Well, well, a a refreshing piece of animation. Up until now I've enjoyed everything coming out of Studio 4C I've seen, and thats a lot. Starting with the well aged Memories, over Arete up to Mind Game (Now that was a genius movie.) Also of course their shorter works (Genius Party and Matrix' Beyond).<br /><br />They always deliver Stories (granted, not necessarily written by them) that are simply original, animations that are top-notch and an overall styling of their movies that blows my mind every single time. (Do watch the Genius party episode called Dimension Bomb and you will know exactly what I mean.)<br /><br />To not turn this into a glorification of a studio, let me say, that Tekkonkinkreet has all the above.<br /><br />The animation and setting are simply gorgeous. Treasure city is so full of details in every single shot, over the top, over stylized, but still believable. See to believe. best example for me would be the home of Black and White. The sun setting on the car just at noon, the props strewn all around just speaking: "I'm a messed up boys tree-house, but a car, under a bridge and also beautiful."<br /><br />3D elements are also nice to behold. I think GitS: Innocence did it this way first. This way meaning actually painting the texture on the models (and I mean painting). This just integrates everything so much better into the rest of the picture, that you stop to notice it. This works especially well in the action pieces. Under bridges, over rooftops, on the train.<br /><br />The only smudge on this glorious movie is the overall story. While original, entertaining and interesting throughout, there are some parts in which its lacking. The minotaur, while always hinted at, DID sort of come out of nowhere at the end. You do see it coming somehow, but I didn't expect the movie to turn that metaphysical all of a sudden. Another hole is the character Snake. His motivation or the origins of his organization never become very clear. The whole Yakuza plot, linking all of the fragments also doesn't lead anywhere really. Well it does, but I expected a little more then a headshot. Its like the whole point of the movie is just to give a cross section of the town and its inhabitants. While this is nice to watch, the movie itself seemed to build up to a grand finale, which didn't really happen. More like two and a half separate main story lines (there are also a lot of sub-plots) that just happen to overlap a few times and end on their own. I can't quite put my finger on it why this rubs me the wrong way but it does. On the other hand, maybe thats just me.<br /><br />Still, to finally come to an end, I can only recommend this movie to anyone interested in something you don't see every day. Be it animation, story or movie-watching in general. Well worth your time.