've ever seen is the new evangelion, and this doesn't compare at all. It is quite an erratic camera, not really helping the atmosphere, just zooming around like a toy in the hands of a kindergartner. The 2D vs the 3D is a bit unintentionally jarring, and the 3D really does come across like playing with software, not like serious filmwork. Maybe it just needed more budget, just like most OVAs that dabble in this third dimension. Summary: Typical enviro-fatalist plot gives veneer of depth to a piece consisting of great art and music, yet amateurish camerawork and jarring mixtures of 2D and 3D.
even though the animation quality isnt that to boast pale cocoon sure did give its story quite a boot. taking place on a post-apocalyptic setting, pale cocoon deals with the lives of two humans under the excavation department whose jobs are to excavate old records encoded into software. while this job had some enthusiastic employees early on, it later lost its vigor as one by one, people began resigning. Ura, the only one dedicated in finding out about history decided to go on and unravel the mystery behind one archive. true to what the intro say about this anime, his finding would eventually change theworld completely. the one prominent thing that made this stand out would be the story. it discusses bluntly how humans are ashamed of their existence. how humans are ashamed of what they've been doing and how through their actions, they have destroyed the world as evidenced by the setting and the background shown by each archive. it is to say that people during this setting have already succumbed to despair as evidenced by those who dont give a damn on the archives anymore. it shows how people content are with their lives and how that content eventually kills human maturity, how it hinders human evolution. as it was stated by one of the characters, the reason why she wanted to stop her job is because she do not want to find out anymore of her history. of the long line of humans who bring upon despair and tragedy over one another. while this philosophy brings about a good setting of perfect peace, it still invokes a world without growth as represented by the daily boring way of living everyone had. ura, the protagonist, eventually sought out for the truth and unveiled a sign of hope. that what he discovered at the end of the OVA was a symbol of man himself. that even though man bring upon destruction to others, man is also capable of bringing joy (evidenced by the rusted earth and the blue earth). this story reflects society so much that it would make one question how our future look like? will we be looking back someday to look for the prints of our past or would be continue to move blindly to our future?
“The archives we know of as history ended at some point. Before we knew it, humans were living in this world.” ‘Pale Cocoon’ is a poignant account of a distant future when the beautiful earth inhabited by the living has been ruined due to the stupidity of the mankind itself, leading the planet to be barren and uninhabitable, and humans to migrate to a supposedly ‘artificial colony’. The blue sky, the vast tracts of greenery and the flora are nothing more than bitter memories of homeland. On the colony, there is the Excavation Department whose sole purpose of existence is to retrieve digitallyrecorded information of the planet. Ura, a young man, is a member of the Department who is quite enthused to restore the lost data. On the contrary, Riko is a young woman who has lost all her hopes and doesn’t show much enthusiasm in the restoration as she is driven by the feeling that reminiscing about something that has been lost and possibly won’t come back will only be a reminder of the stupidity of humans and bring forth sorrow. This OVA had a profound effect on me and it is certainly going to stay in the back of my mind for a long time. It is brilliantly presented without it resorting to too much complexity as most of the works with the sci-fic tag tend to be. It is indeed remarkable how it has accomplished to be this impressive in its short duration of 23 minutes. Everything is incredible in my opinion, be it the plot, the art or the soundtracks. Yoshiura Yasuhiro, the writer and the director, has done a brilliant job with both the scripting and the direction. He doesn’t bluntly give away details of what’s going on to the viewers; rather he expects the viewers to understand themselves through the actions of the characters and the surroundings. Viewers in the beginning are made to have a vague idea of something and as everything gradually unfolds, they are made to realize that they were wrong in the first place and it’s actually some other way round. If you have watched the OVA, you probably know what I mean. I’d like to conclude this review by saying that ‘Pale Cocoon’ is something that you should definitely watch if you haven’t yet. Some of you may have difficulty understanding what is going on in the beginning but don’t let that be a reason for you to turn it down. It gets better after some time. It stirs bitter sweet feelings in you and makes you nostalgic. It comes forth as yet another reminder of destruction and misery awaiting the mankind. I was trying to be critical and rate it 9 but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that. So, a perfect 10/10 score for this beautiful piece of work.
