This week I watched Satoshi Kon's Tokyo Godfathers and I guess I'll dump my little thought on it before I forget everything about it again.
First of all, it's definitely one of the best anime movies out there but that doesn't mean a lot.
Tokyo Godfathers is a movie about three homeless people who kind of lived together for the past few months. A runaway girl, who just started that glamorous lifestyle, a drunk good for nothing father, and a transvestite. Near Christmas, they found an abandoned baby and the decide to find it's parents. The premise sounds very much like a Christmas holiday movie but it's not that bad. The movie is very humorous and lighthearted, the three characters are pretty likable and the movie tells a bit about their past life and how they ended up in on the streets of Tokyo. The interesting part is that it doesn't go too far with any trope and even shows some of the hardships of being homeless. Illness, the cold, food, money for travel.
The movie is based around coincidences, which is the furthest the Christmas theme goes by at least one character calling them Christmas miracles (however somewhat ironically).
Something... "endearing" about the movie is that it's a Japanese movie about the homeless people on Japan which is actually something Japan kind of turns a blind eye on. Brief mentioning of the fact that Aids is a problem, violence against homeless people and all that is shown but not shoved into you face, rather just casually shown, empathizing that this is the norm you might face in that situation. Art and animation are very well done, with some slapstick animation here and there. Voice acting is also great, and while the drag queen seems extreme, it's just one of the types of these people you can encounter so it doesn't feel like a overblown stereotype.
There wasn't really a moment of boredom during me watching Tokyo Godfather, and while I wasn't really emotionally invested in the scenario, I did hope those 4 rascals would finde some good in their life towards the end. Thanks to its humor and the little journey through the cold streets of Christmas Tokyo, I found this a pretty enjoyable watch.
If anything I'd have to say that it's definitively a movie you don't get of sick of if they'd keep showing it on Christmas.
Satoshi Kon has incorporated some themes of dreams, reality and fantasy and whatnot in his other movies, which I prefer. But I don't find this movie lacking in creativity when is subjects uses a theme totally ignored in the industry but doesn't even overdo it. The directing is of course something you won't see in many anime shows and movies and it's probably even better than most life action movies I've seen considering the unnatural form of presenting each scene of story with a hand stroke.
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