For my money, the best anime film of recent years wasn’t even made in Japan.
OK, calling “Mars Express” anime isn’t strictly accurate. The sci-fi film from director Jeremie Perin was animated in France and is distinctly European in its sensibility — but it’s also clearly influenced by great 1990s cyberpunk anime like ”Ghost in the Shell,” in which cyborgs fight crime in a dystopian future while questioning the systems that rule their world and what it means to be human.
“Mars Express” was first seen by a select few in Japan at the Niigata International Animation Film Festival in early 2024. Now, nearly two years later, it’s set for a general cinematic release starting Jan. 30, both in the original French language and a Japanese dub.
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