Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise

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.

Honneamise no tsubasa is one of the most experimental animated features I have ever seen. It had some amazingly detailed and beautiful visual designs, deep concept and storyline, unique scenes that had never been done before, and so much more. Gainax had done a tremendous amount of research for this title, as a result they succeeded in virtually creating a new world, complete with its own culture, costumes, architecture, tradition, religion, rituals, etc. The character animation may lag at certain points and the film's pacing may feel a little bit too slow from time to time, but they are just minor gripes if you consider the overall greatness of the film. The Anime also contains some wonderful scenes that are practically some of animation's most glorious moments. It has the best ending I have ever seen in an animated feature, in fact, the last 20 minutes of the film are amazing beyond words. You have to see this film yourself , and definitely see it more than once. This is the anime not just for animation fans, but everyone who likes great and grandiose space opera in line of 2001: Space Odyssey

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.

Do not listen to anybody bagging this movie, they do not have the experience with anime to appreciate it. Wings of Honeamise is a pinnacle in Japanese animation, it took anime to it's popularity. It made anime known.