Music: Wings of Honneamise OST

Older anime fans, and younger ones with their heads not on backasswards, will be familiar with the 1987 film, Wings of Honneamise.

Set on an alternate version of Earth, Honneamise tells the story of humankind’s first attempts at manned space flight. Unlike our Earth, the Royal Space Force is ridiculed and generally seen by the public as a waste of time and money.

The film follows the growth of Shirotsugh Lhadatt, a complete dropkick in the RSF who one days meets a girl that turns his view on life right around. He decides to get his life in order, becoming the man the RSF picks to pilot their next attempt at putting a manned rocket in orbit.

The animation is amazing – every bit as good as that found in Akira – and the score, composed by the legendary Ryuichi Sakamoto, is phenomenal. Some of the tracks on the soundtrack are nothing short of epic.

Sakamoto’s work on the Honneamise soundtrack shows his unique approach to composition and storytelling, injecting life into the story and visuals where you wouldn’t think it was needed – but it becomes all the more amazing because of it.

There are elements of styles in the soundtrack that are common now, but in the late 70s and early 80s were still being pioneered – industrial, techno, ambient, digital sampling. All of this is mixed in with jazzy styles that still encapsulate a strong ethnic Asian feel.

The anime trailer is below, and you can catch a little of the soundtrack in it. For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure the voiceover for the trailer is Richard Epcar, voice of Batou in the Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex series.

Here’s another, longer clip, made as a tribute to Sakamoto’s work on Honneamise.