Wings of Honneamise

Original Title: 王立宇宙軍 オネアミスの翼
Romanized: Ouritsu Uchuugun - Oneamisu no Tsubasa
Literal: Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honneamise

Plot Synopsis

In a world both very similar to and different from our own, an apathetic student, Shirotsugu Ladhatt, who aspired to join the local air force but doesn't have the grades, instead joins the Royal Space Force. Unfortunately, this space force is more of a publicity stunt by the government than anything else--nobody has ever even made it to space. However, after our hero meets and falls in love with an idealistic young missionary, Riqunni, he becomes determined to actually make something of the joke that is the Royal Space force. But as the odd collection of dropouts and aging rocket scientists begins to make progress toward their goal of a space flight, the enemy in an ongoing war decides that this new space technology could become a dangerous weapon and decides to nip the budding space program in the bud. Shirotsugu, spurred by his unreturned feelings for Riqunni, braves assassins, budget cuts, and all-out war to make his dream of traveling among the stars come true...

Quick Review

Rating: 5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2003-09-14

Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise is a masterpiece of animation, pure and simple. The rich earth-like world is amazing in its detail and realism, the characters are subtle and intriguing, the plot is quiet but complex and engaging, and the overall theme is an extreme close-up on a sweeping tale of exploration and adventure. With music that is simultaneously alien and familiar, spectacular and beautiful art and animation, and a top-quality Japanese cast, there is hardly anything one could complain about in the entire production, save the somewhat weak dub and a story that takes its time enough that it may seem slow to some.

Wings of Honneamise is, from top to bottom, an absolute must see for those with a real sense of wonder about the world and a willingness to dig past the surface of a story.

US DVD Review

As far as extras go, Manga Video has really outdone itself here; although it's hard to compete with the piles of extras included with Ghost in the Shell, this disc surpasses it, therefore gaining my praise as the most loaded anime DVD, period.

To start with, we've got an interesting chunk of background information printed on the package insert, the original 4-minute short mentioned above (which, although it had no dialogue, unfortunately didn't have a translation of the on-screen text), a finished scene that was deleted from the final cut (don't worry, it's interesting but not significant), full Japanese and English voice actor credits (at long last dealing with the one ongoing issue I've had with Manga's DVDs), and a full director's commentary audio track.

Yes, that's right--although it's the first time I've heard an original commentary track (not from the dubbing staff, that is) with anime, here it is, and there is all sorts of interesting information to be gleaned from it (such as some clarification on the ending). It's a bit unfortunate that, although the discussion was very conversational, the subtitle track that translates it is rather abrupt and literal; it gets the point across, but it's not nearly as lively as what you're hearing (on the other hand, you can watch the movie with either the English or Japanese soundtrack and the director's commentary subtitles if you feel like it--you don't even get that on most DVDs of US movies).

Finally, if all that wasn't enough, there's a gallery of production sketches with background music from the movie... and we're not talking one or two partial pieces, either--this is the entire soundtrack, an hour and 16 glorious minutes long. Again, it would have been perfect if there had been chapter breaks to let you skip between pieces, but the sheer volume of music (and accompanying art) is truly impressive.

That covers the extras, but what about the actual movie? Well, although it's a "digitally remastered" widescreen (and anamorphic) video transfer, it doesn't really look all that good. To be fair, this is a pretty old movie and it certainly blows any VHS tape out of the water, but the video looked rather harsh. For one thing, although much of it was smooth and crisp, some of the scenes with darker colors seemed to have a lot of subtle noise; nothing severe, but noticeable if you're paying attention. Also, the video looked just a little out of focus or oversaturated; the lines weren't quite as sharp as I'd like to see. Again, this really isn't anything severe, but considering the near-perfection of the rest of the disc, it was quite disappointing. Final nit-pick: the video seems to be interlaced, which is completely unnecessary on a proper film transfer. The audio is a better story; the Japanese track is only the original stereo but is quite crisp, and it features a remastered English Dolby 5.1 score. Oh, and the subtitles are literal English, not dubtitles--quite important considering how much the dialogue differs between the two.

In all, the video gets the job done, but is far from spectacular (though if you ask me not as bad as the vitriolic outcry from the anime videophile community would have you believe.) The extra features, on the other hand, make this disc a thing of beauty for just about anybody interested in what's going on behind the scenes of an anime production, and an absolute must have for any fan of this movie.

Content Guide

Mostly suitable even for younger viewers (though maybe not to their taste) with the exception of one or two scenes. I would probably call it 13-up, though 16-up isn't out of the question.

Violence: 3 - One very realistic but brief fight, and some large-scale battle sequences, plus one attempted rape (more complicated than that sounds).

Nudity: 2 - One brief scene.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - The above scene, plus a bit of raunch in a red light district.

Language: 2 - Nothing unusual.

Notes and Trivia

Aside from being the production that got the famous studio Gainax started, Wings of Honneamise also features a musical score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who won an Oscar for the music of The Last Emperor the same year Honneamise came out.

The DVD offers several interesting tidbits of information. A few choice ones: This film is based on a short story; the writer wanted to produce an animated version, and so gathered together a group of people to produce a 4 minute short of scenes from the story (many of which were used more or less exactly in the eventual finished product). Bandai liked it and chipped in what at the time was the largest budget ever for an anime movie (approximately US$8 million). The people who produced the short, of course, went on to found none other than the now-legendary Gainax studios to produce Wings of Honneamise.

Perhaps most interesting, though, was a clear explanation of the somewhat confusing end to be found in the commentary audio track; do not read this if you haven't already seen the movie, but for those wondering, it seems there was more conclusion than it first appears if you pay attention: The director points out that though it's a common (and unintended) misconception, Shiro definitely did not die, and in fact some of the sketches underneath the credits depict his triumphant return and subsequent entry into the history books.

A final bit of trivia on the rocket at the climax: Apparently one of the reasons it looks so realistic is that it's based on the Soviet design used to launch many of their early orbital efforts.

Availability

Available in the US from Manga video on bilingual DVD, subtitled and dubbed VHS, all currently out of print. Early on there was also a bilingual LD.

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