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SUMMARY

On a different world is the country of Honneamise, ruled by an aristocratic government. While a tentative peace exists between Honneamise and Rimada, each side is always looking to gain the upper hand.

The military is very popular, except for one branch of the service, the Royal Space Force. The Space Force is led by General Khaidenn, a member of the royal family. Viewed as a joke by the Air Force, and considered a budgetary boondoggle by the press, the Space Force is one step away from being closed. Shiro Lhadatt is a Colonel in the Royal Space Force. Something an underachiever, Shiro cares nothing for the military way of life and is waiting for the first opportunity to get out.

His views on life change when he meets a young woman named Riquini, dispensing religious tracts on the street. Through her views of space being a place untouched by the evils of man, and her general excitement of the idea of manned space flight, Shiro volunteers to be the first astronaut.

So begins Shiro's and the Royal Space Force's epic journey into the vast expanse of space.

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: Decent, better than their own video release. The colors are clearer and the image sharper although, there are some light moments. There is some light artifacing on images with a solid color. While there is film grain and specks, these are from he source material. Some cleaning up would have been nice. As some have pointed out , the R2 release has much better quality. Unfortunately, for most people, they do not have access to this version. Compared to the Manga VHS version, the quality is better. A caveat to this is that depending on your system, you DVD may have a fuzzy or detail lacking picture.

AUDIO: Quite loud on the 5.1 English track. You do get to hear more of Ryuchi Sakamodo's distinctive score, and that is a plus. On the negative, there is a lack of clarity at times, making it difficult to tell the difference between the characters. I have herd better 5.1 mixes on both "Sol Bianca" and of course "Akira".

As far as the Japanese track goes, this is the original audio track, so you don't get any real surround sound. The voices are sharper, and more distinctive.

The audio commentary is typical for most. The directors are clear, while the movie is in the background.

Most of the action on both versions came from the front speakers of our Sony stereo, with background noise and music mostly from the speakers behind us on our Gateway.

EDITS: None. This movie has been left intact. The open and closing credits remain untouched. Just like their "Castle of Caglistro" release, they have place the English credits at the end of the movie. Unfortunately, the burned in subtitles remain on the "Space Force Anthem" segment.

EXTRAS: More than Manga Entertainment's usual practice of the Manga's KMFDM music video and a fan club catalogue. A deleted scene (never seen one of these on an anime DVD before), the original promotional short presented to Bandai Entertainment, character concept artwork, and a directors commentary round out a good bunch of extras.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: Nothing short of amazing. Hirouki Yamaga, who wrote, directed, and based the movie from his own short story, has created a beautiful and lyrical masterpiece. Combining a good blend of drama, theological discussion and comedy, this is the Japanese equal to the Right Stuff by Tom Wolf. His characters are real people, with motivations and desires that run very close to our own.

ACTING: The Japanese is superb. Full of dynamic rangeand emotion. You can feel the sarcasm and apathy in Shiro's voice. You believe Riquini's passion for the bible and her desire to bring people to God's path. The ensemble cast is very distinctive, each playing their character as if they have a suitable history.

English wise, it is a mixed bag. There are times where the delivery is a bit flat. Others, it seems like they were in a hurry.

FAN SERVICE: None. This is an epic story, so there is no real need for it.

CONCLUSION

Many things have been written about this movie. Countless lists have this movie in the top 10 anime of all time. This movie is always sold out almost as soon as it hits the shelves.

There is a reason for this. People love this movie. It is a thought provoking, deeply philosophical, and well written film. Just because it is Japanimation is not a reason for non-fans to pass it up. This movie goes beyond typical anime in its honest portrayal of the characters. As the general said to Shiro "Frankly, we didn't expect much of you". He was correct. When you meet him, he didn't even come to his friends military funeral in uniform. He is more interested in sleeping with Riquini than listening to her. As the story progresses, you grow with Shiro and you rejoice in his triumph’s, and cry when he falls. How many anime films can do that?

The writing is very sharp and clever. Plenty of light touches balance out what could be an overly dramatic story. For example, Shiro and the General are having a philosophical discussion about war in front of a picture of an angel flying over a battle in a forest. When the general asks "What do you see in this picture?", instead of seeing the soul of humanity rising above the scourge of war and making the philosophical discussion longer, Shiro says..."A woman’s butt." The general sighs and states "You would miss the forest for the trees."

This movie does not have a lot of "action" and for the casual viewer, you may get bored or find it hard to follow. Others may have a hard time "reading a movie" for two hours. Despite its flaws, the English cast do help to make this movie accessible to the non otaku.

On the technical side, a lot of complaints have surfaced about the quality of the transfer. When we first reviewed it, we did not notice any defects or impurities. As we rewatched this movie again with different equipment, we did notice some of the artifacts and so/so video transfer. While we still think that it is an improvement to the VHS, the hard core DVDphile will be disappointed.

Wings of Honneamise is a movie that pushed the bar on storytelling in anime. This is also one movie that can unite the casual fan and the otaku, and create a newand better understanding. This is a beautiful film, and one that should not be missed.

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