This one is really obscure, as it was an OVA available only with the actual Street Fighter IV video game, and only the Collectors Edition. First-time directed by veteran animator Jiro Kanai, this was meant to be a slight follow-up to Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, but within its own given continuity.
Cammy's special ops team of Delta Red discover a weird energy signature in the jungle which killed off all life for several yards. At the same time, Chun-Li and Guile are investigating the disappearances of several prominent martial artists. This all ties to a company called S.I.N.(subtle!)which secretly helped bankroll the reportedly dead Shadaloo which was Bison's old homies. S.I.N.'s top dog Seth has the seductive agent Crimson Viper hunting down Ryu so he can study his special ki abilities. After kidnapping Ken's wife, The Street Fighter team reunites to take down Seth, who gets his ass handed to him by Ryu, but makes a hasty escape thanks to a few of Bison's boys.
This was a fair entry in the whole Street Fighter legacy, although not enough actual "fighting" was done in it. More going over what motivates the characters into why they fight, which was covered enough in Street Fighter Alpha: Generations. I can see why this wasn't released on its own, even though there's enough love for the games that it would've had some success. Hopefully they might release it as a double feature with the illusive Sakura anime movie short that played exclusively in Japan with that crappy The Legend Of Chun-Li flick.
Originally an amazing independent animated short by Shane Acker which took him four years to create, it was turned into a full-length motion picture produced by Tim Burton with Acker acting as director. This movie basically juggernauts the concept of "stitchpunk".
Set in a post-apocalpytic Earth, the film opens up with a small mechanical humanoid burlap sack(which looks like he's out of Little Big Planet)named 9 awakens in a dilapidated building and finds a strange talisman. After realizing the world is in ruins, he encounters 2, another robot like himself. 2 recognizes the talisman as something special, but gets captured by a large robot cat monster. 9 tries to go after him, but is taken in by the other sack-people, each one of which has its own number. Their leader 1 forbids a rescue attempt on 2, but 9 heads out with 2's friend 5. They manage to destroy the cat-bot with the help of the adventurous 7, and 2 is saved. However, 9 gets the talisman and instictively connects it to a large apparatus called the Fabrication Machine activates and sucks the life out of 2 in the process. 9, 7, and 5 run to an abandonned library run by 3 and 4 where they learn the history of the Fabrication Machine. It was made for a dictator-run country who took it from a scientist to create weapons of mass destruction, which of course later on turn on humanity, where in the end they wipe each other out. The scientist who made it survived long enough to put his soul into to the nine seperate robots which make up the little stitch people. The Machine creates a flying robot to capture the other #s, so they seek to stop the it at its source, but not without 7 and 8 getting captured. They manage to free 7 before torching the place, but 8 gets its soul sucked too. After believing they defeated the enemy, the remaining #s settle back for one of the only really cheery moments on the whole movie, only to find out that the Machine survived, which takes 5 and 6 souls too. 9 goes back to the scientist's room where he first awoke to find the secret of the Machine's power. 9 manages to rip the talisman from it after 1 hastily sacrafices himself. The remaining #s then set the souls of the departed ones free into the heavens.
The movie is a pretty direct adaptation of Acker's original short movie, except it actually adds the other #s into it, and expands on the whole reason for why the world is the way it is. The animation is very well executed in this, although not much on the Pixar level. It might give off the appearance of a stop-motion production, which is nothing new for Tim Burton, even if it seems to help and sometimes hurt the film in when there are times that they could've elaborated more on the plot and characters instead of going from one chase scene to another. But, the characters are really intriguing, and the dark feel of this forbiding world they live in. There's also a fine sense of scale for these diminutive robots in a land of dead giants. It's a great achievement for having an independent production turned into a feature film. The only real major problem with the movie is that it is a little too short, as minus the closing credits it clocks in about 70 minutes, where they could've added a little more interaction with some of the characters and expanded the plot a little more. But, I'd still recommend this for someone looking for a mature sci-fi adventure film, with some great metaphysical aspects to keep the philosphers happy too.
These are some quick holiday recommendations I have for die-hard otaku or just general anime enthusiast. Like the Halloween one I did, I'm basically picking titles that you wouldn't have to see several seasons of a TV show to understand anything about the characters or the story that a token "Christmas Episode" of a series would have. So, as nice as the 3 X-Mas episodes of Ranma 1/2 were, they don't help if you haven't seen the whole series prior to that. Anyway...
MY SANTA!
