Tokyo Godfathers: The Importance Of Teamwork

Tokyo Godfathers is the third film from director Satoshi Kon. Through its story, this animated film focuses on the importance of teamwork and love seen from the perspective of the family.

Argument  Tokyo Godfathers

On Christmas Eve, three homeless people find an abandoned baby in a garbage dump. The girl is left with a note and some belongings that give clues to her parents. This is how the three characters find a purpose in life: to return the girl to her real parents.

From then on, the three figures have interesting adventures. Every situation is an occasion to experience the power of forgiveness, family, and love.   To survive and achieve the goal, the characters discover the importance of teamwork as something essential.

The godfathers of Tokyo

The richness of the characters created by Satoshi is the focal point of the animation. Far from the fiction that characterizes him, the main figures represent the dark reality of modern Tokyo. These are three homeless people whose bad decisions have led them to the streets. Behind them, they drag a past that they do not want to face, but that little by little is approaching them.

Gin, Hana and Miyuki are the names of the three homeless people who star in the film. The trio’s relationship works like a family, a bond that they have been able to create from their shortcomings. The first of them, Gin, was a head of a family. Gambling and alcohol led him to lose his money and affections. About him it is known that he has left behind a wife and a daughter.

Hana is a transvestite. A man’s body and a woman’s heart. With a past full of fame as a drag queen, losing the love of her life ended up on the street. From her heart, she embraces the impossibility of being a mother. Miyuki is a 15-year-old daughter of a detective, with whom she had an altercation over a pet. This situation forced Miyuki to escape from her own home and never return.

A baby and a note

On Christmas Eve, the trio find an abandoned baby accompanied by a note: “Take good care of her, please.” Next to her, a key that opens a mailbox with some clues about the parents. Gin and Miyuki understand that it is best not to take the girl. But Hana, wrapped in her truncated maternal instinct, rejects the idea.

Thus, they reach an agreement to hand her over to her parents. Meanwhile, they call the girl Kiyoko, which means ‘pure girl’.

The importance of teamwork

With Kiyoko’s arrival, the three homeless set out to find her parents. The idea is to get to know them and understand the reason for their abandonment. Then, depending on the situation they find, they will evaluate whether to return it to its parents or keep it in their “family”.

Although the homeless have some clues about the girl’s parents, the road will be long for them. The main obstacles will be accompanied by the past of the characters. At various times, they will have to face their own fears and find the courage to move on.

Teamwork and protection are key during this journey. Friends are consolidating as a nucleus while forgiving themselves as individuals.

The value of family

Tokyo Godfathers is a film that walks through some of the fundamental principles of humanity. Forgiveness, love and redemption are some of the values ​​that are addressed through his characters. However, the concept that stands out the most is the value of family.

Its characters have managed to create a family by way of survival. It is a nucleus made up of deficiencies where there is no room for judgment. The three understand each other and accompany each other in their sorrows. As part of survival, they learned the importance of teamwork. What makes that makeshift family work like a real one.

The ties that bind people are also important. And it is that, despite the distance, these ties are destined to unite. Sooner or later the characters have to come to terms with their past. In addition, throughout the story and many times unwittingly, the characters help other people, which manifests the inherent goodness of the human being.

In general, experts consider this film a version of a Japanese Christmas story that, above all, aims to convey a moral teaching.