Rating: 
Summary: Stunning storytelling...
Review: "The Wings of Honneamise" is one of the greatest anime ever produced. It is superb science fiction storytelling at its absolute best. Rather than give us giant mecca or huge-chested women, we get a stirring story about a race that is constantly at war with each other. A flight into space provides hope for the planet which, it is revealed at the end, is not Earth. While there are religious characters in the story, the film never preaches, since its religion is entirely made up. Instead, it concentrates on the message that man can achieve great things if we all work together. This is one of my all-time favorite films not just because of its science fiction background or its animation, but for its interesting characters and incredible situations. It is a very adult, mature cartoon that blows anything by Disney out of the water. The sex in this movie is violent instead of sensual and the violence is hopeless instead of exciting. Another interesting part of this film is the music, which seems to create a genre all its own and accentuates a different surrounding making everything surreal. Yet while the story is very serious in nature, there is also humor in all of the sadness, a quality that should be noted. While the voice dubbing fails on some parts, the overall story and scope of the film is amazing and makes this one of the best of the Japanese cinema.
Rating:
Summary: A look at another time and place
Review: Being a fan of science fiction and more specifically post apocolyptic sci-fi, I came to see this movie as an incredible depiction of a different society where the viewer gets a chance to witness things being rediscovered such as the light bulb, and television in an alternate look at these amenities as they might have been. In this film, we see a society in what might compare to the 1950's of our era at the brink of space flight, with a brewing war drawn up by politicians which is riding on a single space flight. The film was dazzling effects wise and the artwork beautifully drawn. if you are new to anime then I highly recomend this movie as it's a wonderful first start, and if not, it's still worth renting at least.
Rating: 
Summary: Greatest Anime ever, worst-quality DVD ever
Review: The Anime is one of the best films ever, simply a masterpiece.
But the picture quality of the DVD is so bad that even the VHS-version easily surpasses it. I remember watching the DVD some years ago and I thought "What the h***??". Today (Feb-04) I felt like checking if this was *really* so bad after all. And it is. It's even worse then I remembered it to be.
Rating:
Summary: Better than any movie I saw last year, that's for sure
Review: This is a story that takes place on an alternate-universe Earth: it's about that world's first astronaut, the woman he falls for, his buddies in the Royal Space Force, and it's also about war, ambition, religion, and the history of humankind. I don't know much about Japanese animation; I've only started renting the stuff from out local video store recently, at the cautious rate of one every week or so. I've seen some pretty good examples (Ghost in the Shell, Akira, you know, all the stuff that is mentioned a lot all over the Web fan pages) -- so I can appreciate the fact that there are just some things that are better accomplished through high-quality animation (as opposed to live action): giant robots, transforming vehicles, lightning-quick cyberpunkish action, displays of magic, breathtaking aerial shots of a city's lights. This film, however, taught me that animation can do all the other, quieter stuff as well: subtle characterization, moral dilemmas, verbal (and physical) comedy, romantic tension, ruminations on purpose and existence. This film was better than anything I saw in 1998 (and I saw quite a few movies last year) -- more satisfying on so many levels, more painstakingly crafted. Most importantly, I really cared for the characters, and, as the credits rolled, I found myself wanting more -- I wanted to know what happened next, what shapes their lives took after the film's climax and conclusion. Needless to say, this film is very highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: WOW! What a movie... the BEST OF ANIME!
