Tekkon Kinkreet

Tekkon Kinkreet is an engaging story that was animated and directed extremely well, with a solid plot and characters. I enjoyed every second of it, and I found myself savouring how long the movie is.

Plot-9/10- Tekkon Kinkreet is about two boys living on the rooftops and alleys of a future city. They have a strong bond that reminds me of Lenny and George from Of Mice and Men, with White being Lenny and Black being George. There is fight for power in the city, a fight that brings out the evil in a lot of the characters, bringing the main conflict to be between ... Black and his inner evil. The characters keep saying that they own the city, and this mindset proves to be a good commentary about urban gangs and the pointlessness of their violent reaches for power. The setting is great, the city both benefiting from the futuristic technology and also looking degraded like a slum. The plot is smart and despite the main characters being kids, it can be surprisingly dark at times, which I like.

Characters-9/10- Tekkon Kinkreet really brings one into the minds of gang members, and as each side character is told "I'm the real Yakuza you are pretending to be" the millionaire is telling the Yakuza pretty much the same thing. I really followed the struggle in their minds between overcoming these taunts and rising up in the chain, and the fear of getting too deep into it and ending up dead. Some pulled out with these fears as things got too serious, and others stayed with it until their death. It showed that these thugs were humans, who can be traumatized, or have families they care about. Black and White were great characters, their relationship best put to words by White when he said that God made them both broken, but White has all the parts that Black needs and vice versa. They have a superpower that makes them lighter in the air, so they can jump to great heights, fall far without damage, and are very agile. Black takes care of White, as they are both orphans, and black is resourceful and violent, whereas White is lost in his own world and is innocent. Despite this innocence though, White is capable of doing brutal things to defend them.

Art-10/10- The character designs are those of Mind Game, unique with their edgyness. The art slips fluidly between cgi and drawn animation, and the cgi in the Minotaur scene surpassed even the best of Gankutsuou's art. Those vast scenes of obscure texture, like a sea of black liquid that gave way to the surface of Jupiter, were breathtaking. The movement was very fluid and the art kept up very well with the fast moving cinematography to add detail in every frame. There was a lot of detail in the surroundings, and sometimes there would be a crazy amount of buildings in a shot. The art gave the city a unique and gritty atmosphere, and some of the colours that they used were outstanding. Also, to most other anime out there, this is how you animate a nosebleed! The drop of blood that came from White's nose is a great example of the extra effort the artists go through to make it look good.

Sounds and Cinematography-10/10- This is the first major anime film to be directed by someone who isn't Japanese, and the American did a damn fine job of it. The opening scene made me say, "Holy shit is this going to be a good movie" out loud even though I was watching it on headphones. The camera following the crow as it swooped through the cityscape, with cool, emotional, and exciting electronic music really blew me away as far as sounds and cinematography go. There were a lot of outstanding camera angles, and the music was amazing throughout the film. Great voice acting for the dubbed too. Tekkon Kinkreet had a great atmosphere and the great music and cinematography made it a blast to watch.

Realism Within Unrealism-8/10- I cannot think of any problems I had with the realism in the movie, it was nearly flawless in that aspect. However, it is set in a creative future so they had a lot of elbow room in this category. I liked that they didn't give an explaination to their superpower, which I first mistook for unrealistic jumping ability, but is just another mysterious part of the setting.

Overall-9/10- Tekkon Kinkreet was an experience I hope you don't miss out on!

After a 5 or so hours of a losing streak in DoTA2, I’d gotten tired of it and decided to watch something. Tekkon Kinkreet, also known as Black and White, was the first thing I saw in my anime folder so I went that. By the end of the hour and 50 minutes movie, I was glad to say that my fervor for anime has been revived.

It’s kind of weird that the only reason I had downloaded Tekkon Kinkreet a long time ago was because I had found a song titled ‘Aru Machi no Gunjo’ by Asian Kung Fu Generation which I loved to bit ... and then discovered that it was the ending credits song for Tekkon Kinkreet. It’s a rule of thumb that if an anime has an AKFG song somewhere playing during it’s run-time then that anime is bound to be good.

And, by God, Tekkon Kinkreet sure was something.

3 minutes into the movie, I had realized very quickly that I was in for a ride of surreal exposition when I looked at the very doodle-ish character designs over highly detailed eccentric backgrounds. Ping Pong The Animation being very high on my list of favorite anime, I had readily recognized that Tekkon Kinkreet was the brainchild of Matsumoto Taiyo – a mangaka whose art is considered to be akin to that of a Kindergartner’s but brimming with life and whose stories have that sublime to feel it that remind of you of a mild acid trip.

The story is pretty simple. The synopsis covers it all so I’m not going to go into it. What I will state is that I liked it very much. It’s just that I’m not sure how much I liked it. Sometimes it’s a lot and sometimes it’s like a ‘meh’. I guess you could say my feelings for the movie are kind of like the movie itself: moody.

