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Tekkon Kinkreet 
Actors : Yoshinori Okada, Nao Omori, Min Tanaka, Sanchu Mori, Yusuke Iseya
Director : Michael Arias
Studio : Sony Pictures
by Sony Pictures
Brand : Sony
Release Date : 2007-09-25
Publisher : Sony Pictures
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 0043396190689
UPC : 043396190689
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 48 reviews)
List Price : $19.94
Our Price : $10.49
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Product Description |
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From the creators of Animatrix comes this visually-stunning new anime film based on a popular Japanese manga written by Taiyo Matsumoto. In Treasure Town where the moon smiles and young boys can fly life can be both gentle and brutal. This is never truer than for our heroes Black and White two street urchins who watch over the city doing battle with an array of old-world Yakuza and alien assassins vying to rule the decaying metropolis. TEKKONKINKREET is a dynamic tale of brotherhood that addresses the faults of present day society true love lost and the kindness of the human heart.A brutal elegy for our changing times as well as a tour-de-force of visual artistry TEKKONKINKREET is a deeply resonant story with a heart. The title TEKKONKINKREET is a play on the Japanese words for concrete iron and muscle and it suggests the warring images of steel and concrete cities amassing against the powers of the imagination. Until now at least in imports abroad anime style has almost entirely been characterized by wide-eyed heroes big robots and uninspired plotting. TEKKONKINKREETjettisons these stereotypes in favor of a more realistic European ethos successfully incorporating engaging child characters and a complex action plot into a poetic engaging story.System Requirements:Run Time: 111 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ANIMATION/ADULT SWIM Rating: R UPC: 043396190689 Manufacturer No: 19068 |
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Americancivilwar.com |
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Tekkonkinkreet (2006) is a landmark in the increasing cross-pollination between Japanese and American animation: Based on a manga by Taiyo Matsumoto, the film was made in Japan at Studio 4C, but directed by American Michael Arrias. The story unfolds in Treasure Town, a scabrous metropolitan slum so gritty it makes the viewer want to clean under his fingernails. Orphans White and Black share an existence at the fringes of an already marginalized subculture. White seems naive, if not learning disabled: at 11, he can't tie his shoes or dress himself. But he has an uncanny sixth sense about what's happening in Treasure Town. Older, streetwise Black looks after White and receives the emotional support he needs in return: They're two halves of a damaged whole. The arrival of a murderous yakuza boss who wants to demolish Treasure Town and build an amusement park draws Black and White into an escalating spiral of physical and emotional violence. Although the ending of Tekkonkinkreet feels needlessly obscure, it's a striking and often powerful film from a first-time director. (Rated R: violence, grotesque imagery, brief nudity, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon |
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Pretty great single disc~ |
I gotta say, for a single disc release, it's got loads of useful and interesting information for those interested in animation.
The 300-day Diary with director Michael Arias was the most interesting of the features, in my opinion. His road to completing this film was such a bumpy one, that one can only appreciate it even more. His struggle with some of the animation sequences, and solutions... my only wish was to have dedicated a short period of time on how they went about the work with the voice actors, which I thought was great.
There's also a small sneak peek at how Plaid worked on the music for the film.
Also appreciated, the various tracks of subtitles and audio tracks! |
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Amazing images, so-so plot |
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Even though I loved this director first American feature in the Animatrix I have to say I was rather dissapointed with the overall feeling of this movie. Great scenarios and control of the camera but sometimes the overall sluggish look of the characters got annoying. Also, even though this is an anime the movie was moving utterly slow. |
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Thin Storyline, Good Theme, Nice Artwork |
Tekkon Kinkreet
This was based on the Manga Black and White. I have to say I was a little disappointed in this one. I enjoyed in, but it left a gaping whole where I wanted closure. The art style is unique to say the least. The action is brutal, yet subtle. The story is barely even a major factor. This movie is more based off the relationship between Black and White. It obviously is a symbolic representation of Yin and Yang; you must have both to function correctly.
Black and White are kids known as the Cats on the streets of Treasure Town. Treasure Town is an extremely undeveloped town, run mostly by the Yakuza. Black and White usually cause havoc while trying to protect their territory and there town. Black is a serious warrior. He develops well throughout the course of our story. At first he is fighting to protect White, but soon we see he has his own demons. White is a slow child. White doesn't do much except act weird. For some reason, he has "all the screws Black needs." You will find out what that means through the course of the movie.
