Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

Directors:

Satoshi Kon
Shôgo Furuya (co-director)

Writers:

Satoshi Kon (screenplay)
Satoshi Kon (story)
(more)

Release Date:

8 November 2003 (Japan)

Genre:

Adventure | Animation | Drama | Comedy

Tagline:

Meet the ultimate dysfunctional family.

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Transvestite | Christmas | Tokyo Japan | Baby | Flashback

Awards:

5 wins

Cast

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)
Kazuaki Ito	...	Akiko Takeguchi (voice)
Atsuko Yuya	...	Nobuyuki Furuta (voice)
Jin Horikawa	...	Toshitaka Shimizu (voice)
Masao Harada	...	Youto Kazama (voice)
Yoshinori Sonobe	...	Tsuguo Mogami (voice)
Mitsuru Sugita	...	Rin Sakurazawa (voice)
Ryô Takahashi	...	Hikaru Koga (voice)
Ryo Takahashi	...	Hikaru Koga (voice)
Syuho Miki	...	Ayaki Nishimura (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Inuko Inuyama	...	Kurumizawa

Directed by
Satoshi Kon
Shôgo Furuya		(co-director)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Satoshi Kon		screenplay
Satoshi Kon		story
Keiko Nobumoto		screenplay

Produced by
Shinichi Kobayashi	....	executive producer
Taro Maki	....	executive producer
Masao Maruyama	....	producer
Masao Takiyama	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Moonriders
Keiichi Suzuki

Cinematography by
Katsutoshi Sugai

Film Editing by
Takeshi Seyama

Art Direction by
Nobutaka Ike

Sound Department
Masafumi Mima	....	sound director

Animation Department
Masashi Ando	....	animator
Shigeru Fujita	....	animator
Hideki Hamazu	....	animator
Toshiyuki Inoue	....	animator
Kumiko Kawana	....	animator
Hiroko Kazui	....	animator
Satoshi Kon	....	character designer
Ken'ichi Konishi	....	animation director
Ken'ichi Konishi	....	character designer
Shinji Otsuka	....	animator
Michiyo Suzuki	....	animator

Production Companies

• Mad House
• Tokyo Godfathers Production Committee

Distributors

• Metacinema (2005) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) (theatrical)
• Animax Latin America (2008) (Venezuela) (TV)
• Columbia TriStar Films de Argentina (Argentina)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2004) (Spain) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar (USA)
• LK-TEL (Argentina) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (Argentina) (VHS)
• Samuel Goldwyn Films (USA) (subtitled)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) (USA)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2005) (Italy) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (Sweden)

Also Known As:

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

USA:92 min | Argentina:93 min | UK:88 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | Spanish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Canada:14A | Sweden:7 | USA:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | UK:12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Spain:13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12

Company:

Mad House

Trivia:

Another reference to the Christmas date (12-25) can be found in the electric alarm clock lying among the debris of Sachiko's ruined house. It stopped exactly at 12:25 hours.

Quotes:

Hana:I am a mistake made by God. In my heart, I am a woman.
Gin:Women can have children.
Hana:What if a miracle like the Virgin Mary getting pregnant... was to happen to a homo?
[to soup kitchen server]
Hana:Better give me a little extra. I'm eating for two.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Paprika (2006)

XMas

This is a Christmas story told from a different perspective, that is strangely familiar. The story revolves around 3 homeless people (a middle aged man name Gin, a homosexual cross-dresser name Hana, and a teenage girl named Miyuki) who discover a newborn baby in the garbage. The events follow the three as they decided what to do with the baby, trying to find the parents, dealing with their own pasts,etc (Christmas seems to be an introspective time - along with all holidays). After the first 30 minutes of the movie, everything becomes strangely predictable yet still moving and meaningful. The movie is laced with "coincidences" and tons of Christmas references. It touches on numerous subjects including family, guilt, redemption,etc. Satoshi Kon delivers another beautiful looking movie with a humanistic storyline. And in true Satoshi Kon fashion adds a touch of the bizarre to shake up the traditional story. This movie will be added to my Christmas holiday viewing list, which gets me into the XMAS spirit.

-Celluloid Rehab