Otaku-Complex.com – Your Portal to Japan!

Premise: After being raised by a computer and a female robot, Godo is thrust into adulthood as a soldier and is given a mission to retrieve a strange, mystical, space creature who has the power to save the Earth from decades of pollution and environmental exploitation.

Chibi review: Enjoyed it and can understand why it blew folks’ minds at the 1980 San Diego Comic Con, however, the wacky comic relief ends up stealing energy from the over all flow of the film, leaving it feeling a little thin for me.  The animation is gorgeous, of course, but the message is heavy-handed (it is Tezuka, after all) and ultimately, I think the plot is just too thin.  Of course, for students of anime and manga, this movie is a must-see as it comes from Osamu Tezuka, aka the Walt Disney of Japan, having created “Astro Boy” (“Tetsuwan Atomu”), “Black Jack,” and countless other classics.

Dai review (SOME SPOILERS): In “Hi no Tori 2772: Ai no Kosumozon” (translated, probably incorrectly, by me to mean: “Firebird 2772: Cosmozone of Love”) follows the life of Godo, a man raised in a world not too unlike the one in “Brave New World.”  There is a caste system and everyone knows their place.  Godo is being trained to be a soldier and is even given a serious mission to save the Earth–however, when he falls in love with a woman above his caste (a woman already promised to Godo’s boss), he finds it’s not so easy to just do one’s duty.  The thing is, no one else seems too interested in going after the firebird, which is believed to possess the power to save the Earth (likewise, no one explains how the bird will save humanity, but everyone agrees, this can be done).  So, when Godo is sent to a labor camp in Iceland (punishment for his behavior with the upper-caste woman), Godo teams up with a fellow prisoner and they steal a ship to go get the firebird.

Sadly (in my opinion), along the way, Godo picks up a “wacky” cast of characters that make Jar-Jar Binks seem not that terrible.  There’s one that sings and dances, another that is the funny/rude one (that conveniently for the plot has an addiction to caustic soda) and another that is essentially Chewbacca, only, instead of being big and hairy, he’s big and blobby.  There’s also the hot, blonde, female robot who is both mother, sister and friend to Godo who, along the way, discovers that she has human feelings and amorous feelings for Godo (which is kinda gross, if you think too much about it).  If all these cliches weren’t enough for you, Tezuka lifts from himself by including characters from other anime and manga he’d previously created.  To name just a few, there are Rock and Ban from Metropolis, Honma from Black Jack and even Black Jack, himself.  This is kind of Tezuka’s thing, however.  I must admit that, as a fan of some of Tezuka’s work, it is fun to spot these characters showing up, but in the same sense, it’s distracting from the movie, itself.

To be fair, Tezuka created much of these cliches, so I suppose I shouldn’t fault him for using them over and over in his work.  Then again, I think there might be a difference between a recurring theme and an over-used one.

See it/Don’t see it: I say see it if you want to explore some classic-era anime from one of the masters.  Just don’t assume that Tezuka being a “master” means you’ll love every choice he makes.