Product Details

• Actors: Masahiro Anzai, Steve Blum, Ivan Buckley, Steve Bulen, Bryan Cranston
• Directors: Hiroyuki Yamaga
• Writers: Hiroyuki Yamaga, Hiroshi Ônogi, Kevin Seymour, Mary Mason
• Producers: Hiroaki Inoue, Hirohiko Suekichi, Shigeru Watanabe
• Format: Animated, Color, NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Manga Video
• VHS Release Date: June 20, 1995
• Run Time: 121 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303481264
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #240,712 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Many anime fans acclaim writer-director Hiroyuki Yamaga's Wings of Honneamise as a masterpiece, but general audiences may react less enthusiastically. Honneamise is a small country in a parallel world very similar to Earth. Shiro Lhadatt, the least impressive cadet in the air force flight school, volunteers to become the first astronaut in a controversial space program. Training toughens his body, while the priggish evangelist Riqunni challenges him to discipline his spirit. In one distasteful sequence, Shiro attempts to rape her. The next morning he starts to apologize, only to have her apologize for braining him with a candlestick, a scene certain to infuriate feminists. Despite an invasion by a hostile country, Shiro gets into space and delivers a ponderous homily from his capsule.

Wings was made by a group of young artists in 1987, and with a record- setting budget. Art director Hiromasa Ogura's lavish designs blend '80s high-tech with art nouveau, and Yamaga's leaden pacing gives viewers the time to study every detail. Fans of Honneamise acclaim it as a critical meditation on the illusions and follies of the human race, which suggests that profundity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. (Ages 13 and older for violence, attempted rape, and occasional profanity) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A disaster of a transfer, January 12, 2001

By 

Bboy (CAMBRIDGE, CAMBRIDGESHIRE United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Royal Space Force - Wings of Honneamise (DVD)

The DVD release of this film had been delayed more times than i've had hot dinners, so i was with some some excitement that i finally layed my hands on a copy, esp. as i saw it was enhanced for widescreens TVs. OH DEAR. This is a disaster of a transfer, arguably the worst transfer of any anime disc ive yet seen (and thats a lot) On the plus side it does have a cool commentary track but surprisingly enough i don't buy a DVD to listen to, and this is like looking at the film through the bottom of a full beer glass, after having knocked back 10 pints already.

This is what the net is all about, i waste my money so you don't have to. AVOID untill someone does justice to this film with a proper transfer.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One of the best animated films ever -- atrocious video quality, October 29, 2005

By 

Eric J. Anderson (Ankeny, Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Royal Space Force - Wings of Honneamise (DVD)

I bought the 12" laserdisc release of this movie some years ago, and the colors are vivid, the edges are sharp, and I could find little to complain about except they messed up the subtitles in several spots -- they were actually missing in certain scenes.

But laserdisc is a dead format. Now comes the DVD, and they've ruined the movie. The colors are washed out. Edge enhancement is very prominent and annoying. If you are watching on a progressive monitor -- the deinterlacing is bad. The picture looks fuzzy, in spite of the edge enhancement.

I thought the Return of Sherlock Holmes DVD transfers were bad, but this is worse. Shame, shame on all who had a hand in releasing this DVD edition.

EDITED as of 11/09/2007: There is a new version, a new transfer of this movie, in a combination HD-DVD and standard DVD package. I believe there is a Blu-Ray version too, also containing a standard DVD in the package. They have fixed the video problems I complained about in the original DVD release. I'm glad they finally got the mastering right. It's a beautiful rendering of a beautiful film. Overpriced, though.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars exellent film but very bad DVD, December 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Royal Space Force - Wings of Honneamise (DVD)

"This DVD is broke. I can live with the fact that Manga had a bad master, but the fact that this DVD was authored out-of-spec really bothers me. This is a VERY amateur mistake and can be relatively easily corrected. Let me say this a little more clearly -- "THIS DISC IS DEFECTIVE." It is just as defective as the missing subs in BGC or the out-of-phase audio problem with the Slayers box set. Sure, there are some setups out there that will mask the problem (ie: HDTVs won't introduce the ghosting issues because the image doesn't have to be resized) but the simple fact remains that this disc should probably be recalled, remastered and reissued."....