A man hums “Moon River” without knowing what it is as a sleepy crew shuttles along one of the Moon’s rilles in a monorail. Suddenly, they are under assault by flying things! Are they robots? Are they aliens? Are they alien robots?! Nothing is clear as the fists fly, the capes billow, and finally—finally!—the guns begin blasting. Who will win this standoff? Maybe we’ll find out in a few episodes, because for now, we’re cutting back to the night it all began… Jack is the kinda guy who is late to his own party—fashionably late, of course. He deals with childhood trauma—the violent death(?) of his friend Phil—by embracing the playboy life. Or…not quite, as his mother discovers (to her disappointment) upon quizzing him on how things are going with a certain young lady, Rhys. Anyhow, he plays the part of spoiled rich boy, gravitating to the casino instead of the corporate do where he was meant to be revealed as the heir to his mother’s company, a global tech superpower that, in managing the orbital shafts that connect Earth to the Moon, has somehow played a part in ushering in world peace and harmony, despite the extremely sketchy name of Shadow Corporation. (Seems her last name is Shadow? Hmm…) Anyhow, back to the yacht and the party to celebrate Shadow Corp’s wondrous achievements. Suddenly, they are under assault by flying things! It’s debris, as explosions riddle the orbital shaft network and everything goes dark on planet Earth. Suddenly, Jack is pulled into a vision…is that…could it be…? Cut to the Moon, where the villainous Bob Skylum is sounding a rallying cry, calling for the people of the Moon to RISE!
First off, YES for “Moon River”! I love the idea that someone in Jack’s tragic childhood was a fan of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Also, “Bob Skylum” has got to be one of the greatest faux-English villain names in anime. Putting that aside, this was a solid opener for a beautifully animated sci-fi epic! Nice work, Wit Studio. The animation is excellent, as to be expected, with some really quite stunning outer space establishing shots and landscapes (moonscapes? spacescapes?) in the OP. The compositing on the CG transportation (monorail, sports car, yacht) is very good, coming close to nullifying the uncanny feeling that usually comes with mixing animation formats. The character designs are distinctive while remaining realist in style, and, thanks to the flashback, we already have a foretaste of the character growth to come, not just for Jack, but for his friends, love interest, and even, possibly, a Moon dweller or two. Opening with a teaser of the future like this is pretty standard, but it works well here, setting up questions that will take at least another three or four (and maybe more) episodes to begin to answer. Speaking of the writing, Jack’s parents buck the trend for rich folk to be either demanding and strict, or preoccupied with themselves/work and inattentive to their child. Instead, they are genuinely concerned for him and supportive (never mind patient in the extreme!). This is a hopeful sign for other characterizations to come, which will hopefully likewise eschew tired tropes. We’ll see. And in fact, we can see right away, since the entire 18-episode series has already dropped on Netflix! This opening episode is compelling enough for this sci-fi/Audrey Hepburn fan to give it at least another two or three episodes to see how it goes. And I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up finishing it by Easter!
Moonrise is avialable on Netflix.
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