Interstella5555: The 5tory of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

Story:
The story is a fairly normal thing. Several musicians get kidnapped and brain washed by an evil doer.
The most interesting thing about this story is the fact that said musicians are aliens.
Which makes things very interesting.
The story moves along quickly but doesn't skim things either.
And if you like AMVs you'll find this to be very much the best one you'll ever see as things make sense!
An 8 on story from me.

Art:
While the movie aired in 2003, the art looks very much like something from the late 80s.
That is not to say it isn't well animated. It's very smooth, but looks like cleaned up 80s ... arty work. I think it fits with the mood quite well.
A 9 on art from me.

Sound/Music;
Something I did not know before I first watched 5555 was that there is NO TALKING! That's right. No voice actors, monologues, or trash talking contests.
The entire story is told with the music!(Very cleverly mixed with the visuals)
As the story is told entirely with sound, the score is incredible!
It ranks in the top 15 of all soundtracks I've heard.
(Which is very impressive considering I've listened carefully to over 200 OSTs)
A generous 10 from me on music! ^__^

Character(s):
If the movie has a single weakness, it's the characters.
Since there is no talking, there is very little character development.
And much is left up to the audience to imagine.
Some might like this, others might find this very dissatisfying.
All we have to go on with the characters is their looks and the actions that we witness, and while this gets quite a lot across, it still leaves large holes in what the characters are actually like. Their personalities and thoughts are left up to us.
And while this doesn't REALLY affect the movie, since it's a feast of the eyes and ears, not of the mind, it could be considered a minus overall.
A 6 on characters from me.

Enjoyment:
I enjoyed the movie hugely! I loved it from the first time I watched it, and have watched it several times since. Each time loving it more.
But just because I liked it, doesn't mean everyone will.
I showed it to more people then my self.
And they were not all impressed.
I would have to say that...you need to be a certain type of person to fully understand and appreciate this type or film.
I would suggest that if you want to watch this that you enjoy music much more then the average person, have a liking for music videos, as this might be considered a long AMV.
And have a mind which embraces the weird or unusual.
And enjoy techno! ^^
A 10 fom me on enjoyment!

Overall:
The way this movie handles story is something very interesting to look at. As their is no talking, their is no 'story telling' as such.
Everything is told through the music and visuals.
It is a feast for art lovers and dreamers!
It challenges you to think and imagine while taking you on a wonderful trip through the strange, dream like world that is created when music and animation are joined in such a unique and breath taking way!
I highly recommend this for anyone likes to imagine and dream to the hypnotic beat and notes of music. ^^

So here we are with another anime review! This time around, it seems that I'm reviewing not so much a series, but a single one shot movie.

This movie in question is called Interstellar 5555(which I found out of luck), and I have to say that it was something very unexpected.

Story: While this movie is really a visual representation of the Daft Punk album Discovery, it actually had a pretty good story. The basis of the story involves four extraterrestrial musicians who get kidnapped from their home world and brought to Earth. They end up having to be rescued by a ... fan/spaceship pilot, and the rest turns out to actually be a pretty enjoyable movie. As a note, I'd like to point out that there is absolutely no dialogue in this movie, so everything is pretty much told with body langauge, facial expressions, action and of course, music.

Art: The art was simply phenomenal. Everything flowed, and the animation was crisp and smooth, especially for it's time. Character designs were awesome in my opinion, my favorite one being Octave and his radical afro. As a note, I have to say that I personally liked how the artists drew Stella, because I could tell that the way she looked was slightly different than from what I've seen of most anime females. It's little things like this that give the art a unique feel.

Sound: Of course, the sound is perfect. I had a slight interest in Daft Punk before watching this, but after watching this, my interest grew to a lot more. The music is magnificent, and every song perfectly fits with each segment of the movie, from the happy, upbeat dance parts, to the slower, sadder ones. The audio shines bright in this movie, but what else would you expect from a movie based on a music album?

Character: Unfortunately, this is where this movie lacks a bit. With no dialogue, character development is close to zero here. Now that's not saying each character was the same. There were differences based on facial expressions and such during the many scenes of the movie, of course. It's just that with no dialogue, the character's personalities are left to our imagination. It's mostly opinion whether that is a flaw or a good thing. I personally don't mind it at all.

Enjoyment: If you like music, especially techno, then this is a definite watch for you. I enjoyed it from start to finish, and although it wasn't perfect in all ways, it's unique enough to take the 5th place spot on my favorites list.

