Beautiful, Chaotic Metropolis

Life! That's all I have to say about my lack of updates. But as is my style, I'm going to be working backwards with you for a moment.

I've seen a couple of great movies lately, but I want to talk about the most recent one I saw a few days ago. Its name is Metropolis. I've seen gifs of this movie (specifically of this blond crying) on tumblr. I've made a mental note of it, but I never made an attempt to go look it up. Sometimes, I just flat out forgot, but I was given the opportunity to correct this repetitive mistake!


As you can tell from the art style, Metropolis goes way back there. The movie came out in 2001 (2002 for the US) and is based off the original work by Osamu Tezuka. The original Metropolis came out in 1949. Can you believe it? The movie was animated by Madhouse with legendary director Rintaro at the helm.

There are so many things I want to say about the movie. First, the meat of it. You're introduced to this society of where humans and robots co-exist together in some supposed sense of harmony. The "futuristic city" of Metropolis works on a vertical caste where the rich and middle class occupy the upper levels, and the seedy and downtrodden take refuge in the unspoken, unloved underworld. The humans may live rough, but it's actually the robots that get the harshest treatment in terms of segregation. Our automaton friends are given strict roles to fulfill and should they defy, they are punished within the fullest extent of the law. The absolute. fullest. It's not a pretty sight.

We're brought to Metropolis as Ken'ichi and his uncle have flown from Japan to capture a high list felon. They arrive during a time of celebration as something called "the Ziggurat" is being revealed to Metropolian citizens.

And honestly, it's just all downhill from there.

Robot beatings. Human revolution. Babylonian/Mesopotamian references. Rock. Rock.

There is a character called Rock, who has changed my absolute world. Without spoiling it, he is a true delight, and I can hardly imagine this universe without him. I managed to enjoy all of the characters, honestly all of them. It's hard for me to say that these days, but sincerely. All of them won me over in one way or another. And there's something about that that's so refreshing. I can't describe it. Since the animation style is old school, there's a lot of cell animation mixed with of-the-time 3D technology. It's all honestly so, so good. There are so finer technical points that I lack the ability to pinpoint, but trust me: it's a work of art.

Another thing about this is that the movie has some incredible jazz music in here. Now the utilisation of said jazz music made me laugh at times, but all in all, it's actually pretty wonderful. I do fancy the soundtrack a bit, which is always a good thing.

Honestly, you need to rent the DVD from somewhere, watch the movie, and then watch the commentary.

You'll get it.

I honestly enjoyed Metropolis, and I felt that I would, considering that it is a work by Osamu "The God of Manga" Tezuka. I didn't call him that. Literally everyone else did (and more than likely still does). For those who might not know him by name, he's the mind behind good ol' Astro Boy (and literally hundreds of other titles).

If you get a chance, check out Metropolis. I know this isn't one of my finer reviews, but it's almost 6AM. And I owe you guys some content. There's a lot of things going on on my end, but I'm sure once I sort things out, I can give you the news y'all actually deserve.

If you do watch this or have seen it already, I would love to hear what you think. One word of warning though: the hair animation on Rock is glamourous. It might be too much for your mortal eyes.