A new boss takes his place at the top of the Yakuza. He demands that Treasure Town be reborn in his image. He wants amusement parks, casinos, and other moneymaking machines to flood Treasure Town. Obviously, this does not sit well with our ally dwellers, Black and White. Black causes chaos for the Yakuza, which causes them to sent giant super-human type men after them. White is almost killed by one of them and eventually taking away from Black. Black oddly enough, falls to his demons and allows for White to leave. I will leave the rest of the plot to your observational skills.
The plot may sound thick, but it isn't as deep as one might think. There is another whole side-story with a man named Rat, a Yakuza member, being caught up in the new plan for the city. He hates it, but knows he can do nothing about it. That story plays a less significant role though. The main picture is more of a man VS himself type plot. Black needs White to keep him in balance. Can Black defeat his demons and return to White? That is the basic concept of the entire movie. I like this idea, but a dense story in the background didn't help this movie out.
The art in this movie is great. Everything looks very detailed, except for the actual people. The people have a styles all of their own. They are less detailed, but have a certain appeal to them. This was probably one of my favorite art styles I have seen so far.
The extras on this one are a commentary track and a few other small things. There is nothing that I really felt was worth looking at. The film has a great theme, that you need to keep yourself balanced, but a thin story brings this one down for me. The Yakuza wasn't even really part of the main plot, so their existence felt almost meaningless to me. |
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From here you can see everything... |
Based on a Japanese manga and created by a Japanese studio, yet written and directed by Americans, this movie still doesn't lack authenticity like I was worried that it might. The story it tells is fairly universal, focusing on the bond of brotherhood.
The 2 main characters, White and Black (friendS? brothers? the movie never really makes it clear) live in Treasure Town, a very vibrant city that's easily one of the most amazing things I've seen in animation. Yet this city, despite looking like a huge playground, is actually a bit of a wreck, where gangs fight for control and where crime is rampant. The first half of the story focuses on Black and White's bonds and their life as the Cats, the gang that owns the city. The second half features a new mob boss entering and attempting to gain control with his alien cohorts who seem nearly invincible.
The movie does lose a bit of interest as it beings to verge into the supernatural (those alien things really didn't fit in at all, I didn't think,) and the resolution, involving, like many anime's, a trip inside of the head of the main character, may leave mixed feelings on some viewers. The pacing's a little off as well...the first half may be too slow for some while the 2nd half doesn't ever really stop with the action and the chase scenes, which may wear some down. Still, we have a great anime here where the city's the star of the show. Somehow my favorite scene in the movie takes place during the second half of the credits, where you simply see shots of the city as a song from the Asian Kung-Fu Generation plays in the background. It's an amazing setting and even though it was only made for 5 million dollars, it looks, to me, much better than most hundred-million+ CG movies made today. It's not perfect (Despite the R-rating it seems to play it a bit safe at times...Black never seems to kill his rival gangsters even though the script and direction seems to act like he does,) but it's definitely a movie worth seeing. The first half hour in particular is just stunning.
Note; there IS an option for an English dub on the disc. The director (in interviews) has actually recommended the English dub, and while I don't agree with him, I will say that it's much better than the dubs you find in most anime. That said, though, a lot of the dialogue (especially White's) seems extremely corny when spoken aloud in English...and overall it does dampen the story a bit, so I'd recommend the Japanese language with subtitles. If you MUST hear it in English, at least you can be assured that the performances are good and it actually fits fairly well. |
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style trumps confused narrative |
***1/2
"Tekkon Kinkreet" is a sporadically engaging, though frequently confusing, anime gangster film from director Michael Arias. The story, based on the comic book by Taiyo Matsumoto, focuses on two homeless orphans, one named Black and the other White, who live on the streets of Treasure Town, a seething cauldron of criminality, vice and corruption. Black fancies himself a superhero crime-fighter, while White, who is given to extrasensory knowledge and visions, dreams of one day moving away from the city and getting a home of their own on the beach. Thanks to Black's insistence on taking on the bad guys, both youngsters get caught up in a turf war between the Yakuza and some robot-like killers who are duking it out for ownership of the city.
Fans of anime will find much to enjoy in this film, which is marked by beautifully detailed urban landscapes, exciting action and chase sequences, occasional lyrical flights into fantasy, and a sometimes touching tale about commitment and friendship centered on the two young boys. On the other hand, the plethora of characters and occasional narrative incoherence can make it difficult at times to understand what exactly is going on, particularly when the story takes a decidedly metaphysical turn (with imagery taken straight out of "Contact") in the final half hour. Still, the visuals alone make it worth a gander. |
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