Review: It is not every day that one is able to see such a fine movie as Wings of Honneamise. This movie takes on what is usually too much for one movie. Besides the obvious plot about a space program, this movie deals with war, politics, friendship, religion, love, morality, the sanctity of childhood, homelessness, and a man trying to find himself. The movie starts off slow, but if you don't pay close attention at the beginning, one of the most intriguing parts of the movie will be lost to you. At the beginning of the film, Shiro Lhadatt is shown to be a goof off, one who does not care where his life is going... until something seemingly unimportant happens to him (see the movie, I don't want to give away anything). From this point on, he is serious, dedicated, but also shown to be carrying a lot of pain inside - this change in character is possibly a little too sudden, but important and very thought provoking nonetheless. He unwilingly is thrust into the spotlight and is hoisted as a scapegoat for many of the country's problems. This movie thankfully keeps the supporting characters to a minumum, and each is round and diverse. I am not going to say too much more about the movie, only that the ending of this movie is the most glorious and magnificent ending of any anime I have ever seen (and better than most of the regular movies I have seen for that matter). I earnestly reccomend watching it multiple times - like most good animes, it can only be fully appreciated after being watched 4 times or so. Please E-Mail me with comments on my review or the movie in general - I love discussing movies like this.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best Anime movie features you'll be find
Review: The only real backlash about this film is that action fans were upset about the definite lack of action...Well, you all should do your homework first, this is a drama and I was expecting as such. Although the assassin sequence was awesome and the last ten minutes are simply indescribable in its awe-factor. This really is an anime for an intellegent crowd so it should turn off some viewers, guess what, I'm not one of them! Grave of the Fireflies is the only title better in the anime spectrum that I can think of although honorable mention goes to Akira but Akira is more genre centric than Wings. Wings has an appeal that transends genres and target demographics and tells a gripping story about life. The characters are very well rounded and believable. The pacing is actually a strongpoint in the film as nothing ever seems out of place as the theme slowly progresses without ever skipping a beat. For those that have the patience, this is a deep and rewarding experience. For everyone else, go watch whatever, I don't care because you're not who this review is for. Oh yeah, for a film that came out in 87 the production values are superb. Although this was the highest budgeted anime ever at this point. The animation is simply a wonder with amazing art work and very original character designs. Wings is not something to be missed. P.S. I haven't seen Princess Mononoke yet so until then Wings and Grave of the Fireflies are my picks for best Anime.
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece of Animation
Review: Next to Evangelion, Wings of Honneamise is the best anime I have ever seen. It is set in a kind of "what if" universe in a post-WW2 era, but its message about the corruption of power and the futility of war transcends its fantasy world and can be applied to anywhere in the world today. The characters are well developped, the story engrossing, the jokes hilarious, and the facial expressions priceless. It's interesting to see Shiro (the main character) develop from a depressed, non assertive slacker into a national hero, and realize it came about from a leap of faith based on the naive and moral ideals of a young religious woman. The animation itself is superb, and I would consider the lauch scene near the end as perhaps the most amazing minute of animation I have seen. I am getting more and more respect for the people at Gainax with every piece of art they create. See this movie!!!
Rating:
Summary: A tremendous achievement....
Review: I bought this two years ago for my youngest son's Christmas. I also got him Akira. This was watched immediately, and this, occasionally. Fast pan foward. Akira basically appreciated, but left aside for dad. This piece, Wings of Honneamise, gets watched at the moment twice a DAY. The reasons are manifold. I mean, at the moment, it's the MUSIC of all things. I've been picking through the main themes and trying to identify the basic structure of the close to pentatonic melodies,and finding that they are a lot more complex than the traditional (and expected) Japanese forms. The harmony took us all by surprise. Getting very technical, after a lot of work, I've found some very emotive chords here. They are, to my knowledge, very rare augmented sixth structures which give the music a very moving (for that, read box-of-tissues-if-you're-sensitive-enough) feeling. I suppose I should say that they are very physiologically active, or something. I've written that lot and feel faintly foolish. But let's be real. Almost everything about WOH has the feeling of being the result of a lifetime achievement - ideas that may have been in one persons mind for ..certainly more than a decade. This makes the apparent youth of the authors even more remarkable. Just