Dead Leaves
2004 film by Hiroyuki Imaishi
Dead Leaves is a 2004 Japanese animated science fiction film produced by Manga Entertainment and Production I.G and directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi. It was distributed in Japan by Shochiku, in North America, Canada and the U.K. by Manga Entertainment, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. The film is notable for its fast pace and energetic visual style.
Plot
In a dystopian Earth, Retro and Pandy, two unlikely renegades, awaken naked with no memory of their former lives, but with superior physical abilities. The two embark on a brief but devastating crime spree for food, clothing, and transportation in downtown Tokyo, but are arrested and sent to the notorious prison Dead Leaves, on the half-destroyed Moon.
Once incarcerated, Retro and Pandy are subjected to activities inside the prison facility, such as forced labor, straitjackets, and mandatory defecation. The facility is led by a warden named Galactica, while the prison guards, 666 and 777, two super-powered prison guards, oversee the activities.
Later, upon realizing Dead Leaves is also a cloning facility, Retro and Pandy have sex and orchestrate a mass prison break. The two later recall further memories as spies who once worked at the facility. To exact revenge on Pandy, Galactica re-creates a deranged fairy tale she remembers from her childhood.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Dead Leaves” is 2004 film by Hiroyuki Imaishi. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Dead, Leaves and film, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “2004 film by Hiroyuki Imaishi” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2745595. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Dead Leaves”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Dead Leaves primary sources, Dead Leaves archive and Dead research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dead Leaves”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Dead Leaves” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.