Baton is a collection of three 20-minute Sci-fi anime films dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the establishment of Yokohama city. On Planet Abel, human-like robot Apollo (Ichihara Hayato, Rookies) and robot-like human Mikaru (Ueto Aya, Azumi) come upon a stowaway robot with a mysterious "Cipher" chip. Not knowing Cipher's powers, Apollo takes the chip for fun, throwing both him and Mikaru headfirst into a mind-boggling mystery that affects the past, present, and future.
Direction
Kitamura's live-action kinetic energy crammed into 20-minute bursts.
Visual Effects
2009 CGI aging like milk in the best way possible.
Production
Literal city-sponsored anime — taxpayer-funded robot romance!
Director
Ryuhei Kitamura
Hayato Ichihara
Apollo (voice)
Aya Ueto
Mikaru (voice)
Kane Kosugi
Saturn (voice)
Tatsuya Fujiwara
Cipher (voice)
Takashi Naito
Tomboy (voice)
Hiroyuki Watanabe
Robot Guard (voice)
IZAM
Mysterious Man (voice)
Kazushi Sakuraba
Robot Guard (voice)
Kenji Kohashi
Passenger (voice)
Masakatsu Funaki
Hades (voice)
Mimura
Hiroko Yazaki (voice)
Ren Osugi
Dr. Newton (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Yokohama's 150th in 2009 celebrated its forced opening to foreign trade in 1859 — this anime literally reframes colonial trauma as robot time-travel romance.
Ryuhei Kitamura directed this between GODZILLA: FINAL WARS and MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN, making it possibly the only government-funded anime in history directed by someone who also made Bradley Cooper eat people.
JP
