Wonderful Days (2005)

It is the 2142 AD and a hundred years have passed since an environmental disaster. In that time it has rained constantly and most of humanity is gone. The only survivors appear to be the inhabitants of the new city of Ecoban and the diggers, people forced to mine the fuel needed to keep Ecoban running. Now time may be running out for Ecoban; the man who helped create the system that keeps Ecoban running is now determined to stop it with the help of Shua, a man who was forced out of the city some time before. Shua infiltrates the city to steal vital data and while there he runs into his old friend Jay who is now a member of the security forces. He escapes with the data and a plan is hatched; it will mean returning to Ecoban along with members of the diggers.I must admit I was a little surprised when I started watching this... the DVD box stated that it was in Japanese with English subtitles when it is in fact a Korean film that had been dubbed into English! That wasn't too much of a problem; the dub is decent enough and the visuals are great so it was nice to be able to fully appreciate them. The story might not be the most original but it was well handled and there are a few good surprises. The characters are impressive with likeable heroes, suitably unpleasant villains and some slightly ambiguous characters... most notably Jay. It was hard to know for certain which side she would ultimately side with although most people will probably guess correctly. The animation is really great, nicely combining 3D backgrounds with standard 2D characters. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of animated dystopias.

Ordinarily I wouldn't spend a great deal of time reviewing a movie, but the amount of hype and bragging that was contained in the DVD pamphlet taunted me into doing this.If you read the DVD description it describes this as a cinematic masterpiece 7 years in the making which stands to rival Akira. Let me assure you that it doesn't. In fact to even say that is an insult to everything about Akira.The effects are quite impressive however the animation of the actual characters leaves a lot to be desired and the story line is just about the most predictable piece of rubbish you could ever imagine.See it if you have to but please don't waste money on this.

Movie: The story is strong and filled with interesting characters, yet despite the breadth and depth of the story the characters are kept light and you don't really feel as though you do anything more than scratch the surface of them, which is a real shame as they they seem as though they could be given so much more life and reality with some more backstory. There were a couple of moments that didn't do the film much justice, one was that some of the character voices had the usual anime style of being just a tad over acted, and the others, which are all too typical in anime and manga, cute animals and unusually annoying children. It feels as if the film is pulling between two genres when these sort of styles are brought in. On one hand they are trying to create an adult themed cartoon, and on the other you have voices and characters straight out of Pokemon. This bothers me, because if they had managed to focus on a pure adult animation then this movie would have increased in estimation, but although these failings are not bad enough to really harm the film they do affect it. Still, with all this there's something that just takes your mind away from it all the time, the visuals, they are stunning. The backgrounds to just about all of the scenes look fantastic, and some of the sequences were stunningly created and looking really beautiful to the eye. Careful consideration has been taken about where to place the viewer, and how to recreate the actual movement of a camera through the scenes. Nowhere is this more apparent than the opening scenes with the bike racing through the outside world, it's a wonderful piece of animation. Picture: Widescreen 1.85:1 Anamorphic: Very sharp and clear picture, the colours tended to be duller due to the nature of the story, but when colours arrived they were strong. During the fog scene there was very little evidence of the grading effect you see in lower quality encoded DVDs and digital signals, it was very smooth and you had to really look to see this effect. Overall an excellent picture reproduction. Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS: The DTS audio was utterly brilliant being delicate, crisp and clear. During any action sequences the audio was loud and bold and very spacious, travelling around the speakers with the action. The full effects of DTS were used with audio coming from all around you, which was helped by the thoughtful positioning of the camera in regards the action and therefore where the sound and movement would be coming from. There was a good use of silence too which heightened the actual sound effects when they arrived. The soundtrack was wonderfully chosen and matched the movie superbly, with the final scenes elevated by the chosen operatic piece which was quite stirring. Extras: None. Overall: Although there are a few more annoying aspects of anime creeping in here with some not so strong voice acting and childish animation, overall the movie is good. What really makes it is the fabulous animation combined with the excellently visualised camera movement. It truly is a feast for the eyes, and when the DTS audio is layered above it you're sucked into the world so easily. Yet for all those good points the story is left quite light and brushed over, especially with the lead characters who are hinted at being deeper than they really are. There was so much to explore here and yet it's been ignored. Definitely worth a viewing if you are a fan of such movies, otherwise you might find this visual feast a tad less satisfying.

I saw Appleseed not long before this, a film with a lot of similarities to Sky Blue, both story- and production wise. Both films are packed with clichés, stereotypical characters and illogical story twists on top of the 2D and 3D animation blend, but where Appleseed at least had some extraordinary animated action sequences and a high artistic level overall, Sky Blue fails on all points. True, some of the 3D sets are at least OK, but the 2D animation is absolute crap for a film trying to compete at this level. You notice this from the very start of the film and my heart just sank when I realised that it was going to be "that" kind of animated film, i.e. just another B-manga. I can put up with a stupid story if it's well animated, also a good story that's badly animated (although right now I can't think of a single film like that) but not this...