Wings of Honneamise

The other night I took some time to sit down and watch Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise, a classic that I'd wanted to get a hold of for some time, and finally did. The works of the anime studio, Gainax, never seem to disappoint me, and this film is no exception.
Wings of Honneamise, creates a fictional Earth that is not too far from our own. The social, political, and technological feel for the setting create an era similar to that of the early twentieth century, near the start of the First World War, the only major difference being the beginnings of a space program, which the central focus of the plot revolves around.
We are introduced to Shirotsugh Lhadatt, a young man who is looking for his calling in life, a reason to make his days feel less than lackluster. Through his own meanderings, he has found himself in the Royal Space Force, a group of men that is closer to being a pack of bored has-beens (or perhaps even never-weres) than the beginnings of a new branch of their nation's military. All seem content with their do-nothing days of obscurity, but with the recent death of a member due to an accident in testing, Shirotsugh finds himself trying to find worth in an existence that has become meaningless.
A chance encounter with a girl, Riquinni Nonderaikom spouting religious guidance to uninterested masses brings Shirotsugh to start thinking about his role in everything around him.
The story of Wings of Honneamise unfolds at a rate that changes time and again throughout the course of the film. Sometimes events move at blinding pace, other moments seem to get drawn out, giving the audience a chance to drink things in a bit more.
The film is an incredible work and as one of Gainax's earliest creations as a studio, it shows that the group working to create it really had a grasp on what makes a good film. It is part of human nature to every so often try and remember what goal is driving us, telling us to move forward, and Honneamise captures this need for motivation in a way that is totally unique. The film's climax and ending close things in just the right manner, and leave the audience reflecting on everything that they watched transpire over the course of those two hours.
It is something of a shame that the Region 1 release of Wings of Honneamise is something that has all but vanished from existence. While the video quality compared to the Region 2 Japanese release is tough to swallow (a comparison can be seen here), the release did have dual language, and even commentary by the creators available as an audio and subtitle track. Personally, I'd like to think that Manga Entertainment realized how great the film was, and went to bring it out as soon as they could, but it was just at the beginning of the boom for Anime in America, so it fell under the radar. While their license of the film has apparently expired, I'd like to hope that another company tries to pick it up and get a more worthwhile Region 1 release. Bandai Visual, the company who is also known as Honeamise, I'm looking at you!

Edit: I guess we're moving in the right direction after all, but I'd still like to see a regular DVD release too. HD and Blu-Ray are nice, but I don't see the average anime fan being close to owning one yet. This could very well be the same problem that hurt the film the first time it got released here, it came too soon.