Leeds International Film Festival: Wings of Honneamise

Wings of Honneamise is set in a world with predated technology, with a culture that resembled a Mayan and Egyptian stylisation, in which they fought to reach the moon. Even though the technology is aged, the world strangely absorbs a futuristic setting and fantasy based; the culture was driven much like how modern day cultures absorb others. The main character Shiro strives to be a navy space pilot and eventually becomes the first man in space. This animation was only ever released on VHS and only been released again on DVD recently. The style of the cel animation worked well with the style of the lineart through the variation of line and the body proportions. The style of the animation links to the 80's/90's design much like the animated feature Akira, through the shading and colours. Considering the time and technology that the animation was created in, the animation was stunning and ran smoothly, there were no obvious jagged movements. For instance in the training scene, the movement of the characters and camera angles emphasised the quality and smoothness of the animation. 

The narrative of the animation was quite intriguing through how the culture dealt with popularity and religion however there were parts which just did not suit the characters. For example with the main character, Shiro, he acts rashly against a woman that he befriends, but in such a manner that it left me confused as to why he did this as it wasn't his personality. It felt that it was just added to create some form of action whilst the plot was going slow, just before he goes to space. I did however like the narrative that involved Shiro trying to escape an assassin sent by another country who wanted to steal the plans for the rocket that they were building, as they had progressed extremely well compared to the surrounding countries. The narrative that entailed a form of tension that was heightened as the main character acted like what I imagine any average person would do in that situation, which made it feel relatable to the audience. For example, at first he was scared and scrambled to get away, and then after swallowing back his fear, he knew he had to somehow fight back otherwise he was going to die. I felt this transition of emotion within his character worked well and added excitement to the atmosphere as he fights back to survive.