Satoshi Kon is widely considered an auteur of bizarre masterpieces. Perfect Blue, Paprika, and Millennium Actress are all strange, high-concept films to varying degrees. However, Tokyo Godfathers might somehow be his oddest film. This isn't due to the film taking the concepts of blurring reality and fiction to insane new levels while incorporating even crazier ideas. The film barely even touches the idea, and it barely even mentions the concept of film in any way. These are two of the greatest hallmarks of a Satoshi Kon movie, and they're largely absent. Therefore, this film is the biggest risk the late director had taken as it seems to be out of his traditional wheelhouse...or is it?

Millennium Actress is my personal favorite of his, and while one of those reasons is due to the beautiful blending of reality and fiction as the film pays tribute to cinema, another is how beautiful and personal it is. The film is about a girl recounting the turbulent upbringing and stardom phases of her life which were predicated on a fantastical idea of romance. If was a story of and by a passionate human being, told to people who were willing to dive deep in and even roleplay parts of the story with her. The film is genuine and human. This sense of humanity is not only present in his other works, but is what Tokyo Godfathers chooses to shine a light on the most.

This aforementioned sense of humanity is no more apparent than with our main leads: a diverse group of homeless people. The first of this trio is Hana, a transgender woman with a temper and the desire to be a mother. Then there’s Miyuki, a runaway teenager with a real sense of snark. Lastly, there’s Gin, a deadbeat, mouthy asshat who is the first to give up at the moment of resistance, as well as the one with perhaps the most baggage related to his family of anyone in the film. All 3 of them are of varying backgrounds and disasters that led them to where they are now, that being the lowest of the low in society. Yet, these crass individuals are extremely likable, with a sense of chemistry that makes every interaction joyous as the three continuously butt heads. As their backstories unravel, it’s hard to pick a favorite as all of them become fully-realized, sometimes tragic people.

Even the antagonists of the film, which range from Hispanic gangsters to dysfunctional couples, are all given moments to have redeeming and sympathetic qualities. Much like our main trio, all of them are just people struggling with the bad choices they’ve made, making often dark and risky decisions as a result of where they end up and what they have to do. Each of them also get a chance to connect with one of our main characters in some way as they either darkly reflect our unconventional heroes, or remind them of a piece of themselves they’d rather forget. Several of these scenes make for some of the most powerful moments in the film, and most of them are driven by coincidences.

Contrivance is a flaw with a lot of scripts, as it’s the result of coincidences or in-universe decisions that feel artificially made to force pivotal and dramatic moments in the story to take place when they otherwise would not happen. Despite many of the film’s plot points and emotional moments being driven by coincidences, the film manages to avoid feeling contrived. Everything feels natural and earned, and that’s thanks to how believable these people in the story are, and how powerful and personal their tales are. While the sheer number of coincidences might turn some people off regardless, I personally don’t mind it here. Satoshi Kon’s and Keiko Nobumoto’s script weaponizes them with a level of finesse I have never seen before. Barring some minor loose ends by the end, I barely had a problem with the film, as its pacing always kept the film feeling fresh and exciting.

Speaking of Satoshi Kon, his direction shines in this film once again. He and the animators at Madhouse have produced yet another rich and lively setting thanks to some wonderful art direction. A major factor as to why the city fo Tokyo looks so lively and believable is because of how the animators often took pictures of everyday sights of the city on their way to work, often using them as references. The digital effects they put on the snow that litters the city, and the seas of trashbags that pile up near our homeless trio also look gorgeous. The film’s soft yet dark color pallet, as well as the outfits our characters wear further accentuate the gorgeous, everyday vibe. Everything adds up to a beautiful, often nocturnal city aesthetic that emphasizes how gorgeous a city looks every day and especially every night. It makes for the perfect setting for the characters to frantically run around in, with a sense of weight to the characters’ movements as they desperately run after each other in the film’s many climactic setpieces. The characters’ vibrant facial expressions also sell the lively animation on display. There are frankly, very few off moments in this film, as it remains aesthetically gorgeous and lavishly animated throughout.

Perhaps the least standout thing in this film is its score. This isn’t to say the music was bad, as Keiichi Suzuki still has some nice tracks scattered throughout the movie such as the track “Sannigumi”. He even incorporates a piece by Franz Gruber in one of the many emotional climaxes in a way that feels both hilarious and epic in context. The tracklist generally fits with the casual, often vibrant tone of the film as well as with the everyday setting it takes place in. This might be the weakest OST of any Kon film, but that in no way invalidates what’s present here.

If Millennium Actress was an ode to cinema, then Tokyo Godfathers is a celebration of humanity, of flawed and underrepresented people as human beings. It’s a charming, exciting, and wonderful film of a diverse group of people engulfed in wild escapades. It’s a lively movie in general, with an aesthetic and sense of emotion to match. On top of that, the movie is deceptively humorous, and unlike anything Kon has made before or since in many aspects. It’s the third masterpiece of Satoshi Kon’s cinematic career, and I am incredibly lucky to have seen this earnest left turn in theaters.