''Metropolis'' story is set in the future, in a society where humans and robots live together, but has problems with each other. Shunsaku Ban is an investigator who came to Japan to find a criminal named Dr. Laughton. He came with his nephew named Kenichi. They don't know the Metrpolis well, so they hired a Detective robot to guide them. In Metropolis world, artificial intelligence has advanced a great deal and robots are seen everywhere performing many different tasks. But they do not have any of the rights that are granted to human beings,in order not to infringe upon human rights, they are not allowed to have human names nor to travel in the zones without permission.

Ban and Kenichi discovers that Dr. Laughton was working for Duke Red, one of the main politics of Metropolis city, in a hidden place, creating a super Robot that resembles Duke Red's daughter once lost called Tima.

The place suddenly stays on flames and Tima wakes up during the fire and is saved by Kenichi. Dr. Laughton dies shortly after being rescued by Shunsaku but manages to utter a few words regarding a precious notebook of his, which the detective saves from the flames.

The movie is full of conspiracies, and one of the main characters in this plan is Rock, Duke Red's adopted son, who discovers his father's plans and decides to destroy the Robot and to kill Dr. Laughton. Rock is strongly against giving powers to Robots (to be honest he hates Robots in general) and he stays the entire anime trying to find Tima, the robot, and Kenichi. Rock is responsible for destroying the place where Dr Laughton worked and why it stayed on flames.

Kenichi and Tima become good friends during the movie in a more romantic way.

''Metoroporisu'' is a complex anime that actually shows more then people imagine. Definitely is not a movie for kids(( Even looking a little childish),since they probably will not understand the real message of the movie or the scene where Tima is shot in her heart, a metaphor for losing her humanity. o For instance, we see a theme of class struggle in a society full of riches and full of poor people and also the relationship of robots with humans.

I am very glad that Rintaro and Katsuhiro Otomo united their forces to bring Metropolis to a film, contradicting Osamu's wish. Many of the scenes of this animation were very well done(like the one the ziggurat is connected to Tima) with great special effects, and the mix of a retro animation with futuristic city had a very nice combination in the product of the movie.

I can say for myself that it was a long time since I watched an anime that made me feel touched, and this anime happened to be one of them. The end is very sad, and I don't think that Tima was rebuilt, as many people were speculating, since she was the most complex robot in the world and not easily rebuilt,specially without her creator.

In the futuristic Metropolis, robots are segregated and used for all the menial work. Many unemployed blame the robots and pushing for revolution. Duke Red is building a vast skyscraper. A robot disrupts the opening and Duke Red's son Rock destroys the robot. Private detective Shunsaku Ban and his nephew Kenichi are hunting for scientist Dr. Laughton who is supposedly trafficking organs. Laughton has actually been hired by Duke Red to recreate his deceased daughter with an advanced robot.

The visual style of this animated movie is beautiful. This is worthwhile watch simply for the visual aspect. The story is functional for more than half of the movie. Kenichi and the robot on the run is pretty good. The rest is a bit disjointed and complicated. Motivation is tricky. The twists and reveals are questionable and the story is overstuffed. It is still a beautiful looking piece of animation.

I knew little about this film but when I saw that it was going to be on television I decided to watch it; there is so little non-Ghibli anime on TV one has to take what one can get. When it started I knew this was going to be different; most of the characters didn't look like anime characters, they looked more like characters from western cartoons of the 1930s. This fitted in with the feel of the whole film which was a 1920s/1930s view of the future reminiscent of Fritz Lang's film of the same name.

Set in the city state of Metropolis where the robot underclass must stay in their designated areas and a scientist is building a robot that looks like a girl but is destined to run a new skyscraper known as the Ziggurat. Into this city comes a Japanese private detective and his nephew Kenichi who are seeking to arrest the scientist for organ trafficking. The state's de facto leader Duke Red's adopted son Rock is determined to destroy the robot thinking his father is replacing him. Rock starts a fire in the lab. During this the robot is activated and escapes with Kenichi although neither know that she isn't human. Rock continues to hunt them as the flee through the various layers of the city to a climax in the mysterious Ziggurat.

I loved the retro feel to the animation along with a sound track that also felt like it was from that time. The use of the song "I Can't Stop Loving You" during the climactic scene was inspired. Even if you don't normally like animation this is worth watching as it is a good story which is well told.

These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.