Wings of Honneamise

Dan Chu and I drove to a movie theater in the Bay Area (San Jose?) during its theatrical release. This was a big deal at the time to see anime in a real movie theater. It was like it was finally being taken seriously. Siskel and Ebert at the time were championing anime such as Tonari no Totoro and Akira. This is from Roger Ebert's 1995 review of the film: "Not many examples of anime have played the American theatrical circuit; we're not used to non-family or non-Disney use of the medium. "Akira," an apocalyptic epic, has become a best-seller on video, and the wonderful "My Neighbor Totoro" has been embraced by many parents and children as a special and charming family film. Yet anime fans are a vocal underground, the genre is popular on video and on campuses, and supporters claim that the trademark of anime - the large, dark eyes of the characters - has been appropriated by Disney in all its films since "The Little Mermaid." If you're curious about anime, "The Wings of Honneamise," playing for one week at the Music Box, is a good place to start."