(L) Gin-iro no kami no Agito

[Sonhex]

While this film has not yet been licensed it is part produced by MFI, therefore we won't be listing fansubs here on AnimeSuki. See Removal of Media Factory Inc. Works for details.

> This has now been licensed (see below)...
Though obviously it does not effect the following restrictions:

Since it is "restricted", the following posts are no longer allowed in this thread.

• Asking where you can find Agito downloads or torrents.
• Discussing Agito fansub groups (past or present).
• Asking for help downloading Agito.
• Asking for playback help for Agito.

These rules applies to fansubs (in English or any other language) and raws alike.

You still are allowed to discuss the fim, that has not changed but please remember to limit the discussion to the story. End of edit by Mod (xris)

Gin-iro no kami no Agito, new movie from Gonzo, coming out in 2006 (January I think) created by Umanosuke Iida, the man behind Tide Line Blue. Here's the blurb from the website -

It is 300 years into the future. Earth's environment has been devastated by mankind's own foolish plans and humankind is beleagured by the sentient forests which have awoken. The world balance is tipped when a young boy named Agito stumbles across a machine that glowed in a strange hue inside a forbidden sanctuary. The machine, which has preserved a beautiful girl name Tula (voiced by Aoi Miyazaki from the NANA movie) from the ages from the past, is activated. Tula has a 'mission' that had been entrusted to her by the past...

Okay, I'll admit it sounds bit 'familiar', giving me some Laputa/Nausicaa, Tree of Palme, Last Exile , Now and Then Here And Now vibes (not suprising considering the staff) however from the trailer it looks pretty interesting. The staff on it have an impressive pedigree with Kouji Ogata doing the character designs to Taku Iwasaki doing the soundtrack. I have high hopes for this one. Oh and if anyone can give an accurate translation of the title that would be awesome.

Official site with the trailer.

[EDIT] I just noticed this has some Media Factory involvement, so it may be better moved to the Licensed forum?[/EDIT]

P.S Surprised there wasn't a thread for this one, unless it was wiped in the hack?

[Sonhex]

More info on Gonzo's new movie can be found here . This apparent review is strangely ambigious. The Miyazaki influences are well noted in the article.

[xris]

Originally Posted by Sonhex

[EDIT] I just noticed this has some Media Factory involvement, so it may be better moved to the Licensed forum?[/EDIT]

Currently, General Anime is the correct forum for the thread. As it's MFI then this is usually added to the first post of the thread

While this film has not yet been licensed it is part produced by MFI, therefore we won't be listing fansubs here on AnimeSuki. See Removal of Media Factory Inc. Works for details.

Since it is "restricted", the following posts are no longer allowed in this thread.

• Asking where you can find Agito downloads or torrents.
• Discussing Agito fansub groups (past or present).
• Asking for help downloading Agito.
• Asking for playback help for Agito.

These rules applies to fansubs (in English or any other language) and raws alike.

You still are allowed to discuss the fim, that has not changed but please remember to limit the discussion to the story. End of edit by Mod (xris)

[Maceart]

So, has anyone seen it yet? Japantoday newspaper gave it 2.5 stars out of 5, but I think it looks quite cool from the promos and the KOKIA PV.

[Morgri]

I haven't seen anything about this being liscensed or what not, but does anyone have an idea if it will come to America, be subbed or anything?

Thanks for the info.

[MrProphet]

Man, I wish I could watch it in ANY form. DVD, fansub, raw, camrip... just give me something! 8)

I've been waiting for this ever since it was called "Spirit", I am quite annoyed that it didn't get enough exposure for someone to tape it in the theaters.

I don't think it's licenced. At least, AOD licensing list doesn't mention it.

[DaFool]

Yeah, that review ways back said that the show, in typical Gonzo fashion, didn't integrate 2D and 3D, and in some scenes it looked like the "ink and paint team took an early lunchbreak and never returned to finish the job".

Still, the trailer sold me. I hope the DVD comes out soon.

[Morgri]

I want to watch it either way, it looks amazing. I'll import the DVD if I have to.

[BluWacky]

The DVD's out on the 23rd of June.

I'd have thought Gonzo would be making efforts to get this into cinemas in the West; I know Brave Story has a worldwide licensing deal, but to be honest it looks far less entertaining. While neither is particularly original looking, I suppose that Brave Story can be targetted more towards a general family audience (even if it does just look like The Most Generic Fantasy Story Ever) whereas Agito, in all its Nausicaa Mark II glory, is too "otaku"-centric.

Anyway, can't wait for a chance to see this; the animation looks beautiful, even if the plot isn't up to much.

[Morgri]

Plot doens't have to be original to be good... If you think about it 70% of the anime everyone watches has been done somewhere else.

[orion]

Which was why I never understood the comments about originality in some of the recent anime reviews.

I hope someone subs this too. Those trailers looked nice.

Released in Region 2 with English subtitles or Region 1 licensing would be better.

[lavielove]

I hate Gonzo for making Witch-Blade and Densha Otoko.Hopefully I will like this movie.

trackback (bluwacky's post)

[Morgri]

June 23rd, the movie came out today, any news on an American release yet?

[xris]

Originally Posted by Morgri

June 23rd, the movie came out today, any news on an American release yet?

