Tekkon Kinkreet

Title:Tekkon Kinkreet
Amer Béton (French)
Black & White (English)
鉄コン筋クリート (Japanese)
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , ,
Notables: Animation - Studio 4°C
R1 License - Sony Pictures Home Ent
Black and White are two street urchins. They have no home, no parents… only each other. They steal, mug, beat people… It's not the yakuza that owns Treasure town, it's Black (the smart, bitter one) and White (the dumb, innocent one). But when a developer wants to turn the dark, ugly streets into an amusement park, he brings about challengers that even Black will have trouble against!

(summary from AnimeNewsNetwork)

Based on Taiyo Matsumoto`s manga series Tekkon Kinkurito (released in America by Viz under the title "Black & White"). The film will be animated by Studio 4°C and directed by American film visual effects supervisor and producer Michael Arias, who lives and works in Japan.

110 minute long Movie.
R1 Licensed by Sony Pictures Home Ent.

Winner of Manichi Award (2007)- 'Grand Award'.
2008 (Brussels) ANIMA winner - Grand Prix award
2:08min Promo - YouTube Video
"鉄" ("tetsu") means "iron", "筋" ("kin") means "muscle" - but actually "鉄コン" ("tekkon") "筋クリート" ("kinkuriito") is a pun on "鉄筋コンクリート" ("tekkin konkuriito"), the Japanese term for reinforced concrete.
Episode Details 
01
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 10 10 7 6 6 Ggultra2764 [series:1627#1552]
Yet another movie I come across that succeeds with delivering on style yet is shoddy on its delivery of substance. Tekkon Kinkreet does do well at delivering mostly on its visual presentation with excellent renderings of city environments via CG animation and fluid movements coming from characters and vehicles as they move around the city environments, combat scenes and the psychedelic events that unfold in the movie's second half. The only eyesore I found with the visual presentation were the mediocre looking character designs. The movie does also do a decent job at setting up the environment for Treasure Town depicting it as a merciless environment where crime, poverty and corruption is rampant shown with the various gangs and Black and White trying to survive on their own via pickpocketing and beating up on those who threaten them.

On the plotting end though, Tekkon Kinkreet is a bit of a mess. The movie looked like it wasn't sure whether it wanted to be an adventure or psychological drama as it dabbled with both in trying to explore the struggles of Black and White. Problem is the plot direction is too shaky to effectively mix the two as the movie has the habit of having awkward transitions in time and events, characters that appear to be prominent in the world of the movie are limited in their roles and it doesn't bother explaining the more fantastical elements of the movie such as how Black, White and other characters could defy physics at points and the psychedelic mind-trip Black experiences towards the end of the movie.

Tekkon Kinkreet is a fine example of the capabilities that Studio 4C can pull with their visual presentation. But plot wise, the movie is too shoddy in its plot direction and choice of genres to have you care enough for the world that the movie attempts to create.

Last updated Sunday, March 06 2011. Created Sunday, March 06 2011.
Rent Jan-Chan [series:1627#967]
I have heard some interesting things about this movie - mostly good and always strange.

The production company is Studio 4°C, who are known for putting out strange anime (such as their 2004 Manichi award winner - Mind Game and Amazing Nuts! #1).

The director is an American living in Japan. Michael Arias is known for his efforts for parts of the animated movie The Animatrix. His being an American directing Japanese anime is a first.

It is based on a manga series created by Taiyo Matsumoto from some ten years ago and licensed for the US market by VIZ under the name of Black & White. I hear that they are going to be re-releasing the series to coincide with the movie.

Some of the comments used to describe this movie are ...
  • abstract
  • psychedelic
  • surreal
One reviewer wanted to compare this with the works of 'Alfred Bester', which is pretty esoteric. While another proclaimed this movie to be a spritual successor to X (Movie) (?scritch? ?scritch?).

(Update) -

And then I was able to view this movie. Great, detailed and creative animation (which is the benchmark of Studio 4°C,) but somehow the story did not really grab me.

I posted some images if you are interested.

Last updated Monday, June 30 2008. Created Sunday, May 27 2007.

Other Sites
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Official Japanese Movie Web Site http://www.tekkon.net/index.html

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