look, and look again at this construct of a parallel world. No careless stuff, everything brilliantly constructed and offered as a rational alternative to our own world. Every time you see it, you see something that you missed before. And this has been happening on and of for two years now... Even the theology of the lady evangelist is very close parallel to the Christian account of the fall (C.S. Lewis documented such analogous myths as "good dreams" long ago in Mere Christianity). What is notable is that this lady is definitely preaching a gospel of ..repentance... not any sort of animistic or over heated touchy feely stuff. The things she says have a powerful MORAL content, and the subject of the whole movie is to some extent the effect of this on Shirotsugu. This is neither blown out of the water by an unrealistic "conversion" (how easy that would have been), but instead he is slowly convinced, not by some emotional experience, but by the moral imperative itself. He certainly doesn't get there easily. He starts to help the girl overcome her very serious problems with poverty and a cruel landlord and electricity company. In another scene, he clumsily tries to rape the girl, but is even more astonished to find himself forgiven almost as a matter of course (which is one strong indicator that the real God is involved in the girls theology). I was most amused by the close similarities of the Army life depicted here to that I actually experienced several years ago, and this is a very strong element for the contention that WOH gets much of its brilliance from its attemts at accuracy. Yes, I'm including the fight in this, I remember stories of something very similar in Perth some time back! But apart from these easily enumerated attributes, there is something about this whole thing that grips and won't let go. There musyt have been something like that,or else there is no way it would have, if anything, been more compulsively viewed this week than two years ago. There's something there, but what? I have struggled to define it several times,and fallen flat in the attempt. The closest I can come is that it exudes a whistfulness, and an odd feeling of ... sadness at leaving? Nostalgia? What can you say? Someting that seeps from the cracks and holds you very tight. It's a sort of strange sorcery, and I don't know how, if it ever was, planned,or contrived, or anything. I think for someone,maybe like me, who always was a physics and engineering freak, there is an irresistable feelings of magnetism about witnessing the stumbling steps towards space flight. That comes frombeing a boy and wanting... well, you know. The technical detail is really so good that you can imagine it all, and honest, it reallyis largely like that (we have a lot of journals on aerospace here). But apart from that part,which is explainable, the movie has its own unique way of drawing you in. It's very powerful and I repeat, to those with ears to hear, VERY moving. I'm likely to try to get in touch with the authors of this, if there's any way to do so. Basically, get this and don't be too surprised if IT gets YOU!
Rating:
Summary: hrm..
Review: I enjoy japanese animation, and was particularly impressed with both Akira and Ghost in the Shell, despite their somewhat disjointed plots. I can't honestly understand the enthusiasm for this film however... when is wasn't slow and tepid, it was preachy, and in the worst cheesy psuedo-mystical japanese marketroid sort of way. Stagnant plot, poor characterisation, but attractive stylistically.
Rating:
Summary: this DVD is the best format for this film
Review: Wings of Honneamise is, to simply put, a fabulous film. It comes closest to realize the true potential of animated film as a powerful medium that can stand side-by-side with its live-action counterpart. Well-crafted plot, deep and believable characters as well as intricate animation. All of these are enough to make this film one of the finest animated film ever made. It is really impressive to know that the whole sequence of this superb animation are hand-drawn, frame by frame, by almost 3000 dedicated animators. On the DVD side, this is a wonderful package with loaded of extras. I DID NOT experience anything that could be describe as "poor quality" throughout this feature. It's really not as bad as those public outcries would have you believe. However, I viewed this DVD on the DVD drive of my computer, using software called "POWER DVD". The result was clear and crisp, bright and colorful. I noticed that this film wasn't as superbly remastered and transfer as AKIRA, but it could be that this film isn't as popular so they didn't take such an expensive remastering process like what they did with AKIRA. However, it's visual quality is far and away better than what you would get from VHS. It might be true that the DVD responds differently with different DVD players. Unfortunately, I didn't try it with any other DVD players apart from my computer so I can't really confirm that. But I can recommend that if you don't have satisfying result when viewing with your DVD player, try it on the computer. Computers usually don't reject DVD the same way some DVD players do; that is the advantage of seeing DVD on a computer. I know that most people don't buy computer to watch movies, but if you have a computer with a DVD drive then give it a try. You might not utterly despise it.
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