Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

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Christmas. Snow is turning Tokyo into a white city. Somewhere in Shinjuku, there are three energetic homeless people: Gin (an alcoholic), Hana (an ex-drag queen) and Miyuki (a runaway girl). The holy night is about to witness a memorable encounter as they discover an abandoned baby girl in a pile of garbage bags. (Sony)

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Cast and Information

Directed By: Satoshi Kon, Shôgo Furuya

Written By: Satoshi Kon

Starring: Akio Ôtsuka, Mamiko Noto, Rikiya Koyama, Yûsaku Yara, Shôzô Îzuka, Hiroya Ishimaru, Seizô Katô, Tôru Emori, Ryûji Saikachi, Yoshiaki Umegaki, Aya Okamoto, Kyôko Terase

Genres: Drama, Adventure, Animation

Country: Japan

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Tokyo Godfathers belongs to 25 collections

1. Female protagonist (collaborative: moderated by djross - 25 stars)

2. 24 hour (or less) timeframe (collaborative: moderated by djross - 24 stars)

3. Christmas (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 16 stars)

4. Anime (collaborative: moderated by Nanera - 10 stars)

5. Cross-dressing / Transvestism / Transsexuality (collaborative: moderated by Moribunny - 9 stars)

6. Holiday Specials (collaborative: moderated by Ununnilium - 5 stars)

7. The Best of Anime (collaborative: moderated by mattornot - 3 stars)

8. Madhouse Anime (collaborative: moderated by Vesey - 2 stars)

9. Christmas and Christmasesque movies to watch in December (collaborative: moderated by Goldbluming - 2 stars)

10. mwgerb's Netflix Instant Queue (public: mwgerb - 2 stars)

11. Actually trans actors (collaborative: moderated by itsben - 1 star)

12. Tokyo (collaborative: moderated by djross)

13. Metacritic - Generally Favorable Reviews (collaborative: moderated by sengir)

14. Topic: non-nuclear families (collaborative: moderated by tipar)

15. Christmas Movies (collaborative: moderated by sirhcybe)

16. Foreign - Japanese (public: NhanLa)

17. Ununnilium Top 100 (public: Ununnilium)

18. Satoshi Kon (public: gcat)

19. Asia/Pacific Top 100 (public: Sleepy Dogs)

20. Films I watched in 2010 (public: jal90)

21. P. Watched List (public: nnraiden)

22. Forrest Watch List (public: ForrestQ)

23. seen (public: gamzeknc)

24. 2019 (public: gamzeknc)

25. Christmas Favorites (public: alwayssummer)

Browse the full list of collections

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All Ratings | With Reviews

Order by:

TCI | Percentile | Date Rated | # Stars (Reviews)

