Sky Blue

"Would you know the colour "sky blue" if you'd never seen the sky?"

Sky Blue (Korean: 원더풀 데이즈, Wonderful Days; yes, its Korean title is in English) is an animated movie, painstakingly shot over a period of seven years from 1996 to 2003 by Moon-sang Kim. It combines very impressive CGI with fluid and well-drawn traditionally animated characters. The impressive quality of the animation drew praise from numerous critics.

In The Future, a small elite live within the city of Ecoban. Ecoban's survival hinges on the Diggers, a huge population who live outside the city and supply it with the carbon it needs to keep functioning. Since Ecoban churns out huge quantities of pollution, the Diggers are understandably miffed by this.

The plot kicks off when Jay, an Ecoban police officer, attempts to apprehend her childhood friend, Shua, an exile who has infiltrated Ecoban to steal information necessary to destroy it. We then follow Shua as he attempts to make a better world for the Diggers while Jay and a couple of other enforcers investigate this rebellion. Jay, however, finds herself becoming drawn into the Diggers' side of the struggle, and begins to wonder if the fall of Ecoban might not be such a bad idea after all...


 * After the End
 * Badass Longcoat: Shua and a couple of the rebels wear them.
 * Badass Normal: Shua and the other rebels have had no such training as Jay, Cade or the troops of Ecoban have, yet they kick just as much ass. Hell, maybe more.
 * Bishonen: Shua
 * Capulet Counterpart: Jay, to Shua
 * Conspicuous CGI
 * Crapsack World: The last remnants of humanity live in the middle of a polluted wasteland and spend all their time persecuting the working class. Need we say more?
 * Creator Provincialism: The future is very Korean.
 * Defector From Decadence
 * Gratuitous English: The Korean title
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Jay
 * Heroic Sacrifice: A couple
 * Kick the Dog: Basically Locke's hobby
 * La Résistance
 * Let's Get Dangerous
 * Love Triangle: Both Shua and Cade are in love with Jay.
 * Market-Based Title
 * Masquerade Ball
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits
 * Redemption Equals Death
 * Scavenger World
 * Scenery Gorn
 * Tagalong Kid: Woody. He suffers.
 * Technology Porn: more time than seems justifiable is dedicated to showing the futuristic motorbikes in every detail.
 * Translation Convention
 * Trojan Horse
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Cade