GKIDS is bringing STUDIO4°C’s Tekkonkinkreet back to North American theaters at the end of this month with a brand new 4K remaster. The anime film is an adaptation of Taiyo Matsumoto’s manga of the same name and is directed by the American-born Michael Arias.
Tekkonkinkreet was first released in Japan in December 2006 and would later win “Animation of the Year” at the 2008 Japan Academy Film Prize. Despite receiving a Blu-ray release in 2007 from Sony Pictures Entertainment, the anime film’s presence in the North American anime fandom has been dormant in the past decade, but it still has its fans in various circles.
Anime Trending recently interviewed Michael Arias and screenwriter Anthony Weintraub to discuss the film’s lasting message, its new 4K remastering, and why the story’s themes and characters feel more relevant now than ever before.
Tekkonkinkreet is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. What are your thoughts about the film receiving a new 4K remaster? How involved were you with the process for that?
Michael Arias: It’s funny, actually. I know for everyone else, it’s [been] 20 years, but for me, it’s more like 30 years because I first read the manga in 1996 when it had just come out as a book. For the 10 years between reading the comic and the film’s release, I carried it with me everywhere. So it’s been a very long cycle.
As for the 4K remaster, Anthony and I always felt the film didn’t get its due outside Japan when it was initially released. France and Hong Kong had proper theatrical runs. The American release was very small, and it wasn’t streamable for many years. The [physical release] was also hard to find, so it’s nice to have some light shine on it now.
When the movie first came out and while we were making it, [animated] films were made differently. The initial release was mostly on 35mm film, and Tekkonkinkreet was sort of rushed and on a small budget. We could have spent a lot more time on that. After watching it in a pristine studio environment and listening to it on a mix stage, seeing it in theaters was a bit of a letdown for me because the exhibition was not up to what it should have been.
For me, seeing it projected digitally was a real revelation. I had the opportunity to sit in a dark room for a few days, go through every shot, flag stuff like the transfer not being great, and go back to the original data. That was a real luxury. It looks amazing; it’s never looked better, actually. I wasn’t involved on the software side of the remaster, but I watched every shot and signed off on it, as did the studio.
What drew you toward Taiyo Matsumoto’s original manga? Why was it important for both of you to create and be a part of the adaptation of his work?
Anthony Weintraub: It’s a simple equation for me: Mike introduced me to the material and to Taiyo’s oeuvre, which is substantial, because he has one hit after another as I have experienced them.
It always goes back to the central thematics and heart of the [source] material. This story about these two brothers who have to find each other by going through a difficult journey felt so real to me, amidst this incredible, almost sci-fi universe. Taiyo’s worldbuilding, which is done through simple line drawings, is incomparable and consistent in all of his work. His material is so impressive to me on a first reading.
Tekkonkinkreet [stands out] for its simplicity when it comes to the relationships between the characters. It’s very direct and impressive on scale when it comes to emotion primarily. Then, you put everything else in context, and you get an incredible sci-fi universe he’s created. That was really the thing that really hit me first and made me see the cinematic potential.
Michael Arias: A friend in Japan, my roommate in Tokyo actually, recommended I check it out. He gave me his copy of it, which had just come out as a book. His only words were, “It’s going to make you cry.”
That was in ‘96. For whatever reason, [the manga] was really in sync with what I was going through in my own life at the time. Even before I read between the lines and went deep into the story and characters, there was something about it that grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. Like Anthony said, Taiyo is an amazing artist, and even though this is a really early work of his, it’s all there: amazing characters, themes of love, courage, and brotherhood. It’s all stuff that really spoke to me.
It’s a very dynamic manga, even though you wouldn’t call it an action manga like Vagabond. It [takes place in] a small world happening on a street corner, with gangsters and aliens fighting over this little part of the city. To me, it seemed so dynamic, and I wanted to see it on a screen moving with a score, sound effects, and great vocal performances.
Some of my first conversations with Anthony were about how to really turn it into something that had the scale and the depth to really take advantage of what cinema offers, like color, emotion, sound, and music — the whole thing.
