Les vengeurs de l'espace

Please note that I am judging from the English dub VHS, which I was lucky enough to discover in a pawn shop. Phoenix 2772 was a movie by Osamu Tezuka, inspired by his "Hi no Tori" series of comics (which were a series of short stories spanning centuries which were connected by the concept of the legendary Phoenix), which features a young man named Gadoh who, after having a run-in with the law, escapes the earth in order to capture the Phoenix, and ends up going through a trial of self-discovery.

You kind of have to understand the author and have a really open mind (and a tolerance for less-than-stellar delivery--more on that later). Osamu Tezuka was not your average manga author: He wasn't content to just tell stories of heroes and villains, but of deep characters with human personalities. His stories usually had some form of moral to them, but he didn't hamfist it or deliver it in a package, like in a Disney cartoon, but rather told sweeping, epic stories wrapped around the point he was trying to convey, but delivered in such a way where it was never shoved down your throat. Moreover, he felt stories shouldn't be limited to feel-good adventures or comedy, and thus most of his stuff had a very emotional quality to it. I personally feel Phoenix 2772 delivered on that.

Yes, the film won't immediately make sense if you go in, expecting a Disney-esquire song and dance number with a lot of feel-good moments and a "good guys always win" message. What instead needs to happen is that one needs to forget how things "should" work and instead prepare for anything. With an open mind and a little bit of thought, the story of this film makes perfect sense.

The weak point is one that's not a fault of the story or the creator, but rather of the translators: The English dub is bad. Mouths move, yet no one is talking. The voice actors sound like they're trying to sound natural, but forget that they're voice acting for an animated movie, so we have moments where mouths are moving yet no one is talking, and things like that. One flaw I particularly noticed is that the Phoenix of the title is always referred to as "272" instead of "2772," and no one could quite decide how to pronounce the main character's name (is it Godah, Gadoh, Gardoh, etc.) But... if you can overlook this and you can stand films that require you to think instead of just delivering all the answers to you on a silver platter, then this one is worth a try, even if you can only find the English dub version (which DOES seem to have been edited).

If you like space opera and golden age sci-fi, you should watch Firebird 2772 right now. Even if you are not a fan of anime, you should watch it at least once. I'm not a fan of anime, but I never miss a good sci-fi drama.

This film can be summed up in one word: Retro. Ah the late 70s/early 80s when voice acting was bad and dubbing worse. Because of the age of this film, a subbed version is difficult to find and it isn't available at all on DVD. If you snoop about the online market places, however, you can usually find an old video rental copy of the horrendous English dub on VHS for around $10-$8.00. The painful English voice acting aside, and the rather groovy character design (bell-bottoms, big shoes and bad hair- hey it was 1979, NOBODY had good hair) the movie is actually quite enjoyable. Be aware that this film definitely falls under the category of "experimental film". It employs some unusual animation techniques for the time. Anyone familiar with Osamu Tezuka's "star system" will be amused to see whom he casts in what part. Kenichi and Sapphire take starring roles as Godo and Lena and Rock- as per usual- plays himself as the villainous but not necessarily evil minister of science. The movie centers primarily around two intertwining plot lines: the love triangle between Godo, his robot nursemaid Olga, and Rock's fiancé Lena as well as the more obvious contention between Rock and Godo over the fate of their home planet (which is rapidly deteriorating) and who will win Lena's affections. It's a long movie, a solid two hours, and begins to drag a bit right around the part where Godo and Co. must battle the Phoenix. However things get interesting again and Tezuka takes an extra 20min or so to wrap up the film with his usual "harm not the earth" message. All in all, the voice acting is forgivable due to the trippy animation, weird storyline, and back-handed Star Wars references. I give it an 8 out of 10. I'd probably like the subbed version even more.

This movie is for anyone that thinks all Japanese Anime is good anime. There are parts of this 'movie' that make me think it was cut down from a series, but other parts that look like loss on the sides from the transition from widescreen. Too bad they couldn't lose the whole movie while they were at it.

It is far too convoluted, unevenly paced. characters drop dead in ways that suggest that we should care more than we do (Hence the 'cut from a series' theory) and the ending made about as much sense of the rest of the movie.

As a brief outline; The hero gets sent to space school to be a pilot. How he qualifies for this is not explained, but he musta been good, 'cos he already had a uniform on. Within 15 minutes, he attends school, gets in trouble with the law about visiting a garden, falls in love with a politician's daughter, is caught with said daughter and is sent to a labor prison. The plot picks up from there (Sort of). He then escapes and goes off into outer space to find the Firebird after stopping to pick up some really lame friends. When you're on the run, I guess you can't be too choosy.

I made a copy from a local late night tv broadcast and like to show it to my friends now and then as an example of what bad anime looks like.

Steelblade

I saw this movie when i was 7 years old and i still remember it as th e matter of facts i have it on my collection, it may look not good to adults or to the "newer" anime fan. but to me this is a classic(note it's very suitable for children) if you grew up with Starzinger(Spaceketeers) Mazinger Z, Voltes V, Techno Police 21C, Starblazers, Space Warriors Baldios many more from the era you will enjoy this! You will love Olga (Godo's female cyborg) and Pincho (friendly alien pet)This is the original serialized story for the theatrical film "The Phoenix," the theme of which is the immortality of life. Against the background of a futuristic universe, Godo, who at first has karma as a human being, is transformed into a god through numerous ordeals. As this was the first full-animated film, the outlines of human figures are slightly blurred, presenting a technical problem to be overcome. The entire story reflects Tezuka Osamu's desire to portray transformation, including the episode in which a female-shaped robot falls in love with a man and has her dream granted by the Phoenix.

Winner of the Inkpot Award at the 1980 San Diego Comic Convention, and the

Animation Award at the 1st Las Vegas Film Festival, 1980