Before he was making assloads of cash with Love Hina and Negima, Ken Akamatsu did a one-shot manga story that was turned into this 2-episode OVA. One X-Mas Eve, a lonely young man named Santa(yep, Santa!)is spending another year without his parents who're out helping unfortunate kids somewhere else in the world. So, he is visited by Mai, one of several teenage girls that works for Santa Claus, since he apparently fired all the elves for sexy Japanese girls. Mai has the power to turn into a tall blonde girl only on Christmas Eve, and takes Santa on a trip around the world to see the good his parents do. We cut ahead a few months later to an obligatory "beach episode" where we're introduced to even more of Santa's little helpers showing in in bikinis. This was a cute short OVA series, which hinted that there was going to be a 3rd episode complete with a giant reindeer mecha fight, but it turned out to be a gag ending.
TOKYO GODFATHERS
While the anime industry mourns the recent loss of creative genius Satoshi Kon, you can enjoy probably one his finest productions around the holidays with this heartwarming film. Taking place on Christmas Eve, a homeless trio finds an abandonned baby, and resolve to locate the girl's parents. During this, they all inadvertently uncover their own pasts, and achieve their own sense of self-discovery. The movie was Kon's third directorial, and really shows how far he had come from Perfect Blue. This is the best example of a holiday-themed anime, although the fact it takes place during Christmas and New Year's isn't an overall scheme of the film, which makes it a great film for any time of the year.
MILLENNIUM ACTRESS
Satoshi Kon's second directorial movie was this one which on its own doesn't have much anything to do directly with the holidays, but it makes for the perfect New Year's movie. A TV director does an interview with his childhood idol, an aging Japanese film idol. While reflecting on moments of her life, she interweaves it with parts she played in her movies as she searches for her lost love. The movie wonderfully captures the passage of time of a tragic celebrity, and how it affects the lives of the people around her. I highly recommend watching this on late New Year's day while you treat your hangover.
On X-Mas Eve in Tokyo, three homeless people, find an abadonned baby lying in the rubbish. The trio: Gin, an ex-gambler; Miyuki: a runaway teenage girl; Hana: a drag queen, decide to find the child's parents. They name her Kiyoko, and then look through some belongings that were left with the child for clues to her origins. A trip to a family cemetery finds them running across a yakuza boss who they help out from nearly getting run over by his own car. He takes them to a club that they found a business card for with Kiyoko, which turns out is where the dom's daughter is getting hitched that day. Once there, Gin realizes that the groom is the man who caused him to become poor years ago from a jibbed bet, but before he can try to get at him, a hitwoman accidently shoots the groom while trying to kill the dom. Miyuki and the baby are kidnapped by the hitwoman, while Gin and Hana seperate after arguing. Gin runs into an older homeless man, and he gets injured while protecting him from some punks. Hana meets up with Miyuki who escaped with Kiyoko, and they go to an Hana's old bar for drag queens, where they find Gin who was taken into care for his injuries. They later run into a woman who appears to be Kiyoko's actual mother, however she's instead suicidal, and it's up to the homeless trio to save Kiyoko in a great comedy/traumatic fashion.
This movie was directed by the late but great Satoshi Kon, who also did the movies Millenium Actress, Perfect Blue, Paprika, and the Adult Swim series, Paranoia Agent. This was a distinct departure from his normal supernatural/surrealistic thrillers. It was partially based on the western movie, 3 Godfathers. For Kon, this was a great piece of storytelling. The characters are very entertaining and believable. His appear to be more realistic looking than most anime characters. Not all the girls are thin with big hooters, and not all the guys look like girls with long spikey hair.
What makes this a great movie for X-Mas is there are so many points in it where you actually believe some of the plot devices or coincidences are genuine "Christmas Miracles". There's so many revelations about the characters lives as the story moves along, and how the all culminate at one of the most satisfying anime movie conclusions ever is really special. The other reason its a great title for the holidays is because its one of the few ones that isn't the special "Christmas episode" of an already existing anime series, and is great to see on its own merit.
There's lot of holiday specials and obligatory "X-Mas episodes" of a TV series, but some of the best are lost amoung the shuffle. So, here's my top 3 picks for ones you need to check out for the season's greetings:
TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
One of the few Rankin/Bass specials that was done in 2D was this half-hour short based on the story of the same name. My only complaint about it is that Santa doesn't have a mustache. But really amazing character designs and a very memorable original song.
A WISH FOR WINGS THAT WORK
The only animated production of my absolute favorite comic strip, this took Opus and Bill from Bloom County/Outland in their own Christmas special where the politically-minded penguin asks Santa to be able to fly. Great funny stuff, and a timeless piece from Speilberg's crew.
THE MOST HORRIBLE CHRISTMAS EVER
The last episode of Invader Zim which never actually aired has Hot Topic's most profitable alien duping everyone into thinking he's Santa, and cons them into being festively teleporting to their doom. Where else can you see a giant robot fighting a Santa-tentacle monster? I have to see this at least 3 times every holiday cause its so damned good!