Pale Cocoon is a 23-minuite Sci-Fi and kind of mystery short film that deals with some interesting themes, but ultimately comes off as bland and mediocre at best. The visuals are impressive but there's not much else here folks. The plot is simple – the world got polluted, so they moved everyone to a giant web-like series of structures in order to survive. Ura and Riko work in the archive recovery and analysis departments, and are basically the only two left – their jobs are to go through records of what the surface was like and then analyze them. That’s it – they don’t do anythingelse other than sit around and talk about society and how pointless they do, or don’t, think their jobs are. Of course, there’s a ‘spark’, something that triggers a real conflict of sorts, but it’s resolved in two montages divided by boredom, and it never really resolves anything. The implications of the final reveal are never explained, nor is it stated that they have any impact whatsoever. So, basically the entire struggle was pointless. Why did I decide to watch this again? 4/10 The art style is good and purposefully done completely in shades of grey – it feels less like the characters are wearing grey clothing and more like the light’s been filtered to give everything a desaturated look. You can still see hints of color in clothing and hair when they’re in different lighting. It’s a delightfully eerie effect, and the visuals would be far more impressive without two glaring flaws – the transitions where it seem slike you’re reading a book, and the mysterious white snow-like material that’s perpetually falling down in the open sections of the compound. It looks pretty, but even a single line commenting on it to give it some context would be most appreciated.The layout of the office blocks makes them into gigantic cube-shapes, with individual cubicles mirroring the format. There’s a simultaneous sense of vertigo and claustrophobia, which by itself is pretty impressive. 8/10. The sound design is awful, at 3:10 the music picks up and it’s the auditory equivalent to being stabbed in the ears with needles. I turned the volume WAY down to go back and confirm the time, and blissfully the screeching subsides after a minute but it bounces right back again for a while. The art style favors silence, which makes the scenes even more disconcerting. I was going to write it off completely until 16:42, at which point the music becomes extraordinarily good. Unfortunately, it’s too little, too late, and the first five minutes of the film will put you in a bad mood for the next ten. 5/10. The short film’s duals themes of ignorance and ennui meld together to ask a singular question – is there any point in knowing the past if you have no future? It’s this issue that Ura and Riko passive-agressively fight over, Ura believing that the past world is worth remembering, while Riko finds the pursuit meaningless. This serves as basically their entire personality, and I found myself extremely bored of the characters after a few minutes. The complete lack of dynamic traits made it feel like I was watching two robots talk at each other – and while this might have been the intention, a complete lack of emotion does not a character make. So for characterization, it gets a 4/10. Did I enjoy Pale Cocoon? Not really. Without bringing any other media into context for comparison, it still doesn't stand up on its own. The challenges presented are rendered meaningless because they're resolved seemingly effortlessly, and are merely time consuming. The art style starts to seriously get to you after a while, and the blank faces of the characters make them very difficult to empathize with. Overall it's just a mess - a beautiful mess, but a mess none the less. 4/10 Watching Pale Cocoon is a lot like Ura's work - it's easy, boring, occasionally annoying, but ultimately your worst obstacle is just getting bored and giving up. I really wanted to like this short - sci-fi with a tinge of mystery is basically my favorite thing ever - but try as I might, only the lighting and architectural design of the complex gave it any redeeming value. Bottom line - it's not worth your time, and that's a pity.
Pale Cocoon is a one-off OVA that was directed and written by Yasuhiro Yoshiura. Clocking in at around twenty three minutes, Pale Cocoon resembles a classic scifi short story: Short, sweet, with a nice punch. The setting is a post-apocalyptic future where people are excavating archives about the past world and their decaying life support equipment has forced them to retreat deeper into the massive amount of construction covering the surface of the planet. Since it's so short, it's difficult to say much more without major spoilers. The art style is engaging, the character development is solid, and the pacing is spot on. Also, the userinterfaces of the computer systems used by the researchers are fascinating to watch. A lot of thought went into their design and implementation. And I don't just mean their visual "wow" factor. They are very well conceived. A lot of modern software designers could stand to look at them for ideas. They are almost like little mini proof of concept and use case research projects. You can see a bit more of some of these interface concepts peeking around the edges of the studio's other major work, Time of Eve, which is an equally good science fiction series that takes a look at some of Asimov's robot concepts and gives them a distinctly Japanese/Anime spin..
