Review of Tekkonkinkreet (Review)
Monday, 21st January 2008, 23:18

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Introduction
It's unusual for a gaijin - Japanese slang for a foreigner - to lead a Japan-based animation studio and embark on an anime project, but that's exactly what Michael Arias has done, with the help of Studio 4°C, in creating 'Tekkonkinkreet' (or 'Tekkon Kinkreet' in other territories). But then Arias isn't exactly your average gaijin. A former special effects nerd in Hollywood, Arias moved to Japan in the early nineties where he developed computer software, and developing a technique to translate cel-shading effects to computer animation would prove to be his open door into the anime industry. A fluent speaker of the native tongue and quite clearly a massive Asiaphile, Arias cut his anime teeth, again with 4°C, during his role as a producer on one of the better 'The Animatrix' segments titled 'Beyond'. That's the one with the kiddies and the haunted house.

Arias takes on the mantle of director for 'Tekkonkinkreet', a gig that's been something of a pet project of his since the late-nineties. Based on a manga by Taiy Matsumoto, it tells the story of a pair of street urchins named Black and White, known locally as The Cats, and their lives in a quaint city district named Treasure Town. Spending their days pickpocketing and fighting rival kids, and their nights camped out in the abandoned car they call home, the last thing they're ready for is the change that comes when the Yakuza show interest in their part of town. Working with a mysterious stranger named Mr Snake, the local mob are looking to turn Treasure Town into a giant theme park. But Black and White have other ideas, and as they cause Snake no end of hassle, things start to fall apart as they run the risk of being separated by the cops, hunted down by a trio of deadly assassins, and for Black, the older and tougher of the two, forced to tackle personal demons that manifest in the most terrifying form.

Video
Studio 4°C were responsible for the gorgeous 'Otomo Katsuhiro's Memories' - which just happens to be one of my favourite anime features - and 'Beyond' was no slouch in the animation department, so you know going in that 'Tekkonkinkreet' is going to look the biz. And it does. Heavy detail and a washed-out palette accompany the striking backgrounds, while the characters and foreground objects adopt a simplistic and rudimentary, heavily stylized 'flat' design style. The whole look manages to convey both minimalism and detail, and looks superb in all its peculiarly-angled glory. The Blu-ray transfer does a great job or representing it. Presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, it's bright and rich with great resolution depth and solid colours. While anime is generally the hardest medium to appreciate the jump between SD and HD seeing as even a decent DVD transfer looks damn good anyway, the large storage capacity and the 1080p transfer means that 'TK' on BD is free from artefacting and digital buzzing of any kind, with everything looking pin-sharp.

* Viewed on a 32" 1366 x 768 panel at 720p

* The screenshots featured here are for illustrative purposes only. They were not taken from the Blu-ray source, and as such, the images are not representative of the quality of the disc.



Audio
One of the more generous Blu-ray discs from Sony as far as soundtracks go, the BD features Japanese PCM 5.1, as well as Japanese, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish soundtracks in the form of Dolby Digital 5.1. All the 5.1 tracks are identical bar the regional voice-acting dub. As usual, I'm not in a position to review uncompressed multichannel, so I stuck with the Japanese 5.1. It's a solid mix, with good ambience from the sublimely hazy score provided by Brit instrumentalists Plaid, clear dialogue and good use of the directional soundstage in orchestrating spot effects. I spot checked the English dub during a few scenes, and it didn't sound half bad, at least when the kids are onscreen. When it comes to the turn of the adults, they all seem to fall foul of the number one voice-acting pitfall - overdoing it.

There's the usual plethora of European subs on offer that often grace the Sony BD selection, but enjoying the native track with English captions I spotted one or two duffers (maybe three or four) in the translation. "I dunno know"? Even in Japan, they're too cool to say that.

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