Spirit of Wonder

Publisher
Bandai
Director
Masaya FujimoriMasaya Fujimori, Takashi Anno
Production
Toshiba EMI
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
97 minutes
Year
2001

Spirit of Wonder

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
28th Apr 06

You know that there has to be something special about an anime when it’s bad points can be counted on one the one hand. While it’s good points are likely to require a degree in advance maths or a very good calculator. Spirit of Wonder offers the same kind of warmth, affection and depth that you would expect to find in a film from Studio Ghibli.

Although it would be easy to mistake Spirit of Wonder for a fantastic feature length anime film, it is in fact a collection of five OVAs. Set near Bristol, England, during the 1950’s it has an almost timeless quality as it mixes both science fiction with drama, comedy and romance not to mention a little kung-fu. This two-disc collection of OVAs is separated into two storylines. The first of which is in two parts, The Scientific Boy’s Club.

The Scientific Boy’s Club was formed in 1908 by three young boy’s who dreamed of travelling to Mars. To celebrate their 50th anniversary they plan to build a airship that will take them there. Wendy is the daughter of Gordon one of the three original members of the club, she becomes worried when her husband Jack begins spending his time helping her father and friends to build their ship. Wendy finds it difficult to come to terms with Jack and the other’s obsession, and the fact that they keep asking her for help, as well as coming home drunk from Miss China’s restaurant every night.

Miss China is the focus of the second discs episodes, her three adventures are not directly connected to each other, which gives for more scope. The first two mainly involve Miss China’s misadventures with her lodger’s Dr. Beckenridge who’s crazy inventions of lead to all sorts of mishaps. Miss China is hit by a shrink ray, and slowly grows smaller and smaller whiles the Doctor and his assistant Jim (Miss China’s fiancé) try to build a machine for unshrinking her. The second sees the trio get into even more trouble when they try to project the image of Mars on Earth using a special telescope. The third episode involving Miss China for some reason is hidden away in the “Extras” section of this disc despite being at an equal length to the previous two, this is probably due to it only in Japanese with subtitles, however this episode is a lot deeper and sentimental than the other two.

All of the episodes of Spirit of Wonder are bound to move you somehow and this is helped by the beautifully enchanting visuals and sentimental musical score. Spirit of Wonder certainly has a lot of heart and this shows in every single frame of animation. The old men are not seen as old but rather in their second youth, and the characters are all full of energy. Of course, there are some problems, as mentioned, however these are probably not what you might expect, as they are hardly major critiques.

Firstly, the case is like a cardboard sleeve you get in DVD compilations and while it looks attractive, it could be easily damaged, the copy I received is already covered in fingerprints and I’ve had it less than a day. Secondly, there is so much here, so much scope (there’s even mention of other adventures that were likely featured in the original work but left out of this anime adaptation) that it really leaves you wanting more there’s a certain air of dissatisfaction when you realised there isn’t any more left to watch.

As corny as this may sound this title certainly will leave you with a genuine “Spirit of Wonder”.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English/French Subtitles, English/Japanese Audio, Trailers, Character Bios, "Drinikng of Miss China", Production Booklet

Release information: Label: Bandai Released: April 17th 2006 Classification: 12 Running Time: 108

Notes: Extras are featured on the second disc.The "Drinking of Miss China" I've mentioned in the review, a small production booklet offers some intresting insight into the creation of the show, the charcter bios don't really offer anything new.

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 28th Apr 06

Spirit of Wonder Images