Has anyone seen Tokyo Godfathers?

[auburngrad82]

I liked it. It was a takeoff of the Three Godfathers, which was a John Wayne western in which three gunfighters found a dying woman with a newborn baby and promised to take care of it. It's also a takeoff on the three wisemen who visited Jesus. In this case, the three godfathers are three homeless people with tons of emotional baggage. I really enjoyed it.

[YOY]

1. Truly great adult animation!

Anyone who thinks animation is only a medium for children's entertainment need to watch this flick!

You are not the only DUer who loved it!

[ContraBass Black]

2. Can you say more about the style?

[auburngrad82]

3. Hard for me to say since I'm mostly into watching, not analyzing but...

I would say it's artistically similar to Grave of the Fireflies. Not as dark and monochromatic as Ghost in the Shell or Akira but not as visually stunning as the Myazaki movies.

Hope that helps. My limited exposure to anime comes mostly from this group and what reading I've done.

[auburngrad82]

4. Here's a still from the film

[tlsmith1963]

5. The Screenwriter...

...is Keiko Nobumoto, who wrote many of Cowboy Bebop's best episodes. She also worked on Wolf's Rain. Nobumoto is great with characters & dialogue. I hope to see something new from her in the future.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. Just saw it last night and loved it!

The background artwork is stunning, almost photorealistic, and there was an amusing bit at the beginning, where the credits ran as street signs, billboards, and ads on the sides of buses and trucks. By the way, the artwork really captured what Tokyo looks like and much of the way they act. I loved the gossip session among the neighbors around the ruins of Sachiko's former house. That's exactly the way older women in Tokyo neighborhoods gossip.

In the story, three homeless people, including an alcoholic, a drag queen, and a runaway teenage girl, find a baby girl in a trash heap on Christmas Eve. The alcoholic wants to turn her in to the police right away, but the drag queen "always wanted to be mother" and insists that the child is a gift from heaven. Eventually, the three homeless people start wandering around the city in search of the baby's mother. After many plot twists, they end up in a stop frame where everyone's problems can potentially be solved.

A remarkable feature of this film is the characterization of the homeless people. Each of them is likable but seriously flawed, and the portrayals are largely sympathetic. The script is also sympathetic to illegal Brazilian immigrants, and even a yakuza gangster does a good deed.

I'd place this right up there with Grave of the Fireflies and Spirited Away as one of my all-time favorite anime.







These stills give you some idea of the quality of the animation.

[sakabatou]

7. A really good movie

Even if it seems a bit... weird.

[shenmue]

8. I thought it was good

It was funny.