Metropolis (Anime)...
Rintaro had asked Osamu Tezuka, creator of the graphic novel on which this feature is based, for permission to make the Metropolis anime and Osamu Tezuka refused...
In Metropolis, the visuals are exceptionally well done. It has the "look and feel" of Tezuka's work. But, I found the pace a bit slow in some areas. There's some bloodshed, but, no gore and no naughty bits. All in all, it's not bad, but, not something that I would go out of my way to watch. I gave Metropolis a 2 out of 5. The Metropolis soundtrack CD has 20 tracks and I liked 6 tracks for a total of 30% which works out to a rating of 2 out of 4.
From the production notes on the Metropolis DVD...Based on a Osamu Tezuka's graphic novel first published in 1949 more than 10 years before the inception of Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy).
Metropolis: A giant futuristic city-state above, and a decrepit underworld below. Ostensibly it's a utopian society, with humans and robots co-existing peacefully. But rolling beneath the surface of this well-ordered mechanized world is resentment between the haves, who thrive from the robotic labor, and the subterranean-dwelling have-nots, those who are afflicted with unemployment and poverty because of the robots.
There's also friction between the human workers and their stronger, more productive robotic counterparts, whose labor is seen as indispensable to economic development. But necessary or not, robot activity is strictly regulated in Metropolis, with many robots prohibited from the surface world. Among the factions of the fractured society are the robots that revolt against the tight restrictions; the vigilante Marduk Party that hunts the down; and another citizens group that protests for robot protection rights.
Atop of Metropolis rests what could be termed a symbol of the advanced civilization, the newly completed skyscraper Ziggurat, where an opening ceremony is underway... During the middle of a florid speech by Duke Red, the prime mover and shaker of Metropolis, a disruptive party crasher is shot and killed by a young security guard. But after it turns out that the gatecrasher was just a robot, the young guard goes nonchalantly on his way. Two of the bystanders at the scene watch with great interest. They are Private Detective Shunsaku Ban and his traveling companion, his young brilliant nephew, Kenichi, both of whom have just arrived in Metropolis on the trail of a case.
Their investigation leads them to a laboratory, where a fire breaks out after they break in. Escaping by the skin of their teeth, Kenichi has a fateful encounter with a girl, Tima, who is actually the robotic double of Duke Red's deceased daughter. Tima has no idea that she is a robot, nor is she aware of the fact that she was secretly imbued with enough power to control the world.
In the midst of the madness surrounding them, the human Kenichi and the robot Tima open their hearts to each other, even as they're stalked by a persistent killer.
Rock, the young leader of the vigilante Marduk Party and adopted child of Duke Red, has no plans to allow Tima to become Duke Red's successor. He plots to remove her as an obstacle. But Tima is eventually abducted and imprisoned by her "father", Duke Red, who reveals her robotic origin to her and his plan to place her on the seat of world power.
Though she doesn't know it yet, the fate of Metropolis and all human-robot relations lies in Tima's hands.
Fans of the original manga will notice that the director took some liberties with the story, including adding an extra character. According to the director commentary on the bonus mini-DVD, Rintaro had asked Osamu Tezuka for permission to make this anime and Osamu Tezuka refused. He says outright that Osamu Tezuka would never have allowed this to be animated and hoped that Tezuka's ghost wouldn't haunt him. So, a few years after Osamu Tezuka's death Rintaro went ahead with the project anyway.
Michi, the sexually ambiguous android of the manga, became the more clearly female Tima (a shortened version of the name of a Mesopotamian queen). Also, whereas Tezuka's "Metropolis" was a sprawling city, Rintaro and Otomo came up with a concept similar to Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" - literally a vertical caste society in the mother of all high-tech skyscrapers, Ziggurat (the name of the tower in Babylon, also in Mesopotamia). Rock, the leader of the vigilante group - Marduk Party, and many other supporting characters were sampled from the pages of various other Tezuka manga titles.
In Metropolis, the visuals are exceptionally well done. It has the "look and feel" of Tezuka's work. But, I found the pace a bit slow in some areas. There's some bloodshed, but, no gore and no naughty bits. All in all, it's not bad, but, not something that I would go out of my way to watch. I gave Metropolis a 2 out of 5. The Metropolis soundtrack CD has 20 tracks and I liked 6 tracks for a total of 30% which works out to a rating of 2 out of 4.
