Daft Punk to Live Stream Their ‘Discovery’-Era Anime Film ‘Interstella 5555’ on Twitch

How else would you celebrate Daft Punk Day?

Interstella 5555
Daft Punk

Three years ago, Daft Punk (nee Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo) announced that they were breaking up. And every year since, they have done a little something on the anniversary of this announcement, from sharing an old live show to announcing a deluxe edition of their Grammy-winning 2013 masterpiece “Random Access Memories.”

This year, they are going to be streaming 2003’s “Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem,” the “Discovery”-era anime movie, live on Twitch.

Described as a “visual companion” to “Discovery,” the elaborately animated movie follows a blue-skinned alien superstar music group who is taken hostage and – of course – has to mount a daring escape. All set to the immortal songs from their breakthrough 2001 album. (This was also the album that introduced the concept that Bangalter and de Homem-Christo were no longer human but had instead transitioned to a robotic state.)

“Interstella 5555” was overseen by legendary Japanese animator and manga artist Leiji Matsumoto, of “Space Battleship Yamato” fame and animated by Toei Animation, the studio behind the initial run of “Transformers,” as well as “Dragon Ball Z” and “Sailor Moon” (among many others). Kazuhisa Takenouchi, a “Dragon Ball Z” veteran, directed the film from a script by Daft Punk and Cédric Hervet.

Several segments from “Interstella 5555” doubled as music videos from “Discovery.” The movie was later released on DVD and, in 2011, on Blu-ray. Both editions are currently out-of-print and going for exorbitant amounts on secondhand platforms like eBay.

Since disbanding, they have re-released both their debut album “Homework” and “Random Access Memories” (even releasing a drumless version of “Random Access Memories”), produced a series of YouTube mini-documentaries about the making of “Random Access Memories” called “Memory Tapes,” put out more official merchandise on their website (including some new “epilogue” stuff) and engaged in their own solo projects, like Bangalter’s “Mythologies” project and his recent original score for “Daaaaaalí!”

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