Royal Space Force - The Wings Of Honneamise (1987)

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Unfortunately this film lacked pretty much everything. Very little story line witch made the film bland and confusing at times. the over all pace of it was extremely slow and very boring to watch. Just to add to the already horrific attempt at romance in there was actually a scene where the main character goes to rape the girl he likes. She then goes on to say sorry the next day for defending her self against the attack and acts like nothing happens making it harder and harder to get behind the "hero" and the piss poor attempt at a animated movie. The only reason i have give this a 2* and not 0 is the artwork was amazing and had some stunning scenes and great animation and the artists deserve that credit but everything else about this film was terrible and i'm appalled at how highly this has been rated.

Well, I wouldn't say that this film is one of the best anime ever made. It is quite good, but it doesn't reach the same standards of excellence of Ghost in the Shell and Akira, much less the masterpieces by Miyazaki (which are on another league, altogether). Its a solid film, I would recommend it to fans of science fiction and anime, but not for the average film goer: it is not that good.The animation, however, is still quite amazing to look at, it is very detailed and indeed it shows why it was one of the most expensive Japanese animated films in the 1980's, costing the massive sum of 7 million dollars (!!, yep, that was a loot for those days!). Only Akira's animation is superior, in terms of 1980's anime (a film that cost 10 million dollars at the time).

My favourite animated film and sadly unappreciated is Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise. The story is set in a fictional world where space travel has not yet been achieved and based around a cadet from the Royal Space Force who wants to see that change despite his peers thinking it is a suicide mission as all previous attempts have resulted in death. Royal Space Force and Akira were the two big Anime that marked the rise of that subculture in the West during the late eighties. Unfortunately, it was Akira that received all the attention from the fan base as it catered to an adolescent audience more than Royal Space Force, which is a drama and has a slower pace… and it's a shame. Admittedly, I didn't get into Royal Space Force on the first watch – however, repeated viewings have made me realise this film is not only better than most Anime – it is one of my top ten favourite films along side 2001: A Space Odyssey. The story has a rich number of themes being explored – knowing your place in the world and then understanding how trivial we are in the context of the universe, it looks at religion, the military-industrial complex, the relationship between men and women, loyalty, self-respect and most importantly – following one's dreams. The soundtrack is perfect for this as is the wonderful animation by GAINAX, the studio behind Neon Genesis Evangelion – there's an amazing montage sequence towards the end of the film that is so ambitious it is up there with the jump cut from the bone to the space station in 2001. I love this film, it is my favourite science fiction and it is the film I would recommend first from this list. Watch it once, give it day then watch it again.

I think the posts above cover just about all important aspects of this remarkable film. I noted a lot of people seems quite upset about one certain attempted rape scene, after which the girl apologizes. At first I was quite confused since that particular scene was cut from my subbed vhs-copy. But I'll take the liberty of commenting anyway.It's pretty obvious that Shiro's world and society are quite patriarchic and generally male-dominated. There are no women in high places in society (none that we see at least) and all female characters are either girlfriends, widows or prostitutes. I my opinion, this is not very far from, say, Japanese society (even more so in the 80's, things have changed.) Even now, it is not uncommon for women to blame themselves for rapes or assaults, not just in Japan, but everywhere in the world. The general idea seems to be that, because the woman is attractive or seductive, the man couldn't "help" himself and was a victim of his own carnal desires. Many women too adopts this way of thought, and hence blames themselves, for having been "seductive."I believe this is why the girl were able to apologize to Shiro. Because that is what is expected from a good wife (or would-be wife.)