One of the challenges in gearing up for a new media format is that it takes a while for the more specialized and niche kinds of content to come out. Anime is a good example of this. Although several titles have been available in Japan, the first of these HD anime titles came to North America only recently. The first such HD DVD anime disc was Freedom, Volume I, from Bandai Visual and it’s about to be joined this month by Volume 2, and a two-hour feature, Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise also from Bandai Visual.
Royal Space Force came out 20 years ago in 1987 and was the biggest budget anime of the time. It’s all hand-drawn with great attention to detail. The story is actually pretty deep, and takes place on another world that’s pretty similar to Earth around the time of the space race during the 1960s. Shiro is a guy who
had trouble getting his act together and missed out on becoming a pilot for the Navy, and has since signed up to bring his mediocrity to the budding space program. He becomes a little more introspective after the death of a test pilot, and meeting Riquinni, a missionary girl who inspires him to step up and volunteer to be the first person to go into space. Shiro’s responsibilities naturally increase, and his buddies in the space program also get more serious about their own work.
The 2-hour story is largely about Shiro’s transformation into a more heroic person, and some insight into Riquinni’s faith. The complication in this space adventure is that the country has not really committed to the program, and it turns out that the launch will take place near the enemy border as a way to provoke the enemy into war.
In the end, well, let’s save that for you to discover on your own when you watch the movie…
I liked this movie, but I’ll tell you off the top that the story moves along at a leisurely pace, providing ample opportunity to appreciate the detailed world design and animation, but this may not be for everybody. If you’re only sort of interested in anime, then this may not be the best disc to start your budding collection or introduce you to the genre. You might want to wait for a more mainstream movie that uses bigger name Hollywood actors for voiceover, and a more western kind of storyline. If you’re already a fan, then you probably know all about this movie in the first place and just needed to see these reviews to prove that the disc is actually out and ready for your library.
Examples of the animation quality:
(Click here if the video is not visible above)
Royal Space Force comes in a box set that includes the HD DVD (or Blu-ray) disc, as well as a second standard DVD disc. A booklet is also included which almost serves as a printed version of the short featurettes that are usually included as DVD bonus material. Speaking of which, the extras on both versions (HD and DVD) of the disc are a theatrical teaser, and a five-minute short film that had been used as a concept piece that landed approval for the bigger movie project.
This is the 5-minute conceptual short included on the disc:
(Click here if the video is not visible above)
In the area of interactivity, there’s only the standard HD-style menu that allows you to change the audio and subtitle options on the fly (a big relief compared to the old way on standard DVD where you’d have to stop and restart), and no web or online features. This is not necessarily a negative point, but I’m just letting you know what to expect.
The video is 1080p/VC-1 (AVC for Blu-ray) 16:9 widescreen, and it was actually a pretty good HD picture. The print is a little dirty in a few places but it’s not distracting. The Japanese audio track is available on Dolby True HD and Linear PCM, while the English track is in Dolby Digital. This is true for both the HD DVD and Blu-ray versions of the disc, and it’s not a big problem because the audio design is not overly ambitious. I watched it twice, once with the English dub, and again in Japanese with English subtitles to make sure I didn’t miss any dramatic flair from the original presentation.
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise comes out on September 11, along with Freedom, Volume II (reviewed separately), and is listed in the “Shop for Movies” link at the site under the September releases as well as the anime category, and you can also check it out directly at Amazon.
September 13th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Why? Honestly. Why? A 2d cartoon on HD. ANY HD format? How would you tell the difference between HD (any of them) or a normal DVD?
September 13th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
When you’re not into a particular niche, it’s always a little difficult to see how others can get so fascinated by it.
The art in this movie is very detailed, and HD lets more of those details come through. Most 2D cartoons are not particularly detailed, and they compress very well. The result is that there’s little difference between the DVD and HD version.
October 11th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Ron, you don’t display a good understanding of HD at all. It doesn’t matter whether something is 2D or 3D; what matters is the level of detail.
How HD relates to animation can be better seen in video games, simply because there are more examples of it right now. The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are the first HD-compatible systems, and some old games are being redone in HD as downloadable content, such as Super Street Fighter II Turbo:
http://blogs.capcomusa.com/blogs/digital.php/2007/06/07/p315