Gorgeous art and beutiful storyline resume the final concept you have of Pale Cocoon. At the very start i was already amazed by its great animation and draw style. The story is tremendously intresting. The Earth, in a undefined future, is protected from man, now they live under the ground, so the planet can survive. A man and a woman are the main protagonists. They both work on a department designed to research about how the surface was. This department is almost dead, there are only two working there. The empty offices indicate that once, there were many doing this job. Now, our protagonist isthe only one that still have any intrest in what the past holds. His friend intends to quit. I realy liked how the protagonist looked so obssed about descovering the past(wich is our time). It realy seemd like a possible future, humans living underground to mantain the planet safe. The art in Pale Cocoon is wonderful. A great mix between the regular 2D characters and the sometimes 3D backgrond. The character design is simplistic, not contaning the strange look that is so present in Shonen. The realism imprinted in the look of the characters just reminds us that the OVA is serious and is not directed to the general anime public. I dont have much to say about the sound. Nothing realy remarcable. In the middle of the episode, there is a music video, but i did not love it. Its just not bad. The characters are intresting. They have their own convictions, wich is nice, makes them a lot more likeble. They have names, i just can remeber right now. The male protagonist is a mad guy. Mad by discovery and obssed by the old Earth. The female protagonist is hard to define. She seems friendly, but without hope. A serious woman. They are both well developt as far as the 23 minutes allow. I really liked Pale Cocoon, its a remarcable piece of diamond, that few will have the pleasure to find it. Its such an unknown work. And at the end, you might want to take a time and think a little. You will have to collect all the clues to solve the case, as the man did. If you did, at the end, youll have a pleasent surprise. Overall, those 23 minutes were well spent, at least for me. If you are not really into more filosophical series, you might prefer to watch an action anime, otherwise, just sit back and enjoy the beuty that this OVA provides.
As I am finishing this anime, I can only feel the sickening sensation of disgust invading my body as I frown upon our future. This near prophetic anime is a true work of art, its beauty is incomparable in its art and its message. a 23 minutes you absolutely want to see, even if you do not agree that it is almost the fate that awaits us. the story 9/10: pale cocoon offers a deep and complex story that is an absolute must see, it pictures the dilemma of a man having a complex choice to make, satisfy his quest for knowledge of theold world or let the matter rest, since everyone has realized the massacre the humans caused, and move on. It is definitively one of the best spent 23 minutes of my life as it pushed its audience to reflect on the matters at hand.Plus it offers a wonderful plot twist in the end. you have no reason to miss this, go watch it now. the art (10/10): it is astonishing, the simplicity and wonder of this art can only be described as breathtaking, especially since the anime had a very small budget. if only all the anime would take pale cocoon as an example, the world would be a better place. sound: (9/10): the voice acting was actually pretty neat considering again the very low budget of the anime. the music and the sounds were very satisfying and always well placed, i was surprised by the repetitive use of silence and how well it complemented the anime. characters (9/10): even if the characters are pretty much irrelevant, we get more content about them in 23 mins than a lot of other anime in a whole season. they gave us some nice background and helped to unfold the plot so perfectly. enjoyment: 9/10: I have enjoyed this anime so much, even in its restricted length, it procured a very appreciable thrill and forced me to think about many problems to come and some already existing. it was definitively a magnificent OVA, and I suggest this anime for everyone. overall : 9/10: in the end, Pale cocoon exceeded my expectations and will remain one of my favorite OVAs forever, it was intelligent, satisfying and as I have said, almost prophetic. go watch it now, its 23 mins of your life you will not regret.
I have one question I wish to ask you, why are you looking up reviews for this anime? Honestly, it's a single twenty two minute long episode, that's it, there is absolutely no reason to not just go and watch it. But I can't write a review where I tell you to just go watch it yourself without giving you any information (court ordered, it's a long story) so without further ado here's my review of Pale Cocoon: Story 10/10: The plot of Pale Cocoon is set in a post-apocalyptic world where it is concluded that earth is now a dead world, brown and completely lifeless.Humans all live in an artificially created earth, which at this point is also pretty close to being dead. The main plot revolves around two characters in this near dead facility, they work as archivists working on restoring any information on the old world they can find in order to store it (any information they can find, ranging from historical records all the way to pictures of green fields,) and one day they come across a strange broken record they try to restore. The further it gets into the plot however several of the characters begin to question, what's the point of it all, why find and store information about things that no longer and never again will exist for no apparent reasons. The whole bleakness of the world is presented so wonderfully though the story that you will get completely sucked into it, you may even be a bit depressed, but at the same time you will be so moved by it all. Without no doubt, the plot is an absolute masterpiece. Art 10/10: When it comes to anime there is one thing that is almost set in stone for me, "3D bad! 2D good!" Well I used to believe that (and for the most part I doubt anything else will make me change my view) but Pale Cocoon has shown me that if you use it right, 3D in anime can be used well, hell in this case it's beautiful. Pale cocoon uses 3D backgrounds and 2D characters, and the backgrounds are used wonderfully, they help you get a better understanding for just how dreary this world really is, which