Black and White live in a clapped out Fiat 500. They are orphans, and White is retarded. Black looks after White in the dangerous Treasure Town, stealing to keep them both alive and eventually escape. When the Yakuza plan to take over the city and rid it of the verminous street-kids, Black must fight to protect White and claim the city as his own.<br /><br />Imagine my delight at learning of the existence of this film. I read Black and White in the much-missed 'adult manga' magazine Pulp in the late 90s. A touching, stylish and original manga, it sat well in Pulp, and well on my bookshelf.<br /><br />This adaptation has a lot to offer as well. Overall I don't think it was quite as powerful as the manga, but it certainly has visual flair in surplus. Michael Arias' use of computer graphics is second to none. The beautiful, even romantic cityscapes revolve in glorious vibrancy. Like Katsuhiro Ōtomo's, Taiyo Matsumoto's designs turn mundane concrete and metalwork into true spectacles; bathed in colour, intricacy and poetry. For me, that is surely the essence of anime; one which is often spoiled by splicing-in out of place CGI (Ghost in the Shell: SAC take note) or relying solely on it (Final Fantasy, Appleseed etc). Arias succeeds with his own programming, created specifically for such a task. The result is not a video game, nor a collage of unrelated media: it is simply a 3D anime.<br /><br />The story is Matsumoto's, and is interesting and charming though perhaps not fantastically original. The conveyance of emotion is strong; Black's emotional breakdown is touching.<br /><br />Character designs are fabulous and original, though their animated versions remind me Belleville Rendez-Vous (The Triplets of Belleville in the US), released three years previously. In itself that would be a bad thing, in my view, but in reality the quirky designs contribute towards the charm of the film; and the costume design builds upon that very well.<br /><br />It gets a bit odd towards the end, and the ability for the children to perform fantastic acrobatics throughout is a little strange. But anime can take such liberties. However, what's the deal with the line "I gotta say I never met a tall guy worth a shít"?