Stars	User	Rating
5	Leonardis	94 _80th
Relies heavily on coincidences, but I believe that was part of Kon’s points about Christmas miracles and our perception of them. I loved the leads, especially Hana. They were all likable and I found myself really rooting for each of them after hearing their backstories, which were all told smoothly. It has the grim nature of homelessness that’s hard to think about, but it’s also quite funny and enjoyable. Empathetic, sad, hilarious, raw, wholesome and beautifully animated.
4	Nearphotison	90 _93rd
A touching and magical holiday film. Despite the overwhelming number of coincidences that drive the plot, it still is very human and heartwarming.
4	bakcheia	90 _85th
This movie defines heart-warming in every way possible.
3	Alex Watkins	4 _70th
The weakest Satoshi Kon film is still an incredibly enjoyable ride. Its vibrant portrayal of the seedy, shady and obscure back-alleys of Tokyo alone would make it worthwhile, but its touching portrayal of a makeshift family unit who band together despite all the difficulties life throws at them gives it the necessary emotional heft, despite its narrative contrivances.
3	Melvin Smif	75 _84th
A heartfelt dramedy that kept me interested from start to finish. The characters are all incredible, interesting, and fun to get to know. The slight sub plot of the baby bringing luck to its saviors is sweet. (this subplot also explains the coincidences some may have trouble accepting, there are some subtle supernatural things occuring all surrounding the child.)
3	magdabag	95 _95th
This movie is absolutely ridiculous, and I enjoyed every second of it. You can tell Kon really embraced the insanity, and had a ton of fun with this. Though this film is crazy and over-the-top, It still has a lot of heart, and great character moments. You learn to love all of these characters pretty quick, especially Hana, who is probably the best part of the movie. I would highly recommend this to any Kon fan, or anyone wanting a less traditional Christmas movie. I give 9 angry cats out of 10.
2	Nathan S	3 _45th
A touching little Christmas film from Satoshi Kon, with a wonderfully animated Tokyo and some interesting characters, though it's not as detailed a psychological profile as Kon's other work.
2	PeaceAnarchy	76 _47th
The three lead characters are interesting enough to make the film worthwhile, but the narrative feels like a very rote heartwarming christmas story with some random wackiness thrown in every so often.
2	Space Pope	85 _89th
Satoshi Kon takes a disparate group of characters made up of the sort of people society tends to ignore at best and destest at worse, and looks at them with an open-hearted sympathy that brings out the deep and unflinching humanity we all share. There are no villains in this film, just damaged people who have made harmful decisions out of a very human weakness. While the plot is driven by a string of coincidences and miracles, it never fails to be touching and uplifting.
2	Mentaculus	88 _87th
Every year I watch it as a lead up to Christmas and every year I’m somehow surprised and devestated by its economy, its buoyancy, its fantasy. It just represents the very best of the human experiment. The backstories inform but do not define the future the characters have in front of them. These are people found in a kind of misery yet find the highest beauty achievable. ‘Tis the season after all: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace”.
2	nobamba	85 _92nd
It's entertaining, it's about the downtrodden with unreliable narrators, and I'll give the coincidences a pass since it's a holiday movie for a season of miracles (even pointed out in the intro). Reminded me of a mix of Shoplifters (thieving family living in a city's margins) and Le père Noël est une ordure (increasingly wacky characters/settings during Christmastime). I predicted the twist, but it was still well done. Fav scene: car chase in the end was an unexpected bit of excitement.
1	TheDenizen	65 _51st
A group of homeless bums in Tokyo find an abandoned infant on the street and try to take care of her. It's OK, it's got good animation and voicework (the English dub is terrible, though) but it is trying really hard to be way more inspirational than it is.
1	Stain	60 _47th
KInd of interesting to see an anime that doesn't feature any spaceships or giant robots. These guys wanted to do some sort of engaging human story, but this movie just ain't there. There's also a plot thread that develops then comes to a dead stop, like the editor stumbled over his own feet or the writer/director was using the wrong draft of the script
1	Shadrik	70 _48th
Kon is taking it simple this time. With interesting characters and beautiful animation he creates an enjoyable, heartwarming Christmas movie.
1	Ununnilium	88 _89th
I was a bit leery about the setup, but no - this movie is about whole, multifaceted people and the relationships thereof. It left me bouncy.
1	KramYessev	73 _65th
I love Kon, but hate heartwarming movies. WHAT DO I DO
1	Nepeta	75 _56th
Maybe it's the huge pile of coincidences and Christmas miracle-esque occurrences, or maybe it's that the film delves into loads of little plot-lines without really drawing enough out of some of them, but for some reason it didn't wholly come together to me. Still it is fun and heart-warming and there is definitely a human element to the film that elevates its content for me.
1	VengefulKBM	40 _16th
Highly disappointing compared to Satoshi Kon's other films. Absurdly stereotypical characters, who aren't all that likable or well-rounded, traipse through a thin and kind of unpleasant story, looking for an abandoned baby's parents. That's... pretty much it. It gets okay whenever interesting side characters like the Yakuza bosses and the drag club owner get involved, but they're only ever around for a short time before they're brushed off to the side by the script and never mentioned again.

Average Percentile 66.35% from 1394 Ratings