Review of Interstella 5555 (2003)
An alien band is abducted to Earth, enthralled and disguised. One of their songs—soullessly performed—becomes a hit single, beating even the Daft Punk duo to a prestigious award. A freelance hero attempts to rescue the band from the clutches of “Earl de Darkwood”.
A one-hour animation set to the entire 2001 Daft Punk album Discovery (allegedly intended to be pronounced as two separate words). The music and lyrics do not constitute a concept album and have rather little to do with the plot, which is retro (70’s) science fiction with concept and design—limited to an original sketch of the band—by the infamous Matsumoto Leiji. A luxury for fans of the duo like me. There are moments where the music and action match beautifully, but the whole thing feels arbitrary.