Tekkon Kinkreet” is a fast-paced and poignant animated film that features stunning visuals, interesting characters and an emotionally resonant story of brotherly love.
Loosely translated as “concrete jungle”, “Tekkon Kinkreet” opens with the image of a black crow soaring out of the clouds and swooping down over Treasure Town, a decaying and crime-ridden underbelly of a major Japanese metropolis. The symbolism of the black crow as an augury of death and destruction is appropriate given that “Tekkon Kinkreet” is essentially a tale of transformation – of a city and its people.
Part fantasy, part action-adventure, “Tekkon Kinkreet” centers on the story of Black and White, two orphaned boys with unusual superpowers, who live on the streets of Treasure Town and band together to battle various mobster factions that threaten their beloved home by razing the city center to build a modern amusement park. Black is a tough, pessimistic, anger-filled teenager whose first instinct is to fight. By contrast, White is an innocent child with a sunny disposition who’s always dreaming of a better world filled with blue skies, sandy beaches and dives in the ocean with dolphins. Like yin and yang, together they balance each other; apart, they each fall prey to the extremes of their light and dark natures. Despite names that imply a one-note characterization, both Black and White are interesting characters that draw us in with their vulnerability and so we grow to care about what happens to them.
In addition to the narrative of the young boys, director Michael Arias also skillfully weaves an interesting secondary story about the rivalry between old-school, change-resisting yakuza who value comraderie and their traditional code of honor versus the cynical, modern bad guys who care only about power and money.
Although the film would have benefited from tighter editing - some of the action sequences are repetitive – “Tekkon Kinkreet” is a visually fantastic and thought-provoking anime for adults that explores themes of brotherhood and the impact of urban modernization.