Overall: A fantastic movie overall, with awesome music, amazing art, and a pretty good story to go along with it. Besides the lack of character development, this anime movie has no other faults that I can think of. I award it a 9/10, and it's definitely a must-watch.

Now go watch it. Now!

Unlike most anime, there is no dialogue in this movie. The story is told by Daft Punk's album Discovery. I thought the film was great and had an awesome plot (though I think if there had been speaking parts it would've been AMAZING!!!) Having been a big fan of the parisian robot duo I had much respect for the work and tried to correlate the songs to the story. I think that if you have previous experience with their work, the movie is a slightly more enjoyable (well, more easy to understand if you're familiar with their odd film style), but the love ... between Stella and Shep is enough to whet the average otaku's appetite! (Call me a daftopihle...but,) I highly recommend this film! If it turns out not to be your bag of chips then at least you can say you listened to some of the group's best hits!

Interstella5555 is the collaboration work of a band with an anime legend: It all begins in the 90s, when music videos were original (no offense to the current works); Daft Punk, a techno group, made a music video for their song "One More Time," the video animation was done by an anime artist known as Leiji Matsumoto. The video featured a band of four extraterrestrial characters, looking human with blue skin. The video had them playing the song as the whole alien world was dancing to their beautiful music. While this is going on, some mysterious villain shows up and spies on them, soon after ... sending soldiers to the planet. The video continued when the song "Aerodynamic" had a music video featuring the same animation, showing the band being kidnapped. Then another came with "Digital Love," and finally the series of music videos ended with "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger." Notably, all these videos used songs from the bands second album, and in the order they were listed on the album so far. In 2003(I think), there was a full movie made for the videos, using the first four in the beginning of it. This movie was basically like one huge music video, using the entire album. It was known as "Interstella5555: The 5tory of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem." Now, onto the review!

STORY
The story is about a villain who kidnaps an alien band and makes them look human, using them for profit as he puts mind control over them. The story takes a twist as their fellow alien allie comes to release their minds from this villains control, so they can escape... A very original concept, one I'm sure not many people would think of doing. That just makes it worth seeing.

ART
The style of the anime legend Leiji Matsumoto is one that will always be timeless; It has the look of an old anime, as if the movie came straight from the 80s. Such a feel to it will please all nostalgic anime and cartoon fans.

SOUND
Rather than voices - since the movie has none - this will be about the music. All of it is from Daft Punk's album "Discovery," with songs like "Something About Us," "Face To Face," and "One More Time." All of these, like the movie itself, have a retro sound to them and will please many techno fans, as well as those who just want to hear something different.

CHARACTER
Even when there's no spoken word, these characters say a lot by their expressions and actions. There are those you love for their heroic choices, and those you love to hate for what they do to one another. Such a quality comes straight from the genius of a true story-teller.

ENJOYMENT
Whenever I see this movie, I feel like I've been taken right into the 80s. It's such a wonderful film, I never tire of seeing it... I'm very nostalgic when I watch it. I love it.

OVERALL
Though I love the movie, one thing saddens me; Rarely anyone knows of it. I've rarely heard anyone speak of it like I do, nor do I see any fanart most of the time. It's a shame this movie is so underrated, because it has true potential to be a #1 anime film.

Discovery is a masterpiece, but I feel like this kind of misunderstands the appeal of Daft Punk and their music which was that the world was futuristic and cool but you were still just a normal guy doing boring things, so it would have been cool if space fanboy got more focus.


I also feel like the movie comes more from a love for the individual songs and an overriding commitment to perfectly emulating whatever aesthetic the album was going for, which makes for a really unfocused and weird film. It’s not bad, though! HBFS and Something About Us were highlights, though they tried to ... make Veridis Quo into Castlevania for some reason. I think the gothic stuff was where they lost me.

This anime is pretty meh. The story is told with no dialogue or sound other than the overlay of Daft Punk’s “Discovery” album. It is an extremely simple story, which made it hard to be invested in at all. There is, however, one tragedy in the story that I was not expecting. It was effective in making me feel at least somewhat connected to the characters. It is an hour long romp that was overall inoffensive, but hardly engaging.

The art is standard fare and nothing special. It is vibrant enough to be a fun watch but it is otherwise not notable. The character designs were ... pretty appealing, though, and made me wish that the Crescendolls (the band of characters in the anime) were a real band because of how cool they were.

