TOONAMI ADULT SWIM
AKIRA
Distributed by: Toho
Budget: ¥1.1 billion
Box-Office: ¥6.35 billion
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Award(s): Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival 1992 – Won Silver Scream Award, Katsuhiro Otomo
Set in a recovering post-apocalyptic Tokyo with neo-noir elements, Akira was used as an indirect study and commentary to explore the values and themes of social isolation, corruption, power and the inherent sense of justice, of right and wrong that Humanity as a whole has deep within itself on an individual level. Originally a sprawling manga series, the film version condenses plot and characters considerably to what can be considered the essence of the series.
During its adaptation, Otomo retained and creative control over his magnum opus being translated for the big screen, and a huge alliance of corporations banded together to assist him in realizing an adaptation for the influential and popular manga series, both within Japan itself and in external markets, where Akira was one of the cornerstones in popularizing manga and anime in the West. Ranging from publisher Kodansha Ltd., Laserdisc Corporation, the distributor Toho and even the Sumitomo Corporation, Akira was well on its way with a never-before heard budget of over a billion yen for an animated feature.
During this period, most anime productions were infamous for cutting corners during production like animating only characters' mouths with basic lip-sync while their faces remained static. Akira however was rendered with detailed scenes, pre-recorded dialogue where characters' lips were animated to match them later in more than the production’s 160,000 animation cel stills.
Upon release, Akira drew critical acclaim from not only its production value but subject matter; it portrayed how even on a subconscious level, the twin bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had collectively impacted a nation and its people, the event and the subsequent fallout and consequences envisioned and fully realized to be put on display for the world to see. Assisted with deft characterization and a compelling story about what it means to be human, Akira has remained in the annals of animated cinema since its debut, consistently being hailed as one of the greatest animated and/or science-fiction films ever made.
REFERENCE: O'Neill, P. (2010). "Akira: No 22 best sci-fi and fantasy film of all time". The Guardian. Retrieved 08.04.12.
DEVELOPMENT
MACROSS: DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE?
Distributed by: Big West Advertising & Toho
Budget: ¥220 million
Box-Office: N/A Inconclusive records
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Award(s): N/A
Envisioned as a love triangle framed behind a war in space by series creator Shoji Kawamori, Macross is the product of disparate components which comprise of different genres of anime, but never having been used together. Themes which are serious and gritty in tone, such as the nature of warfare, reverse-engineering enemy alien technology and the argument of “us-versus-them” are offset with pop music, a love triangle and soap opera subplots.
Characters are reshuffled in events, but the outcome remains the same: The young and brilliant pilot Hikaru Ichijyo falls for the pop sensation of Earth, Lynn Minmay, but the nature of their professions and their changing attitudes during the war between Earth and Zentradi ultimately break them apart. Hikaru falls for a new love while Minmay regrets her decision for pushing him away, Minmay is kidnapped, and belligerent ace pilot Roy Focker dies a hero. These are the themes in Macross that have become the unconscious standard in good animation, where characterization is never sacrificed until only at the end of a character’s life.
The series derives its name from the gigantic city-spacecraft Macross, which functions as a metropolis-like Ark which can transform into a robot to better protect its citizens. Drawing heavy inspiration from Mobile Suit Gundam and having been envisioned as a light-hearted comedy by primary shareholders Wiz, Shoji Kawamori and the production team of Studio Nue faced the daunting task of buying back their own project when Wiz collapsed. When the company Big West intervened, they pared back Macross’s schedule to 27 episodes, not confident in the fledgling title.
When it debuted proper in 1982, Macross became an unbridled success. Big West greenlit another 36 episodes, by which the scheduling for the first Macross feature film was approved. In an unheard-of action at the time, Kawamori produced the Macross film as an adaptation of 13 key episodes from the series itself which he felt “cut to the very heart of Macross” rather than a new entry into the growing fictional universe. The completed title would carry the epithet “Do You Remember Love?”, which now is a mainstay of the themes of Macross: violence and destruction through war, but the hope of peace and reconciliation sometime in the future, no matter how long the conflict would rage.
REFERENCE: Miyatake, K. (2005). Macross and Orguss Design Works. Japan: Mobic. ISBN 4-89601-629-7.
DEVELOPMENT
5 CENTIMETERS PER SECOND
Distributed by: Bandai Entertainment
Budget: ¥25 million
Box-Office: N/A Inconclusive records
Location: Tokyo & Tanegashima, Japan
Award(s):
Lancia Platinum Grand Prize at the Future Film Festival - Best Movie in Animation or Special Effects
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2007 - Best Animated Feature Film, Noritaka Kawaguchi
In this coming-of-age film that takes place during the "lost decade" of Japan during the dawn of the 1990s to the heyday of the new millennium, 5 Centimetres Per Second derives its name for what main character Takaki says to his childhood sweetheart Akari as they walk to school together. He states the speed that cherry blossom petals fall is 5 centimetres per second, and he wonders aloud to her how fast he will have to travel to see her again. With the advent of personal phones and the internet only a pipe dream or a luxury only the elite can afford, the two write letters to one another to keep in touch as the physical distance between them grows, and they soon drift apart altogether.
Makoto Shinkai once again rears his brilliant mind, much to the fear of every moviegoer who wants to have a good time. His films are classified and recognized – some would even go as far to say they are notorious – for being emotional rollercoasters with beautiful backdrops, scenery and an almost dreamlike quality in their production.
Drawing upon themes now common in his work, such as loneliness, longing, innocence of a first love, infatuation and ultimately obsession, Shinkai presents a story divided along three parts: one during their childhood when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom but ends the sequence with winter, the second when they have moved away and are finishing college while the golden summer shines throughout, and the last act during adulthood where the cherry blossoms are about to bloom again.
Weaving a narrative that is densely plotted and filled with emotion in almost every scene, it always feels during any viewing of 5 Centimetres Per Second that an entire series has finished its run, rather than a simple three-act movie about two would-be lovers who have fate cheat them to the very end.
REFERENCE: Mowbry, A. (2007). "A Critical Look at Anime: From Akira to Princess Mononoke". Hofstra Papers in Anthropology. Archived from original on 07.03.07