There hasn't been any mention of this being licensed in the U.S. has there? In other words, no, there has been no news at all of an American release.

[aardvark]

I believe Funimation have made a comment about how they have the rights to the movie and are hoping for Dec '06 theatrical release.

[wao]

Well what I read on ANN was this and apparently Spirit -> Spirits of the Past -> Origin: Spirits of the Past = Gin-iro no Kami no Agito

Funimation's studio representative seems to have posted on the issue too.

[MrProphet]

I managed to take a look at Gin-iro no kami no Agito (Silver-haired Agito) and I must say that I am both amazed and disappointed at the same time.

The film looks and feels simply breathtaking and GONZO has really outdone itself in the animation department. With that alone it stands above most other contemporary anime feature films and I was pleasantly surprised with the fact that the studio reknowned for its sloppy animation managed to pull something like this off.

Of course, "Agito" (or Spirit, as it was originally called) has come about several years ago, so GONZO definitely did have time to refine their work, yet I still applaud a job well done.

Rampant unchecked use of 3DCG, a common theme in many a critique of GONZO's work, was actually well intergrated into 2D environments. In terms of style, the 3DCG is similar to the work GONZO did with Samurai 7, but the rendered mecha do not look as plastic and felt a lot more natural in the hand-drawn surroundings. What is most impressive from GONZO's 3DCG team was that they were able to use 3D-rendered images to create an amazing depth of field in many scenes that actually furthered the realism of "Agito" and immersed the viewer into the scene, not distracted, as is usually the case with GONZO's rendered objects.

Music is equally beautiful, as it should be, given the fact that it was composed by Taku Iwasaki, one of the most talented musicians working in anime industry today. Who can forget his work on Rurouni Kenshin OVA?

But, at the same time, I was highly disappointed with the way GONZO has approached the story element of the film. As was obvious from the trailers, "Agito" borrows quite a lot from Studio Ghibli's work, but not until I've actually seen the film that I understood just how much "inspiration" GONZO got from Ghibli. From a certain all too obvious point of view, "Gin-iro no kami no Agito" can basically be described as the modern-day retelling of "Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa", if only we overlook the fact that the modern-day Nausicaa is a mutant boy with superhero powers.

The plot is based on "Nausicaa" and can almost be considered a remake, if one looks at the number of similarities... post-apocalyptic worlds, the clash of the remnants of civilization and the natural healing power of the Forrest, militarism versus peacefull coexistanse, God-Soldier versus the Mountain. Shunak feels like a poor-man's version of Queen Kushana while it isn't that hard to recognize Nausicaa and Asbel in Agito and Tyura.

I can't really say that "Agito" has a bad plot and apart from the campy and hollywood-esque last 30 minutes, the film manages to pull through quite nicely and is a respectable attempt at something very good, yet the way they tried to adapt Nausicaa to modern animation feels extremely lacking.

Let me just say this: "Gin-iro no kami no Agito" is a very good illustration of what would happen if the story of "Nausicaa" was created not by an absolute genius (Miyazaki), but rather by a regular director. A very talented director, but definitely not a genius. The difference between Keiichi Sugiyama and Hayao Miyazaki is just painfully obvious from this film and I sincerely wished that Sugiyama never put himself in a position where that comparison had to be made. Unfortunately, that's where he DID put himself and the comparison is so hard not in his favour.

All in all, I liked the film. It's beautiful and well directed. However, it is also not very original and therein, as the Bard tells us, lies the rub.

You can take a look at a bunch of screenshots I made from the film right here.

http://mrprophet.com/images/agito/

[DaFool]

I agree its a very beautiful film with extreme un-Gonzo gorgeous artwork, even better than Place Promised. However the story is standard anime movie fare. Heck, I'd even venture to say it reminded me of Green Legend Ran for some reason (not even Nausicaa!). It mixed elements of steampunk, but in this day and age I've grown a little tired of it.

The animation is godly, though some 3dcg still stands out. I guess this is the DVD version, because I didn't notice the errors mentioned by the theatrical reviews.

[orion]

Well, I don't feel that this film should be compared to Nausicaa or Green Legend Ran solely. To me, it's using plot similarities within both of these titles and made something orignal.

Besides, comparing Gonzo's productions to Miyazaki's works seems like an apples to oranges comparison style wise to me anyways. Gonzo, to me seems to put out more modern mainstream appealing works (action-based with graphics and plot) while Miyazaki puts out classic works (plot-based, less action and less graphics emphasis . The type of productions that older generations are into.). I don't think that many production companies now are doing Miyazaki-like stuff, right?

I liked this title too.

[MrProphet]

Um, sorry, but what?

Nausicaa was animated the way it was because "older generations" are into that kind of style? I'm sorry, but Nausicaa is over 20 years old. Modern animation techniques used in Agito did not exist at the time, so i fail to see how it was a conscious choice on Miyazaki's part!

Certainly, he prefers more subdued, introspective works, yet to suggest that he could have done a modern-style flashbang flick those days is ludicrous.

I agree that Agito has a lot more focus on action sequences, but that is just one more reason why I feel Agito is inferior. As good as the eye-candy looked, it still substituted for a proper character-and-plot ending, and that approach is very "Hollywood-esque", just as I've pointed out.