Obviously, the driving force is Daft Punk’s music. If you’re a fan of their stuff, then you’ll probably like this anime more than other people. In my opinion, their tracks definitely have a catchy beat but can be repetitive to listen to. Once you’ve heard about 10 seconds of their song you’ve pretty much heard the rest of it since they just loop the same thing over and over again. There are a couple gems, though, such as “Digital Love” and “Something About Us.” The rest of it I can go without.

The characters are unmemorable archetypes. You have the damsel(s) in distress, the hero that saves them, and the villain. The only other thing I can say about them is that they at least look stylish.

Overall my feelings for this anime are so lukewarm that I can hardly conjure anything too positive or negative to say about it. I think fans of Daft Punk will enjoy this, obviously, but I find it hard to recommend to anyone else. I think there are better ways to spend an hour of anime watching time.

As someone who's grown to regard visual albums as some of the greatest pieces of media film has to offer, I'd place Daft Punk's Interstella 5555 at the top of any I've ever seen, and by far in the threshold as one of my favourite movies of all time.

What is there to say about Daft Punk's 2001 masterpiece of an album 'Discovery' that hasn't been said before, an album which will go down in history as one of if not the best electro dance albums of all time. Music has never serrinated with me more than the works of Bangalter and Homen-Christo, Discovery is a ... Journey of The Soul to find love and meaning in an endless world of mayhem, that has to many incredible reasons to listen to over and over again. An album which jumps between moods, tones and atmospheres to create one of the most flawless musical experiences or all time.

And with the addition of Interstella 5555 to visualise the already beautiful tale of Discovery, it simply just makes this album even more masterful. Bringing deeper meaning to lyrics and sounds previously unexplored, giving life and character to the words and story heard within the album. Brining a Sci fi twist on the album which explores the harsh reality of the inhumane treatment of artists, being used like pawns in higher-ups games and the constant greedy pursuit of fame and fortune. Meanwhile our protagonists venture on this journey to reclaim what is most precious to them and us and an audience, the beauty of sound and the emotion that comes from it.

With stunning animation across the board, and a simple yet effective story, there are so many reasons why I regard Interstella 5555 as one of my favourite animes and movies of all time. We do not explore our characters through dialogue, usually a key player in development as a whole, no; instead we explore the minds and characteristics of our antagonists and protagonists through the many different moods of the music at hand as well as body language through the visuals. This is usually a rather difficult thing to do in film however I believe Interstella 5555 does it flawlessly.

I find Interstella 5555 to be one of the most unique projects within anime and film ever conceived, a project which has faced the test of time and come out triumphantly. Its one of the reasons Daft Punk have been segmented as one of Music's greatest icons, this is one of the most unique visual experiences you could possibly experience and its a must watch for all those who are looking for something truly mesmerising in film.

Interstella is not your average anime movie. The main reason for this, its really a long music video with a storyline.

Thats not to say the storyline is bad, or it lacks developed characters, it actually has them. Maybe not the greatest story ever told, and without dialog its hard to have the characters develop too much, the the movie manages.

In fact, I believe that if this wasn't a music video it could have been much better. Much of what the characters were thinking and feeling could be assumed by the situation and music, but the characters did seem one dimensional because of this. The actual ... plot line seemed to have some interesting background, but this background never gets fleshed out, and it could have been with the vocalization of some thoughts.

Being a music video, there needs to be some music, and it really is quite a good soundtrack if you like Daft Punk, I had only heard a few of there more popular songs before this movie, but I enjoyed it fairly well. There were a few spots in the movie I felt that the music and the animation weren't really matched to each other very well, but those moments were few and far between so I'll let them slide.

Overall, I'd say this is a great movie if you want to combine a love for music and anime together, and probably a must watch for any anime loving Daft Punk fan. However for the rest of us, there are probably better movies to consume your time.

Sometime in late 2013, I came across the name of this movie in a Daft Punk forum. Back then, I was a newcomer in both anime and music, and this movie, particularly Daft Punk's involvement in it, caught my interest. As such, I decided to watch it and, at that time, I absolutely loved it. Now that I've re-watched it again, that feeling has not gone away; rather I've been able to judge it better thanks to the fact that I'm more experienced in anime now. Now, to the review.

Story:
The story isn't anything extra-ordinary. It's a typical anime-ish case of kidnapping and brain-washing of the ... main characters. However, that doesn't mean the story is bad. What makes it interesting, though, is the usage of extra-terrestrial characters. The pacing is fast but this isn't overdone. Hey, there's even a cameo by Daft Punk here!

