En defensa de la ciudad tesoro

I saw this movie a couple of days ago. I thought this one is one of the best in the recent anime films including Miyazaki's. Even satisfied more than 007.

Based on the comic by Matsumoto Taiyo (also Ping Pong), Michael Arius, who joined Animatrix production, directed the film. As he knows many Japanese old downtowns and landscapes, his way of constructing the imaginary town is so real though many Asian tastes are added, and I believe the town in the film must attract Americans too. The story is basically fights between two boys and intruders, old traditions and new. I also impressed how this Anime can express things which I have not felt in the other Anime films. Michael gathered many best creators in Japan and the world. I really recommend Tekkon to you all.

By the way, MOMA's Artforum picked up this film as #1 in 2006. http://www.artforum.com/inprint/id=12076

This will be brief because I'm not sure what to say. I don't mean that in a bad way, its just that trying to describe this film is not at all easy.

Tekkonkinkreet is the story of two kids named Black and White. They are known as the Cats and are considered by some to be the protectors of a part of the city known as Treasure Town. As a year goes by a yakuza captain returns to the city and a man named Snake appears with his eye on turning that part of the city into an amusement park.

I'm explaining it badly, forgive me, since this is a film thats better to experience than to hear about. Using a mix of 2D and 3D cgi this is a film that is vibrantly alive. There is a real sense of place that is missing from many animated films. The world bleeds off the screen. The film rarely sits still its constantly in motion as characters go from place to place or engage in battles for life and death. Its an amazing thing to watch.

The characters are very real. I watched the film with the English dub (I know boo hiss) and the choices of actors was wonderful. The voices of the kids were kids and seemed to perfectly match their personalities. The same goes for the other characters as well. What I liked was that the kids were kids. They seemed to be real kids behaving in the situations presented. Granted the film is wildly fantastical but the personalities and behaviors outside of the running and jumping and beating people up was real.

A word of warning, this is a dark film at times. There is a great deal of violence, which despite being animated is very nasty and bloody. The film also has some dark undertones as some of the characters slip into the darkness of their souls. Its disturbing enough to get an R rating.

On the down side the film takes a while to get going. I was about a third of the way in before it started to click with me. No doubt it was due in part to the very large cast of characters. (I'm certain this is going to play better on a second viewing). My other problem with the film was a shift towards the end which makes me think I may have missed something along the way. I feel as though I missed the climax of somethings. (Again this will probably be better on the next viewing) Over all worth a shot. definitely see this in widescreen since the compositions are geared to that.

Tekkonkinkreet opens this year's Animation Nation festival, running from today until 1 Dec 07, showcasing a selection of animated feature films, shorts and documentaries from around the world. Last year, the festival scored a coup in having Paprika screened just after its Japan premiere I believe, and had the noir styled Renaissance screened too. This year, both Tekkonkinkreet and the highly acclaimed 5 Centimeters Per Second were sold out in days when tickets when on sale, and it's a pity I may not be able to catch the latter due to conflict in schedules.

Nonetheless, Tekkonkinkreet lived up to its hype, although I found the story to be a little too perplexing for my liking. I guess with Japanese anime, some come with a huge dose of the fantastical, and you might not catch all in one screening, leading to longevity as you discover something new each time you view the movie. The story centers on 2 orphans, Black and White, who are essentially the Cat clan, guarding their city Treasure Town from perceived external threats. But they soon find that the big boys such as the Yakuza are slowly muscling their way in to establish money spinning business in the form of theme parks (heh), and inevitably discover they are within the crosshairs of a major turf war.

The attention paid to detail is simply amazing, as it seems like not a pixel on the canvas was wasted. Treasure Town itself is a sight to behold, with its dizzying levels that don't seem to end, and the camera playfully whizzing through buildings, bridges, nooks and crannies giving sense to claustrophobia. It's like Gotham City, only brighter, messier, and of course, without the Dark Knight, now instead, having Black and White play vigilante, Batman and Robin style. Being just boys, they possess (and here's where its fantastical) superhuman skills, putting martial arts swordsman to shame with their ability to scale buildings with the ease of a simple leap.

Yes, our boys have skills like the Yamakasi, only that it's magnified ten thousand times. The set action pieces are excitingly crafted with excellent sound effects and design going into overdrive. The action pieces are spaced out quite well, starting with the satisfying chase sequence with Dusk and Dawn, with the flight-for-your-life battles with robotic assassins, and topped off with the urban legend Minotaur justifying his status. In between the fights are the quieter moments of course, with subplots that put the spotlight on the myriad of Yakuza characters, and the brotherly love shared between Black and White, who share a dream of an idyllic life at the beach house, where they can live in peace from the unnecessary bustle of the city, and from the trouble that comes looking for them.

Based on the manga by Taiyo Matsumoto, I suspect there being a need to read up and do some research in order to appreciate this movie more. Akin to a cyberpunk movie where you can read its multiple layers, Tekkonkinkreet is first and foremost a visual spectacle, hands down, and doesn't fail in providing a Wow factor with its presentation.

This film is amazing. I can't put it in any words better than that. If you're an anime fan that enjoys a lot of variety you need to see this film, no questions asked. The animation to this movie is bizarre but yet very vivid at the same time to the point of where you're saying exactly what I said in my summary: "Wow!" The storyline is where it continues to get better. It seems like it's an average tale of two brothers who are heroes to a town and do great things but it turns out that there's so much more. The heroes are both good and bad (just as their names describe: Black and White) and the villains are as bad as they come. The only issue is that some of the storyline leaves a couple holes at the end, making you wonder what happened but yet giving you an idea in your head of what you think might've happened. Nevertheless, although Tekkonkinkreet is rated R and very violent, it's still a great movie that I truly believe any anime fan will come to love.

Eye-watering Japanimation might not have all the spit-shined polish afforded a Miyazaki production, though any excuse offered from the same studio that provided many eclectic animated thrills with the Animatrix compilation could only be explained by admiring their unabashed passion for detail. Nearly every frame of this marvelous, Manga-adapted feature is littered with an unprecedented level of specific illustrations that really aims to set the bar for sheer artistic commitment. It is the city itself that rules the film, and these passionate animators do not disappoint when it comes to delivering scene after scene showcasing an unfathomable detail rendered in these massive, severely inspired cityscapes.

First time Director Michael Arias does stumble a bit at times, making the episodic material feel that way, but we do see a compelling fusion with CGI effects in many of the action scenes that make this visually stimulating feast rise to fluidly spectacular levels. Despite many pratfalls found in the script, sometimes silly voice acting (common in the genre), and some (at times) counter-intuitive pacing, scene-for-scene Tekon kinkurîto (US title is Tekkonkinkreet) will probably remain the most compulsively rewatchable, primarily hand-drawn work of art to be savored by pencil-aficionados until the next driven team of artists desires even more.