History Anime / TokyoGodfathers

* DenserAndWackier: The film is a lot funnier than ''Anime/PerfectBlue'', ''Anime/MillenniumActress'', and ''Anime/{{Paprika}}, with tons of visual jokes and many, ''many'' fun exaggerated character expressions.

* DenserAndWackier: The film does have a more comedic tone with many, many exaggerated character expressions.

* AnAesop: The film ''will'' make sure you know how the homeless are mistreated and judged by society, but the sheer extent of the heroes' struggles makes it all the easier to sympathize with the unfairness of their situation.

* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler:Miyuki ran away from home because her attempt to do this to her seemingly distant father escalated to her stabbing him in a fit of anger.]]

%% Doesn't explain what the reaction is. * BerserkButton: You can call Hana "Shitty", but never call her an "old man".

%%* BruceLeeClone: The leader of the teen delinquents thinks he's one.
%%* CallingTheOldManOut: In Miyuki's flashback. It did not end well.

''Tokyo Godfathers'' is a 2003 {{Anime}} movie directed by Creator/SatoshiKon; the film is heavily based on the 1913 novel ''The Three Godfathers'' about a trio of bandits who discover a foundling. This dramatic comedy is a stark departure from Kon's more [[MindScrew mind-bending]] works, but it still contains his atmospheric touch, keen social commentary, and insight on the human condition.

* CreatorsOddball: You wouldn't think that legendary filmmaker Creator/SatoshiKon would make a [[MagicalRealism magical-realist tragicomedy]] set during Christmas time but here we are. The film is more light-hearted, comedic, and grounded than Kon's more other works. This trope is somewhat subverted as it does still contain his SignatureStyle with his insight on the human mind, his atmospheric touch, and it does still blend reality with surreality just in a different way.

* LighterAndSofter: While the film can be dark and brutally realistic, it is noticeably more light-hearted and comedic than Creator/SatoshiKon's more serious and surreal arthouse works.

* SurprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage: The entirety of the Hispanic characters' dialogue is delivered in Surprisingly Good Spanish. The boy's lines might sound a bit like translated Japanese at times, but in all it's far better Spanish than it has any reason to be.
** It helps that the actors are, most likely, naturally born Spanish speakers, of course.

** Not long after he tells Hana and Miyuki his story about how he became a bum, Gin unconsciously contradicts one part of his story when he sees the groom. [[spoiler:This is only the first clue that Gin was just telling a tall tale.]]

-->'''Hana:''' That's who your father is! He's a gambler that couldn't deal a deck of cards, an ugly drunk, and his feet stink! He killed off his wife and daughter in a fake sob story just to buy sympathy. [...] You have no right to tell me about debt. On the other hand, you are an authority on digging through garbage. You wrote the book on getting into debt, but you did make a baby, though raising them isn't exactly your forte. Ha! The instant things got hard you dumped your debts and daughter onto your wife and ran away because you know you can't do anything right! That's the closest thing to racing you've ever done!

* GoodVersusGood: There is no true asshole in the film. Characters who seem like mean-spirited are either caring for someone special or are at their very worst a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

* DoTheyKnowItsChristmasTime: The film opens with two of the main characters attending Mass and watching a Nativity scene, and there is a surprising number of allegories to the birth of Christ in itself — the most obvious being the Three Magi.