Space Fantasia 2001 Nights
Space Fantasia 2001 Nights is an epic, profound and very serious 50 minute space opera anthology OVA from 1987. It was produced by TMS (Tokyo Movie Shinsha) who adapted the famous Yukinobu Hoshino manga from 1984 called 2001 Nights. Although this OVA has never been released in the US, the manga was licensed and fully translated by Viz in 1996. Don't worry though, it's still available today through the usual online retailers such as Amazon. It's a shame Viz didn't license this to coincide with it, like they did with the Grey Digital Target OVA which was released to partner the Grey Manga.
Space Fantasia 2001 Nights was made when the Japanese economic boom was still going from strength to strength and the growing budgets within the industry reflected this as companies allocated as much time and money as they wanted to. The animation is nothing short of stunning, we've all dropped our mouths in awe when watching productions like Wings of Honneamise or Robot Carnival. This OVA is among those elite, in not only it's technical achievements such as it's immensley detailed animated backdrops but it's very sophisticated setting and plot too. This is the only anime i've seen that can truly convey just how seemingly endless and vast space must feel. When characters gaze out through a window you can truly see and feel the loneliness in their hearts. 2001 Nights is an array of many emotions which your often may find overwhelming when juggling the subtleties and complexities that make the story so compelling.
The character deigns strive for nothing else but realism with everything beautifully rendered. The colour pallete is vibrant with many contrasting colours in close proximity with each other. Unusually the characters seem to have a slight golden tint to their skin tones which almost makes them seem radiant and glowing, it's very striking, in a good way. With all the religious and moral undertones, maybe it's their auras we can see? Also worth noting are some scenes scattered throughout that last only for around a minute or so where only music and animation are playing together. I can't help but feel reminded of Disney's original Fantasia when these segments play. There's something very profound about these scenes that i can't quite put into words, it has a mystical and spiritual awe about them. I can only imagine how much time and effort it must have taken to produce something this complicated since it was even shot using a new cutting edge technology called super perspective technique, a 3d animation process that is well beyond my knowledge.
As the final segment progresses, your soon realise that all the the stories are actually small pieces of a much larger puzzle, which slowly and neatly come together towards the end of the show to capture and create something as vast as space itself. With all it's complex science, undertones and references, it's no wonder I feel tired reviewing this brainbuster of a show that cries out for repeat viewing. As the credits begin to scroll down the screen, your be left quietely pondering while the catchy electronic instrumental with the occasional jamming of an high pitched electric guitar, keeps your ears drumming and your mind numb as you try to decipher all the events that have taken place across this OVA.
In conclusion I highly recommend this to everyone, this is by far one of the best shows i've ever seen and i hope your feel the same when watching it too. If you enjoy serious and complex space operas, like the more well known Legend of the Galatic Heroes, then this is defintly something to see. With this being a TMS title, lets hope it captures the interest of ImaginAsian who have recentlly fostered a strong working relationship with them. They are currently distributing several of their titles on dvd in the US this year including Orguss, Cat's Eye and Nobody's Boy Remi. For all of those who are uninformed, they are exclusively sold at Rightstuf, now here's hoping they can strike a distribution deal for Space Fantasia 2001 Nights.
Download - Space Fantasia 2001 Nights
Overall Grade/Rating: A+
Commercial Availability: VHS (Japan), Laserdisc (Japan)
13 comments:
I didn't know about this title before. I'm going to make time to watch the download.
Hey, I remember those 2001 Nights comics! I always wanted to buy some, but what little money I had went to Venus Wars, Appleseed, and Dominion Tank Police.
Er.. Wait a sec... Did you just say... Orguss...?! On DVD....?! SOON?!!!!!!!!! :o [FALLS OVER DEAD]
this was awesome, thanks for turning me on to it!
Surprised someone didn't know Orguss was coming out!
Yes, this truly was one of the great serious sci-fi animes of the OAV market.
After initially watching it in the 90's and feeling let down that the character design was not as good as Hoshino's own art in the manga, I thought I'd give it another try recently. I did appreciate it more now, but one thing blew me away that I hadn't picked up on before.
Has anyone noticed how similar some of the 2001 soundtrack is to that of Wings of Honneamise? If Ryuichi Sakamoto ever saw 2001 Nights, surely his jaw must have dropped upon hearing the music during the ending credits. The melody is so overwhelmingly similar to his own work in Honneamise. Does anyone else hear the similarity?
This was a really great film. The music was great and the broad scope of the story really appealed to me. We need more hard sci-fi stories like this.
I saw a character in the drama Kekkon dekinai otoko reading the manga of this show, and wanted to check it out since it looked sci-fi themed (since I have recently become a huge, huge fan of Legend of the Galactic Heroes). And so I found this review ... and am now grabbing it, since you said it's very serious and complex, like LOGH. :D Thanks so much for this recommendation!!
The animation quality & design in this Space Fantasia is SUPERB!!
If this OVA is on the same level as the manga, then you should not call it a "space opera". "Space opera" is the polar opposite of "hard SF," which this is.
I first saw 2001 Nights after I randomly found it on Veoh a couple years back and thought it looked interesting. Boy was I in for one hell of an emotionally overwhelming piece of work.
I just saw this and Man O man, everyone should see this.
While watching I was going "yeah, this is what anime can be". it reminded me why I like anime aside from just like fantasy and animation.
It's realistic, and the fact that it was from 84 is amazing. It doesn't touch on all issues humanity might encounter in the future, with its focus being telling a good Hard Science Fiction story that's plausible while having a human perspective without it being on any character in particular but about endeavour.
you dont have the other 2 ovas "TO"
please i like see this..
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