is incredibly important to the plot itself, trust me when I say your eyes will be drinking this like it's a glass of some of the finest wine ever created. Sound 10/10: I hate sounding like a broken record, but this anime is forcing my hand. Nothing bad can be said about the sound, it's presented exactly at the right times, it always fits the scene perfect. By the time the song near the end begins to play you'll be so deep into the story that hearing a song in this depressing world will be just so damned moving you'll be fighting back tears. Characters 10/10: Damn you Pale Cocoon! Give me one thing, just one thing to hate or even mildly dislike about you so I can write something that seems more like an actual review rather then just a "I love this" rant! Pale Cocoon has one interesting thing about it, it has almost no characters at all. Generally a show will have somewhere between 1-3 main focus characters and then a whole slew of around 20 secondary characters. Pale Cocoon has, in total, only 3 characters (4 if you count the girl in the recording,) one central protagonist who works in the archives, his female co-worker, and the man on the intercom who also seems to work in the archives (and he's only an extremely minor background character.) The characters aren't even given names! So you're probably assuming "only three characters and they aren't even named? Well I guess this aspect of the OVA sucks" and you are wrong. The characters (well the two main ones at least) and fleshed out incredibly well considering this show is only one episode. We can actually understand their points of views, their feelings and idea's, I dare say the characters were done better in 22 minutes then many characters are done in series that last for 3 seasons. Enjoyment 10/10: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!!!!!! Another 10 out of god damn 10! Would you give me a break! Give me find some flaw to criticize! Just one, that's all I ask for! As I've stated above, you will get completely sucked into the story, the sound and art are simply beautiful, and there characters are wonderfully developed. Trust me when I say you will enjoy every second of Pale Cocoon. Overall 10/10: I have never to this day, and will almost with absolute certainty never again give any review I ever make a perfect score. However, I have to give this one, perhaps it's because Pale Cocoon is so short I can give it this. With a long several episode series you can always find things to dislike about it, but this OVA doesn't give you the opportunity. All in all, Pale Cocoon is the most beautiful anime I have ever watched. It's only a single episode long, 22 minutes, if you have time to read this review you have time to watch it, so do just that, you will not regret it.
Pale Cocoon might be the best little sci-fi OVA ever made. In just 23 minutes, Yasuhiro Yoshiura does what most fail to do in 23 hours: makes a fascinating and original point, and does it while telling a great story. Many will inevitably compare this to Voices of a Distant Star, another ambitious 20 minute sci-fi film, but unlike its well-known peer Pale Cocoon is far more than flashy production values. This is short storytelling at its finest, and its only fault is leaving you wishing there were more. At first glance, the film could be interpreted as just another environmental tale of woe. And inpart, it is, several times emphasizing that humanity’s deplorable condition is its own doing, the product of run-away population growth and, presumably, global warming. But this environmental point is only secondary, and Yoshiura’s primary claim is far more universal. This is a film about the importance of pursuing historical knowledge, even when our past is demoralizing and seems irrelevant to our present condition. With just two characters and minimal interaction, Yoshiura shows us the two outlooks on history one might take, and the way our choice defines us. Ura is determined to continue his work in the archives, driven as much by a desire to know the past as a need to escape the present. Riko skips work to lounge in the stairs, resigned to humanity’s grim fate and tired of dwelling on its mistakes. Their strained relationship demonstrates how far their opposing perspectives have driven them apart. Ura is mesmerized as he reads a record of the past, dreaming of another world, while Riko looks on longingly, unable to reach him. The characters are, contrary to common criticism, remarkably well-developed and central to the story’s message. They are representations of how we as humans can understand our past, and how that in turn influences our present and future. Yoshiura’s other talent lies in making us assume what the characters assume based on their understanding of the past. By imbuing us with their point of view, he is able to deliver a twist that is not only mindblowing, but also drives home the story’s theme. Few will see the ending coming, and only those who take the time to piece together the puzzle will understand its brilliance and significance. The film’s commendable storyline is complemented by exceptional production values. The animation is bleak yet beautiful, a world of mechanical blacks and grays, where the only color comes from the photos of Earth Ura saves on his computer, or the Matrix-like green energy of the artificial colony. The soundtrack is small but surprisingly good and substantive for a short film. The opening theme is especially effective at creating a sci-fi atmosphere, and several of the other tracks, including the J-Pop ballad by Little Moa, are worth keeping. The voice acting is also quite good. There really is little that can be said against Pale Cocoon. Some may find it too slow or quiet, but that seems more a criticism of the genre than the particular work. Others have claimed the characters are too static and emotionless, but understood in light of the story’s message, I thought they were impressive creations. I will grant that the story would have benefitted from more time, particularly in terms of character development and explanation of the historical backdrop and present circumstances. The character designs were also a bit bland, and the ending was somewhat jumbled and rushed, which made it harder to follow. But as a short film, Pale Cocoon is exceptional, and it’s refreshing to see so much accomplished in so little time. Yoshiura has proven himself an extremely promising young director and writer, and I’m looking forward to seeing what else he can do.
