A colorfully amalgamated projection of feudal Japan onto a nascent space age in an alternate Earth provides the epic backdrop for the story of lieutenant colonel Shirotsugh Lhadatt, the protagonist of "Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise." His overpopulated world is a place of compromise and corruption, where narrow-minded nations struggle with each other for dominance. Lacking in intellectual prowess, Shiro is unable to follow his dream of becoming a jet pilot for the Honneamisean navy and therefore settles for second best- the disreputable Space Force, a directionless haven for those who cannot stomach the burden of making a living in the overcrowded nation. At the story's start, the Space Force faces widespread derision. It eats up valuable tax money yet never manages to send anyone into space.

Shiro's life changes during a trip into town when he encounters Riquinni, a dogmatic doomsayer who believes strongly that human sins will bring upon the end of the world. Though Riquinni's prognosis for humanity is grim, her tender affection for an adopted orphan girl triggers a new appreciation for humanity within Shiro. Imbued with renewed enthusiasm, Shiro volunteers to be the first real astronaut for the Space Force. Fortunately, once in the limelight, his inability to comprehend politics steers him clear of many of the pitfalls that befell previous would-be astronauts. Along the path into space, he braves his way through the miasma of cynical bureaucrats, skeptical citizens and international assassins and finally succeeds in raising mankind to the stars.

"Wings of Honneamise," released in 1987, delivers a complex world populated by intriguing protagonists cohabiting with hordes of colorful background characters and foreshadows the tribulations of our twenty-first-century Earth. Shiro is by far the most fascinating, beginning as a bottom feeder, subsisting in the ineffectual Space Force because he could not make it as a jet pilot. Yet, somewhere within Shiro is the potential to propel his country into space and the ability to become his nation's greatest hero. Once in orbit, even though Shiro is miles and miles above his countrymen, he still sees himself as just another member of mankind. He suffers from the same doubts about the role of mankind, but his bout of idealism has the potential to elevate all of humanity. When he arrives in space, he doesn't hold in contempt those he left behind. Instead, he admires their innate beauty from above. Shiro's pessimistic and sexually repressed friend Riquinni provides inspiration as well. She changes her apocalyptic fixation with mankind's sin to an acceptance of the elevation of the human spirit through Shiro's journey. She ends the story with an unspoken confidence that space is one of God's regions which man may inhabit without tarnishing.

The narrative's political landscape is fascinating as well. Warring states abound - this global division clearly responsible for keeping mankind out of space all this time. In a way, the film draws the opposite message from our own world's space program. In our world, the push into space was driven by geopolitical struggle. But in Shiro's world, international rivalries keep mankind firmly rooted in a neo-feudal past. Together, these elements create a story that entertains visually and cerebrally. It is impossible to walk away from without a thought or two about the role of our own nation in space.

There's no time like the present for reviving a story like this one. In our own world, NASA's recent failure with the Mars Lander has brought out many of the issues bandied about in "Honneamise." The cost of the mission, coupled with the loss of the Lander has triggered a debate about the necessity of a space program when money could seemingly be spent better to combat more tangible problems on Earth. The end of the Space Race with the now-defunct Soviet Union has taken the wind out of the sails of the entire space program and even attempts to paint current space missions as symbols of peace and cooperation have failed to spark the imagination of the public here on Earth. Yamaga meticulously weighs the social welfare of the populace against the price the idealists force society to pay in order to propel mankind into orbit. The story admits there are problems on the ground- nations are feuding, cities are overcrowded and people are cynical- but Shiro, one dedicated astronaut, rises above the listless, bickering, crotch-scratching public and offers a level of hope that our own world currently lacks.