In 1984, Japanese animation legend Osamu Tezuka released a made for TV animated feature film called Bagi, the Monster of Mighty Nature. Intended as a critique on the Japanese government's approval of recombinant DNA research happening around that year, the film has fallen into obscurity compared to Tezuka's more prestigious works and has only garnered a marginal following of internet anime fans. Looking at the film nowadays, while its earnest intentions led to a fairly heartbreaking story, it's better to acknowledge this as more of an experiment than a fully realized experience.
The film's story is told by a young Japanese man named Ryo, who recounts how he reunited with his old pet cat named Bagi, a sentient creature that was the result of genetic engineering, to unravel the cursed mysteries of her past. At its core, Bagi does mostly keep its focus on the unethical nature of genetic experimentation fairly intact, mainly through incorporating themes of losing connection with the ones you cherish the most and the trauma of finding out how you were made in the first place. Bagi herself is a tragic figure who had been lonely for so long and does not want anymore abominations like her to suffer like she did, hence her devout love towards Ryo as her only friend. Speaking of Ryo, his arc of going from a rebellious teen biker to a loyal friend who will help Bagi at all costs lends to some emotional albeit naughty chemistry between him and the titular character. The feature is arguably at its most harrowing whenever these two are split apart not just from bad circumstances, but the consequences that come from those who mess with nature.
With all of this said, the execution of the story is somewhat disjointed as it jumps from Ryo in the present being sent to hunt Bagi to him at age 15 helping Bagi find her past. It does help paint several key scenes in context from past to present, but it leads to some unnecessary buildup for little payoff and causes some characters like Ryo's dad and certain government agents who are out to get Bagi to get sidelined more than you'd think. Also, the third act is possibly the weakest point in the whole film due to some unneeded additions from people setting Ryo up to find Bagi in the present. Not to mention, some moments are too uncomfortable to watch due to the filmmaker's insistence on portraying Bagi in a fairly risque manner, which is added more by certain shocking moments that come off as more inappropriate than anything else. Lastly, although Ryo's mother being the one who created Bagi has some weight to the narrative, she is sadly undermined by incompetent politics and not handled well to gain much empathy for her, no matter what the filmmakers insist.
Outside of that, the animation direction is quite impressive given its made for television presentation. Despite some occasional janky camera pans and often jerky character movements to meet the film's deadline, the animation crew made the most out of the limitations with well composed chase scenes, gorgeous environments and a creative barrage of sci-fi machinery. The transitions of showing Bagi at a young age to her full grown self years later also helps distinguish her visually as she develops. The score of Kentaro Haneda adds into the suspense of the feature, although some of the music compositions do come off more dated than the animation due to some insistence on early to the occasional mid '80s synthesized tracks. As a more original project of Osamu Tezuka's studio, this is the closest they got to do as far as experimentation is concerned for a televised animated feature based on such a bizarre concept. While the script may have some questionable choices here and there, the production crew seemed to get the story well enough to show how rough the edges can seem.
At the end of the day, Bagi is a boldly flawed cautionary tale about what can go wrong if increased scientific experimentation is left unchecked. Unless this kind of material isn't something you find appealing, I would recommend that people check this obscure rarity from Japan at least once. If you can get past the off putting fanservice elements and uncomfortable creative choices, you might walk away with the idea that perhaps we need to be more careful with how we treat our species beyond what we normally think. Only someone like Osamu Tezuka could pull a concept like this off with such integrity.
The film's story is told by a young Japanese man named Ryo, who recounts how he reunited with his old pet cat named Bagi, a sentient creature that was the result of genetic engineering, to unravel the cursed mysteries of her past. At its core, Bagi does mostly keep its focus on the unethical nature of genetic experimentation fairly intact, mainly through incorporating themes of losing connection with the ones you cherish the most and the trauma of finding out how you were made in the first place. Bagi herself is a tragic figure who had been lonely for so long and does not want anymore abominations like her to suffer like she did, hence her devout love towards Ryo as her only friend. Speaking of Ryo, his arc of going from a rebellious teen biker to a loyal friend who will help Bagi at all costs lends to some emotional albeit naughty chemistry between him and the titular character. The feature is arguably at its most harrowing whenever these two are split apart not just from bad circumstances, but the consequences that come from those who mess with nature.
With all of this said, the execution of the story is somewhat disjointed as it jumps from Ryo in the present being sent to hunt Bagi to him at age 15 helping Bagi find her past. It does help paint several key scenes in context from past to present, but it leads to some unnecessary buildup for little payoff and causes some characters like Ryo's dad and certain government agents who are out to get Bagi to get sidelined more than you'd think. Also, the third act is possibly the weakest point in the whole film due to some unneeded additions from people setting Ryo up to find Bagi in the present. Not to mention, some moments are too uncomfortable to watch due to the filmmaker's insistence on portraying Bagi in a fairly risque manner, which is added more by certain shocking moments that come off as more inappropriate than anything else. Lastly, although Ryo's mother being the one who created Bagi has some weight to the narrative, she is sadly undermined by incompetent politics and not handled well to gain much empathy for her, no matter what the filmmakers insist.
Outside of that, the animation direction is quite impressive given its made for television presentation. Despite some occasional janky camera pans and often jerky character movements to meet the film's deadline, the animation crew made the most out of the limitations with well composed chase scenes, gorgeous environments and a creative barrage of sci-fi machinery. The transitions of showing Bagi at a young age to her full grown self years later also helps distinguish her visually as she develops. The score of Kentaro Haneda adds into the suspense of the feature, although some of the music compositions do come off more dated than the animation due to some insistence on early to the occasional mid '80s synthesized tracks. As a more original project of Osamu Tezuka's studio, this is the closest they got to do as far as experimentation is concerned for a televised animated feature based on such a bizarre concept. While the script may have some questionable choices here and there, the production crew seemed to get the story well enough to show how rough the edges can seem.
At the end of the day, Bagi is a boldly flawed cautionary tale about what can go wrong if increased scientific experimentation is left unchecked. Unless this kind of material isn't something you find appealing, I would recommend that people check this obscure rarity from Japan at least once. If you can get past the off putting fanservice elements and uncomfortable creative choices, you might walk away with the idea that perhaps we need to be more careful with how we treat our species beyond what we normally think. Only someone like Osamu Tezuka could pull a concept like this off with such integrity.
