Tekkonkinkreet
| Tekkonkinkreet | |
Cover art for the first volume of the manga
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鉄コン筋クリート (Tekkonkinkreet) |
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| Genre | Drama, Adventure |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Taiyō Matsumoto |
| Published by | Shogakukan |
| English publisher | |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Big Comic Spirits |
| Original run | 1993 – 1994 |
| Volumes | 3 |
| Anime film | |
| Directed by | Michael Arias |
| Produced by |
Eiko Tanaka Naoki Kitagawa Yasushi Shiina Masao Teshima |
| Written by | Anthony Weintraub |
| Music by | Plaid |
| Studio | Studio 4°C |
| Licensed by | Sony Pictures |
| Released | December 22, 2006 |
| Runtime | 110 minutes |
Tekkonkinkreet (鉄コン筋クリート Tekkonkinkurīto?, a child's mispronunciation of "Tekkin Konkurito" [steel reinforced concrete]) is a three-volume seinen manga series by Taiyō Matsumoto, which was originally serialized from 1993 to 1994 in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits and first published in English as Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White. It was adapted into a 2006 feature-length Japanese anime film of the same name, directed by Michael Arias and animated by Studio 4°C. The film Tekkonkinkreet premiered in Japan on December 23, 2006.
The story takes place in the fictional city of Takaramachi (Treasure Town) and centers on a pair of orphaned street kids – the tough, canny Kuro (Black) and the childish, innocent Shiro (White), together known as the Cats – as they deal with yakuza attempting to take over Treasure Town.
While the manga follows multiple plot threads, the film adaption consists of a few plots shown in the manga.
The film follows two orphans, Kuro (クロ "Black") and Shiro (シロ "White"), as they attempt to keep control of the streets of the pan-Asian metropolis of Takaramachi, once a flourishing town and now a huge, crumbling slum fraught with warring between criminal gangs. Kuro is a violent and streetwise punk, considering Takaramachi to be "his town". Shiro is younger and appears to be mentally impaired, out of touch with the world around him and often living in a world of illusions. They call themselves "the Cats". Despite their extreme differences, they complement and support each other, similar to the Chinese Taoist principle of yin and yang.
During one of their "missions", they take on thugs and Kuro ends up beating up three Yakuza gang members who are menacing a street gangster friend of his. The Yakuza work for Snake (蛇), the head of a corporation called "Kiddy Kastle". Snake plans to tear down and rebuild Takaramachi as a theme park to fit his own goals and dreams. When Kuro interferes once too often, Yakuza are sent to kill him, but fail. Angered, Snake then sends the deadly "three assassins", near-superhuman hitmen, to finish the job.
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Wikipedia