Art:
Even though the movie was made in the early '00s, the art was intentionally made to look like the movie is from an earlier timeline. The animation is pretty smooth overall and the character designs are pretty polished. It's not very outstanding but still gets the job done.

Sound:
Undoubtedly the highest point of the movie. What really stands out is that there's NO dialogue in the whole movie. The whole story is depicted through Daft Punk's 2001 album, Discovery. And, boy oh boy, were the songs used in the soundtrack exceptionally! Each and every song accompanies the respective segments magnificently, but really, could anything else be expected from Daft Punk?

Character:
A bit of a mixed bag, really. Since there's no real dialogue, there's no proper character development, although the songs do make up for the lack of conversation. The characters personalities are left to the imagination of the audience, and they will vary from person to person.

Enjoyment:
Being a fan of techno/EDM, I enjoyed this movie quite a lot. The soundtrack was incredible and it single-handedly almost made up for the few flaws.

Overall:
A really good movie overall, with excellent music, and above-average story, art and characters. I would happily recommend this movie to others, and it places pretty high in my list.

Scores in brief:
Story - 07
Art - 07
Sound - 10
Character - 07
Enjoyment - 08
OVERALL - 08

Although it lacks story and character depth, Daft Punk's Interstella 5555 is a visual and techno thrill ride that shouldn't be missed.

The Good:
Daft Punk's music and the animation work hand in hand. Creative approach with the music narration.

The Bad:
No sound effects or voice overs. Lack of story and character development puts a heavy reliance on the animation and the viewer.

Story: 7/10

With a story that has no voice overs my main issue is that plot development lacks. The story is heavily reliant on the viewer and what they see and take away from the story. Normally things are explained and the plot gets deeper but ... with no voice over, this doesn't exist. Its up to the animation to provide the plot and thats why it lacks depth.

Art: 8/10

The art in this movie was pretty well done. The animation reminded of Knights of the Zodiac (Saint Seiya) because they look similar. I have all good things to say about the animation and have no complaints with the look. Some scenes really shine thanks to the techno scenery. The only thing i will say is that the movie is heavily reliant on the animation, but overall it does a great job stepping up to the plate.

Sound: 9/10

The whole movie is narrated by the music of Daft Punk's "Discovery" album and what a great choice. Every song fits the mood, setting and what's going on in the animation perfectly. Whether it be upbeat for action scenes or mellower songs for the mellower moments, it all just feels right.

Although the music is creative way to narrate the movie, there is barely any sound effects or voice over. There is the rare occasion that there is but its just used to on the rare occasion. Even though the music narration does a good job and makes up for the lack of sound effects and voice over, it would have been nice to have a little more feedback to capture you into the moment.

Character: 7/10

The same as the story, the character development lacked and its up to the animation and what we see to provide us with some characterization. The animation does a fairly good job but to be real, we don't learn much about our protagonists or anyone. For example, we don't really learn their names. Names are mentioned but we're not sure if it is their given names or real. Its things like this that makes our characters lack depth.

Enjoyment: 9/10

I have to give this movie two thumbs up. I love the music of Daft Punk (who make a cameo appearance in the movie) and it makes me want to go buy "Discovery". Ive never watched a music narrated anime movie before but it was worth the watch. I also like the animation a lot too. I'm not one for watching things over but in this case, I'll make an exception.

Overall

Overall I give this movie a solid 8.0/10 thanks to the movie making the experience a visual pleasure and a techno thrill ride. To those who are a fan of Daft Punk's work, you'll appreciate this movie. If your not a fan of Daft Punk, I still recommend it because of its quality.

Background :

Fans of Daft Punk and AMV in general will easily enjoy this. There is a lot more history behind this particular anime than most realize. For classic anime fans (and I use the term classic to refer to anime pre-1980. Albeit a surprise to many, all anime made before 2005 is not 'old', shows like Testsuwan Atom (black and white version), Kimba, or Gigantor are old anime) this is a trip down memory lain, and for many a dream come true. This is (and sadly will probably be) one of Leiji Matsumoto's last works of anime. To get the ... full effect of the story, characters and what the hell is going on at times you should be familiar with his work.

Story:

Storyline is pretty basic, its execution is what makes it stand out. A worldwide popular band is kidnapped by THE MAN in order to fulfill his evil plan for global domination. THE MAN needs something special from the band in order to complete his plan, which of course he doesn't ask nicely- he just takes them Aeon Flux style.