The characters are the selling point of Tekkon Kinkreet. If you have seen Gintama then you would know that the life of Gintama is it’s city called Edo where the entire cast of the show mingles with each other both negatively and positively giving the city a solid shape. You could say that the city is alive. This is the same case with Tekkon Kinkreet’s Treasure Town. For me, Treasure Town is one giant character who has its many different moods displayed by the cast.

The real defining treat for many when it comes to characters is Black and White, older and younger brother respectively, and the relationship between the two and the town itself. Sure, they are the main point of Tekkon Kinkreet: balance and chaos and how it affects everything around us. But, for me, Tekkon Kinkreet’s side characters are what make the movie so special. If we only talked about the scenes regarding Kimura and his boss then I would quickly tell you that those scenes are the defining moments of the movie – well, besides the last 25 or so minutes of the movie when Black’s crossroad moment where he has to decide whether to plunge himself into his dark nature or back to his brother White who keeps him in check.

The animation is just… wow. The backgrounds are fantastically detailed and incorporate symbolism from many different cultures. There is a giant clock-tower that has Arabic calligraphy painted all over it. When the big-hand strikes 12, a statue of the Hindu god Ganesha comes riding out of the face of the clock.

Some people, who probably aren’t aware of Matsumoto Taiyo’s art style, claim that the character designs are bland and lazy. I, and majority of those who have watched Tekkon Kinkreet, heavily disagree with them. The loose doodle-like nature of the designs is what makes the characters stand out, quite literally, from Treasure Town’s own quirkiness. Michael Arias, the director (Animatrix), and the key animators and background artists have done a phenomenal job with the animation and cinematography. Kudos!

The voice acting is as Japanese as it gets. Sounds just like how your average Japanese person would on the street. To be honest, it doesn’t even seem like voice acting. Nevertheless, it works quite well with the art style.

The background music is simple yet cozy and quite energetic. Acoustic and electric guitar strumming accompanied by bells and soft drums at times. Plaid has done a neat job with the music. And, of course, the ending song by Asian Kung Fu Generation is awesome as well.

To end, I highly recommend Tekkon Kinkreet. I don’t really know what to score it but all I know that it is obviously above or equal to a 7. I’m going to have to spend the next few days recalling scenes from the movie and trying to justify a proper rating for it. Help me…

Wow! The atmosphere is created with extreme technical skill and consistent enough style, merging different animation techniques in a time period when not many creative directors were combining 2D digital, super involved and detailed environment design in 3D, and 2D digital, invoking CEL style watercolors. Fun choreography and cinematic for action and chase scenes! The creative direction is very very impressive to me. This is a gorgeous film and for me, as I also dabble in storyboards or environment/asset design, this is a stylistic guilty pleasure.
Characters were very likeable or at least understandable. Even the "lukewarm" types, they still were written with conviction and ... personality. Very good characters! There were plenty of background characters who, even with one or two lines, still came in with personality. ENG dub kinda shocked me, I didn't expect to enjoy it. I don't speak Japanese but the JPN dub was good too hehe

Writing.
Oof. idk, I'm a girl so I like talking to.. be more like dialogue. The writing feels close to the dialogue of a Marvel movie. If that makes sense to you, then you'll love this! haahh... but the 'dialogue' of this film was not for me.
The plot was a little convoluted and difficult to understand but I think that was a positive element for this film. The rewatch value is very high, as I learned to distinguish henchman #2a from henchman #4b.. LOL there's just so many characters in this film! The first watch-through is the worst, in this respect! I found the plot to be super entertaining by my 3rd watch through.

Theme, Narrative, Message...
Hmmm.... well, at face-value you might call this a film about imperialism or gentrification... but I don't think it's quite that. The ending of the film ends in a sense of.. "Oh, I got mine, everything's fine," very very positive and happy ending. I was wondering recently... Did they just run out of money, like the Evangelion TV series? In my opinion, the film atmosphere deserved an ending with a tone closer to "Grave of the Fireflies", or if they were going to do "Happy ending beach scene", they add it in a context that feels respectful and honorable to the sacrifices or grave mistakes of their kin. In this film there is so much room for character growth, they wrote excellently balanced giant cast, and we the audience watch them all go through such a wild journey, I was hoping this would culminate to at least one of the characters figuring a method to this madness, ESPECIALLY because the climax of the film is so psychological. But there seemed to be no development emotionally, not nearly enough to warrant an ending theme of... "Choose Kindness :)" Just felt like the dust settled and ... well I wont spoil too much
Hallmark-level theme, I think that this aspect is what holds this film back the most. If you want the 8/10 version of this film, pretend the film is closer to like... 1:35:00, cut off the last 15 minutes lol. And then imagine that they had left an "open ended please give us a second movie" ending.

Sound--
Sound design was great! Music ... well it's good but in retrospect I find it boring! It certainly does not stand alone but it gets the job done!

Overall. GREAT film. Super fun to watch, possibly a few manly tears here and there. Great rewatch value if you turn your brain off!

