Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

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:

Christmas in Tokyo, Japan. Three homeless friends: a young girl, a transvestite, and a middle-aged bum...

Plot Keywords:

Transvestite | Christmas | Tokyo Japan | Tokyo | Baby

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Toru Emori	...	Gin (voice)
Aya Okamoto	...	Miyuki (voice)
Yoshiaki Umegaki	...	Hana (voice)
Shôzô Îzuka	...	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
Ken'ichi Konishi	....	animation director
Ken'ichi Konishi	....	character designer
Satoshi Kon	....	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)

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:

South Korea:12 | 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

Company:

Mad House

Trivia:

The film is full of "12-25" (Christmas) references, including: The number on the key; the cab fare; the address in the newspaper ad; the cab license plate.

Quotes:

Hana: I'm starving!
Gin: I told you!
Hana: Look after my little angel. Go on without me. Just say you'll never forget the queer you once knew.
Miyuki: Look, a cemetery.
Hana: I'm not dead yet!

Movie Connections:

References The Sound of Music (1965)

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