Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

7/10

Starring the voices of

Tōru Emori

Yoshiaki Umegaki

Aya Okamoto

Directed by Satoshi Kon

Tokyo Godfathers felt more like I was watching a movie than an animation. I loved how this film had some loose strings, almost like it didn’t care where everything was going. Then, as the story unfolds, you see how everyone’s lives intertwine, forming a complete ball of strings. This makes it one of the best anime movies you can watch. The script was co-written (with the director) by Keiko Nobumoto, a notable screenwriter behind Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy, and more. So, you already know you’re getting a quality screenplay.

The take it had on life on the streets—following two grown men and a young woman—was realistically scary. These three homeless characters survive by scavenging through other people’s garbage and selling what they can at recycling plants. You’ll also find them at shelters trying to get some food before heading back to their “homes,” which are cardboard boxes.

As we dive into the lives of these three (an alcoholic named Gin, a former drag queen named Hana, and a teenage runaway girl named Miyuki), their world is turned upside down when they hear a baby crying in a pile of garbage. Knowing they can’t just ignore it, Hana picks up the baby and believes fortune has smiled on him, giving him the chance to finally be a mother. Hana is gay, by the way, and is ready to do whatever it takes to save this child’s life.

The other two try to convince Hana to take the child to the police, but Hana, afraid the baby will get lost in the system, decides to either find the mother or raise the child himself. Using the clues they find with the baby, and with the help of Gin’s past parenting experience, they manage to care for the baby while searching for its parents. One of the clues leads them to a picture of a couple, which they believe must be the child’s parents.

Their journey takes them through a series of wild encounters: they meet a mob boss, Miyuki gets kidnapped while holding the baby, and we learn more about the backstories of all three characters and why they left home. The most shocking revelation is about Gin, which causes a rift between him and Hana after the group discovers the lies he’s been telling. In the climax, the trio encounters a mentally unstable woman who puts the baby’s life at risk, leading to a dramatic and heroic rescue.

The movie dives deep into the themes of dysfunctional families and how people sometimes form new families with strangers to escape the issues they face with their real ones.