Wings of Honneamise

The planet's first space explorers just happen to be from a land engaged in a border war. This naturally lends urgency to any mission of peaceful exploration, and this is the central message of the film: that we should strive to achieve the impossible, rather than wasting our efforts and squandering our lives bickering with our neighbors. Mankind's future is among the stars.

With its grand sweeping cityscapes and pastoral vistas to tempt the eye and its exciting race against time story of hard working rocket builders struggling to finish their creation before their construction facility is overrun by an invading army, this movie is great fun, marvelous to look at, just a joy to watch.

Wings of Honneamise is what you'd call a work of "higher" science fiction; just like the fantasy genre is divided into swords-and-sorcery books (such as the Dragonlance series or the crap David Eddings writes - sorry, couldn't help myself) and more mature writings, such as A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le-Guin and the works of Lord Dunsany and J.R.R. Tolkien, so the SF genre can be divided into "higher" and "lower" SF. Lower SF consists of large ships, big lasers, mechas, and is epitomized in the works of Edward "Doc" Smith, George Lucas's Star Wars trilogy and most animes out there. Higher science fiction, in my eyes, ,means Philip K. Dick, Stanislaw Ulam, and Wings of Honneamise, or WOH for short.

WOH focuses on man's first attempt to launch a manned satellite into orbit around the earth; only it's not our earth, but rather a similar parallel world. The space program is ridiculed by almost everybody, including the main hero, until he meets a religious young woman who changes his mind. We follow the hero's training for the program and watch as he slowly matures from the apathetic dropout he begins out as.

This movie is about a lot of things: war, religion, politics, courage, friendship and more. It's much more than a "man goes to space" sort of film, like "Apollo 13" (starring Tom Hanks) is.

The depth and realism of this movie is astounding. During one scene where there's an explosion and water flies everyway, you can notice a rainbow in the background, which fades as the water scatters. The world is highly detailed and even the physics is correct (I always suspend belief when watching SF movies, but this one does a good job of getting the science right, as opposed to almost every other movie).

The weakest part of this movie is the music. It's well written but poorly executed in parts - it's always embarrassing to hear 1987 synthesizers attempt to mimic orchestral instruments. Ugh.

Regarding the rape scene, which seems to upset so many people: this can be understood based on her faith. Blaming Shirotsugh would on the part of Requinni (I hope the name is spelled that way) be admitting that even as he goes to the stars man is imperfect, an admission she is not willing to make. So instead she decides to take the blame on herself. The scene is unrealistic perhaps in today's PC America, but Requinni is anything but today's PC America. Whether or not it suits the tastes of the viewer - that's another question.

For all the flaws in this movie (actual or perceived), I have to admit that ending has stuck with me since I first saw the dubbed version five years ago. All that fighting, all that posturing--for what? No one end up caring, no one listens to their pleas for the end of violence. It is very easy to understand how these moviemakers were able to later make Neon Genesis Evangelion, which has many of the same issues (religion, an examination of the belief that some people have that "the way justifies the means," technology and the use and misuse of it by humans, etc.).

The biggest problem I have with the movie is the attempted rape scene and the victim's subsequent forgiveness of the perpetrator (the hero of the movie). I couldn't tell whether the filmmakers were being sarcastic of her religion or if they really felt it was a good thing for her to forgive him--or if they needed that scene at all. I bought the DVD, hoping that the director's commentary would shed more light on the subject--they spend more time discussing how the cels (of the girl naked) were stolen before they could give them to friends than they did explaining the purpose of the scene in the movie.

Another thing is that Wings doesn't completely break out of the anime mold to become a mainstream film--it occasionally slips into anime-style slapstick and there's a few too much insider talk (both in technological aspects and inside jokes).

Beyond that, it is a daring, engrossing but deliberately-paced animated film.

The only way I can describe how this film makes me feel is to compare it to a child watching My Neighbor Totoro. It is animation but not quite what you see everyday. It has a plot but it has subtle and even hidden depth.

To me this film is so good that it ceases to be "just anime" to become film art in the truest sense: it conjures up an imaginary world and makes it real, people have troubles and tribulations and we identify with them, everything comes to conclusion and we are changed by it and for the better.

For people think this is just sunday network cartoons two hours long I recommend watching this alongside Apollo 13 and/or Forrest Gump and try to find the analogies, you'll be surprised.

The only frustrating thing about Hiroyuki Yamaga's exhilarating sci-fi anime is that - astonishingly - it has not (yet) been released on region 2. But I would urge all UK manga fans to purchase a region-free DVD player just to watch it - it's that good. Alternatively, order the region-free Blu-ray disc.

Eschewing mecha battles and purple hair, The Wings of Honneamise is an epic poem about peace. One imagines it's the kind of thing Hayao Miyazaki would show his kids once they've grown out of Laputa and Spirited Away (as if that's possible!). Set in an alternate universe, it tells the story of an apathetic young man, Shiro Lhadatt (Leo Morimoto), who signs up to become the first man in space. As the countdown begins, the mission attracts the interest of the public, the media, and finally the military, while a sorrowful religious girl, Riquinni Nonderaiko (Mitsuki Yayoi), attracts the interest of Shiro himself.

It's a fable about the human spirit with echoes of Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff. Indeed, the climactic message won't take you by surprise - but what fun it is getting there. Yamaga's world is fairly bustling with life, all realised with sumptuous animation and some wonderful retro-modern art direction from Hiromasa Ogura (who would go on to work on manga favourites Ninja Scroll and Ghost In The Shell). Shiro's journey to his destiny is full of incident - flying lessons, explosively malfunctioning equipment, an exciting foot chase from a deceiving assassin - but also complemented with moments of dreamy calm. These peaceful moments are not simply excuses for some pretty ethereal music and absent wandering beneath neon verandas; they speak of Shiro's new sense of reflection, of his growing introspection.

Special mention should be made of Ryuichi Sakamoto's score. Like so much of his work, it is considered, emotive and memorable.

It's the best adult Japanese animation ever made, of that I'm certain. And it really isn't for children - this region 1 release retains an attempted sexual assault scene which was cut (by Manga Video, not the BBFC) for the UK video release. Moreover, the religious and political overtones, combined with the patient pacing, may be somewhat testing upon a younger child's attention span. Teens and older should buy it, love it, and feel inspired.