Pale cocoon, set in the year 22XX, presents the viewer with a profound and novel message: “Wouldn’t it suck if earth got ruined and really sucked because we had so many wars?” Real heavy stuff. Right from the start, it looks cheap. The art is very flat and simplistic, and the movement gets really choppy a few times, especially when panning over the computer screens. The sound isn’t bad overall, but it’s nothing special. To me, Pale Cocoon is at its best near the middle, when it shows you pictures of our new home and just builds the atmosphere. The music really shines here, but showing thesetting doesn’t work well when the setting is both dull by design and drawn in an uninteresting way. The short ends with a plot twist, but it really doesn’t change anything. The characters aren’t affected, and the message doesn’t get any smarter. Both the world and characters are almost devoid of personality, which might be understandable given the short runtime. I don’t regret watching Pale Cocoon, but I doubt I’ll ever watch it again.
This anime was well composed. The art was simply amazing and is what made this anime great. It was dark and grungy, I could almost feel the cold wet feeling this anime gave off. Even though it was very short it was very enjoyable and i recommend it to everyone. Dont expect any mechas and explosions with big breasted school girls. Just a very good story with amazing art.
Didn't look like there was a lot of effort, and predictably there weren't a lot of results. Pale Cocoon is at its best right before it starts. The premise is strong, the synopsis is enticing, but right from the outset the OVA is a huge disappointment. It may even be best to just not watch it at all, and save the idea being dragged down by this result. In the interest of parity, there are some positives to mention. The OVA has a type of confined brutalist architecture that goes a long way towards setting the tone, and some of the visuals are actually rather memorable, particularlyby the end. That being said, and more crucially that being all, its not enough to claw the quality back up. ---- Pale Cocoon has a very vague story, in that the actual instigating element doesn't really get dealt with. It is literally shelved until later, leading to a lot of plotless, aimless time over the first half of the OVA. Right by the end, though, there is something in the realm of a twist, without revealing too much of course. It's not the sort to redefine everything that came before, but it's at least a tiny bit interesting. The characters do not get the same sort of boost in the final act. Neither or the leads have any sort of personality, and I wouldn't even call either one-note since there isn't a single defining feature between them. The presence of side characters is arguable, being as there is only a voice on the phone and another who never directly interacts with the main duo. Following suit, neither is developed either. ---- And now the directing and animation, which are an utter travesty. It appears the staff have taken every opportunity to animate as little of the OVA as possible, then attempted to fill in the gaps with inexpert panning shots over 3D set pieces. The result is equal parts laughable and nauseating. The most actually drawn movement that can be spotted is the occasional moving of an arm, but even these are sparse, scattered around what are essentially just still images of characters sitting or standing around. With all other technical elements, there is nothing to say. There's a mediocre song that plays diegetically, the designs are garbage and the art is poor. ---- Pale Cocoon, then, is just a failure on every front, but it especially damns itself on that of production. It may not completely deserve to be forgotten, but it could only help its image, frankly. I can't think of some way to improve it as I normally try to, since this just isn't enough to bother with.
The story is slow but it feels like it could happen in our time. They talk of how the world has lost its history because of something devastating and they have to piece threw the small ruminates of the archives in order to learn of the past. In the first part, we are introduced to the man male character and what his job is slowly, though it is still a lot of mystery. It made me want to know more. The artwork is actually pretty nice, mixing 3D with the drawings well. Sometimes you can’t even tell that there is 3D. The artwork is dark,gray, and rather cold feeling. There really isn’t much to talk about other then that. The music keeps its strange, slow, sad feeling al the way threw. There is one song that I would so want to have on my player. I won’t tell you what one but you will know once you hear it. There really isn’t much to say about it as well. It’s one of those shows that you have to watch to talk about. I would actually that anyone should watch this.
