Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

On Christmas Eve three homeless people living on the streets on Tokyo find a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find the parents.

Directors:

Satoshi Kon, Shôgo Furuya

Writers:

Satoshi Kon (screenplay), Satoshi Kon (story),

Stars:

Tôru Emori, Aya Okamoto, Yoshiaki Umegaki

5 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tôru Emori	...	Gin (voice)
Aya Okamoto	...	Miyuki (voice)
Yoshiaki Umegaki	...	Hana (voice)
Shôzô Iizuka	...	Oota (voice)
Seizô Katô	...	Mother (voice)
Hiroya Ishimaru	...	Yasuo (voice)
Ryûji Saikachi	...	Aged Man (voice)
Yûsaku Yara	...	Miyuki's Father (voice)
Kyôko Terase	...	Sachiko (voice)
Mamiko Noto	...	Kiyoko, Gin's Daughter (voice)
Akio Ôtsuka	...	Doctor (voice)
Rikiya Koyama	...	Bridegroom (voice)
Satomi Koorogi	...	Kiyoko, the Gangster's Daughter (voice)
Mitsuru Ogata	...	Hidenari Ugaki (voice)
Chiyako Shibahara	...	Eriko Kawasaki (voice)

Storyline

Christmas in Tokyo, Japan. Three homeless friends: a young girl, a transvestite, and a middle-aged bum. While foraging through some trash, they find an abandoned newborn. Hana, the transvestite with delusions of being a mother, convinces the others to keep it overnight. The next day, using a key found with the baby, they start tracking down the parents, with many adventures along the way.

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Plot Keywords:

transvestite | christmas | tokyo japan | baby | flashback | 

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Taglines:

Meet the ultimate dysfunctional family.

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Genres:

Adventure | Animation | Drama | Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, violent images, language and some sexual material

Details

Official Sites:

Mad House Ltd. / Sony Pictures Online [jp] Sony [jp]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese Spanish English

Release Date:

8 November 2003 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Héroes al rescate

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$37,127 (USA) (16 January 2004)

Gross:

$128,985 (USA) (2 April 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mad House, Tokyo Godfathers Production Committee

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Towards the beginning of the movie, they pass by a convenience store, in the background you can see the theatrical posters for Perfect Blue, and Millennium Actress. All three films were directed by Satoshi Kon.

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Quotes

Gin: You peep pretty loud for a chick that can"t even find its own worms.

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Crazy Credits

End credits: The skyscrapers dance to Beethoven's 9th done with synthesizers and Japanese lyrics.

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Connections

References The Sound of Music (1965)

User Reviews

Sensitive and beautiful

Having suffered through the painfully pretentious and shallow, pseudo-Lynchian mess of Perfect Blue, I was understandably skeptical about watching another film by Satoshi Kon (I have not yet seen Millennium Actress, but am now quite intrigued to do so). Tokyo Godfathers (a title which at first struck me as belonging most probably to a pseudo-psychological mafia thriller) was not only a pleasant surprise; it was the best anime feature I've seen in many years, probably since Ghost in the Shell, excluding anything by Hayao Miyazaki. Like the classic Grave of the Fireflies, Tokyo Godfathers struck me as unusual in the fact that it draws much from European cinema – English, Irish, German or Italian – while most commercial anime features try to mimic American film-making. But while Grave of the Fireflies was painfully sad and bleak, Tokyo Godfathers is irresistibly charming, and manages to be funny and incredibly touching at once like few anime films – few animated films, at that – ever achieve.

Tokyo Godfathers is remarkably non-violent, as pacifistic perhaps as Miyazaki's films. You won't find any grand futuristic structures or fantastical creatures here; in fact, the animation may seem crude at first. But the characters are where the film really hits its mark. Kon triumphs, like in his excellent series Paranoia Agent, by not succumbing to the accepted prototypes and standards of how characters should look in an anime film; the lead characters in the film are all gorgeously ugly, in a way that even Miyazaki had not yet dared to do. Even the child character, Miyuki, is chubby, and not cute and beautiful in the way little girls 'should' be, by the unwritten laws of anime. Thus, Kon's characters are believable and true to life; they are three anti-heroes, outcasts from society, each running away from their pasts. Especially charming is Hana (AKA 'Uncle Bag'), the golden-hearted transvestite, who supplies much of the film's comic relief but also some of its most touching moments.

Tokyo Godfathers – despite some far-fetched but amusing plot twists and coincidences – is at its core a very simple story, a beautiful little story about family, love and friendship. Few anime films are so unpretending; and thus, few anime films manage to be so strong. Watch Tokyo Godfathers; you'll laugh, you'll cry. And believe you me, ten minutes into it you'll forget it was ever animated.