Metropolis (メトロポリス), also known as Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis or Robotic Angel (in Germany) is a manga by Osamu Tezuka and an anime movie loosely based on the manga.

Despite some similarities, the manga was only indirectly influenced by Fritz Lang's pre-World War II epic Metropolis. In fact, Osamu Tezuka claimed not to have seen the film at the time he was working on this story, but rather that he was inspired by the poster of the 1927 film. For example, the strong theme of class struggle present in the film version is not present in the manga, which rather tells a fairly straightfoward story aimed at younger readers. However, his creation of the character Mitchi was based on the only still picture of the movie that he had seen, which depicted the birth of a female robot. Because he considered it to be one of his earlier, lesser works, Tezuka did not want his manga to be made into a feature film.

However, this cinematic adaptation of Tezuka's story integrates far more elements from the original Fritz Lang film. In addition to adapting the landmark set designs of the original film (a style that inspired such other important sci-fi films as Blade Runner), this version reintroduces a strong and pervasive theme of class struggle in a dystopian plutocratic society and expands it to examine the relationship of robots with their human masters. The film adaptation also removes many of the more fanciful elements out of Tezuka's manga. These changes make the 2001 film adaptation more complex and aims at more mature audiences than Tezuka's version.

The manga is published in English by Dark Horse Comics.

The anime movie, released in June 2001 in Japan and on January 25, 2002 in the U.S. (rated PG-13 by the MPAA), was directed by Rintaro, and written by Katsuhiro Otomo.

The movie also has the honour of being the first anime movie since the mid 90's to be aired on Channel 4 in the UK (It aired in the early hours of Sunday 30th October 2005 and was aired both uncut and in Japanese with English Subtitles).

The song "I Can't Stop Loving You" by Ray Charles was used instead of sound effects in the final scene of the film.

Quote (opening credits of the movie): "Every epoch dreams its successor." - Jules Michelet

Ziggurat

The movie opens with the celebration of the completion of the Ziggurat when a robot, who is outside its zone, tries to crash the party, but is shot down by a boy named Rock.

A Japanese private detective, Shunsaku Ban and his nephew, Kenichi, have arrived in the grand city-state of Metropolis. Metropolis itself lies in an unmentioned republic and it can best be described as a plutocracy where a man named Duke Red is the most influential citizen, overshadowing President Boon and Mayor Ryon, the heads of state and government of Metropolis. In Metropolis' heavily industrialised futuristic world, artificial intelligence has advanced a great deal and robots are seen everywhere performing many different tasks. Despite their intelligence, robots 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 between the four Zones which Metropolis is divided in without special permission. Thus they live under Apartheid-like conditions.

In order to protect humans from mischievous-minded robots, the "Marduk", heavily armed vigilantes in red uniforms who destroy robots as they please, patrol the streets of Metropolis. The Marduk is a vigilante group that developed into a political party. It is a public secret that their founder is Duke Red, and that his adopted son, Rock, is a leading figure in the organization.

The private detective and his nephew, along with an assigned robot detective (Nicknamed "Perro" by detective Shunsaku; the robot thought it innapropriate to have a human name, and, effectively, "perro" means "dog" in Spanish) are looking for a person named Dr. Laughton, who is, among other things, suspected by human rights organizations of human rights violations and the trading of human organs. Little do they know that Duke Red has hired Dr. Laughton to manufacture an extremely intelligent robot in the shape of Duke Red's deceased daughter. The robot is to sit on her customised throne, a supercomputer at the top of the newly built Ziggurat; a mountainous, towering government palace that Duke Red has constructed for military purposes of reaching the stars and establishing dominion over the entire Earth. Duke Red, without consulting military leaders, tested the Ziggurat's revolutionary solar superweapon of mass destruction, thus compromising national security. President Boon and other government and military leaders discuss the current situation, and plan to arrest Duke Red for treason once enough resentment builds up against him.

Dr. Laughton plans to flee Metropolis once the robot Tima (named after Duke Red's daughter) is finished. Rock, upon discovering Dr. Laughton's treacherous intentions, shoots and mortally wounds him. He then sets fire to Dr. Laughton's laboratory, intending to destroy all traces of Dr. Laughton's project, including the robot Tima, who lies dormant in suspended animation.

However, 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. During their escape from the burning building, Kenichi and Tima fall down a sewage drain and become separated from the detective.

Thus, while the detective searches for his nephew, Kenichi and Tima are at the same being time chased by Rock who is monomanical about destroying Tima. Rock's determination to track down and kill Tima lies in his misguided belief that his father, Duke Red, should be the one whom sits on the throne at the top of the Ziggurat and not a robot.

It is during this time that Kenichi attempts to teach Tima how to speak and interact with people, mostly explaining to her the concept of "you" and "I" among other basic grammatical concepts.