Art:

Largely depending on your age and or what works of Matsumoto you've seen the look will either feel retro or modern. All the main characters are straight out of Captain Harlock, Spaceship Yamato, and Galaxy Express 999. Despite Matsumoto being an incredible artist, animation quality in the 80's (especially for TV series) wasn't at the same quality level you're used to seeing (save for Studio Ghibli's movies); being able to see characters like Matel, Emeralda and Harlock done with the skills and techhology of today are amazing.

Sound:

The soundtrack is either Daft Punk or basic environmental noise. Even for those that aren't (or never heard of) Daft Punk fans should find the soundtrack enjoyable and fitting with the animation.

Characters:

As discussed before, all the characters come from Matsumoto's old works - even the side characters! They are beautifully drawn and really bring to life the old series that they represent.

Enjoyment:

The storyline is a bit stock, but anything that involves THE MAN is never ordinary. He is full of tricks and the story largely revolves around his ambitions to take over the world through the use of the band. The script is well executed and never feels artificial in regards to something being there just for the sake of being there, everything ultimately has a purpose.

As a big Matsumoto fan this was a real treat (saying much more would really spoil it more than what's been said already); for those unfamiliar with his work its a chance to see one of the masters and pioneers of animation at hs best. Though his anime series tend to be on the long side, they're worth your time if you enjoy Interstella5555 and/or want to learn more about the history/development of animation check out Galaxy Express 999 and Space Pirate Captain Harlock.

While many will come of saying that this story's been done a million times, its FROM people like Matsumoto that these ideas originated from; and everyone else COPIED HIM afterwards The majority of the plotlines that get recycled or remade in today's animation had to come from somewhere. Most of these were once the original ideas of such people as Matsumoto, Tezuka, Miyazaki, Monkey Punch, Takashi and Takada just to name a few of the most heavily used ones. Just because their works aren't eye candy (in comparison to what can be made today) they make up for it in spade with writing. Much like the original 8-bit NES games they had to rely on plot to keep the viewers attention and not a bunch of jiggly flashy animation with no real substance.

Ahh, Daft Punk; easily one of my all time favourite musicians. Up until now I’ve considered myself a reasonably massive fan of theirs, but that has temporarily changed as I have now discovered something that I should have long known before—they have an anime feature. I didn’t even find out about this by browsing their Wikipedia page, or looking at random Daft Punk facts, but rather, by randomly entering their name into MAL’s search engine on a whim. I mean, Kanye goddamn West is on here, so what’s stopping my other favourite artists on here? I casually type in Gabrielle Aplin, John Legend, Drake… nothing, ... until “Instant Crush” starts playing on my Spotify playlist, and I decide to type “Daft Punk” in… and bam, I discover Interstella555.

The film is essentially an hour-long music video of Daft Punk’s entire Discovery (2001) album, which is arguably their magnum opus and my second favourite album of theirs. Discovery is officially recognized by many as a concept album, so this hour-long feature could theoretically be viewed as the concept coming to fruition. A collaboration with Toei Animation and director Matsumoto Leiji comes a wacky, vivid and audibly perfect hour-long anime that any Daft Punk fan should definitely watch.

Narrative-wise, it’s pretty straightforward, and often feels quite empty. It follows the events that happen after a famous alien music band consisting of avatar-blue humanoids with mustard-yellow hair get kidnapped by a wealthy and greedy business mongol who intends on stealing their music to sell it to the people on Earth. You could probably scrutinize the visuals for hours and pull out some subliminal poppycock, but in reality, it’s just there to serve as a visual surrogate for your imagination as you listen to the outstanding soundtrack. The entire film plays all the songs in DP’s Discovery, in order of the tracks in the album—meaning the widely successful and well-known “One More Time” is the opening track of this feature. There are way too many tracks to cover all, so I’ll review all the notable ones in short one-liner sentences:

“One More Time” is definitely a favourite of mine from theirs and immediately starts this feature off at a very high note, it’s catchy chorus and trademark Daft Punk dance beat immediately keeps you hooked and bobbing your head; the second track, “Aerodynamic”, has these exhilarating electric guitar chords to keep emotion high as the extraterrestrial band scrambles for safety; the fourth track, “Harder Better Faster Stronger”, a song that frankly needs no introduction. Popularised by Kanye West’s sampling in “Stronger”, I guarantee that anyone who listens to any amount of music has ran across this song once before; the sixth track, “Night Vision”, with its subtle, slow and soothing notes with surprisingly expressive emotion soaks its respective scene with everything it needs to leave an impression; “Something About Us”, the 9th track of the album, and hands down my favourite song from the whole project. Its extremely enjoyable beat and ironic chorus about love spoken from a robotic tone will surely leave you echoing the refrain; and finally, the last notable track of the feature, “Veridis Quo”. Something so special about this that voids all plausible descriptors I can come up with for it—it’s just something you have to listen to for yourself.

