Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is one of Daft Punk’s greatest achievements, although it is often overlooked.
After 28 years of revolutionizing music, Daft Punk announced this week that they are breaking up after 28 years. While all four of the electronic music duo’s four studio albums are excellent, their masterpiece has to be the 2003 anime film Interstella 5555: The 5 history of the 5ecret 5tar system. However, however good it is, Interstella 5555 is often overlooked or totally overlooked, even by the biggest Daft Punk fans.
Daft Punk started working on the idea while making his second studio album, 2001 Discovery. Daft Punk and collaborator Cédric Hervet wanted to create something that mixed science fiction with a pastiche of entertainment culture. When the idea was fully formed, the band knew immediately that they wanted their childhood hero Leiji Matsumoto to work on the film and went to Japan to recruit him. During his childhood in France, Daft Punk had seen many imported Japanese animations, including the legendary Captain Harlock Series.
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In a 2008 Cartoon Network interview, Daft Punk said that Captain Harlock it was his favorite cartoon growing up. They also said it was a big influence on their style as adults, so it made sense to try to involve Matsumoto.
Daft Punk managed to convince Matsumoto to join the project as a visual supervisor. Several other big names were also brought on board to help, including Shinji Shimizu and Dragon sphere legend Kazuhisa Takenouchi. The film went into production in 2000 and was completed in 2003 and reportedly cost about four million dollars to make. The first four “episodes” of the film were shown on Toonami in 2001 and the full movie was released on DVD in 2003. An updated Blu-ray release was released in 2011, and is now considered the best way to watch the film.
The film follows a famous alien band. During one of the band’s performances, a great military man appears and kidnaps them. In space, a pilot named Shep detects the band’s distress signal and, wanting to help the band, Shep jumps through a wormhole and chases the kidnappers. However, it ends up falling to Earth.
The band is then taken to a military facility, where their memories are removed and placed on discs. Their captors also change the band’s skin to make them more human, brainwash and force the group to wear mind-controlling sunglasses. It is revealed that the person who kidnapped them is an evil businessman named Earl of Darkwood, who plans to publicize the group as a new band. This plan seems to work at the beginning, with the new band winning a gold record. However, Shep frees the group from its mind control, sacrificing itself in the process. The band learns that Darkwood plans to collect 5,555 gold discs and then use those records to rule the universe. So the band, still unsure of who they really are, must move quickly to stop Darkwood and return home.
The film has no dialogues and few sound effects. Basically, all the audio is the album Discovery, making the film a unique companion for the album. Matsumoto’s influence is obvious throughout the film. The character designs and color palette resemble those found in other works by Matsumoto, such as Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999. The themes of memory, sacrifice and the nature of companionship are also common in Matsumoto’s work, and these ideas are at the heart of Interstella 5555.
The film is a visual delight, perfectly combining animation with Daft Punk’s music, creating a totally unique experience. The film is completely different from any other musical or film. Discovery it is often considered Daft Punk’s best studio album, and this film helps you appreciate how great it is. Tracks already amazing, like the hit “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” are even better when put together with Matsumoto’s fluid and detailed animation, and often overlooked tracks like “Veridis Quo” are transformed into unforgettable numbers to stop the show. If you’re a fan of anime, Daft Punk or music in general, you should check Interstella 5555: the 5 history of the 5ecret 5tar 5 system for it is an underrated and little-loved masterpiece.
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