Genre: Sci-fi/Fantasy/Adventure/Action
Review Status: Complete (1 Movie/1 Movie)
Licensed: Yes, this anime is licensed in the US.
Art/Animation: The art is a little dated, recalling the days of retro sci-fi character designs with elongated limbs and big, wavy hair. Sometimes there seems to be an art change for short segments of the movie. It has some great animation, though, very fluid.
Dub Vs. Sub: There is no dub. There is no sub, for that matter – this is a story entirely told through music and the pictures, much like Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron. If you don’t like Daft Punk, then you probably won’t like this. Though even if you are a fan, if you’re sensitive to repetitive sounds like I am, then there are segments which will drive you up the wall because of the one or two stanzas that are repeated for a long while to get through the scene.
Summary: An evil music producer has had his eye on an alien band for a while, and finally kidnapps them to fulfill his nefarious schemes of destroying the world. A lone starship operator is called upon to save them.
Review: This is one of those anime that I have to double-check the date on, because it just screams 80’s, with all the cheese and hair and rock ‘n roll that means! Interstella just goes with it, creating a prolongued music video for Daft Punk that isn’t half bad when you get over the sheer stupidity of certain things.
For the most part, this is 80’s awesome. The music is pretty good (minus it being super-repetitive in some scenes. The opening had that song dragged out FAR too long, for instance). The premise, while a bit lame, has it’s moments of amazing – I loved it when they transformed the aliens into humans. The adorableness of the pilot’s crush on the girl in the band was fantastic. The ploy to destroy their mind-control devices was super-dramatic and classic.
But… and there is always a but with these sorts of things!… this really went off the boat when it decided to try and tell the story of why the manager was trying to destroy the world. It was stupid and nonsensical, and how he was trying to destroy the world even moreso! Actually, I was willing to go with the world-destroying-plan because of how 80’s rock movies work, but the manager’s backstory just made it seem even more ridiculous than it was and completely broke the mood.
Even so, there was a lot more great here than bad, and I was charmed and excited by a lot of the movie.
Overall, if you’re not a fan of music videos, you can skip this – otherwise I’d totally go for it!
Recommended: 10+. If they’re watching Star Wars, they can handle this! There’s nothing that’s particularly scandelous or shocking here.
Other titles you might enjoy:
I’ve got nothing. There really aren’t any other music video anime out there. However, if you’re into music and anime, then check out
Beck (manga)
Nana (anime and manga)
Paper Chimes 