Summary
-
Interstella 5555
is a groundbreaking international collaboration and a scriptless “musical” that tells a story through a series of music videos. - The movie incorporates the soundtrack of Daft Punk’s
Discovery
album, making it a unique and experimental experience. -
Interstella 5555
played a significant role in bringing anime further into the mainstream, proving that the medium could be relevant and internationally appealing.
Even after 21 years, Toei Animation’s work on the 2003 anime series Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, is a unique entry in the medium’s history. Besides being one of the venerable Leiji Matsumoto’s sweeping space tales, it is also an example of an international collaboration early in the modern resurgence of anime. That it incorporates the soundtrack of the now-retired Daft Punk only makes it more important to remember now.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that clips from this movie helped bring anime further into the mainstream during the early 2000s. But more importantly, anime fans owe it to themselves to see this entertaining and experimental movie that makes Daft Punk’s Discovery album its core.
Making its soundtrack incredibly unique, Interstella makes music an essential part of its identity beyond its premise of extraterrestrial performers.
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Interstella Remains One Of A Kind Even Today
This movie is both a scriptless “musical” and a groundbreaking international collaboration
The movie, described as a “House Musical”, follows an alien band that is kidnapped and brainwashed by a mysterious and supernatural music manager. The entire anime is timed to the songs from the Discovery album, making for a unique experience that’s not unlike a story that is told through a series of music videos. The very first sequence, timed to “One More Time”, in fact, ruled the airwaves as a standalone music video that mystified audiences alongside Daft Punk’s most famous song. To date, only Toei Animation has made such a full-length visual album.
Interstella’s existence was only made possible thanks to Daft Punk’s adoration of Leiji Matsumoto’s work from years past, encouraging them to reach out to Toei and Matsumoto, who would take a supervisory role for the film. While Interstella was directed by Kazuhisa Takenouchi, the veteran creative’s influence is still strongly felt throughout. The characters are drawn in his signature artstyle, and the sci-fi fantasy motifs and themes of sacrifice are familiar to those familiar with classics like Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999. This still makes it a surprisingly high-profile collaboration, even 21 years later.
The movie’s last surge of prominence was with its 2011 Blu-ray remaster, but viewers today ought to pay more attention to Interstella 5555. Even if one is not a Daft Punk fan, or even a Matsumoto enthusiast, there is no other anime like this. In 2003, its omnipresence on channels like MTV gave countless laypeople their first taste of anime beyond the 90s stereotypes it had, and served as a vanguard in anime’s current-day dominance. Interstella 5555 showed that the medium could be relevant and even internationally appealing, proving that music – and animation – doesn’t have to be constrained by creative boundaries.
