Sep 4, 2017
Woohoo, first review.
Warning: This review contains spoilers.
When you look at Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa's (Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise) MAL page you'll see some pretty glowing reviews calling it ''underrated'' ''a gem'' and such. But make no mistake, the film is only okay at best.
5/10
Story: At its core, Honneamise no Tsubasa is essentially a 2 hour anti-war/pro-religion commercial. It does nothing truly different or revolutionary for it to be called a gem or underrated. Most of its themes are barely touched upon or are just flat out underdeveloped. War, corruption, and religion are the primary subject matters. Honneamise no Tsubasa
...
does very little to expand upon on how truly terrible war can be. It takes these themes and leaves them undercooked. There are a few scenes where you might notice that things such as war and corruption have affected the world, but these moments won't stick with you. You've seen these themes done better in other anime/manga or even in different forms of media. The story overall just feels unfinished.
8/10
Art/Animation: Excellent. The film still holds up to this day. I can't lie I absolutely love me some classic animation. I yearn for this style to make a return every day, but that's just simply not going to happen. The world is very detailed, it has its own flair, meshing steampunk, cyberpunk with a dash of light fantasy ala Studio Ghibli. It almost feels like an estranged sibling to Miyazaki's Nausicaa. If there's any reason to like this film, it's definitely the art.
6/10
Sound: It's fine. The music and voice acting are just fine. The music won't stick with you nor will the voices, but what's there is passable enough.
5/10
Characters: This is a mixed bag. First, you have our protagonist, Shirotsugh "Shiro" Lhadatt. He's lazy, aloof, and kind of relatable to be honest. Shiro wanted to be a pilot, but he, unfortunately, couldn't make the cut due to poor grades so he eventually lost all motivation and joined the RSF (Royal Space Force). The RSF is an organization not unlike our NASA. Overall Shiro is at most, a harmless character. He's not someone you would want to follow around but at the same time, it could be much, much worse. He's eventually motivated in a somewhat unrealistic way. He goes from lazy, cynical loser to motivated shounen protagonist fairly quickly. It's not odd for a character or a real life person to become quickly motivated. Sometimes, all you need to do is talk to he right person. But the problem is that his original motivation is tossed aside. What could have been solid character development is replaced by different motivation that originally has no ties to his character.
Next up (oh boy) is Riquinni Nonderaiko. Riquninni is the typical religious nut (that's not an insult) and the reason why Shiro became motivated. Now Riquinni's reason for existing is questionable. At first glance, you might think she exists as a romantic subplot for Shiro, but you would be wrong. I honestly have no real answer on why she exists other than to be a plot device to motivate Shiro and have his morality questioned(?). There's a scene where she loses her house. This could have been a good moment to have her faith questioned but, no, she just forgives and moves on. Then there's another moment *SPOILERS* where Shiro tries to fucking rape her. She fends him off and the next day Shiro tries to bring it up and SHE JUST FORGIVES HIM *SPOILERS END*. In short, Riquinni wants to have her cake and eat it too. She wants to lecture everyone and have unshakable faith without any impactful character moments because she's always in the right and anyone who doesn't see things the way she sees them is wrong. I guess the movie director is a Christan? She isn't relatable, she isn't well written or developed. She is dumb and unrealistically naive.
As for the rest of the characters? They're forgettable but enjoyable. There are many scenes where Shiro's friends are quite fun to watch. You have a few charming and whimsical moments. If you take away anything from this film it's the entertainment you get from watching Shiro and his friends pal around and of course the art.
Overall: This film just felt undercooked plain and simple. Any of its themes it tries to convey are done in mediocre fashion at best. You have good animation and some enjoyable character interactions, but Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa is nothing special. If you want to burn 2 hours then I implore you to look elsewhere.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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