At the beginning of X, an apocalyptic anime film from veteran director Rin Tarô (Astro Boy), the hero's mother appears to him in a dream, disrobes to reveal a startling figure, pulls a giant sword out of her womb, hands it to him, and then explodes into an ankle-deep pool of blood. That this isn't an unusual or shocking opening for the genre speaks to how close much anime has come to pornography in its perfunctory graphic images and storylines. It's even released in open-ended series on video, with each successive installment about as related to the previous one as Sorority Sex Kittens 3 is to Sorority Sex Kittens 2. The only thing that distinguished X enough to warrant a limited theatrical release is that it's especially good pornography, effectively composed and designed in vibrant reds and blues by Ghost In The Shell's Shuichi Hirata. But spectacular eye candy is not enough sustenance for a story that so strenuously defies comprehension. Adapted from the Clamp collective's graphic novels, X prophesies Tokyo's destruction at the hands of the Seven Dragons Of Earth, unless they're shown some resistance from the Seven Dragons Of Heaven. The mortal destined to fight in this battle royale is Kamui Shirô, whose name means "God's power" (though he also has an evil doppelganger to cancel that out), and he's joined by a vivacious stripper, a 14-year-old girl, and a magic wolf. Whatever power he's been given to resist such powerful, inhuman forces is never really explained, but it hardly matters, since the more exposition there is in anime, the more confusing it gets. Devotees probably won't mind, but X is unlikely to bring anyone else into the fold.