Escaping from Rock, Tima and Kenichi unexpectedly encounter Atlas, leader of a pro-human resistance group of unemployed labourers who live in poverty below Metropolis' glistering surface. Having lost their jobs to robots, these workers live off of government rations and protest mechanisation. However, their ration supply is terminated for the Ziggurat celebration, so they plan to take up arms and launch a coup d'état against the Marduks and bring down the Ziggurat, an act symbolically related to the Biblical story of the tower of Babel. The revolution starts when Atlas kills Perro and the revolutionaries catch the Marduks off guard.

Coup d'état

As President Boon and the government wait for the right time to arrest Duke Red, the President is betrayed and assassinated by his military supreme commander. Duke Red usurps power and declares martial law. Symbolically, winter comes to Metropolis at this time and covers the city in snow. The uprising is suppressed by the military and upon discovering a dying Atlas, Kenichi, along with Tima, rejoins his uncle. Rock appears, wounding the detective with a bullet wound to the arm and knocking Kenichi unconscious.

Duke Red soon arrives, searching for Rock. As he is about to scold Rock for carrying on an operation without his permission, his view drifts to Tima, and he is taken aback in awe by the fact that she is still alive. Tima then falls back into the hands of Duke Red, who exiles Rock for trying to kill her. At the Ziggurat, she writes Kenichi's name all over her room, much to the shock of one of the maids. Tima is interrogated and briefly taken captive by Rock, who wants to dissect her but is then knocked unconscious by the detective. He has Tima locate Kenichi (creating a large-scale blackout of the city in the process), finding that he is being held captive in the Ziggurat. As Tima and Shunsaku head for the Ziggurat, Duke Red tracks the pair down and captures them both.

Kenichi is reunited with his uncle who declares the mistreatment of his nephew as a direct violation of international law. Tima asks Duke Red if she is a robot or a human, and Duke Red replies that she is a superhuman who has a true destiny: to merge with the Ziggurat and rule the Earth. The detective reveals Dr. Laughton's notebook which contains evidence about Tima and the Ziggurat against Duke Red. It explains that upon merging with the throne, Tima's emotions and memories would be erased so that she could be the control device used for Duke Red's superweapon.

Suddenly Rock shoots her, disguised as a maid, who in turn is shot by one of the guards. When Tima sees the wound she realizes that she is an "artificial human" created to conquer, upon which a secondary AI program is activated, turning Tima into the unwilling architect of a robot revolution. Taking her seat upon the throne, Tima seizes control of the fortress and orders a biological and robot attack on all major cities in the world, intended to annihilate humanity.

Robots launch a revolution against humanity, and when Kenichi pulls Tima from her throne (at the cost of half of her body and clothing deformed by the throne's electromagnetic effects), he tries to redeem her even though she repeatedly tries to kill him. The robots kill the Ziggurat scientists and attempt to kill Duke Red before Rock presses a button that activates the Ziggurat's superweapon. Upon activation, the Ziggurat begins to explode. This is due to Tima overloading the Ziggurat's systems when she integrated herself into the throne and took control of the Ziggurat. The Ziggurat's systems cannot take the activation of the weapon, so it overloads beyond its limits and is destroyed, along with the surrounding area of Metropolis and its four Zones.

Kenichi continues to try and redeem Tima, who in turn tries to kill him. Tima grabs Kenichi by the neck and as she does so, her CPU overloads and deactivates, causing her to become disorientated and lunge over the walkway's edge, taking Kenichi with her. As he falls, Kenchi manages to grab onto a lower walkway and pull himself up. On regaining his balance, he spots Tima dangling hundreds of metres above the ground, with only a wire, connected to her hand, keeping her from falling. The other end is attached to a piece of the throne that came away when Kenichi pulled her from it, and it is stuck between two girders with Tima in the middle. After her command CPU is deactivated, Kenichi begins to pull her up, and as he does the wire begins to fray. It snaps but Kenichi grabs Tima's hand, and pleads to her to grab his. As she dangles, she remembers Kenichi's earlier teachings, and what he taught her about grammar. Kenichi tries to save the now "redeemed" Tima but fails. Her final words to him are "Kenichi! Who...am...I?" and she falls to her death as the main section of the Ziggurat is completely destroyed by the nuclear meltdown and explosive destruction.

Aftermath

The next morning, Metropolis lies in ruins and a few robots survive, while human survivors, including Kenichi's uncle, evacuate in an airship. Kenichi stays in Metropolis to find Tima and help the robot survivors. He is surprised to see that several robot workers have recovered Tima's shoes and a few of her parts and proceeds to look for more of her parts in order to rebuild her. Others can interpret this action as though Kenichi is paying his last respects to Tima; after all, she was the most complex robot in the world and would not easily be rebuilt. Later, after a radio finishes playing the music, it plays Tima's voice saying: "Who am I?" These are the final words of the film.

From Wikipedia