Overall: 7/10 || Enjoyment: 8/10

Daft Punk make mostly electronic music, and were part of the French house movement in the 90s. Their innovative usage of synthesizers and real life instruments set themselves apart from all the other French house producers of their time, and their superb blends of a smorgasbord of genres make their music easily accessible to almost all individuals. While you may not like “Something About Us” as much as I did, you probably found “Get Lucky” catchy, or the Weeknd’s new “Starboy” enjoyable as well—Daft Punk are one of those rare artists that have a little something for just about everyone.

I sometimes find it difficult to express my love for Daft Punk effectively, and sometimes I feel like it’s not necessarily because the right words don’t come to me, but more so that people are quick to dismiss them as your generic DJ whose music is “lifeless”, “repetitive”, and “all sounds the same”. Maybe I can agree to a certain extent sometimes, I mean, no way am I not going to call Robot Rock or Veridis Quo not “repetitive”, but there is a certain intricacy and delicacy in Daft Punk’s music that make them so special to me, and so different from all the other DJs I hear about in the media these days. Random Access Memories is my favourite Daft Punk album, but Discovery is second only by a very small margin; the trippy and vivid visuals of this music video brought to life by Toei Animation have done Discovery justice as far as PMVs go, I think. There’s just something about this.

I hope this review was informative and helpful.

Back in the "good old days", when MTV was actually Music Television and not a channel for "Reality TV", Kazaa and Napster made piracy popular, and you had to go out of your way to record your favorite music off the radio just so you could have a tape of your favorite music in one place, music videos were awesome. And they were so huge that they would draw in huge ratings to channels with music programming, and studios would sell music videos on VHS so people could have them along with their vinyl, cassettes, and/or CD collection

Studios would invest a ton of money into ... them because they doubled as promotional material for the band, and as a result, you would get music videos that were essentially awesome short films with an awesome song attached, such as Michael Jackon's Thriller, A-ha's Take on Me, and Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit. Interstella 5555 hearkens back to these days by essentially being a 60 minute music video.

Interstella 5555: The 5story of the 5ecret 5star 5system (what a mouthful) is an hour long music video telling the story of an alien band to the music of Daft Punk. Interstella 5555 was developed by Daft Punk along with legendary creator Leiji Matsumoto, and was released by Toei Animation.

The story follows a group of blue-skinned extraterrestrial group of musicians who are kidnapped right after one of their concerts, and are brainwashed and altered to look human by an evil music manager. Soon after, a space pilot from their planet, who happens to be a huge fan of the band, tries to save them after receiving a distress call sent out during their kidnapping.

As far as stories go, it's on the simple side, but it doesn't need to be more complex than it needs to be. It is, after all, an extended music video. Any more complex and it would get in the way of the music and feel completely unnecessary. It's also completely void of any dialogue, letting the visuals and music do all of the storytelling.

The music, which consists entirely of Daft Punk's Discovery album, doubles as both the soundtrack and some of the storytelling. The rest of it is told through the visuals, letting the characters actions and expressions do most of the work, which is done masterfully. And considering the complete lack of any dub, anyone can understand whats going on.

It's animation and art style looks fantastic, with Leiji Matsumoto's style shining through. It definitely feels like a '70s era anime, considering that quite a few of the directors works were released.

That said, with all of the praise i gave Interstella 5555, it's not for everybody. If Daft Punk isn't your thing, or having a simplistic story puts you off, you probably won't like this. If you can get past the band, maybe pretend this is a silent film. Interstella 5555 is worth checking out.

Right off the bat, this can automatically be in the running for best anime film of all time simply because its soundtrack is one of the best albums of all time. But it's the combination of Daft Punk's semi-ironic/completely-sincere disco house and Leiji Matsumoto's 70's style character design that makes this so stunning. It's a match made in heaven.

