Silent Möbius

In the year 2028, Tokyo is overcrowded, polluted, and (unlike present-day Tokyo) occasionally attacked by demonic entities known as the Lucifer Hawks, who are using Japan's luckless capital as an interdimensional portal. Hence the formation of the Attacked Mystification Police Department, a unit designed to prevent the Lucifer Hawks from causing havoc. In a setup not dissimilar to Bubblegum Crisis, the tough half-human leader Rally Cheyenne heads a group of uniformed beauties-cybernetic medium Lebia Maverick, Australian cyborg Kiddy Phenil, old-school Japanese mystic Nami Yamigumo, psychic dispatcher Yuki Saiko, and newest recruit Katsumi Liqueur, daughter of the arch-mage Gigelf and wielder of his sword Grospoliner. In mixing a cyberpunk look with occult imagery, SM: The Motion Picture is a visual feast. This is a dark, brooding anime aimed at an audience familiar with Kia Asamiya's original 1988 manga in Comic Comp, an assumption that may leave the uninitiated viewer feeling confused. Matters are not helped by the extensive use of flashbacks-as with the manga, the narrative pattern is one of introducing "present-day" action in order to bracket a story from a character's past. Thus, for part of the action, Katsumi Liqueur is a hardened Lucifer-Hawk hunter and a member of the team, though several scenes also depict her as a fresh-faced arrival in 2024, unaware of the secrets that will be imparted to her by her dying mother. Though the first film ends in 2028, SM 2 (1992), released on a triple bill with Weathering Continent and the second part of Heroic Legend of Arslan, continues in 2025, with Katsumi's permission to leave Tokyo revoked, and her reluctant recruitment into the AMPD. Both movies share the same dark, brooding elegance; the ambience is definitely that of Blade Runner, with "spinner" vehicles flying through an almost permanently rain-swept Tokyo hiding terrors under its shiny carapace. They are triumphs of mood and atmosphere, with little in the way of narrative variety but lashings of cyber-noir style. There was also a 54-minute Making of SM video in the same year-SM was very popular in the Japanese fan community, which lapped up not only the manga and movies, but several novels, including a series of spin-offs set in the 19th century (during the last invasion of the Lucifer Hawks), a computer game from Gainax, and a series of CD dramas.

As studios scrambled for TV product in the wake of the success of Evangelion, many old favorites were snapped up. SM was one of them, but the opportunity to reset to zero and remake the series was somewhat defeated by the low budgets of 1990s TV. Though 13 hours of running time allow for better fleshing-out of character backgrounds, the TV version disappointingly dumps much of the movies' style without adding much substance. Its animation and scripting are trite and undistinguished, limited time and budget watering down the impressive look of manga and movies; even the terrifying Lucifer Hawks now look more Ultraman than Asamiya.

review	Worthwhile paranormal/ sci-fi anime with enough drama packed in. (4 out of 5)	Dream
review	My review of Silent Mobius. ( out of 5)	N15PCA

Season/Ep#	Name		Airdate
1 - 6	Megadyne	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5	05/12/1998
1 - 5	Let's Have A Party	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5	05/05/1998
1 - 4	Break-In	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5	04/28/1998
1 - 3	Tokyo Underground	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5	04/21/1998
1 - 2	Decide	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5	04/14/1998
1 - 1	Awake	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5	04/07/1998

	Person Name	Episode Count
	Yukina Hiiro	2
	Hideki Tonokatsu	2
	Mayori Sekijima	1
	Hiroyuki Kawasaki	1
	Kia Asamiya	1

Name	Silent Möbius
Name:	サイレントメビウス
Romaji:	Sairento Mobiusu
Publisher	Radix
Start Year	1998
Genres	Add a new genre Action Drama Science Fiction
Themes	Add a new theme Cyberpunk Futuristic Monsters
Aliases	Silent Mobius

Kiddy Phenil first in Awake	5
Saiko Yuki first in Awake	4
Nami Yamigumo	4
Lebia Maverick first in Awake	4
Katsumi Liqueur first in Awake	4
Rally Cheyenne	3
Ralph Bowmers first in Awake	3
Robert de Vice	2
Ganossa Maximillian	1
Rosa Cheyenne first in Sister	1

Silent Möbius

Original US Poster Art

What I'm Drinking: New Albion Ale

What I'm Drinking: New Albion Ale