The Film
Tekkon Kinkurîto (Tekkonkinkreet or Tekkon Kinkreet, as it is known in its English release) is a play on "Tekkin Concrete," the Japanese term for reinforced concrete. It's a fitting title. The film, adapted from an original three-volume manga series by Taiyō Matsumoto named Black and White, follows two orphaned brothers who reside in a place called Treasure Town. The brothers are named Black - the older, more violent brother - and White, the younger, more innocent and childlike of the two. White, who is prone to vivid hallucinations and visions, needs Black to protect him; Black needs White to keep him stable and in touch with the more human side of his personality. It's a yin-yang scenario that is played upon quite frequently and, unfortunately, quite obviously straight through the film.
The two orphans run afoul of a group of yakuza and their Western business associate, Snake, whom they have hired to clean out the streets of Treasure Town and kill off the "cats" (the yakuza's term for the homeless children living and ruling the streets), in order for the town to be to be bulldozed for a planned amusement park. Here is where things begin to become quite surreal, in typical animé fashion, when White is stabbed by an alien creature controlled by Snake and hospitalized. Black, realizing he can no longer protect White, abandons him to the police and allows them to take White into their custody, thereby severing the bind that was keeping them both stable and grounded in reality. Black proceeds to lose all control and goes on a killing rampage, setting the story up for the completely unexpected finale that only serves to take the entire film into the realm of the ridiculous.
![Tekkonkinkreet [Blu-ray]](http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/artman2/uploads/1/Tekkonkinkreet-blu-ray.jpg)
The strongest parts of Tekkonkinkreet are indeed its wonderfully designed animation and the brilliant Techno soundtrack that adds moodiness to the storyline at the right moments. The look of the animation is what one could describe as moving watercolor. It has a washed-out look; utilizing more earth tones rather than bold primary colors. This underscores the rather bleak outlook to the numerous subplots quite effectively. The blending of hand-drawn animation and CGI backgrounds is achieved seamlessly so that the continuity is always maintained. Kudos must be given to the excellent animation team for this film. It is truly a work of art. The strength of the animation, combined with the energetic and moody soundtrack, are what saves this film and aids the storyline, which can become somewhat cliché and dull.
Tekkonkinkreet will never likely be considered a classic animé title, but it is filled with many compelling moments. It is easy to tell while watching this film that it was done with much care and with purpose. Apart from the odd alien beings that inexplicably show up, there are no robots, spaceships, or cyborgs in this film. It is a character driven film that focuses on the human condition above all else, and that alone helps it to stand apart from most other animé films that have been produced.
The Picture
Presented on this disc in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 in a 1080p/24 AVC/MPEG-4 encoding, Tekkonkinkreet has an intentionally washed out, faded look to its color palette, but this is not a criticism on the video transfer.
On the contrary, the transfer itself is superb. Every detail in this animated film is captured flawlessly, from the more colorful scenes of Treasure Town lit up at night, to the dull backgrounds of Black and White's living quarters. Contrast and black levels are perfect and compression artifacts are nonexistent. The picture is sharp, detailing every line of the artist's pens perfectly. The mostly solid colors are stable and show no video noise or pixelation. There are no noticeable film imperfections, and no perceptible film grain was present -- grain haters can rejoice, but I find the latter a little suspect. Overall, however, it is an exceptional transfer.
The Sound
This release offers an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, as well as original language Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 and uncompressed PCM 5.1 soundtracks. I listened to the Japanese uncompressed PCM 5.1 soundtrack with English subtitles for the purposes of this review.
The uncompressed PCM soundtrack was an engaging listen. The surround channels were filled with much discrete information, from the sounds of traffic to rainfall. There was a good amount of ambience throughout all 5 main channels, bringing the entire mix together and maintaining continuity. Dialogue was clear and consistent, always representing the full range of human tonality, and was never lost in the mix, even when the film's driving techno-score ramped up. Low frequencies were well represented, but not ground shaking. High frequencies were relaxed and easy on the ears. This was a reference quality mix for certain.
The Extras
Three extras are offered on this disc, but none of them are so compelling as to make them worthy of going back to watch again, if ever. There's the obligatory commentary track, and then there are two video extras, both in 4:3, standard definition: A Conversation with Director Michael Arias and British Rock duo Plaid is a brief discussion with the director and the instrumental Techno duo of composers. Plaid discuss their process of scoring the film, and director Arias speaks about why he decided to choose the pair to do the music for Tekkonkinkreet. The Making of Tekkonkinkreet - Director Michael Arias' 300 Day Diary is a behind the scenes featurette which shows the different teams responsible for putting the film together, also revealing that Arias, who first emigrated to Japan 17 years ago, worked on Total Recall and The Abyss as a special effects specialist and actually made his directorial debut with Tekkonkinkreet.
Final Thoughts
There are far too few animated films available on Blu-ray, particularly hand-drawn animation. Animé seems to be trickling out and Disney will soon be releasing the first of its animated classics on Blu-ray in the form of a Platinum Edition of Sleeping Beauty this coming autumn. Tekkonkinkreet has its weaknesses and would not have been my first choice for an animé title on Blu-ray. In fact, it is not my favorite of the currently available animé titles on Blu-ray in the U.S., Japan, or Europe, but it still has its strong moments and is a wonderful looking piece of animation. Its detailed artwork, combined with the marvelous PCM soundtrack, will make this a much welcomed addition to any animation fan's Blu-ray collection.
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