Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Welcome to the Space Show Blu-ray Movie Review

The not that dark side of the moon.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 4, 2014

Pink Floyd may have hipped us all to the wonders of The Dark Side of the Moon, but according to Koji Masunari’s often manic Welcome to the Space Show, that hidden side to Earth’s satellite is anything but dark. It’s a hidden wonderland that resembles a lunar amusement park, replete with rides and a coterie of odd looking characters that need to be seen to be believed (and maybe not even then). It actually takes a while for a gaggle of young Japanese school children to even get to the moon (and from there, to quote a certain Pixar character, “to infinity and beyond”), but even before the kids get that far, Welcome to the Space Show has already introduced a few other odd looking characters, including two bizarre aliens who seem to on a reconnaissance mission of some kind on planet Earth. It’s summer in Japan, a time when evidently kids are shipped off to camps at vacated schools, where they supposedly learn self-sufficiency. That’s what brings a handful of young nascent explorers together, and when they undertake a reconnaissance mission to find a lost rabbit named Pyon-Kichi, an unexpected discovery leads to a series of bizarre adventures. In a huge cornfield which has been imprinted with supposedly alien created crop circles, the kids find a badly injured dog. They take the dog back to the school where they’ve been staying, where upon the canine’s recovery, they are surprised (to the point of one of them repeatedly fainting) when the dog stands upright like a human and begins talking to them. The dog turns out to be an alien named Pochi Rickman (is Alan an alien, too?), and when Pochi offers the kids a sort of wish fulfilment as a reward for having helped him, the stage is set for a Space Show of increasingly weird parameters.

Welcome to the Space Show is one of the more overstuffed anime to trundle down the pike recently, and its probably over convoluted plot and longer than average running time (well over two hours) may deter some prospective viewers, especially younger kids who would otherwise delight in the patently bizarre visuals which are regularly on display. The first part of the film quickly details some of the backgrounds of the various kids, including Natsuki, a newcomer to the area, and her little cousin Amane. Amane holds Natsuki responsible for having lost Pyon-Kichi, and Natsuki’s inability to properly apologize for that fact provides some of the ongoing drama between the pair, despite the interstellar adventures that are to come.

Also on hand are older boy Kiyoshi, who’s ostensibly in charge of the ragtag group; Noriko, a younger girl who acts as a mediator between Natsuki and Amane; and Koji, a little boy whose friendship with a little girl alien named Ink becomes an important facet of one of the film’s many obstacles that keep the kids from returning home to Earth after their jaunt to the Moon’s amusement park.

And in fact it’s those obstacles that provide most of the plot for this often complicated offering. It turns out Pochi was on a reconnaissance mission of sorts, and his official findings put Earth off limits to any incoming flights from the Moon. That then sends the kids off first on a madcap set of mishaps as they attempt to earn enough money to get on a kind of galactic express ship which will get them back home via a number of interstellar detours. Later, they encounter a number of new problems, some of them tied in to the kids’ love (and stash) of wasabi, of all things.

Had Welcome to the Space Show pared down its crazy quilt plot mechanics, it might have been hailed as a minor masterpiece. The film is simply a phantasmagoria of visual invention, with a huge coterie of Peter Max-esque creatures wandering through the frame, many of which combine, for example, a panda’s head with an octopus’ tentacles. Even the spaceships are seemingly alive, with the galactic express looking kind of like a gigantic caterpillar. The film is so stuffed with visual splendors that repeated viewings or at least freezing frames is a virtual requirement.

What undercuts that visual allure is the film’s kind of meandering but relentless series of problems which the kids encounter. It’s a fine gambit to get the characters into new environments and/or different situations, but it simply goes on too long and in too many iterations to ultimately do anything other than enervate momentum. Still, Welcome to the Space Show is such a delight from a visual perspective that it’s at least relatively easier to forgive it for some of its excesses (or ironically deficiencies) in other departments. Space is reportedly infinite, and maybe that’s reason enough for Welcome to the Space Show to drag on a bit too long at times.

Welcome to the Space Show Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Welcome to the Space Show is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinedigm and GKids with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Animation lovers should certainly check out this release, for it is one of the most visually audacious pieces of filmmaking in recent memory, one which pops magnificently in high definition. Rarely has such a carnival assault of colors been flung at viewers' eyes, with everything from bright, bold primaries to really appealingly subtler pastel hues showing up in fantastic variety. Line detail is very crisp, clean and stable. Contrast and black levels are both solid and consistent. In fact the only issue here, and it's a very minor one, is slight banding, typically showing up in segues and the like in the very lightest gradients. Otherwise this is a top tier presentation of a very ingeniously designed film.

Welcome to the Space Show Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Welcome to the Space Show features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes in both Japanese and English, mixes which are indentical save for the voice work (interestingly, there's some English material, including a song, on the Japanese track as well). There's good, immersive surround activity courtesy of a glut of sound effects as the kids and Pochi tool around the universe, and the film's charming score also spills very naturally through the surround channels. Dialogue is very cleanly presented and well prioritized. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is fairly wide.

Welcome to the Space Show Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Welcome to the Space Show (480i; 1:25:29) is a surprisingly in depth and well produced piece that may have initially aired on Japanese television. There are some good interviews as well as looks at the production process.


• From Storyboard to Film (1080i; 7:49) has split screen comparisons of stages in the production process.


• Foreign Trailers and TV Spots (1080i; 5:55)


• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 2:00)

Welcome to the Space Show Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Welcome to the Space Show is a rather sweet little story that's blown up into almost gargantuan proportions, and that disconnect may deprive the film from finding its natural audience. Younger tots, kids who will certainly thrill to the odd characters on display, may simply not have the patience to sit through the extended running time and repetitive story structure. If patient parents can get their charges to sit still for more than two hours, there's a lot here to love. The moral of the tale may be pretty obvious (friends are good), but it's delivered in a whimsical if too convoluted way. The big selling point here is the absolutely incredible design aesthetic. They say that if you remember the sixties you weren't really there, but for anyone wanting a bit of a psychedelic flashback without having to take any drugs, this Blu-ray will easily fill that (black?) hole. Technical merits are very strong, the supplementary material has some great stuff, and Welcome to the Space Show comes Recommended.