Tekkonkinkreet is a dark future comic set in a not-too-distant future of Japan gone somewhat wrong, where the streets are filled with violence, gangs, Yakuza and corporations all fighting to see who owns the small, bustling, isolated city known as Treasure Town. However, as each in turn make their play to seize control, they have to face an unlikely pair known on the street as the "Cats" - Black and White. White is a very young child who has a childish innocence and an affinity for wrist-watches and animal-head-hats. Black is a slightly older boy, who has had to assume the role of White's guardian and leader of this street-smart duo. Black sees himself as the leader and protector, but the truth is that both boys share an interdependence on each other. White is very open about his feelings, and seems to feel the world around him in a way that, at times, seems almost Jedi-like. Black, on the other hand, is very aggressive and smart, but has a certain mental instability about him that could lead him to the dark side... if White's not around to keep it in check.
It's interesting to think that this movie almost didn't happen. If you watch the featurette on the making of Tekkonkinkreet, you'll see that there were serious issues and set-backs that almost kept the production from meeting their deadline. Towards the end of production, most of the people working on the film were working later than 8 PM each day, with some people simply sleeping at work, rather than going home. The Director, Michael Arias, didn't go home for the last week of production, instead sleeping a few hours each night on a mattress at the office. The making-of featurette hints at the dedication and the passion that went into the making of Tekkonkinkreet and shows how the artists overcame great difficulty and solved artistic problems to make Tekkonkinkreet become a reality. I really enjoyed these special features. The only complaint I would have about these features is that, since the making-of featurette is in Japanese, I had to use the subtitles (English), and they were written in white, without any noticeable outline on them. Since some of the images they were shown over were also very light, or even white, it was very hard to see the subtitles.
The city of Treasure Town is highly developed in Tekkonkinkreet, serving as a character in and of itself. In order to lend more realism to the film, the city of Treasure Town is completely mapped out, and chase scenes, for example, actually follow some real path, giving the city a more realistic feel. In shots where you can see recognizable landmarks in the distance, they are in the correct orientation, allowing you to get familiar with Treasure Town and kind of learn your way around.
To create a living, breathing city, the artists behind Tekkonkinkreet created a 3D CGI model of the entire city. Original, hand-drawn anime art was then drawn and these textures were applied to the model of the city. The end result is a fully 3D world that can serve as locations in the movie, which have a true, hand-drawn anime look and feel to them. Hand-drawn anime characters are then overlayed over these backgrounds to create an amazing synergy of 3D graphic methods and the beauty of hand-drawn anime illustrations.
A great amount of attention to artistic detail was invested in this movie. In fact, it was attempting to push the envelope of artistic expression that caused the production to fall behind schedule. There were problems to be solved and compromises that had to be made, but these compromises were carefully contemplated and, in my opinion, were expertly handled, creating what is, without question, "One of the best anime movies ever," to quote Eric Nakamura of Giant Robot Magazine.
Tekkonkinkreet combines the wonderful story by Taiyo Matsumoto with Michael Arias' love of Japanese culture and small, tight-knit cities, the creative music of Plaid and technology that had not been used before in animated films, to create a one-of-a-kind, touching anime. I highly recommend Tekkonkinkreet.
