Uchuu Show e Youkoso

Five elementary school children are spending their summer break camping at a remote mountain village. While on a hunt for their missing rabbit, Pyon-kichi, they find an injured dog in a field with crop circles. After nursing the dog back to health, they are shocked when he suddenly speaks and introduces himself as Pochi Rickman—an alien researcher who has been on Earth researching its plant life.

As thanks for saving his life, Pochi offers to take the children to the moon on a sightseeing trip. When they arrive, the group quickly discovers that the moon hides a vast alien metropolis which they begin to gleefully explore. Unfortunately, after hearing that Pochi was severely injured on his mission, the government of the moon issues a travel sanction on Earth, preventing the children from returning home.

Left with no other choice, the group journeys around the galaxy in search of a way to safely return to Earth. Amidst their adventure, they are pursued by aliens affiliated with "The Space Show," the universe's most-watched production shrouded in mystery.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Rickman, Pochi Main

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Suzuki, Amane Main

Ikezuki, Honoka Japanese

Satou, Kiyoshi Main

Uzawa, Shoutarou Japanese

Harada, Kouji Main

Yoshinaga, Takuto Japanese

Koyama, Natsuki Main

Kurosawa, Tomoyo Japanese

Nishimura, Noriko Main

Matsumoto, Tamaki Japanese

Ink Supporting

Iino, Mayu Japanese

Tony Supporting

Tobita, Nobuo Japanese

Goba Supporting

Ginga, Banjou Japanese

Nishimura, Hiroto Supporting

Hayashi, Roi Japanese

Ochikoshi, Tomonori Producer

Yuasa, Masaaki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Masunari, Koji Director, Storyboard

Kikuta, Hiromi Sound Director

Reviews

May 31, 2021

Firechick12012

Recommended

In the year 2010, the company A-1 Pictures decided to try their hand at making their first feature length movie (I think? Do correct me if I'm wrong), titled Welcome To The Space Show. It was their attempt to make a children's movie with as wide appeal as possible, similar to how most of Ghibli's movies do. Having seen this back when it first got fansubbed, I really liked it...but it never got an official home video release in the US until four years later, surprisingly enough. We can thanks GKids for eventually getting the license for it. I remember reviewing this back when it ... first came out, but having rewatched the movie this year, with the English dub, my opinions on it have changes slightly. I do think Welcome To The Space Show is a very beautifully animated and fun children's movie. It does have a lot of the cliches that usually come with the genre, but it's still surprisingly well executed.

It starts off a bit like Digimon at first glance. So basically five young kids decide to spend a week or so at a self-run camp at their school, totally all by themselves in order to induce a sense of responsibility, trust, and teamwork (though this is rather hard for two kids in particular as they got in a fight regarding a lost rabbit named Pyonkichi). One day, one of the kids finds an injured dog and they nurse it back to health. But the dog, whose name is Pochi Rickman, is actually an alien scientist who's studying plants and searching for a species of plant long believed to be extinct. To thank them for saving him, he takes them to the moon, where they're exposed to all kinds of new sights and wonders. But before they know it, the gates to Earth get closed and the kids have to find some alternate way to get back to Earth before summer break ends or else their parents will worry. But they'll find themselves getting wrapped up in a far bigger situation than they bargained for.

Yeah yeah, cliche premise, kids get taken to another world they never seen before and meet monsters, yada yada yada. Digimon-esque, I know. The premise isn't exactly new, but I don't think this is why the movie was made. Plus, you have to admit the movie does tackle a bit too many stories at once. Kids seeing the moon, being trapped on the moon, watch the space show, something about an extinct plant, aliens hunt down Pochi, etc. There's no denying that the movies does take a lot of influence from other stuff, like some of the more kid-oriented movies in Ghibli's library, with the space train parts being lifted straight out of Galaxy Express 999. It often feels like the movie switches from one storyline to another whenever it feels like it. I personally didn't mind it, as parts of it made sense in the context of the story and how it progresses, but I can understand how others would find the sudden transitions to be jarring and make the movie as a whole a big mess. Though I have seen worse in that regard, so I'm not going to diss Space Show for doing it the way it did.

Honestly, the best thing about the movie is the graphics, and A-1 really went all out here. The colors are bright and imaginative, the artwork is gorgeous, both in the foreground and background, and the actual animation is very expressive and never static. The characters in the movie really come to life in how they're animated, and they're extremely dynamic in their emotions, poses, and constantly changing expressions. The movie packs in tons of details, with plenty of nonverbal communication between the characters that you have to work to be able to find. Say what you will about A-1 Pictures and the fact that all they work on is Sword Art Online nowadays, but when they go all out, they really go all out. It's a shame they don't do more stuff like this anymore. I don't have as much to say about the soundtrack, as I think it feels too much like a Saban-style action movie score, except for one thing: How the hell did the creators of the movie manage to get Susan Boyle of all people to sing the ending song?! How?! I know she got famous literally a year before the movie came out, but doesn't it cost a lot of money to use a British singer's song for a Japanese movie? Don't they have tons of copyright issues surrounding that kind of stuff? How did A-1 pony up the money to do that?!

