Tokyo Godfathers

Summary

“This is a Christmas present from God! She’s our baby!”

Last year, Shout!Factory released the classic anime Millennium Actress on Blu-ray. This was on the heels of their excellent release of Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue. After the great reception that both of these releases received, fans hoped that it was only a matter of time until Tokyo Godfathers received the same attention from Shout!Factory’s GKIDs line. This would be the last film of Satoshi Kon to receive a stateside Blu-ray release, so it only seemed natural that it would happen. Thankfully, Shout!Factory announced that they were bringing the film to Blu-ray and I went ahead and preordered my copy.

The film begins on Christmas Eve. Three homeless people live together on the streets of Tokyo. Gin is a hard drinking old man who lost his family years earlier. Hana is a homosexual former drag queen that has strong maternal instincts. Miyuki is a teenage runaway who can not return to her home because of a bad action she took towards her father. They live together as a sort of dysfunctional family unit – bickering and fighting with one another but also watching out for one another. When they find a baby in the trash with a note, they are stunned that somebody could abandon a baby in the harsh cold. Hana insists that the baby is a gift from God and they name the baby Kyoko. Hana refuses to let them take the baby to the police and asks that they endeavor to find the parents of the child so they can ask them face to face why they would abandon their child. The film follows their ragtag adventure as they travel across Tokyo and pick up clues and experience numerous coincidences as they try to return the child and find out why it was abandoned.

As you probably know, Satoshi Kon only made four films before his death at the young age of forty six. All four films showed off Satoshi’s mastery of the art form and his ability to write and direct across numerous genres. Tokyo Godfathers finds Satoshi Kon in a more lighthearted mood and writing essentially a comedy with dramatic underpinnings. The thing that should strike viewers of the film is how much range Satoshi Kon displayed in his writing. This film is not at all like his previous two films, but it is just as effectively written. The arch of the plot allows the characters to all grow throughout the course of the film, for all of the plot points to be totally resolved through coincidence or miracle, for dramatic points to be explored as thoroughly as the comedic aspects, and for Satoshi to sympathetically look at those most cast out from society as the heroes of his film. As one would expect from the master filmmaker, it is all beautifully done with some of his best looking characters designs and a fully formed vision of Tokyo on Christmas. Fans of Satoshi Kon should not hesitate to add this film to their collection.

Video

Shout!Factory presents Tokyo Godfather with an AVC encoded 1080p presentation from a 4K scan in 1.85:1. Like the other GKIDs releases of Satoshi Kon’s work, the film looks fantastic. The visual artistry of Satoshi Kon is ideal for Blu-ray presentation and at every turn in the film was another perfectly thought out visual. It’s a very pretty piece of cinema and has aged well. I can’t imagine that it can be made to look much better in the future. 

Audio

Tokyo Godfathers features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track for both the original Japanese language track and the English dub. Both tracks sound great. I watched the film in the English Dub. I enjoyed the voice acting which stayed close to the original intent of the writing. The surround effects are used fairly often and are used well. Fans will be pleased with both tracks which offer good fidelity to the original sound design.

Supplements:

Introduction by K.F. Watanabe 

Making of Tokyo Godfathers 

The Process of Animation 

The Unexpected Tours 

Art Gallery 

Mixing for Surround Sound 

An Interview with Shakina Nayfack 

Satoshi Kon Short Film: Ohayo 

Making of Ohayo

Trailers

Overall Scores:

Video – 5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 3.5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Tokyo Godfathers is another beautifully made film from master filmmaker Satoshi Kon. Tokyo Godfathers finds Satoshi Kon writing in a lighthearted mood and showing sympathy for the most downtrodden members of society. It’s a heartwarming film and well worth your time. This was the director’s third film but is the last of his films to finally receive a release on Blu-ray. Fans will surely want to upgrade and will be glad to finally complete their collection on Blu-ray. Shout!Factory has provided a beautiful new 4K restoration that is the definitive presentation of the film. Highly recommended.