LaMB

LaMB is an animated film produced by Animax directed by Ryosuke Tei with the original script written by Carmelo S. J. Juinio. LaMB actually is the first Animax’s original anime production project based on the script submitted by a Filipino writer, Carmelo Juinio for the 6th Animax Awards in 2007. Instead of "LaMB", the original script title of this animation is "Laminated Woman: To the Sand Planet Cerra" (what a mouthful title). Although it didn’t win the Grand Prize (only regional winner), but it really impressed the judges so much that they decide to turn it into a feature length animation too. It is also the first and biggest Animax original production. It featured the French-Canadian band Simple Plan and the American band The Click Five that provided two different songs for the opening and ending themes of the movie. The film was storyboarded by Yasufumi Soejima, whose work as a 3D director can be seen in Last Exile and Gankutsuou.

Basically, this story takes place in distant future in a desert planet called Cerra. One unique thing about this planet is its imprisonment system without walls. Prisoners has to go through the “Lamination” process where they will wear the cybernetic laminated skin-tight suits and then they can move around the place and do slavery job that cannot be done by machine or robots. The laminated prisoners are called LaMBs. One of the LaMBs is Eve (voice by Medicorp DJ, Petrina Kow), an ex-weapon specialist who has accidentally taken innocent lives while doing her military operation job.

The story of LaMB centers around the life of the protagonist Sara Integra known as (Eve1135) Eve, who can barely speak nor make her own decisions – she being one of the many felons sealed in a "laminated" suit. The virtual slavery that is Lamination ensures that those convicted of serious crimes remain productive, if not free, members of society, making both jails and the death penalty unnecessary in a world where human ingenuity, creativity and labor continue to be precious commodities that cannot be replaced by robots or any form of “artificial” intelligence. Eve was charged with manslaughter and then sentenced to 200 years in the virtual imprisonment behind the laminated suit. It is a fate that Eve met with Dr . Jack Griswold (voice by Vanness Wu, a JVKV or F4 member), a scientist specializing in advanced botanical engineering from another planet who is such a workaholic in order to forget the tragic loss of his dead wife.

Dr. Jack Griswold is another protagonist in the story. Inadvertedly, Jack gets pulled into the politics behind the system of "Lamination", and a romance with Eve.

No comments: