All too often, the Korean animation industry seems to be playing DreamWorks to Japanese animation's Pixar, or Don Bluth to anime's Walt Disney; the projects that make it out of Korea slavishly but awkwardly mimic anime's visuals, themes, and storytelling conventions, and in the process generally fail both to establish a unique identity, and to live up to the original works' standards. Given American audiences' current rapture over anime, it's likely that Korean projects are chosen for American import on the basis of their visual familiarity, while more innovative Korean animators have yet to have their day here. While waiting for that to change, U.S. audiences can at least be satisfied that the imitations are getting better, judging from the superior anime-style Korean feature Sky Blue.
Like any number of anime films (notably Appleseed, Ghost In The Shell, and the Armitage series), Sky Blue centers on a much-beloved but unapproachable and unexpressive woman whose dystopic future-world is straining at the seams. After an environmental cataclysm leaves Earth barren, poisonous, and drenched in continual rain, the "genetically engineered city" of Ecoban becomes a refuge for some, but while the elite live in comfort, the hoi polloi serve as oppressed and disposable workers. Security captain Jay (voiced by Catherine Cavadini in the English dub) sympathizes with the lower classes, especially when one ringleader turns out to be a childhood sweetheart she thought was dead. Drama unfolds in many directions as a small cabal of workers tries to break Ecoban's power, a mawkishly evil commander tamps the rebellion down, and Jay's jealous lover takes the whole thing personally.
Sky Blue abounds with garishly obvious, almost aggressively meaningful symbols: tiny flowers budding in an arid, barren room; a decaying ship silhouetted against a bleak horizon; a hero whose shirt is always blazingly white in a world of muted browns and grays; the endlessly dreary storms… Sky Blue is never subtle about its images of loneliness and isolation, or in fact about anything else. But as clichéd as its images are, they're still visually and tonally stunning. Il Won's heartbreaking score keeps the mood muted and emotive, while complicated layered CGI-and-cel graphics give the film a high-tech, high-gloss, high-impact look. At times, the story entirely disappears under the weight of the visuals: A protracted ending battle, fought in slow motion and zero gravity, makes little sense, but it's still gorgeous. Given that the story is a simple science-fiction template, however, it's probably best left away from center stage. Sky Blue is about the pleasure of seeing exquisitely rendered animated raindrops slide down glass one moment, and watching a vivid, kinetic battle a few seconds later. The political and personal complexities are sophisticated enough for adults, but the animation is spectacular enough to turn viewers into gaping kids. In that sense, Sky Blue successfully imitates the best anime has to offer.