Tekkon Kinkeet is a movie that is adapted from the three volume manga series of the same name by Taiyo Matsumoto. At first glance I found the animation absolutely stunning, it stood out to me and had such an appeal to the eyes by the use of bold bright colours, it gave the animation of the characters and the enivronment such splendor and personality that I could not help but divert my eyes and take it all in, the art for this movie was very well done. The story I found was very good, the main characters are Black and White who are street kids ... that are living in a city called Treasure Town, the city is starting to become even more populated by the yakuza, rival gangs and the law and throughout the story you meet characters that tie into certain groups, each character I found did their justice for the story, they were interesting and you could see how each character had their own ideals and how they behaved. I would say none of the characters were bland, the main characters Black and White lived up to their name in difference of their personalities as Black is rather pessimistic and uses violence as a way to sort out problems yet White has a rather optimistic talk attitude and they compliment each other well. The story I found was multilayered and that is what I found interesting, there was so much that could be interpreted within certain scenes that it allowed you to have your own ideas, whether the producer and/or director was trying to convey it or not. It has this sort of Yin and Yang approach that allowed you to look beyond and see symbolism which is what I enjoyed. I would say there was a slight bump during the journey, either it was a part of the pacing or the story but I found it's easy to ignore and just go with it.

The music was great, I think it it complimented the movie very well especially during the action scenes. I found the Japanese voice acting very good, I didn't find any of the voices irritating or annoying, I think each characters voice suited that character incredibly well and brought out their personality.

Overall I find this a great movie, I enjoyed the ride and I would say there was the odd bump or two but I know I'll want to watch it again in the future. I would recommend to give it a go.

I will admit this is not a perfect film. There's no such thing as a perfect film. There are some unanswered questions, the plot is a little wonky, and the art style is definitely different. Even so, Tekkon Kinkreet is absolutely my favorite anime movie. Here's why:

I personally loved the art style. I loved how different and unique it was. I found it fit well with the story. I couldn't imagine the film being any other way.
The emotions shown in the characters are beautiful and the character development is done well. The bond/relationship between Kuro and Shiro (Black and White) is something I have ... never seen in any other film. The characters are clearly a representation of light and dark (black and white) (good and bad) bringing a further complexity to the show. It's a wonderful story about finding light in the darkness, even when you want to lose yourself in it and the bond between brothers. There are so many messages to take away from this film. It definitely left me in tears.

If you like deep, psychological, darker, more artistic things, I'd definitely recommend.

Much of anime prescribes to a “more is more” design principle—practicality and logic be darned—and many a transformation sequence has benefited from it. By contrast, Tekkon Kinkreet triumphs because it delivers two hours of arresting visual poetry, and its able to root its visual fancies in character and story. Its Charles-Dickens-by-way-of-James-M.-Cain plot loses emotional punch by the end, and the elementary vocabulary used to visualize the third-act moral struggle seems beneath the rest of the movie, but I suspect the mess has some of the best design and layout work I'll ever see. It deserves a viewing.

Once again, I have entered the domain of Studio 4°C with this psychological tale of two orphan boys in the city of Treasure Town, based upon a three-volume seinen manga series by Taiyō Matsumoto and was adapted into a feature length movie directed by Michael Arias, who previously was a producer on The Animatrix, making it his directorial debut.



The main characters, Black and White, have shared alliterations toward the concept of yin and yang. Black is a streetwise punk who embodies all that is wrong with the city and White is an innocent and dopey kid, who is out of touch with the world around ... him. Together they are known as the Cats and their quest is how they deal with the local yakuza from taking over the city and turning it into an amusement park.



When they are together, they are an unstoppable force to be reckoned with as they take down many assailants, such as petty thugs and religious fanatics but when they soon separate, they are hopeless without each other and it really shows that point during the middle of the movie.




The animation design and art is up to par with the other works of Studio 4°C. It’s very unique and endearing but at some times, it can be disturbing at a few times but not overall. The innovation works At first, the character of White started to annoy me with his constant spacey state but soon, he’ll annoy you less as the story goes on and Black, as cool as he may be, is one disturbed and f***ed-up kid but it is true that Black and White do really have shared chemistry throughout the film. It feels like they can’t live without each other and once again, the concept of yin and yang applies to this movie. As for the music, the electronica score courtesy of British group Plaid was remarkably decent but I didn’t really pay that much attention to the score and I usually do. Although during those parkour-like sequences, the music did embrace that a bit further than before.


FINAL VERDICT: Well, the positives of this movie do outweigh its negative aspects but it is a perfect film? Not really but it’s still a very good movie to watch from its unique art style to the contrast of the main characters and yes, I would recommended this to anybody who likes this kind of anime.

this in my opinion is the best movie of the 2000s ofc excluding all satoshi kon movies this movie was something i needed i still see myself as a child even though i have less than two years left until i become an adult so this movies theme about childhood really spoke to me and i love white he was the kid i used to be so free and and imaginative damn it this movie feels like it was for me its soundtrack is perfect the animation is perfect its story is uuhhhh not that perfect but in my heart
negatives
This movie really beats ... you over the head with it themes and its villain is not that good or memorable the pacing is all over the place
final verdict
ITS A MASTERPIECE to me