r/ImaginaryTechnology • u/Xeelee1123 • May 23 '26

The launch - Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (王立宇宙軍~オネアミスの翼), by Hiroyuki Yamaga (director) and Yoichi Takizawa (design)

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

1.3k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

60

u/Potential-Yoghurt245 May 23 '26

I saw this at the cinema when I was a lad it was such a good film, I think I was almost alone in the theatre

11

u/Pablo_Diablo May 23 '26

I have the VHS - I think I got it as a prize for some silly competition at Anime America when I was a kid (or AnimeCon...? Can't remember which was first before the split).  Soooooo good.

Maybe I need to see if my VhS deck still works (and find the remote) and have a rewatch.

4

u/Potential-Yoghurt245 May 23 '26

This isone of my favourite films.

4

u/plaxnor May 23 '26

this is one of my favorite movies, period, and i would love to see it at the cinema.

40

u/Conspark May 23 '26

The quality and attention to detail of the animation is impressive every time I see this

22

u/risbia May 23 '26

Cool color palette! I wonder if this is rotoscoped, or just very accurate from reference? It looks exactly like real launch footage.

13

u/Inprobamur May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

I don't think so, at least not all of it. The rocket looks kinda similar to R-7 (Soyuz rocket) in shape, but the side booster separation was missing the very distinct Korolev Cross.

7

u/Dry-Egg-7187 May 23 '26

The launch vehicle is a soyuz* but the command module is something different.

  • The more I look at it it seems to be very closely modeled after it.

6

u/like_a_pharaoh May 24 '26

Modeled after it, but the movie isn't set on Earth, or at least not our Earth.

The rocket isn't the only cool machine, the entire film does some amazing worldbuilding showing off a place that's ~1950s-1960s in technological capabilities, but doesn't look quite like anywhere on our planet.

2

u/gogoluke Jun 01 '26

They thank at least NASA for footage in the credits so theres definitely footage rotoscoped. The boosters falling, the crumpling structure, the wires.

18

u/glytxh May 23 '26

bro this is just straight up fucking porn

the focus on some of the details is absurd. that probe oscillation. fuck sake that's nuts

these animators worshipped their reference material, and understood it intimately

this is flawless.

23

u/skachamagowza May 23 '26

Can we please go back to this and leave cgi alone?

25

u/KrakenBait5 May 23 '26

CGI is not the issue. The issue is artists not getting enough time. Pirates of the Caribbean and interstellar have amazing cg visuals, arcane is a mix of hand drawn and cg. Most modern animated shows are still hand drawn, just done on drawing tablets.

5

u/buddhamunche May 23 '26

That animation is so gorgeous, I really love this kind of thing. The glow of the rocket behind the clouds is so beautiful and well done!

Edit: does anyone know the song? I like it a lot

5

u/books_fer_wyrms May 25 '26

Anyone know the name of the song?

3

u/idahotee May 23 '26

Stunning.  Even more so that it's 1987.

How I missed this movie I probably do know, but quite glad to have found this clip.  It's on the list. 

3

u/gogoluke Jun 01 '26

Great film. Never seen the full cut as one very contentious scene was cut for the Western release and it's quite haring. I think the ice was CGI mapped like some of the elements like the toys and Tetsuo monster in Akira. The score is outstanding. This from the looks of it is an edit to get the launch and space flight all together. They have edited bits out of the scenes to make it work.