The story features an alien disco band who get abducted by the earth's record industry, get's "human-washed" and has their song "One More Time" commodified into a hit single. The story is carried by the expressiveness of Matsumoto's design and the mood of the music, which is ... blended into each scene perfectly. I was fascinated at how on-beat the cuts are, which makes the entire film have a distinct rhythm. The BPM literally matches the intensity of the scene.

Of course, if you don't like Daft Punk you won't really enjoy this move, but I can say the same about Matsumoto's artwork. It's so reliant on aesthetic that a lot of people might not like it, but I certainly did.

holy shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have no words to describe my feelings but i have never expected this anime/movie/1h-music video to be THIS good!! absolute masterpiece!!! daft punks music is just legendary and the story was so original, my emotions were changing every 10 minutes from goosebumps to almost crying to laughing to dancing. you didn't even need dialogues to understand the story, the visuals were so intense and the music underlined every second of the movie. watch this, people!!! i wish more artists would use anime art, especially in this kind of way, for their music visuals.

so apparently i have to write a longer review, ... so my favorite song from this whole masterpiece was "something about us"

This is the first time I’ve reviewed anime for this site, so I’m still getting used to the whole deal. But I think on the surface Interstella 5555 is a film I’m excited to review. Being a fan of house music from way back, I can easily say Daft Punk is one of my favourite acts from the genre, making this film a lot more enjoyable from the very beginning.

Story: 9
As I alluded to above, every segment of the film was a perfect complement to the music that accompanied it. However, without any extra sound effects or exposition, the narrative was confusing at times. It’s ... only through joining the dots together do you get the whole picture as to what’s happening (most notably the main antagonist Earl de Darkwood’s master plan). Not that it takes away from the story however, because if you understand the music and follow the animation closely you’ll put it together in your head fairly easily.

Art: 8
Being animated by studio Toei, I was anticipating the retro style in terms of characters and the environment. Despite the fact Akira Toriyama was not involved in this project, I still got a vibe of his trademark Dragon Ball character design in some areas. The vibrant colours and intergalactic groove of the story are suited well for a Daft Punk project. The only downside is the animators weren’t given a challenge where they could use a frame-by-frame art style to add drama and suspense, which could have given this film a little more class.

Sound: 10
Despite the loss of dialogue and additional sound effects (except in a few key scenes where they were necessary), that is easily made up for with Discovery. The album on its own is enough to take you on a journey, one where you can use your imagination to create a story of your own. That’s how good it is. And of course, who can forget the two hit tracks off the album, One More Time and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. Two house classics that are still as popular today as they were a decade ago, and two of Daft Punk’s standout songs. Granted they were meant to be here, but their addition to any film or visual piece is a plus in my book.

Characters: 8
Being an hour long film, there wasn’t as much time as necessary to properly flesh out the characters. But what they lack in backstory, psychology or even dialogue, they make up for in emotion. The focus on bassist Stella was really well done, especially when it comes to her connection with her band-mates and their desire to return home. Suave astronaut Shep was also a standout character, as he had a clear motivation for coming to the band’s rescue, and his deep connection to Stella was drawn out at a necessary pace for the run-time. His dreams involving his waifu Stella were perfectly done and the songs used for the scenes showing the connection between the two of them were spot on.

Enjoyment: 9
As a music film, I enjoyed this a lot. However, I was checking the time in parts, but that’s no reflection on the story. In my eyes the most enjoyable anime series are the ones that pass by too quickly, simply for my ability to get lost in them. This wasn’t quite at that stage for me, but the music and its unique ability to get me lost was enough to find this a fun experience. I wish there were more great albums given an anime visual representation. The two blend together better than you’d expect.

Overall: 9
Having never actually sat down and listened to Discovery from start to finish before watching this film, I can easily say this film was a stunning, entrancing and well executed visual journey. The album on its own is enough to suck you in, but the animation from Toei was simply icing on the cake and complemented the music perfectly. Seeing as the two men behind the masks wrote this themselves, that’s expected. Overall, a beautiful film that’ll have you celebrating and dancing so free for the rest of the day. I need to get that song on my iPhone right this second!

Is it an anime? Or is it a music video (albeit a long one)? I'd say neither. Interstella takes something awesome- The music of Daft Punk's album, Discovery, and makes it better. Discovery features some awesome tracks that you may remember from the early 2000's music scene including "One More Time" and "Too Long". These songs lend themselves beautifully to a story line made just for them featuring aliens and space love. A breakdown of the show is as follows:

Story: The story is unique. No true words are ever spoken, save for the lyrics of the song. This makes for a very interesting story because ... you are left to decide a lot for yourself. To me, I thin this improves the viewing experience. There are many parts of the movie that you and I may have differing views about due to interpretation, and that's great.

