Normally anime films are confined to a small niche within their own specialty market. They are released by one of a handful of companies that specialize in anime and are marketed pretty narowly to the specific audience. There are exceptions, but they are relatively few and mostly involve the work of Hayao Miyazaki. One recent exception is Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis, released by Columbia/Tri Star Video and promoted heavily on other Tri Star releases such as Final Fantasy. Although anime fans will find some extremely familar names on the credits, little about this film fits into the traditional anime mold.
Osamu Tezuka is often considered the godfather of Japanize manga and is most familiar to American audiences as the creator of Astro Boy. In 1949 he created the manga of Metropolis, drawing loosely from Fritz Langs legendary film. His manga differed from the film in a number of ways and reflected many of Japans views on the world as they emerged from the hardship of the second world war. In adapting the manga for the screen, a major new character was added and a number of further changes brought the movie even further away from its' original source material.
We are introduced to the multi leveled industrial world of Metropolis in a time of upcoming celebration. Although the city is magnificent, it is plagued by a great deal of turmoil. Robot workers do a much of the work in the city, which leads to a great deal of unrest among the human workers. Sitting atop all of this is Duke Red, a powerful leader who has covertly had a highly advanced new robot named Tima built for the ultimate purpose of controlling the city. His adopted son Rock (a character that was not in the original manga) is aware of the new robot and is insanely jealous. He kills the scientist creator of the robot but Tima escapes to the lower levels of the city with Ken-Ichi. the nephew of a detective who was searching for the scientist. Confused and on the run from Rock, she is unaware that she is a robot. Soon, however, she begins to realize that she is intended to play a more important and sinister role. Red Duke finally locates Tima and works to see his plans come to fruition, but once connected into the main computer of the city, Tima begins to have other ideas.
The screenplay for Metropolis was written by Katsuhiro Otomo, who is famous world wide as the creator of Akira. Much of the film bears his stamp, especially in the way the city takes on an almost tangible living quality. Unfortunately there are many extra plot elements that begin to weigh down the story, although it never sinks too far beneath all of the extra material. Director Rentaro is also famous for his work, most notably on Galaxy Express 999. His direction also suffers from over ambition, briefly losing its way during the middle third of the film. In a supplemental interview with both of these creators, they expressed the unusual sentiment that if Osama Tezuka were still alive that he would probably hate the film and they would never have been able to release it.
The most instantly noticeable aspect of the movie is its remarkable visual style. As it is a very modern film that is based on a very old work, it has a look that is different from virtually any other current anime release. Characters sport honkin' hung ski noses instead of the usual tiny hook. Their feet are large and toylike. There is a great deal of machinery, cogs and gears that tie the film to its earlier German predecessor. In fact, on first viewing the visuals of the film are almost overwhelming, as they incorporate so many different color schemes and textures. Utilizing both cell animation and computer graphics, the film is unquestionably pretty to look at. During the films somewhat bogged down middle section, you might find yourself losing interest in the story and just watching all the impressive scenery. If you do this, you will be more than a little confused when the ending arrives.
The films stylish flair doesn't stop with the visuals, as it features one of the most unusual soundtracks that you will hear on an anime film. Completely foregoing the usual synth textures and J-Pop songs, this movie is set mostly to Dixieland Jazz. There is a fairly simply tune written by composer Toshiyuki that reoccurs throughout the film, both in a Dixieland setting and a variety of other forms. It also incorporates the traditional Basin Street Blues and in one striking scene, Ray Charles recording of I Can't Stop Loving You.
Ultimately you will have to chalk Osama Tezuka's Metropolis up to a film that could have been great and instead is only very good. Its' greatest strength winds up becoming its' weakness as the visual and musical flair almost completely overwhelm the story. Luckily by virtue of Tezuka's strong characters does it survive and still make for interesting viewing.
