Neo Tokyo (film)

, also titled ''Manie-Manie'' on its title card, is a 1987 anime science fiction anthology film produced by Project Team Argos and Madhouse. The film was conceived and produced by Madhouse founders Masao Maruyama and Rintaro, the latter of whom served as composition organizer alongside Katsuhiro Otomo on the project.

The 50 minute-long film has three segments, each under a different screenwriter and film director: Rintaro's "Labyrinth Labyrinthos," an exploration into the maze of a little girl's mind, Yoshiaki Kawajiri's "Running Man," focusing on a deadly auto race, and Katsuhiro Ōtomo's "Construction Cancellation Order," a cautionary tale about man's dependency on technology. In addition to original music by Godiego's Mickie Yoshino, two prominently feature famous pieces of Western classical music: the first of Erik Satie's ''Gymnopédies'' and the "Toreador Song" of Georges Bizet's '' Carmen'' in "Labyrinth" and "Morning Mood" from Edvard Grieg's ''Peer Gynt'' score, in an ironic manner, in "The Order."

The film premiered on September 25, 1987, at that year's Tōkyō International Fantastic Film Festival. Other than festival screenings, Japanese distributor Toho originally relegated the film direct-to-video, releasing a VHS on October 10, 1987, but did eventually give it a general cinema release in Japan, on April 15, 1989. In English, the film was licensed, dubbed and released theatrically (as a double feature with the first ''Silent Möbius'' film) and to VHS in North America by Streamline Pictures, the license later being taken up by the now also out of business ADV Films.

Plot

Labyrinth Labyrinthos

The short follows Sachi (Hideko Yoshida/ Cheryl Chase), a girl locked in a game of hide-and-seek with her cat Cicerone. Her search leads her to an old longcase clock which doubles as a doorway to a labyrinth world. The world is filled with supernatural oddities and characters, such as cardboard working class citizens, an invisible dog, a skeleton-led train and a weird circus. Eventually, Sachi and Cicerone arrive at a circus tent where a viewing screen is displayed, leading to the following segments.

The Running Man

is written for the screen and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, with character design and animation direction by Kawajiri, mechanical design by Takashi Watabe and Satoshi Kumagai, key animation by Shinji Otsuka, Nobumasa Shinkawa, Toshio Kawaguchi and Kengo Inagaki and art direction by Katsushi Aoki. The segment also appeared on Episode 205 of ''Liquid Television'' with a different voice actor, Rafael Ferrer, than Michael McConnohie's Streamline dub.

Construction Cancellation Order

A revolution in the fictional South American country of the Aloana Republic has resulted in a new government being installed; this new government refuses to accept a contract detailing the construction of Facility 444. The company responsible for the construction has begun to lose millions, so salaryman Tsutomu Sugioka (Yū Mizushima/Robert Axelrod) is sent to stop production. The work is completely automated, carried out by robots programmed to finish the job no matter the consequences and led by a robot identified as 444-1 (Hiroshi Ōtake/Jeff Winkless). Witnessing the destruction of several robots and Robot 444-1's refusal to cease operations, Tsutomu begins to lose his patience and is nearly killed by 444-1 who was programmed to eliminate anything that poses a threat to the project. He retaliates by destroying 444-1 and follows its powercord that leads to the energy source of the robots in an attempt to finally end the production. Unknown to Tsutomu, the old government has been restored and they have agreed to honor the contract once more.

Production

Labyrinth Labyrinthos

is written for the screen and directed by Rintaro, with character design and animation direction by Atsuko Fukushima and art direction by Yamako Ishikawa. It serves as the anthology's "top-level" story, a framing device that leads into the other two works.

The Running Man

is written for the screen and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, with character design and animation direction by Kawajiri, mechanical design by Takashi Watabe and Satoshi Kumagai and art direction by Katsushi Aoki. The segment also appeared on Episode 205 of ''Liquid Television'' with a different voice actor, Neil Kaplan, than Steve Blum's Bandai Visual.

Construction Cancellation Order

is written for the screen and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, with character designs by Otomo and animation direction by Takashi Nakamura This segment's depiction of South America as a dangerous, unstable place is comparable to other depictions in the Japanese media during the 1990s such as Osamu Tezuka's 1987 comic '' Gringo''.

Reception

In a 2021 list of the "100 best anime movies of all-time", '' Paste'' magazine ranked ''Neo Tokyo'' at #10, writing "though for the most part absent of any real thematic connectivity, ''Neo-Tokyo'' is a concise and powerful example of the dizzying heights of technical mastery and aesthetic ambition anime can achieve when put in the hands of the medium's most inimitable creators."

See also

* ''Robot Carnival''
* ''Memories''
* ''Short Peace''

References

External links

*
*
*

{{Madhouse films

1987 anime films
1980s science fiction films
Cyberpunk anime and manga
Cyberpunk films
Films based on multiple works
Films based on short fiction
Films directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Films directed by Katsuhiro Otomo
Films directed by Rintaro
Films set in South America
Japanese anthology films
Japanese auto racing films
Japanese animated science fiction films
Madhouse (company)
Animated films about auto racing
Animated anthology films
Japanese robot films
Films about telekinesis
Toho animated films
ADV Films