Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Kyoshinhei Tôkyô ni arawaru" may not give you the best deal of information unless you are fluent in Japanese, but the English title ("Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo") does as it perfectly summarizes the contents of the story. We hear a female narrator tell us about the day when an ancient not so friendly deity descended from the skies and destroyed the city of Tokyo. While it was a terrible tragedy, there is also a sense of hope and future in here. Destruction leads to a very rough road, but it also breeds creation like a famous band once said. It's an okay watch all in all and gets better the further it progresses during these slightly over 10 minutes. Cannot say anything about the films this is connected to as I haven't seen either. Some interesting questions arise. Why couldn't other Gods stop it or at least intervene? How did the girl survive and what will future bring to her? Is she really the only survivor? How did her brother know? And so on. This one had its 5th anniversary last year. It's not really about the animation and the visual execution may be slightly worse than the audio side (i.e. narration mostly) that was pretty good and also the plot idea in general. I am kinda curious about how the story goes on. Another Studio Ghibli production that certainly deserves to be seen. By the way, Miyazaki is a voice actor in here, but even without that little interesting fact you should give this one a go. Just like I give it a thumbs-up. Don't miss out.
