Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise

Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise_360P

Unfortunately this film lacked pretty much everything. Very little story line witch made the film bland and confusing at times. the over all pace of it was extremely slow and very boring to watch. Just to add to the already horrific attempt at romance in there was actually a scene where the main character goes to rape the girl he likes. She then goes on to say sorry the next day for defending her self against the attack and acts like nothing happens making it harder and harder to get behind the "hero" and the piss poor attempt at a animated movie. The only reason i have give this a 2* and not 0 is the artwork was amazing and had some stunning scenes and great animation and the artists deserve that credit but everything else about this film was terrible and i'm appalled at how highly this has been rated.

It's been a while since I've watched this film, but it holds a place in my collection because of the stellar ending, as pointed out by a fellow poster child. Visually fabulous with an evocative score by one of the composers of the music for "The Last Emperor." This film is definitely of another culture, though. The pacing is completely different from American animation: stately, deliberate, observant. I was distracted by the slow pacing. Didn't care for it. Almost made the movie too much of an effort to stay awake for. But wow, what a finale. The viewer is treated to carefully edited shots of the giant spacecraft lifting off the launch pad amid a land-air battle between two warring factions. Just stunning.

Wings of Honneamise must have been an incredibly personal experience for the headstrong young animators who willed it into existence in the mid-eighties. How deeply they must have related with Shiro and his friends, since both the animators and the Royal Space Force are inexperienced but talented groups of people, extremely lucky to have the funding that they do, who manage to achieve something truly breathtaking. Any great animated film is a celebration of mankind's artistry, technology, and creative vision, and so is the rocket that the characters in the film finally build after so much hard work and so many lost lives. I've never been brought to tears by a movie, but this film brought me pretty close. The film is, however, flawed. I simply cannot fathom why the girl reacts to the rape attempt the way she does. I mean, SHE APOLOGIZES for fending the guy off. Either the topic should have been dealt with more realistically or those scenes should have been left out of the movie. But the movie is good enough to make up for it. Really, I think it's still deserving of a ten out of ten. Even great movies can make mistakes (Psycho, for example, has that worthless scene at the end where the psychiatrist over-simplifies everything). But you can make up your own mind. As usual for an anime, all positive comments are made in reference to the subtitled version only.

THIS is what hand-drawn anime should be. Not pink, spiky-haired characters with big eyes. I've been a fan of "anime" since Astro Boy in the 60's, and for the most part, it hasn't progressed. A whole world is draw up and populated. Much seems familiar, like the Russian-inspired rocketry, and the inter-nation conflicts. Much is original, and quite believable. Of course, I am the type that watches this in Japanese, with English subtitles. How else are you supposed to get some of the nuances and inflections? I gave it a 9, and think it deserves it for profundity of the art of animation.

An old anime classic. Not what many would expect from anime, there isn't heaps of guns or robot or weird mythology, it's just a simple story. The two combating nations in the parallel world to ours, remind me of a cross between the US & USSR (although cooling, the Cold War was still alive & well when this film was made in 1987) mixed with a cross between North & South Korea. The animation is very good, & holds up well even in 2004, though the soundtrack while very catchy, shows the age of the film with the 1980's synthesizer.

Wings of Honneamise has a lot going for it. It doesn't want to be the typical anime. Its slow, focused on drama, analyzing subjects like politics, religion, war, celebrity, and the ethics of space flight. Our main character is not particularly moral or smart, exaggerated by the media, but still develops through the film, growing in ambition and understanding of life. The animation is incredible for the time - it had a giant budget for an anime film, and you can see it in the detail on the machinery and background. There is a lot of world building, making the alternate Earth familiar, yet distinct. As a cherry on top, it tries to be accurate with its portrayal of space flight, much more so than most sci-fi. It wasn't a perfect match for me, but I recognized that this is a quality film. I was going to give it an 8, acknowledging this could easily be your next favorite. But of course...there's that ONE scene that threatens to break the film in half - where our main character attempts to rape his love interest. Its been debated for years whenever or not it contributes to Shiro's character, if its misogynistic, or both. Its enhanced the film for many, ruined it for others. Personally? I thought it was a moral event horizon for our lead. In any other film, this would be his rock bottom. Their relationship would be destroyed. Shiro would be haunted by the guilt, yet still treated as a hero by the media that doesn't truly know him. Shiro and Riquinni's relationship would never fully heal, at best coming to some understanding. But the writing treats the event like Shiro slapped Riquinni on the cheek. The incident is quickly swept under the rug, their relationship no better or worse than before. Shiro gives a few lines on good and evil, but not 5 minutes after the incident, there is a WHACKY chase scene as he runs away from a gun-touting old lady and a street sweeper! There is no proper redemption for this character. The attempted rape scene could have been removed, and you wouldn't have noticed! Its so sudden, yet has so little bearing to the plot. We're still expected to root for Shiro, not as a dark, troubled soul, but as an awkward, inexperienced pilot. The assault does not follow this tone at all. At best, its a contrived attempt to add drama. At worst...it forces in fan service through the sleaziest way possible. Regardless of intentions, it pulls the film down. Everything else is so well-done it only drops a single star. Its great - but what was Gainax thinking!?

A definite love letter to space-race! Sadly, I didn't "like it". I certainly appreciate the beyond-impressive visuals and animations, and world-building (how people live, made-up alphabet and numeric system) made for this alternate-world Earth! A project made to show a studio's ridiculous talent! ..not to make a marketable product. A beautiful movie that is worth watching for that alone. But the story is seemingly unstructured movie (although it has a very defined objective to which it develops).. with undefined characters and rushed development out of nowhere (and some questionable actions). Dead space and slowness. So, should this even be judged as a movie? If you know about it's production and such, no. As a general movie goer, it's kind of disappointing. It tries to convey a lot (about war, civilization, religion and mankind progress as a whole), but does so poorly. The story, as it is given to you, is disappointingly simplistic and lacking in many parts. MAYBE this is one of those movies that only a "lucky" few will come to truly understand, and only if they have access to whatever message, theme and ideas the creators wanted to impart onto it. So, if a part of the movie was undercooked, and another was their primary focus.. Why should we be expected to care?

Sumptuous animation and an evocative musical score take one on a journey through a world whose similarity to our own is enhanced by its subtle differences. The space race of the twentieth century is portrayed not only as a contest between war and peace, but also between mere subsistence existence and the drive to better ourselves. Add to that a touch of spirituality, and one has a deep, philosophical drama which thrives upon the freedom and beauty provided by animation. The plot: Two rival nations are vying for political and military dominance. The much ridiculed fledgling space program becomes a pawn in this power struggle as one nation tries to use it as a propaganda tool and bait to lure its rival into war. No one expects a real, working rocket ship to be created. At the center of the conflict is the brave, volunteer test pilot, who is transformed overnight from an air-force reject to the symbol of the new era. His physical ordeal of surviving the rigors of flight training, not to mention the assassination attempts, becomes secondary to his attempts to justify the vast resources expended on the project while people are living in poverty just outside the training center. Finally, all worldly issues are transcended as the rocket actually lifts off (with stunning animation), much to the amazement of the troops fighting over its possession.

i saw this film for the first time quite a while ago yet i still watch it regularly, mainly because of the intricate and amazing animation, (the architecture deserves special mention) and the fact that it has a story line worthy of the visuals, something which is not common amongst manga films in my opinion. it is not without its faults however, for example the slightly confusing religious aspect of the film, and some might complain that it does not have enough action in it but apart from this i found it to be a complex and involving film with brilliant music and well rounded deep characters, if anyone knows of any further work from the people who made this film i would be grateful for any info.