After a terrorist bomb wipes out Sarajevo, one man puts his power over language to a sinister use in order to divide the world into one half of constant genocide and the other free of terrorism.

Genocidal Organ (Gyakusatsu Kikan) is the anime adaption of Japanese science fiction writer Project Itoh and is directed by Shûkô Murase. Set in the near future of 2020 in a post-terrorism world, first world countries have sacrificed civil rights in exchange for safety, security and surveillance whilst poorer nations have been plunged into genocide civil wars courtesy of a mysterious mastermind known as John Paul. To put an end to this, the American Government agencies send in high tech soldiers who have had all emotion blocked, led by Captain Clavis Shepard, to capture the man responsible for these events.

Don’t worry if you’re not somebody who has read the source material on which this anime is based on, you’ll still be pleasantly surprised with what’s in store. An anime which is not only overly gory but also makes you question your moral ambiguity at multiple moments throughout the runtime. Questions such as “What would you do in this scenario?” and “If you had the power to create a world safe for your family and loved ones, but destroy another for many more, would you do it?”.

Although the general concept of being able to manipulate leaders into descending into chaos on this magnitude may be far-fetched, the core message packs a heavy punch. The animation style of Genocidal Organ is, at times, simply breathtaking. From the moments where the pods inhabited by these high tech soldiers are raining from the sky, to the shots of horror on the faces of our protagonists, it never fails to make you sit there in awe.

As an anime film set predominantly in America, it begs the question as to why the characters had to exclusively speak Japanese during those portions of the film. The obvious answer would be that it would potentially take the general flow of dialogue of the actors (who are all native Japanese speakers) away from what was transpiring on screen.

At the end, Genocidal Organ manages to deliver a dark and gory look into the near future of war, with technology advancing so rapidly, some of the things portrayed in the film could by not so far away after all. If you are a fan of Japanese Sci-Fi Horror, then seek this one out.

Genocidal Organ is released on July 12th.