Deathmatch Tournament

In a post-apocalyptic New York City, the rats survive by forming rat gangs. One gang against another.

Angered by the death of one of their own and tired of living in subterranean sewers, the rats invade a food bank and brutally kill anyone who refuses to leave.

Defending themselves are a pair of NMA agents: Herbie, a sentient animated car, and his partner, Doc, a talking dog. They get involved in a battle for survival against the rat gang. Meanwhile, in an alley, a garbage man is violently killed by a rat.

The garbage man is the cousin of a mercenary named Cemetery. Cemetery exacts his revenge on the rats and rids the streets of them, but the rats have disappeared. Herbie and Dog believe they have found a survivor from the garbage man’s gang, a dog named Scooby (after the animal from Scooby-Doo). Cemetery, believing Scooby is a rat, chases him.

Scooby is shot and killed, and Cemetery finds himself as the target of the rest of the gang. Cemetery is able to rescue the garbage man’s daughter, Cindy. Meanwhile, Herbie and Dog enlist a street gang to do battle with the rats after they are attacked. Cindy is kidnapped by members of the gang, and Dog confesses that he, and not Herbie, is the mastermind behind the gang.

Dog then unleashes a brutal attack on the gang. He explains that he despises people for ignoring the plight of the homeless. In his effort to eliminate all the gang members, he accidentally kills Cindy. Cemetery arrives at the scene and tries to avenge her, but he is too late.

The garbage man’s gang is able to track down the rats and, using a hand grenade and a shotgun, are able to kill most of the rats, including their leader, Soda Pop. Cemetery and Cindy’s father are shown alive. Cemetery says that the war against the rats is not over until every single rat is dead.

Alternate version

In a post-apocalyptic world, the rats survive by forming rat gangs. One gang against another. Deathmatch tournament. Several months pass and there’s a new winner. The two finalists: Raton and Diablo, the greatest fighters of all time. The rat gang champions. The champions are given a beautiful rose each, and their faces appear on banknotes.

It’s not just a simple story. It’s a story about how money creates heroes. It’s about beauty being valued more than the human being. And about how we are filled with prejudices about the way every animal is just an animal, even if they have the form of humans.

We can apply the story of the banknotes to the arts with our eyes shut. It’s simple as ABC. First of all, it is about money that is valued on the basis of money itself, just like how artists and their works are valued. Then, it is about beauty, since there is no difference between Raton and Diablo on the surface. It is about having prejudices, because people are prejudiced about those who are different from them. And it is about how we become heroes when we get rich.

I understand that this is a completely different way of expressing it from the way I normally do, but I don’t like the fact that I’m supposed to be the kind of person that goes to exhibitions, reads books etc. Arts. I don’t believe I’m just an artist. I believe I’m an artist and someone who thinks about the world. So I thought I’d analyse the topic in a different way.

Art should be something that makes us humans think of the essence of the arts. We need more originality. But that doesn’t mean it’s not okay to do something similar (completely original works are few and far between). If there are too many similar works, people become bored and forget about the presence of arts (and about the very meaning of arts). I believe that’s how it works. In the future, when there are hundreds and thousands of different works, we will feel the greatness of arts once again. And thus, the moment we become bored, we will be able to become surprised once again.

I’m not saying that it’s bad that we give money to artists. I just want to say that a way of expression like mine, which is somewhat outside the whole system, is also possible. I’m not trying to criticize this system here, but I’m taking the opportunity to insist on my own creativity.

So, speaking of Japan, I believe that they are now realizing this themselves. A lot of people are gaining a lot of money, and that’s why artists and their works are valued so highly. There are lots of people who are searching for themselves, but I believe that the moment they become more sophisticated, they will gain a layer of difficulty. I’m not saying that the works that they are making now aren’t good, but I believe it’s nice if some of those works are stored away somewhere and used to create a sense of depth.

I’m sure that it’s possible. It would be nice if we could find new ways of expression, or works that do not exist yet. Don’t they make a lot of books in China? Isn’t it incredible? They wrote a lot of books in the west as well. I believe that new works can create new markets and industries. I’m sure that they can also bring us to a new world. I don’t know where the new world is. But I believe it’s possible to enjoy it somehow.

I still haven’t decided where to send the money though. (laugh)