Kung

**Kung** is a 2021 adult animated musical science fiction film directed by Hiroshi Sakai with music by Functional based on a story by Osamu Tezuka*.*

## Plot

The main points of the story coincide with the Functional tracks on his EP. On a humanoid-alien planet, a band is playing to a packed audience; keyboardist Octave, guitarist Arpegius, drummer Baryl, and bass player Stella ("One More Time" ft. Shakira & Måneskin). A military force from Earth invades the planet and kidnaps the band ("Aerodynamic").

A space pilot called Shep is seen working outside his guitar-shaped ship, then goes inside. He is interrupted from his daydream about Stella by a distress call about the kidnapping, and pursues the kidnappers through a wormhole, where he crash lands on Earth ("Digital Love" ft. Owl City).

The band is taken to an underground facility, where their memories are removed to disks and their blue skin changed to make them resemble humans. They are fitted with mind-control devices hidden inside sunglasses ("Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" w. TSI). Their captor, Earl de Darkwood, poses as their manager and presents them as a new band called The Crescendolls, who take the world by storm ("Crescendolls" w. Martin Garrix). The fame has its disadvantages as the exhausted members of the band are forced to sign large amounts of marketing material. Meanwhile, Shep finds his way to the city and discovers what has happened to the band ("Nightvision" w. Tangerine Dream).

During a stadium concert, Shep flies in with a jet pack and fires a beam at each band member, freeing all of them from the mind control except for Stella. In the escape, Shep is mortally wounded, and Darkwood's bodyguards are revealed to be androids ("Superheroes" w. Bassjackers).

Still under Darkwood's control, Stella finds a card with the address of Darkwood's home, Darkwood Manor, which she hides in her dress. She is taken to a "Gold Record Award" ceremony, where the Crescendolls win the Gold Record. Baryl is concealed in the audience and frees Stella with the beam, and they make their escape with Octave's help ("High Life" w. Aura). The band returns to Shep, who reveals their true identities before he dies ("Something About Us" ft. Oliver Tree). They bury Shep and his spirit rises into space. While driving away, they use the card Stella took earlier to find their way to Darkwood Manor, and decide to investigate ("Voyager" w. Clean Bandit ft. Jorvak).

While exploring Darkwood's mansion, the band finds their way into a secret room, in which they find a journal revealing Darkwood's plans. He has been kidnapping musicians from various worlds to acquire 5,555 gold records, with which he can rule the planet. Darkwood captures them and attempts to sacrifice Stella to complete the ritual, but Arpegius manages to throw the final gold record into a chasm, and Darkwood follows it into the abyss, which is revealed to be filled with lava, apparently killing him. His foot soldiers follow after him, killing them as well ("Veridis Quo" w. Jean-Michel Jarre and Kygo). The band travels back to the record company to retrieve the memory disks. Octave sneaks in to steal them, but while escaping from the building, he is tased by a guard, and his skin reverts to its blue state ("Short Circuit" w. Kraftwerk).

The authorities find Shep's ship and mount an operation to return the Crescendolls to normal, and get the quartet back to their home planet ("Face to Face" w. Elton John). On the way back to the wormhole, Darkwood's spirit appears and attacks the ship. Shep's spirit also appears and fights Darkwood, which frees them. The band returns to their home planet to great acclaim, and a statue of Shep is erected ("Too Long" ft. John Newman). At the end, it is implied that the whole story was the dream of a young boy, inspired by the *Kung* book and toys in his room.

## History

In 1980, Osamu Tezuka wrote *Kung*, but never published it. 39 years later, Hiroshi Sakai discovered *Kung* and decided to make it into a movie.