Sky Blue
Empire describes it as “Akira for the 21st Century” but watching this movie reminded me more of the mid 90s when I first watched Ghost in the Shell. Sky Blue apparently took 7 years to create. To say it’s spectacular sounds to me like to do a diservice to the amount of painstaking detail that the animators have chored over to create, it’s more than spectacular. I remember when I first saw Ghost in the Shell I was absolutely amazed by the sheer grandness of the design. The animators where having fun showing off this world they’d created. 10 years later the production team behind Sky Blue do one up, and surprisingly the results haven’t come from Japan as you’d expect but rather from Korea. If this is a glimse of things to come from the Korean animation scene, I honestly can’t wait to see what Japan will fight back with, because make no mistake, Sky Blue has set the bar with respect to animation.
The story centres around the city of Ecoban. In a world where no one has seen the colour of the sky, it’s been raining for over 100 years. The existence of Ecoban depends on the work force called the Diggers. Before the catastrophic events that lead to the natural disaster, a certain group anticipated the upcoming downfall. They built Ecoban to make sure that they survived. They locked the doors and didn’t let anyone in. Those stuck on the outside became the diggers. This obviously caused a great deal of hostility between the two groups.
My only gripe with the movie was the weakness of the american voice over actors, who did feel a bit forced. Not as fluid and convincing as I’ve come to expect from my animated endeavours.
I wish I could describe the sheer imagination of the world the animators showed off in this movie, but I think the best way for you to understand is to watch it.
I’ve seen the original Korean version of this. It’s called Wonderful Days though and was released in 2003. I think I would prefer the subtitled version to the dubbed in this case.
But I agree, it is pretty impressive.
↓ Quote | 2/12/2005
Yeah, the version I saw was also called Wonderful Days, and while I certainly tip my hat to the craftsmanship of the on-screen visuals, the characters and story left something to be desired I felt.
↓ Quote | 2/12/2005
I’ll have to echo the two above me. I have also seen Wonderful Days, and the design, craftmanship and visuals are haunting.
But the story really is weak.
That said, the korean trailer was MUCH MUCH better than the american one…. In fact the korean trailer was a piece of art in itself, I think.
Damn, after 5 minutes of googling I can’t find the original korean trailer… Too bad.
↓ Quote | 2/12/2005
Thanks for the hint! I bought the 2 DVD set yesterday and was blown away by the visuals. Anyone want the genuine film cell that came with the DVD? :)
↓ Quote | 4/12/2005
Wait a minute Ray what cell are you talking about? Where did you get it? Dammit you’ve gone and depressed me now…
↓ Quote | 5/12/2005
Hey Khaled.
In a double DVD set I bought from a shop on the weekend came with an original cell from the film.
↓ Quote | 6/12/2005