I’ve never actually been compelled to actually sit down and write a review, until now. I simply cannot fathom how a seriously flawed movie such as Wings of Honneamise could have pretty much universal 9s and 10s here on MAL.
For the positives: the animation is top tier and holds up even today; on level with works such as AKIRA. The art and design also seems to have had a lot of care taken into them, with distinctive designs for especially the clothing and vehicles. The sound for the film is also great, although unfortunately, apart from a few pieces of music, such as during the OP, the soundtrack leaves a lot to be desired, and fails to swell the emotions. The film also has one scene which was nothing short of phenomenal -- this would be Lhadatt flying an airplane for the first time. In this scene, the sense of sheer speed from the airplane is conveyed better than I have ever seen done in any anime, and I was yearning for more scenes like this, however, unfortunately it is the only scene in the film like it. Even the climax doesn’t match it in my opinion - while the climax itself is undeniably well-choreographed, it felt undercooked, i.e. out of a 2 hour film, only a mere 7 minutes is dedicated to this scene, and this honestly isn't enough to build up the tension.
I can’t deny that the film has a lot of relevant commentary on political corruption and war; however this doesn’t necessarily make for an engaging movie, which leads to my biggest gripe with the film. There are few thrills to be had, which would be fine, but it needs to engage the audience in a different way such as with compelling characters and character development, that make you care about each scene that is happening. Unfortunately, this is the area in which Royal Space Force is lacking the most. While the characters can be amusing in a comedic way, they rarely reached the status of becoming truly likeable which is what would make a movie like this shine.
Lhadatt, who starts out of a character with absolutely no interest in space travel, (so little in fact, he arrives late to a dead comrades funeral), runs into a girl who spends her free time preaching on the streets. After a meeting with her, he suddenly has all the motivation in the world to actually do something. I'd perhaps get what the movie was trying to do if this motivation was a gradual thing, but here it comes out of nowhere, and it makes you wonder why the words of this girl had such a profound effect on Lhadatt.
It does mention in the prologue that he had always wanted to fly, but it doesn’t exactly give a lot of explanation as to why he lost this desire; and giving his character a complete 180 twenty minutes into the film cheapens the development that he could have had, and makes him seem more of a joke than when he actually didn't care about anything.
Later on in the film, Lhadatt does go through a small crisis over whether or not it's morally right to fly into space when people on the ground are starving. Which is an interesting dilemma. However Lhadatt doesn't seem to come to much of a rebuttal except running away from his problems and seeking refuge with Nondreiko so he can rape her.
Now the main girl of the film, Nondreiko, similarly offers very little character development or reason to like her. Her main characteristic is that she is shown as a devoutly religious girl, however there’s no debate or discussion occurring with her beliefs.
A tragic event happens to her midway into her film, which she brushed it off, stating that the church would help her, depicting her strength of character and belief. However, I was expecting during the film for her to crack and have her beliefs be tested, (provide some actual conflict, due to the shit the world kept giving her), but when Lhadatt finally returns her generosity during his crisis by attempting to rape her she didn’t snap at all but rather forgave him, and pushed the blame onto herself. Strong character development, yes.
Additionally, the child she takes care of, Manna, is annoying as fuck. While her unwillingness to smile is funny at first, it grows tiresome very quickly, and becomes borderline frustrating. However, at least when she does finally smile, due to Lhadatt, there is some symbolic nature, but it's ultimately a pretty poor development, especially when it comes right off the heels of trying to rape Nondreiko.
Meanwhile, the movie is trying to convince the audience that these characters are struggling in the face of condemnation; everyone thinks the Royal Space Force a joke. However, it doesn't do much in the way of making us actually want to root for these people for a good portion of the movie (besides the inherent fact that space travel is awesome.) They're often displayed as incompetent, unenthusiastic shmoes.
The other side characters, while amusing, are also complete baboons. The movie constantly tries to build up ideals only to destroy them later on. For example, during a chase scene, where Lhadatt is trying to be assassinated, his friend, rather than help him, yells at Lhadatt to stop following him, as it was putting him in danger. A character, who supported Lhadatt during the tussle with the pilots has to sully that integrity for comedic affect by acting like such a cock here. Here is a scene that could have been serious, and further shown the resilience and comradery of the characters ends up divulging into silly comedy, made even more stupid when the assassin appears to be an old lady.
There is enjoyment to be had with this film, I wasn't particularly bored at all during the film, but I wasn’t exactly thrilled either, with the truly exciting moments coming few and far between. Ultimately, its true let down are the disappointing characters. This definitely isn’t the pinnacle of storytelling or anime, especially considering other films surrounding its release. However, it does hold historic merit as it is Gainax's first film, and because of this I can recommend it to those who are interested in other Gainax productions. For others that only have a casual interest in anime or a plot of this kind, you won't be missing out if you skip this one.
