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 it was an animation. I liked the way this animated film had some loose strings and was like who cares where these goes. Then the way everyone’s life kind of intertwine to make a complete ball of strings makes these one of the best anime movies you can see. The script was co-writen (with the director) by Keiko Nobumoto a notable screenwriter on Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy and others. So you know you are getting quality screenplay.

The take it took on life on the street of two grown men and a young lady, is realistically scary. These homeless three are living off what they could find in other people’s garbage and what they could sell at recycling plants. You will also find them at shelters trying to get some food before they head off to their homes, which were cardboard boxes.

As we go through the lives of these three (an alcoholic named Gin, a former drag queen named Hana, and a teenage runaway girl named Miyuki), they get a shock of their life when one day they hear a baby crying in the dustbin pile they were going through. Knowing they could not just ignore it, Hana picks it up and believes the fortunes have smiled on him and he will finally get the chance to be a mother. Hana is gay by the way and he was ready to do whatever it takes to save this child’s life.

The other two tried to convince him to take the child to the police, but Hana afraid that the child would get lost in the system decided to find the mother or raise the child. So using the clues they found around the child and with the aid of Gin’s former parenting skills they were able to care for the child as they continue to search for the parents. Following the clues, they find a picture of a couple and believe they must be the child’s parent.

Their journey led them to meet a mob boss, Miyuki gets kidnapped while she was holding on to the baby. We also get to know more of the back story of all the characters, and why the left home. The most shocking was that of Gin, which caused a riff between him and Hana when they all discovered the lies he has told. Then the ending of this animation brings the three to meet a woman with a mental disorder, which put the child’s life at risk and we witness the heroics of the three to save the child’s life.

The movie plays majorly on what having a dysfunctional family is like and how people form new family with strangers to hide from the issues they are facing with their real family.