Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
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| Wings of Honneamise | |
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| 王立宇宙軍 オネアミスの翼 (Oritsu Uchūgun - Honneamise no Tsubasa) |
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| Genre | Drama, Military, Science Fiction |
| Movie | |
| Directed by | Hiroyuki Yamaga |
| Studio | Gainax |
| Released | 14 March 1987 |
| Runtime | 125 min |
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (王立宇宙軍 オネアミスの翼 Ōritsu Uchūgun - Oneamisu no Tsubasa?) is the first feature-length anime movie produced by Gainax in 1987. It is directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga
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[edit] Story
The story is set in a world similar to our own, seemingly in a nineteen fifties without an equivilent to the Second World War, but still with the smouldering resentment left over from a first world war.
Shirotsugh Lhadatt is an unmotivated young man who has drifted into his nation's lackadaisical space program. After the death of a fellow astronaut and a meeting with a religious young woman, Shiro volunteers to be the first person launched into space. The philosophy told to him by the religious woman has many similarities to real-world religious ideas, such as original sin and a near-exact copy of the story of Prometheus. The religious woman is beset by problems in her life, but holds faith that her god has a plan for her. She sees Lhadatt as a prime example of what mankind is capable of and her faith in the godliness and ground-breaking nature of space exploration convinces Lhadatt to motivate himself and the rest of the space force to get serious.
His training as an astronaut parallels his coming of age, as he and the rest of the members of the space project overcome technological difficulties and the machinations of their political masters. This results in the eventual space launch being based in what is essentially a demilitarized zone or hostile border region, with the hope that the enemy nation will act to seize the rocket before launch, giving Lhadatt's country a pretext for war.
The launch sequence is indeed interrupted by a vast combined arms invasion by the enemy nation, which results in a visually stunning finale as piston engined 'pusher' fighters duel with primitive jet fighters above an armoured advance on a defensive trench network. Despite calls to pull out, Lhadatt, already in the space capsule convinces the ground crew (whose 'mission control' is based in the aforementioned trench network) to go ahead with the launch. The launch, a beautiful piece of animation, stuns both sides into inaction as Lhadatt goes into orbit. With no more reference to the world below beyond a slight suggestion that both nation's plans for war have been foiled by the successful launch, Lhadatt offers a prayer for his mankind in orbit, asking for forgiveness for all their transgressions, for even with the evil mankind is capable of, they can still do great things - as his tiny capsule, orbiting in the heavens, proves.
[edit] Trivia
In his review of the film, Roger Ebert claims that some of the film's character designs are based on Hollywood stars such as Treat Williams, Harrison Ford, Lee Van Cleef, and Tatum O' Neal. [1]
[edit] See also
- First on the Moon (Первые на Луне)
- List of animated feature films
[edit] References
- The Wings of Honneamise at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
