Secret Santa: Tokyo Godfathers

Thanks to RT’s Secret Santa Project, I had good reason to digest Satoshi Kon’s Tokyo Godfathers, which was on my wishlist at one point, but I must have removed it a few years back ^ ^;

This experience couldn’t have been timed better in my opinion, for the story takes place around the winter holidays and contains a hint of that magic one would expect in a such a tale. Notably, I believe the feel of this film can be aligned with classics like It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and A Christmas Carol, although there is an interesting point in that Tokyo Godfathers takes place on New Year’s Eve and not Christmas. This is a noticeably Japanese detail considering New Year’s tends to carry a greater significance  in Japan with respect to Christmas and family. Perhaps a trivial detail, but it is understandable that a Westerner might react to the timing with, “New Year?” Hopefully, this difference has not withheld any viewer from finding warmth and meaning in the film.

Disclaimer: Entry may contain spoilers.

Tokyo Godfathers begins with a glimpse into the lives of a homeless trio on a cold winter night. We are shown a semi-fanatical religious ceremony in which two of the main characters, Gin and Hana, are attending in order to obtain a free meal. I was surprised by this religious bump and initially wrote it off into the setting, but there is potentially a great deal of religious hinting and symbolism to be excavated from many pieces of Tokyo Godfathers. Fortunately, I am not the blogger to delve into such matters, though I will mention that the allusions were not distracting or overbearing [1].

Shortly after, we meet Miyuki, a runaway who is the youngest and most naive inexperienced of the three, and there is an immediate chemistry when seeing them together for the first time. I found an amusing balance of sensibilities and ideals, but before that there is a grounding vibe which stems from the often untidy or vulgar nature of living on the streets; it is a sense of reality, a non-fantastic existence. My initial key on each character’s disposition is likely inaccurate, but the dynamic is achieved through Gin’s realism and Hana’s idealism. Miyuki is technically still a child in a rebellious phase, which yields neither real or ideal, but I felt pessimism when she was in her element.

In the midst of developing the trio as they rummage and quarrel in a pile of trash, the primary conflict is brought to light through a baby’s cry. The group finds a baby abandoned in the cold, and their lives are immediately altered as Hana and his maternal instinct drives against Gin and Miyuki’s logical decision to report the baby to police. Hana names the baby Kiyoko after the pure night in which she was found, and this is the point where our story starts to manifest around this child.

Tokyo Godfathers contains a rather high density of coincidental twists and details, but I find this is the root of the miraculous foundation felt throughout the experience. Now, the difference between coincidence and miracle may be argued, but perhaps one of the stimulus for the viewer is precisely that argument. I would suggest not every coincidence in the story is a miracle, but the line is nonetheless blurred, though some events are purely spontaneous and miraculous; yes, thank you ambulance driver for clearing up that discrepancy [2].

Understandably, some viewers may find annoyance with blue coincidence, especially in the resurfacing of “Kiyoko,” but I believe the tone of each coincidence is dressed lightly and positively enough to provide more amusement than distaste. In the event a coincidence yields a negative or undesirable turn to the story, I find myself wanting to undermine it’s legitimacy [3], but I cannot think of one instance in which chance was played for a detrimental outcome in this film. Yet I believe the legitimacy of Tokyo Godfathers does not rest on the fate or miracles which drive the situation. Instead, it is the conditions and relations between characters driven by the situation where I find authenticity and meaning through family.

Nearly every focus and circumstance of the film can be boiled down to a colorful blend of family, togetherness, singularity, and abandonment, but there is a distinct key on fathers and father-daughter relations. There is no epitome between the characters and the dysfunction, for each shares a perspective abstracted from the others. Gin was a father, Miyuki was a daughter, and Hana, lacking a significant backstory, belonged to the streets. One interesting notion here is that the character’s combined situations almost mimic the situation surrounding Kiyoko, and I feel this serves as a reflective stimulus throughout the film.

It is the great writing of Satoshi Kon to provide such a connection between the characters and context without over-extending, and the end result was substantial enough to have an emotional impact amidst the busy and dynamic pacing. Tokyo Godfathers is an exquisite film, and what it lacks in concept originality it makes up for elsewhere. No, the film is not a stand-alone masterpiece in my opinion, but without a doubt it is a masterful work, a holiday classic, and a great experience to undergo.

Happy holidays!

Notes

1 – Expected, as Christianity isn’t exactly a primary belief system in Japan.
2 – The level of recursion in an ambulance crashing and the driver stumbling out, stating “call an ambulance” is marvelous.
3 – Geass R2 was this kind of shitstorm that undermined itself via sheer unpredictability and inconsistency.