(note: "The Plague Dogs" is only an anime in the literal sense. It's a British animation, not Japanese. Nevertheless, after reading about and watching this film I thought it was deserving of having its own thread in the Arlong Park Other Anime/Manga section. Fans of "Ginga Nagareboshi Gin" might like it too.)
I watched this movie recently on YouTube and I have to say I found it very powerful. Knowing some of the people who visit this site I think they'll feel the same way about "The Plague Dogs".
It's based on a book from the author of "Watership Down" (Richard Adams) and its film adaptation was done by the same team and director who did the "Watership Down" movie (Martin Rosen). From watching this film it's hard to tell who exactly it's intended audience is, which might explain why it didn't do so well in the box-office. But I stil recomend it to anyone who wants to see a great and emotionally-moving story.
The plot revolves around two dogs who escape from an animal-testing facility and its cruel experiments. While they're now free, things are still hard since they find no humans to take them in and must fend for themselves in the wild. Things get more complicated when sheep they've been hunting down and eating are found by humans and news of two escaped experimental dogs who may be infected with the bubonic plague starts to spread. Whether you're looking for something that speaks strongly of animal rights or just a great tragic adventure tale, you should check out "The Plague Dogs" if you haven't already seen it. I've actually heard it's one of those rare instances where the movie is actually better than the book that inspired it, but I won't explain why at this point, it's just comparisons I'vve read on the Internet. But now I want to check out the book.
Also, just as a cartoon, this movie is excellent. The drawings and animation are so eerily realistic and yet so exagerratingly (is that a word?) depressing at the same time.
Since the movie didn't do too well it's hard to find, especially the uncut version. Unless you can get and watch the Region-4 DVD you're probably out of luck. Fortunately you can watch the whole thing uncut on Youtube:
.If anyone wants to discuss this anime further, please don't type up or post any spoilers unless they're hidden or you can just provide links to sources of the spoilers so people can just choose to see them or not. In fact, if you find anything else interesting about "The Plague Dogs" or relating to it please feel free to post it.