The film explores a huge challenge of trying to protect and keep innocence in a harsh world that threatens it. What does the message of Tekkonkinkreet mean to you 20 years later? Do you also find new meaning in the work in the world today?
Michael Arias: Rewatching [the film] in the last few months to get ready for the 4K release has made me feel that it’s all the more relevant now. We live in a world where we’re being pushed around by gangsters and thugs (chuckles).
The story of these kids trying to protect what’s dear to them and fighting for each other — the humanism of that makes me feel it’s all the more relevant right now. I really think that brotherhood, friendship, and nurturing innocence are the only things that matter.
Anthony Weintraub: I don’t think I could have answered it much better: “What do you look for when I look for things to spend all my creative resources, time, and energy on?” What stories do I want to tell that can be communicated universally?
I think that’s the kernel of the brothers’ relationship — something that answers “What do we want to preserve in our lives?” and “What’s worth fighting for to the death?” To some extent, the first answer for Black would be the city, or “it’s my city,” but that’s just the top layer as he finally realizes the deeper connection he has with his brother. Yes, the world, but the people within it are key.
By the end, they’re not in the city anymore. They’re actually outside the city, but they still have each other, and that answers the question.
The setting of Treasure Town seems like a character with its own individual details that show the changes and lives of its citizens. What were the most important details that needed to be conveyed for the art direction of the film?
Michael Arias: When Anthony and I were talking about where he was going to take the screenplay, one of our priorities became making this not just the story of Black and White, but the story of the city, its transformation, or the renaissance it undergoes.
It’s actually the first thing I said to the art director [Shinji Kimura] the first time I met him. I told him I wanted the city to be the star of the movie. He took that to heart, and he was always challenging the animators, saying, “You’d better do a good job, or I’m just going to squash you with all these backgrounds.” By drawing so many details and adding so much color and energy into the backgrounds, we were trying to say that the city isn’t just a stage or setting.
I had spent so long thinking about making this movie for around six to seven years by the time we actually started. I had notebooks and notebooks of photos taken from my trips to Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Taiwan, you name it. I was using Taiyo’s manga as a point of departure because there were a lot of signs with strange alphabets on them, and it felt like a very multiethnic mixture of different Asian cities. I wanted to make that the uniting aesthetic of the city [in the film] as well.
We worked really hard on not making it feel like a gimmick. We wanted it to feel like a three-dimensional city where you could stand on a street corner and actually see this stuff happening.
Black and White’s personalities and outlooks on life seem vastly different, but they continue to stay together and support one another. What keeps those characters together? Is there a connective thread that supports their bond?
Michael Arias: The simple way of answering that is that opposites attract. Anthony and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make these opposing pairs of characters really feel like they’re joined at the hip.
Anthony Weintraub: I think they both obviously have parts of each other in them. It’s made clear in almost a binary way because they’re named Black and White. White represents gentleness and wonder, while Black [represents] violence and darkness.
Speaking of the city, it holds those opposites in balance in the same way as the two of them hold each other in balance. The balance cracks when the city is threatened and White, in essence, disappears within himself. I think that the film and the manga were attempting to externalize that journey.
By the end, White doesn’t have to make such a huge move over to Black. The violence has to be not tamped down, but expunged. The realization has to be made by Black that the world is a bright place and that the unity of the two brothers is really what’s worth surviving for. Hopefully, that message comes through.
I think that’s one of those things when people ask about the movie and its longevity. The animation is so kickass, with what Michael and his team were able to achieve. It’s those internal messages that Taiyo brought to the table that are so important from an emotional side.
Do you have a message for the people who’ve already watched Tekkonkinkreet or will be watching it for the first time?
Michael Arias: It’s just really exciting to show this to a North American audience that has never been exposed to it. It also gives people who have seen it before a chance to see the way I saw it in the studio, because it really does look next-level.
Anthony Weintraub: I’m also excited to expose more people to the film. I just hope people come with open hearts and open eyes.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Questions submitted by William Moo and Nico Monterosso.
Tekkonkinkreet will premiere in 4K in several North American theaters for two nights only on May 31 and June 1, 2026.
