For my money, the best anime film of recent years wasn¡¯t even made in Japan.

OK, calling ¡°Mars Express¡± anime isn¡¯t strictly accurate. The sci-fi film from director Jeremie Perin was animated in France and is distinctly European in its sensibility ¡ª but it¡¯s also clearly influenced by great 1990s cyberpunk anime like ¡±Ghost in the Shell,¡± in which cyborgs fight crime in a dystopian future while questioning the systems that rule their world and what it means to be human.

¡°Mars Express¡± was first seen by a select few in Japan at the Niigata International Animation Film Festival in early 2024. Now, nearly two years later, it¡¯s set for a general cinematic release starting Jan. 30, both in the original French language and a Japanese dub.