Yes yes. Another day grey and gloomy here on the Redwood Coast. All seem to be huddled warm in their respective lairs, a light drizzle in the seabreeze and a fresh pot of coffee bubbling; for me, perfect time to batten down the hatches and prepare to watch some gorgeous ass-kicking Anime. Not that i am in any way, shape or form any authority at all on the subject of Japanese animation. Im a new fan actually. A convert if you will. I had previously gone through every film geeks Asian Horror phase, and I knew my fair share about the rich and super bizzare fare that one might encounter with Japanese live action, but I didn't grow up with Astro-Boy or Gundam, Perfect Blue or Ghost in the Shell as some of my other school mates did and it would take all the way up until i was about 22 to finally watch an Anime all the way through. It took a while, but then I saw the few that were just so beautiful and smart and fun to watch that I couldn't deny it. I fucking loved some of these movies.
Again I must stress my limited knowledge here. I am nothing compared to a true Anime nerd, I just feel compelled to mention a few that I have always liked and some that have recently caught my attention. Im going to try and keep a running review section of new Anime (well, new to me) as well as running reviews of records, movies , nerdlythings etc.
Recently I've stumbled upon some great stuff by Satoshi Kon, who is beyond famous at this point for Anime fans. Most famous probably for the psychological thriller, Perfect Blue (1998), Millenium Actress (2001) and more recently for my personal favorite, Paprika (2006). As i write this Im watching Millennium Actress for the first time, and i just saw an amazing samuri-style fight sequence that just reinforces the beauty of the medium. Each one of his films has an animation style that is bold and vivid, with themes that often blend fantasy and reality, making for some really unique stories and beautiful animated sequences. Paprika is actually very loosly adapted from a 1993 novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, and remains closest to my heart probably because it was the first Anime that I really wanted to see, really wanted to be good, and it was! It was also the amazing animation, sweet lucid dream sequences and general goofy and fun feel of the movie that got me. Even the music by Susumu Hirasawa was so catchy that I couldn't help but like it. It completely fufilled my expectations of how sweet these movies could be.
Another movie that you should go out and get right at this very moment is Tekkon Kinkreet. Directed by Micheal Arias and based on the Manga of the same name by Taiyo Matsumoto, Tekkon kinkreet has a very unique, almost children's drawing quality to the animation. Its very fluid and gorgeous to look at and if any movie can be considered eye candy this is definitely one of them. We follow the exploits of Black and White aka notorious street gang "The Cats", two orphans battling it out on the streets of decaying Treasure Town, now becoming overrun with young yakuza who just don't do things the way they used to. This movie almost makes me cry every single goddamed time I watch it. Its almost too much. The memory of when my friends and I first saw it, the innocence and beauty of White's view of the fucked up reality to which they are subjected, the overwhelming animation, gets me every time! So sweet you must check this one out. Fun factoid:鉄コン筋クリート"Tekkon Kinkreet" is a child's mispronounciation of Tekkin Konkurito meaning "steel reinforced concrete". Michael Arias is an American-born, Japanese filmmaker who moved to Japan when he was 23. He reads and speaks Japanese fluently and Tekkon Kinkreet makes him really the first non-japanese director of a major Anime.
More to come soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment