A fun but not entirely lighthearted look at an aging rocker and the space war he finds himself in.

The unusual focus on family issues, and the stylistic intermingling of the mundane family scenes with brief snippets of space battles, saves an otherwise familiar story line from descending into cliché.

Oji and his wife are relatively well developed, but supporting characters fall pretty flat, rarely rising above archetypes.

The animation is of average quality, with plenty of budget-saving short cuts. The CG animation, used primarily in the space scenes, does not blend seamlessly with traditional animation.

Natural-sounding dialog with some reasonable cultural alterations.

The American actors provide competent characterizations, but the Japanese actors have a much wider emotional range.

Mild sexual situations and violence.

Under the surface sound and fury lurks the heart of a more serious beast, one which urges us to consider whether we are living up to our own ideals and dreams, and to embrace what we have before it slips away.

Lack of righteous tunage in a music-oriented anime is a major downer.

Love it? Hate it? Buy it.