So my history with the 2001 anime Metropolis is a bit… different. In 2004, I was living in China and subsisting on a diet of $1 pirated DVDs from a corner street vendor. (Sue me.) For a buck, I’d pretty much pick up anything that looked interesting, from mainstream Hollywood films to downright questionable Asian action flicks.

One night, as I was flipping through the stacks of hideously translated sleeves, I stumbled across Metropolis. The cover caught my eye. The image of a young girl with wildly flowing hair grabbed me, and then the title hooked me. I was familiar with Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent film of the same name, and this kind of looked like an anime version? Maybe? (The translation on the back cover was less than helpful.)

And even though, in 2004, I wasn’t a HUGE manga connoisseur, I still recognized the name Osamu Tezuka. So the combination of Tezuka, Metropolis, and that mysterious cover character was definitely worth my hard-earned dollar.

I brought it home and eventually watched it, and… I’ve since pretty much forgotten everything about it. Really, my only memories of the film were that the character who caught my eye is a robot and Ray Charles “I Can’t Stop Loving You” features prominently in the film’s climax. (Because, seriously, what a bizarre choice. Who could forget that?)

So when I saw that Mill Creek Entertainment recently released the film on Blu-ray, I knew I wanted to revisit Metropolis. Plus, now that I have an entire shelf of Tezuka books, I thought I’d be able to better appreciate the story.

Right off the bat, Metropolis has quite the pedigree. Beyond the source material (Osamu Tezuka’s 1949 manga), the screenplay was written by Katsuhiro Otomo – creator of Akira, both the manga series and anime film. The film was also directed by Rintaro, who has a lot of films and shows to his credit but was one of the writer/directors on the original 1963 Astro Boy (another Tezuka property).

The film and original manga share some similarities, but this is not a direct adaptation of the book. Nor is it a remake of the 1927 silent film. Again, there are some similarities, but it’s mostly just flavoring.

In a nutshell, the film tells the story of an uprising in the high-tech, tri-level city of Metropolis at the completion of the massive skyscraper known as the Ziggurat. Which, of course, turns out to be a weapon. We follow the young robot Tima as she tries to escape capture by the villainous Duke Red and as she discovers the true nature of her existence (Who am I?) along the way.

It’s a story with plenty of subtext and metaphors that are still relevant today – just as they were relevant in 1949 and 2001.

Technically, the film is a marvel to watch. It’s a blend of hand-drawn and CG animation, which in 2001 was a novel achievement. Surprisingly, whereas other animated films from that era look fairly awful today, Metropolis holds up and still looks pretty great.

This release has the original Japanese soundtrack in 2.0 and the English dub in 5.1, so that’s less than ideal, but it LOOKS fantastic. And it’s a joy to watch.

The standard Blu-ray release is a bare-bones affair; it includes the film and nothing else. However, Mill Creek also released a Steelbook edition of the film, which features a making-of documentary, interviews, and concept animations. It’s also sexier packaging if that’s your thing. I’ll leave that decision to you.

Either way, Metropolis is a worthy addition to your home library and should be watched by any self-respecting fan of animation.