It wouldn't be a film night without films, and this year's Anime Allnighter certainly had an interesting selection.  Here's a brief review of the films shown...
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The Sky Crawlers

The Sky Crawlers may have not had the bill-topping recognition that Evangelion has, but as the latest film by Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii interest was certainly high.  The film is set in an alternative reality where world peace is maintained by a series of aerial military campaigns that act as a proxy for real war.  The battles are fought by Kildren, genetically modified humans who cannot age, and the story starts when talented pilot Yuichi Kannami is assigned to a new base run by the cold and cynical Suito Kusanagi.  Yuichi fits in well with the other pilots on the base, but not everything is what it seems.  Normally when a new pilot takes over at a base his predecessor is there to greet him, but Yuichi's predecessor is nowhere to be found and no-one seems keen to discuss him, least of all Suito.  As the campaigns start Yuichi distinguishes himself and grows closer to Suito, but the other pilots warn him to steer clear of her.  Suito and the base itself holds some dark secrets and Yuichi could soon come to find out more than he bargained for.  As

you have come to expect from Mamoru Oshii the film has a dense and thought-provoking story packed with impressive science fiction ideas.  The animation is excellent, and the interaction between the traditional anime art and CGI is handled particularly well, whilst the music from long-time collaborator Kenji Kawai is excellent.  The dogfights are probably the best seen in anime since Macross Plus, but at over two hours long the story is very slow moving and ponderous.  It was a good choice to put it on first at the Allnighter, as a later showing of such a dialogue and plot heavy film would have sent some to sleep later on.  However, it raised some interesting questions about how society and individuals would deal with a group of people remaining forever young.  In this setting it probably could have done with a bit more action to engage the crowd though.

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Time of Eve

The second title of the night was a bit odd as it wasn't a film, it was in fact a 6 episode series released on the internet.  You certainly wouldn't have guessed it from the production values though, the visuals and sound were excellent and its combination of 2d characters and 3d backgrounds was impressive.  The story is set in a near future where robots are in common use and the use of humanoid androids is growing.  These androids are considered to be nothing more than machines and are differentiated from normal humans by a ring they are required to project above their heads.  They are not supposed to have any feelings or do anything outside of their programmed parameters so when student Rikuo discovers a mysterious comment in his android Sammy's memory log he decides to check it out.  Him and his friend Masaki find that the comment refers to a cafe called Time of Eve, a cafe with a single house rule - no discrimination between humans and robots.  Because of this rule the rings are turned off and there's no way of knowing

who is flesh and blood and who isn't, and not being able to ask anyone directly makes Rikuo and Masaki's investigations a bit difficult.  However, that's not the only issue, their discussions with the cafe's regulars start to make them question their preconceptions about robots, and in Masaki's case that's not the easiest thing to do.  Time of Eve was the nights undoubted highlight, a superbly executed mini-series that managed to breathe new life into a pretty hackneyed premise.  It brilliantly put Asimov's Laws of Robotics firmly in the spotlight, coming up with some interesting loopholes and really making you think.  Superb!

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King of Thorn

Probably the biggest surprise of the night was the fact that we were seeing this film before the Japanese!  Yes, a UK premiere for a brand new anime film, and an impressive looking one it was too.  The film is set in a near future where a deadly virus is devastating mankind.  In a last ditch effort to save humanity a mysterious company selects a portion of the populace to be cryogenically frozen until the virus runs its course.  However, when the frozen people awaken they are immediately attacked by vicious monsters, and as the few survivors struggle through the overgrown ruins of the cryo facility they make a disturbing discovery - only a few days have passed since they entered stasis.  What happened in those few days?  With terrifying mutant monsters lurking round every corner the remaining people face a deadly battle for survival as they try to find out.  King of Thorn was a bit of a curious one.  The big budget was self-evident with some superb animation and beautifully integrated CGI, whilst the action came thick and fast.  The film was pretty gory in places

and there was a palpable sense of tension as the characters crept through the monster-infested building.  However, the story played out like one of those '80's post-apocalyptic TV dramas where a random group of people survive nuclear war by being in an underground train or something, and then went all psycho-fantasy on us.  What started as a tense and claustrophobic horror-drama became increasingly convoluted and messy as it went on, ending up with most of the audience wondering what the hell was going on.  It did look damn impressive though, and would probably make more sense if it wasn't about 4am.

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Eureka 7: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers

The first of two spin-offs from popular anime series to close off the night, and interestingly it was a re-imagining rather than a side story.  Eureka 7 reintroduced the familiar characters of Renton and Eureka as children and showed the moment when the military took the photosensitive Eureka away.  Years later Renton is a young man and a respected soldier in the fight against an alien enemy, but he has not given up hope of rescuing his childhood friend.  His chance comes when he spots her making a suicidal approach to an alien spaceship in the midst of a battle.  Despite snatching her away from the jaws of death, Renton soon realises that his friend has suffered terribly during her captivity and that his actions have put him at odds with his superiors.  On the run from the military the pair look to be in real trouble until they are offered refuge by a rogue army ship, but their struggles aren't over yet.  Eureka has learned that she is in fact of alien descent, and her mission is to destroy the aliens at the cost of her own life.  Renton is having none of it, but