Tekkon Kinkreet

Rating R Formats DVD Genre anime Starring Yu Aoi, Alex Fernandez Directed by Michael Arias Publisher Sony Pictures External Links Official Tekkon Kinkreet Website

It's been awhile since I've seen an anime film. Once an avid anime fan, I've since mellowed into a casual fan of shows and films which I consider to be excellent. Tekkonkinkreet is excellent.

It is a story of good and evil, at its core a very basic premise, but here told with such complexity and style that it's occasionally breathtaking, and sometimes difficult to watch. Black and White are two children--Cats, as they're known by the other residents of Treasure Town--with remarkable abilities. The film is never overt in explaining what their abilities are. They are physically much more capable than normal human beings, it seems, leaping, almost flying around the city with ease. They also seem to have some kind of psychic power. Black thinks of Treasure Town as his town. White, the younger of the two, wants desperately to leave. They live in an alley and steal change from strangers. White hopes that, one day, they can escape to the beach to live in a house, separate from Treasure Town.

Black has a problem with the gangs that want to control his town. And so he rampages, and Black's rampaging is intensely violent at times. This film is rated R, and parents would do best to abide by the rating. The story of Black and White is one which shows us the depths of both good and evil, and what can happen when one exists without the other.

Artistically, the film is pretty unique. I can't think of anything with a similar style. This is not the stereotypical big-eyed stuff that most of America thinks of when the word "anime" comes into a conversation. Characters are not pretty. The director has not attempted to show beauty here, only depravity. The colors are bright, but the style is exaggerated and sad--but this is a good thing.

One thing, which, for me, has become more and more important over the years, is quality voice acting, and I am pleased to be able to say that Tekkonkinkreet's voice acting is of very high quality. The characters are voiced quite well. There weren't many voices that felt out of place. Only one or two characters came with what might be considered a "stereotypical" anime voice--the one that comes to mind is the gruff leader of one of the gangs--but despite the sound of his voice, even he is acted fairly well.

The writing is generally good. My one gripe, which came up among my peers watching the film with me, were the abundance of cliched phrases found throughout the script. I didn't find it terribly distracting, but I wish that I hadn't noticed it. Other than that one small mark against it, the writing was quite adequate.

It all comes down to a very good, very artistic film. I was pleasantly surprised. You may be, too.