It also helps that the cast of characters, while not the most developed, are pretty likeable and charming. Because most of the movie consists of the kids exploring space and learning all it has to offer, the movie gives us a good sense of who they are, their strengths, weaknesses, and quirks. Because of it's limited time frame as a movie, it doesn't have a whole lot of room to flesh them out, but the time they do get is fairly well done. There's a bit of drama near the end that is very effective and realistic because the movie never forgets that it's dealing with children who make mistakes and aren't always the smartest. I also liked a lot of the side characters as well, even though I wish the movie had done more with them. I wasn't a big fan of the villain, though, and apparently the security staff in this movie was too incompetent for their own good. There is one other flaw that keeps me from bumping my rating higher: The movie has some bits of child nudity that, while not outright explicit or anything, might ruffle more than a few feathers. I mean, who wants to see a four-year-old boy's cartoon penis in the beginning of the movie? These scenes are very small and are only a few seconds long, but while I personally wasn't bothered by it, as I know Japan has different views on child nudity than America does, but I can see overzealous parents seeing even brief shots like this and foaming at the mouth.

So in the end, Welcome To The Space Show suffered from trying to be too epic and trying to bite off more than it can chew. That being said, for this being A-1's first ever movie, and I say they still did a bang-up job for their first effort. It's a fun, cheerful, enjoyable family movie that manages to balance life-like characterization and imaginative space adventures.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Firechick12012 (285)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Feb 20, 2021

CureFaith

Recommended

Do you remember, as a child, roleplaying with your friends in the backyard, pretending to be firefighters and superheroes and animals? Remember when your make believe story would hit a wall, and you had no idea how to keep going...so you just threw in whatever you could think of? Maybe flying elephants save you, or you can suddenly transform into a car. It didn't have to make sense as long as you were having fun.

"Uchuu Show e Youkoso" is just that: a make believe story where elements are tossed in to keep the plot going, because who cares if they're cliché or nonsensical? This is ... about having fun!

Really, the best way to enjoy this film is to go in accepting that you're getting some good old space romping and little else (that is it in no way surpassing the scale of Star Wars. Just...no). You have some seriously vibrant animation, with action scenes and visual spectacles galore. The plot can be engaging, too, especially when it slows to allow the protagonists to chat and take in the beauty of alien culture. Nothing deep or revolutionary, but the conflict and climax are entertaining enough for casual viewers.

I'm not saying that the story itself is a bland afterthought to the visuals. Five school students coming together to find a missing rabbit - one lost IN SPACE - offers plenty of humour and mayhem to lose yourself in. The tension between Natsuki and Amane, the only two human protagonists with legitimate focus and growth, feels natural. You want to see them find their rabbit, save the universe, and get home before their parents find out, while learning a few life lessons along the way.

Therein lays the strength of this film: you want to see what happens. You want to see what sort of crazy plan the kids will come up with, how it'll go wrong, and how they'll get out of trouble. You can let the uninteresting side characters slide, give the offkey pacing a pass, and ignore the obvious similarities to other popular anime films of the same demographic (just avert your eyes, Ghibli...), because in the end, it's just here for a fun time.

If you have younger anime fans around, or are just looking for a longer, edgier Ghibli adventure, "Uchuu Show e Youkoso" offers a couple hours of entertainment. Nothing new, nothing expansive, but enough to have a fun time now and again!

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by CureFaith (4)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

May 28, 2021

MarvelousMaxter

Mixed Feelings

I am pretty sure that natsuki may be autistic, not that it is a bad thing at all - just an observation I made while watching this.
Her mannerisms and obsessions with lifting up the tails of non consenting animals were red flags.
Story was lack luster and felt loosely connected to me. My main gripe is the fact that potential plot points were left ambiguous for what I can guess were either budget or writers block. I enjoy a good open ended question but I feel that these shouldn't be left open for backstories/current relationships of main characters.
Good questions to ask are such as "why does ... x character have a shaky relationship with past y partner", and so on.
Art and animation was stellar, I really enjoyed what seemed to be the night on the galactic railroad reference. Great choices of color and character design.
The one big band track was midi cringe, no thanks - overall the rest of the soundtrack had some great orchestral excerpts. Sound to me is good as long as it doesn't sound like a tin can.
Characters were average, the rocket boy was probably my favorite out of the human cast. Cat from alice in wonderland or fish tank dude was probably my favorite in the alien cast. Dog was a little too friendly to the child for me to like him.
This is probably a movie aimed towards kids, really the only thing that kept me watching it was the fact that I absolutely love wasabi.
I think the creators may be pervs, some of the treating of the cast members were super awkward and uncomfortable to watch.
Watch it if you are a furry I guess, there's a whole dog planet with your name on it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by MarvelousMaxter (2)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Non-Ghibli Standalone Movies - Part 2

by silveraaki

50 Entries · 181 Restacks

The 100 Best Anime Movies (according to Álvaro López Martín and David Heredia Pitarch) (2/2)

by bolakabuto666

50 Entries · 8 Restacks

Long Anime Movies

by Gino99

40 Entries · 63 Restacks

Anime Movie The Uchuu Show Re-announced At TAF [Updated on February 11]

Anime movie "The☆Uchuu Show (tentative title)" was re-announced at Tokyo International Anime Fair 2009. It was announced in Newtype magazine January issue ...read more

Mar 18, 2009 2:01 AM by dtshyk | Discuss (7 comments)

	Poll: Uchuu Show e Youkoso Episode 1 Discussion De-JaY - Feb 21, 2010	35 replies	by badabass »» Apr 19, 2023 8:55 AM
	Neppo's plan (and a few related questions) evileivind - Apr 19, 2019	0 replies	by evileivind »» Apr 19, 2019 5:14 PM