for Best Animated Feature. The movie was released on sub-only DVD on April 13, 2004, and they planned to use DTS for the DVD, but was ultimately scrapped. Announced on December 19, 2019, international animation licensor, GKIDS, in partnership with the original US distributor Destination Films, released the movie on March 9, 2020 with a brand new 4K restoration and a new English dub. Reception The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 91% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 74 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The critics consensus states, "Beautiful and substantive, Tokyo Godfathers adds a moving – and somewhat unconventional – entry to the animated Christmas canon." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "harrowing and heartwarming." Susan Napier points out that Tokyo Godfathers is part of a trend in anime and manga as depicting families in an increasingly dark fashion, showcasing the problems with traditional families, and attempts by people to construct a "pseudo-family" out of an increasingly fragmented and isolating modern Japanese society. It is put forth that despite the seeming criticisms of traditional families throughout the film, it ends with a more conservative feeling as everyone returns to their traditional/original families. Despite its seemingly traditional ending, the film offers a more radical version of family. Throughout the story these three homeless vagabonds unknowingly form a "pseudo-family" to protect themselves from the outside world and to overcome their personal demons. See also Homelessness in Japan Japanese films of 2003 List of Christmas films References External links 2003 anime films 2003 LGBT-related films 2003 films Animated Christmas films Anime with original screenplays Films about trans women Dentsu Films about homelessness Films directed by Satoshi Kon Films set in Tokyo Genco Japanese Christmas films Japanese LGBT-related films Madhouse (company) LGBT-related animated films Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan films Japanese adult animated films Transgender-related films