[Anime Classics]

Release Info

Released in 1987. Produced by Kadokawa Shoten. Animation by Madhouse and Project Team Argos.

Plot Summary

A collection of three short science-fiction stories. The 50 minute-long film has three segments, each under a different screenwriter and film director: Rintaro's “Labyrinth Labyrinthos,” an exploration into the maze of a little girl's mind, Yoshiaki Kawajiri's “Running Man,” focusing on a deadly auto race, and Katsuhiro Ōtomo's “Construction Cancellation Order,” a cautionary tale about man's dependency on technology. In addition to original music by Godiego's Mickie Yoshino, two prominently feature famous pieces of Western classical music: the first of Erik Satie's Gymnopédies and the “Toreador Song” of Georges Bizet's Carmen in “Labyrinth” and “Morning Mood” from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt score, in an ironic manner, in "The Order."

My Thoughts

This movie follows a similar vein as Robot Carnival by covering several science fiction animated shorts. The first story, Labyrinth Labyrinthos, is bizarre and eccentric. The second story, Running Man, is cool involving paranormal superpowers and racing. The last story, The Order to Stop Construction, is the standout (by the creator of Akira).

While Robot Carnival was popular enough to get a Bluray release, Neo Tokyo only got a limited DVD release. Then it fell into obscurity. I don't understand why--I think both of these movies were great.

Buy From Amazon

You can buy this movie from Amazon. It goes for around $100-300 (US) - wow. Just download it lol.

Download

Neo Tokyo can be watched or downloaded from Archive.org (Internet Archive), or downloaded via torrents from Nyaa. These sites are the best, safest, and most dependable resources to get anime for free.

Watch on Archive.org

Notes

• To cast the videos to your TV using AirPlay or Chromecast, press the button. This button becomes available when you start playing the video.
• The playable video is English dubbed. If you want Japanese language with subtitles, you need to download Neo Tokyo from Nyaa.
• Archive.org tends to be slow. Downloading Neo Tokyo from Nyaa is better. Additionally, Nyaa most likley offers a higher quality video, or even a Blu-ray quality video.

Download from Nyaa

Notes

• If you don't know what torrents are, YouTube has tutorials. Be mindful that torrent downloads aren't instant. Depending on your Internet speed and number of seeds, it could take up to 24 hours for an anime to download.
• If you need a torrent client, these are the best (they're all free).
• The majority of video downloads from Nyaa are in “MKV” format, and less commonly in “AVI”. If you need a good video player to play these formats, VLC Media Player is the best (and it's free). It's available on every OS, including iOS and Android.

Is the MKV too big?

If you download a large Blu-ray quality MKV from Nyaa, it is possible that your computer or phone/tablet isn't fast enough to play it at full speed. In this case, you can use HandBrake. It's a free video converter; use it to shrink down the video. If you need help using HandBrake, YouTube has tutorials. Another option is to use Plex (mentioned below) because it automatically downsamples large videos when it streams them to your TV.

Playing on your TV

The easiest way to play MKV and AVI videos on your TV is with Plex. It streams movies from your computer to your TV through your Wi-Fi. It's a free app. Install it on your Windows or Mac, then install it on your set-top box (Apple TV, Roku, Fire sticks, etc.). Just note that Plex will only detect these movies in an Other Videos library because the “Movies” library doesn't detect rare/obscure anime classics. If you need help, YouTube has tutorials.