It's complex. and exotic, but very human. No mecha, no cutsey mascots or droids, no epic battles. Yet it traces the story of one man and the people around him as they journey from commonplace to heroic. The pursuit of a dream, and the way it transforms and converts all those involved until they attain imortality.
This is not sexy, hip, or filled with ironic humor. It succeeds wonderfully in telling a compelling story. A thinking man's anime. Mankind worts and all, set in another place and time, a fresh take, not dated at all by the passing of years since it was made. You may start to watch it for the beautiful animation, and find yourself spellbound as I was.
Posted by Mark (puggs) at August 26, 2003 03:11 AM | TrackBackAww... no mecha? Seriously though, it sounds very interesting... I will certainly check it out when I get a chance. Thanks, puggs.
Posted by: Mollbot on August 26, 2003 02:30 PMI can confirm the most excellence of this film. I watched it years ago, and was very impressed.
Posted by: Eichra Oren on August 26, 2003 06:25 PMOne of my favorites. It's probably as close as you can get to "Art House" in anime. My only complaint with the film is that the middle third or so draaaagggggssss. They could have cut about twenty minutes out of the film without doing irreparable damage.
The ending on the other hand was outstanding. Excellent pacing, intensely dramatic. You really didn't know if they were going to beat the attack on the launch site. The aerial combat scenes were fantastic!
Yes, those scenes were incredible. The creater from the extras on the DVD said he was trying to create a period equivilant to around 1950, where jets were still in infancy and piston aircraft were at their peak. A dogfight like that isn't unthinkable.
I'm fond as well of the scences showing how primitive their technology was. How they literally were using beads and bearclaws. Their UNIVAC style computer was a great bit, I imagine Von Brann had similar experiences.
Posted by: Mark (puggs) on August 27, 2003 12:28 PM