Ôritsu uchûgun Oneamisu no tsubasa (1987)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Hiroyuki Yamaga

Writers:

Mary Mason (English dialogue)
Kevin Seymour (English dialogue)

Release Date:

10 March 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

In an alternative Earth, a young astronaut participates in a controversial fledgling space program.

Plot Keywords:

Space | Space Program | Spacecraft | Astronaut | Spaceman

Cast

Jane Alan	...	Reporter (voice: English version)
Masahiro Anzai	...	Majaho
Steve Blum	...	General's Assistant, Noble (voice: English version) (as Steven Jay Blum)
Ivan Buckley	...	Construction Worker (voice: English version) (as Jack Emmet)
Steve Bulen	...	General Khaidenn (voice: English version) (as Stevie Beeline)
Bryan Cranston	...	Matti Tohn (voice: English version)
Bambi Darro	...	Matti's Girlfriend (voice: English version)
Christopher de Groot	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version) (as Christophe de Groot)
Dorothy Elias-Fahn	...	Laughing Woman, Kid (voice: English version) (as Dorothy Melendrez)
Richard Epcar	...	Talkative Launch Tech (voice: English version)
Jonathan Fahn	...	Protester, Launch Tech (voice: English version) (as Jonathan Charles)
Tom Fahn	...	Bar Patron (voice: English version) (as Tom Charles)
Michael Forest	...	Dr. Gnomm (voice: English version) (as Alfred Thor)
Jeff Frayer	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Lena Gale	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Dougary Grant	...	Prince Toness, Photographer (voice: English version)
Stanley Gurd Jr.	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Arnie Hanks	...	Karrock (voice: English version)
Shôzô Îzuka	...	Space Force Trainer
Kazuo Kumakura	...	(voice)
Melody Lee	...	Riquinni Nonderaiko (voice: English version)
Wendee Lee	...	Bar Patron, News Reel Narrator (voice: English version)
Jill Lyons	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Jake Martin	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version) (as Dan Martin)
Rob Matthews	...	Shirotsugh Lhadatt (voice: English version) (as Robert Matthews)
Joe Montane	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Leo Morimoto	...	Shirotsugh Lhadatt
Gorô Naya	...	(voice)
Chikao Ôtsuka	...	Dr. Gnomm
Tony Pope	...	Guy Washing Clothes (voice: English version) (as Anthony Mozdy)
Simon Prescott	...	Republic Leader (voice: English version) (as Simon Isaacson)
Joe Romersa	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Anthony Santacrose	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Bin Shimada	...	Yanaran
Kazuyuki Sogabe	...	Marty
Ellyn Stern	...	Republic News Narrator (voice: English version)
Doug Stone	...	TV Commentator, Noble, Reporter (voice: English version)
Hirotaka Suzuoki	...	Domorhot
Jimmy Theodore	...	Cadet With Glasses (voice: English version) (as Rudy Luzion)
Kôji Totani	...	Tchallichammi
Thomas White	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Mimi Woods	...	Test Film Narrator, Launch Countdown (voice: English version)
Dan Woren	...	Nekkerout (voice: English version) (as Warren Daniels)
Yoshito Yasuhara	...	Nekkerout
Mitsuki Yayoi	...	Riquinni Nonderaiko

Also Known As:

Starquest
Wings of Honneamise (USA)
Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

South Korea:15 | UK:15 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:16 | UK:PG (cut video release) | Australia:M | Canada:14A | New Zealand:M

Company:

Bandai Visual Company

Quotes:

Shirotsugh Lhadatt: You Prayed? That doesn't stop them from bulldozing your damn house!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Otaku no video (1991) (V)

Excellent SF

Wings of Honneamise is what you'd call a work of "higher" science fiction; just like the fantasy genre is divided into swords-and-sorcery books (such as the Dragonlance series or the crap David Eddings writes - sorry, couldn't help myself) and more mature writings, such as A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le-Guin and the works of Lord Dunsany and J.R.R. Tolkien, so the SF genre can be divided into "higher" and "lower" SF. Lower SF consists of large ships, big lasers, mechas, and is epitomized in the works of Edward "Doc" Smith, George Lucas's Star Wars trilogy and most animes out there. Higher science fiction, in my eyes, ,means Philip K. Dick, Stanislaw Ulam, and Wings of Honneamise, or WOH for short.

WOH focuses on man's first attempt to launch a manned satellite into orbit around the earth; only it's not our earth, but rather a similar parallel world. The space program is ridiculed by almost everybody, including the main hero, until he meets a religious young woman who changes his mind. We follow the hero's training for the program and watch as he slowly matures from the apathetic dropout he begins out as.

This movie is about a lot of things: war, religion, politics, courage, friendship and more. It's much more than a "man goes to space" sort of film, like "Apollo 13" (starring Tom Hanks) is.

The depth and realism of this movie is astounding. During one scene where there's an explosion and water flies everyway, you can notice a rainbow in the background, which fades as the water scatters. The world is highly detailed and even the physics is correct (I always suspend belief when watching SF movies, but this one does a good job of getting the science right, as opposed to almost every other movie).

The weakest part of this movie is the music. It's well written but poorly executed in parts - it's always embarrassing to hear 1987 synthesizers attempt to mimic orchestral instruments. Ugh.

Regarding the rape scene, which seems to upset so many people: this can be understood based on her faith. Blaming Shirotsugh would on the part of Requinni (I hope the name is spelled that way) be admitting that even as he goes to the stars man is imperfect, an admission she is not willing to make. So instead she decides to take the blame on herself. The scene is unrealistic perhaps in today's PC America, but Requinni is anything but today's PC America. Whether or not it suits the tastes of the viewer - that's another question.