An anime science fiction/fantasy film that blends action, music and a religious/philosophical storyline, director Isamu Imakake’s “The Laws of the Universe - The Age of Elohim” creates a lush visual palette against which its heroes and villains clash.
The action begins immediacy with news that a meteorite is hurtling toward earth and its inhabitants have very little time to alert Lord Elohim. It doesn’t take long to realize the earth of this movie is many millions of years ago when various human and animal species lived in harmony. The planet is depicted in bright, clear, crisp colors and clean lines — blue pools of water and white temple-style buildings where the rulers live. This is contrasted with the dark world of the simian-faced Dahar who with his minions has unleashed the meteor and plans to annihilate Earth.
But God of the Earth Elohim, a fair, androgynous being, and the apparently female beings who also rule, summon Yaizael, a young Wonder Woman figure from the planet Vega, a celestial, green drenched place where faeries of all forms dance in graceful ballet. Armed with a sacred sword that can change form and a crystal that’s dubbed “Vega’s sacred treasures imbued with our teachings,” Yaizael, with dazzling amethyst colored eyes and matching hair, manages to stop the meteor to a Japanese pop tune about empowerment. A no nonsense hero with a mission, Yaizael takes command and assembles troops to guard against more attacks from the evil Dahar. The storyline gets a bit confusing with the appearance of Jesus and a winged angel who declares, “My name’s Michael. I’ve come to save the earth!”
The dialogue can be clumsy and the voices flat but “The Laws of the Universe - The Age of Elohim” is an ambitious anime with striking visuals that tries for more complexity than simply good versus evil — and it delivers a memorable action heroine in the process.