Art: Does this anime look familiar? Like a certain Captain we know and love? It should! Art direction from none other than anime legend Leiji Matsumoto gives this anime an awesome retro and nostalgic vibe. That alone is enough to warrant a 10 rating.

Sound: Once again- Music by electronic music legend Daft Punk? Say no more. I'm watching it.

Character: This is a tough thing to give a score on. As mentioned above, there is no dialog from the characters. However there is an attempt to a backstory and justification, so the characters don't exactly fall flat. Just don't expect any major character development.

Enjoyment: Awesome to watch, awesome to listen to while doing chores. This is enjoyable in many ways.

All in All- If you love music and a retro vibe, watch it. And if not, Still watch it! When to geniuses of there field get together, the effect is something amazing.

Story
The story is simple, an alien rock band is kidnapped by an evil music producer whose evil plans are revealed as the story progresses and there number one fan is the only hope for their survival. When it comes to pacing the story is fairly quick however very understandable and easy to follow.
- 8 out of 10

Art/Animation
The animation style is very representative of animation used in the 80's but with a smoother and cleaner look, this is far from a downside as it coherently fits the overall tone and theme of the film rather well
- 7 out of 10

Sound/Music
One of the first things you ... will notice when watching this Anime is the fact that there is absolutely no dialogue, no monologue and no voice acting, and the reason for this is because the entirety of the story is told through the musical score of "Discovery", an album created by the electronic musical duo Daft Punk. This film is basically the visual representation of the album and mixes the various songs with the appropriate scenes which fit rather well, and being that the majority of the film's sound is simply music it allows a wider range of viewers to easily understand and enjoy the film as it does not require knowledge of the language nor the request for subtitles.
- Perfect 10 out of 10

Character
What i like about this film which may differ to many other viewers is the fact that these characters overall personalities and thoughts are all left to the viewer's interpretation, since their is no dialogue throughout the course of the film we only get to see the physical reactions and facial emotions from the characters rather then inner monologues that help them grow as characters, however for me this is not a huge issue. The character development in the story is very faint but it's there, over time we see how the band reacts to their current situation and how they manage to resolve it which is great character development despite having no dialogue.
- 8 out of 10

Enjoyment
I thoroughly enjoyed this anime mainly because of the musical score, for those who are fans of the electronic music genre or are fans of Daft Punk in general then this definitely is a must watch.
- 9 out of 10

Overall i give this Anime an :8 out of 10

This movie really brought Daft Punk's second album to life! Before I saw this, I only liked maybe three Daft Punk songs. When I saw this movie, I fell in love with them and bought every one of their albums and now I'm their #1 fan!! If you've never heard of Daft Punk, then check out this movie!! It has a fantastic story and, of course, amazing electronic music! =)

For the first ten minutes of INTERSTELLA 5555 I really didn't know what to think. The animation by Kazuhisa Takenôchi is really cool. Mixing old school formulas of 70's and early 80's art styles. With more realistic looking people while still giving it that goofy, anime feel. But the fact that it pretty much was a long ass Daft Punk music video wasn't helping much. I have nothing against Daft Punk, but rather that this film felt like it had no conventional story and the fact that there was no dialog hindered it a lot too. But after awhile I started finding a story within ... the music, Daft Punk songs that where synced almost rheumatically to the imagines and the story unfolding. And soon, INTERSTELLA 5555 became a fun, emotional and almost spiritual ride.

I think though, that Kazuhisa Takenôchi and more so Daft Punk are giving us an inside scoop to the life of a rock star. The film is about blue aliens that are taken away from their home planet by a mad record label producer who makes them over into humans and turns them into the biggest band out there. But they are being mind controlled and this life is not what they were born into and it starts to take a toll on them. But when a pilot from their home world looks to rescue them a whole bunch of crazy stuff happens of course, set to the techno beats of Daft Punk. But the actual story is about the impact of fame. I'm sure every band wishes they didn't write that one song that become a hit and are remembered for. This film is about the impact of that one song and the constant repetitiveness of singing autographs and recording and singing autographs and so on.

This is all wrapped up in a glorious lights and sound act that spans an entire hour, and I really did enjoy it. And the ending kind of has it all make sense. A sweet film with pure heart, and synthesizers.