Wonderful character development!

Best movie of this year hands down!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I saw this after it first hit the video market many years back, and wasn't sure what to make of it. We're looking on the life and times of an astronaut candidate, and he various rigors he goes through to be the world's first man in space on an Earth that might have been in another time and another place.The film somewhat reflects and resembles "The Right Stuff" Japanese style; i.e. we see astronaut candidates go through various tests, physical and psychological, as well as how they interact with regular mainstream society when their program is something being financed outside the public eye. It's a kind of anime-bio-pic drama for people who never existed.As mentioned in other reviews there's the sexual assault scene which, to me anyway, seemed to come right out of the blue. Why it's in this film is beyond me. A more reasonable and logical alternative would have been for the main character to try and romance the object of his affection, but, like the film makers remind us on the commentary, the characters aren't particularly bright.Minus that one scene, this might have been a fantastic anime sleeper. Something that teenage boys of all walks of life could enjoy, as the finale gives us a climatic clash and ultimate resolution to what we anticipate is the final dramatic conclusion of the film.Because of the one scene I find the film to lean more in the "miss" category of "hit or miss", otherwise it could have been a real award winner, and enjoyed by all mature teenagers and older.The alternate world presented is worth seeing for any anime aficionado.If you know what to expect from Japanese mature animation, then this might worth a look.

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).

THIS is what hand-drawn anime should be. Not pink, spiky-haired characters with big eyes. I've been a fan of "anime" since Astro Boy in the 60's, and for the most part, it hasn't progressed.A whole world is draw up and populated. Much seems familiar, like the Russian-inspired rocketry, and the inter-nation conflicts. Much is original, and quite believable.Of course, I am the type that watches this in Japanese, with English subtitles. How else are you supposed to get some of the nuances and inflections?I gave it a 9, and think it deserves it for profundity of the art of animation.

If you think anime films are all super babes, giant robots, super violence, and monsters in pocket then you need to see this film.And If you don't, or don't even watch anime, you should still see this.I was shocked by how enjoyable this movie was. The story isn't terribly original but the execution is fantastic. It's very unusual, taking the ordinary world and making it fantastic, but the eccentric design of the Honneamise world adds to the story and makes it lovely to watch. Shiro, the main character, is a great everyman who starts out as only that but grows into a true hero at the end. The music, my favorite part, is incredible and quite hum-able. I have the opening and closing themes on MP3 and I hope I'll be able to buy the whole soundtrack someday. The songs really stick in your head, but only because they're that enjoyable.And the animation is superb. Not only does everyone move but they move well. Often, anime is criticized harshly for lacking in motion but this, in my opinion, actually makes it easier to watch. The animation in "Honneamise" is fluent and rich, but not exaggerated and distracting like the overdone "Disney's Tarzan".This is a great film for fans of anime, animation, and science fiction and fantasy. I also think that mainstream viewers can also enjoy this, even if they don't like other anime films. It's beyond the usual cliches and stereotypes, becoming one of my favorite films of all time.And by the way, it's great both in subtitles and dubbed in English.