anime

[osmosisch]

Clearly a fez

[Gormongous]

Okay, so I took a break from watching Chihayafuru because it was a recap episode and watched another of Shinkai Makoto's movies, Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below. I think I've finally found one of his that I don't like, despite its whimsical and evocative title. I know that his favorite anime is Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky, but for him to make such a clear imitation of it as a feature-length film is hardly flattering. It makes me wonder if all the comparisons being drawn between the two creators, despite their works having very little in common besides medium, have gotten to his head somehow.

 

To make a more pointed critique, I was disappointed by the lack of thematic complexity in CWCLVFDB, especially compared to earlier works by Shinkai. I know it's been easy to joke about how his first three movies were really all the same movie, only with different characters and settings, but the fact remains that Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and 5 Centimeters per Second are all beautiful and thoughtful experiences that do a great job of depicting people in the process of losing what they never expected to lose. From the horse's mouth, CWCLVFDB was intended to handle the next step, letting go of what was lost and moving on, but the theme's never directly addressed in the course of the movie itself. Things are lost and people move on, but no perspective's given, not even though character development. It's so understated that I had to start asking myself if the events of the plot were somehow meant to be some kind of extended parable making the figurative literal, but if so it's terribly misguided, because the message is still just that people die and it sucks but you have to be happy and keep living for them. Is that a subtle truth that needs two hours and a wild fantasy world to explicate? Really, the whole of it doesn't even hold a candle to the final scene of 5 Centimeters per Second at the train crossing.

 

Actually, the closest I think the movie got to thematic depth was right before Shin smashed the gem keeping Morisaki's dead wife in Asura's body. There's a glimpse of Asura having tea in a beautiful house with Shun and Mimi, the two characters to whom Asura has shown love, and she looks sad while saying goodbye when she has to leave. I like the suggestion that she might have been happier dead and that there might have been a way for everyone to get what they want, if not for the blind insistence that life is for the living, but no. I'm fairly sure it was just a way for there to be yet another "farewell" scene. Ah well.

 

My dislike of this movie bums me out, partly because I was hoping to have something new to love and partly because it disrupts my internal narrative of Shinkai as this talent gradually but steadily finding his voice as a writer and director. It makes me less optimistic about The Garden of Words, his latest work, but maybe the strictly realistic setting has prevented Shinkai from further Miyazakian whimsy.

[Codicier]

I really like Chihayafuru but I'm getting worried that the gap since the last series may mean they never actually conclude it.

[Gormongous]

I really like Chihayafuru but I'm getting worried that the gap since the last series may mean they never actually conclude it.

 

A quick Google says that they need more manga material to even consider a third season, which'll take between one and two years to happen, so you're right that there's a chance it might get passed over in favor of "fresher" properties in the future.

[Codicier]

A quick Google says that they need more manga material to even consider a third season, which'll take between one and two years to happen, so you're right that there's a chance it might get passed over in favor of "fresher" properties in the future.

Is it just me or does anime seem to not only rely more on adaptation than many other creative industries but to also treat them with far more reverence, I don't for instance feel that traditional western TV shows or animation do so to such a large extent, and that when they do it's normally with a attitude that if the source material doesn't keep pace it's soon subsumed.

[Gormongous]

On 11/6/2014 at 4:48 PM, Codicier said:

Is it just me or does anime seem to not only rely more on adaptation than many other creative industries but to also treat them with far more reverence, I don't for instance feel that traditional western TV shows or animation do so to such a large extent, and that when they do it's normally with a attitude that if the source material doesn't keep pace it's soon subsumed.

 

I think, because they rely on long-form adaptation more, they know the pitfalls of it a little bit better. Everyone knows the big mistakes that anime adaptations have made: Dragonball Z's infamously slow pace, Fullmetal Alchemist's non-canon ending full of off-the-wall revelations, Death Note's tragically compressed second half, Bleach's sudden flashbacks mid-action to unrelated events... These mistakes are still being made in 2014, but most shows are content simply to break off where the source material ends, in hopes of a second season or an OVA coda.

[namman siggins]

Okay, so I took a break from watching Chihayafuru because it was a recap episode and watched another of Shinkai Makoto's movies, Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below. I think I've finally found one of his that I don't like, despite its whimsical and evocative title. I know that his favorite anime is Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky, but for him to make such a clear imitation of it as a feature-length film is hardly flattering. It makes me wonder if all the comparisons being drawn between the two creators, despite their works having very little in common besides medium, have gotten to his head somehow.

 

To make a more pointed critique, I was disappointed by the lack of thematic complexity in CWCLVFDB, especially compared to earlier works by Shinkai. I know it's been easy to joke about how his first three movies were really all the same movie, only with different characters and settings, but the fact remains that Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and 5 Centimeters per Second are all beautiful and thoughtful experiences that depict people losing what they never expected to lose very well. From the horse's mouth, CWCLVFDB was intended to handle the next step, letting go of what was lost and moving on, but the theme's never directly addressed in the course of the movie itself. Things are lost and people move on, but no perspective's given, not even though character development. It's so understated that I had to start asking myself if the events of the plot were somehow meant to be some kind of extended parable making the figurative literal, but if so it's terribly misguided, because the message is still just that people die and it sucks but you have to be happy and keep living for them. Is that a subtle truth that needs two hours and a wild fantasy world to explicate? Really, the whole of it doesn't even hold a candle to the final scene of 5 Centimeters per Second at the train crossing. [spoiler]Actually, the closest I think the movie got to thematic depth was right before Shin smashed the gem keeping Morisaki's dead wife in Asura's body. There's a glimpse of Asura having tea in a beautiful house with Shun and Mimi, the two characters to whom Asura has shown love, and she looks sad while saying goodbye when she has to leave. I like the suggestion that she might have been happier dead and that there might have been a way for everyone to get what they want, if not for the blind insistence that life is for the living, but no. I'm fairly sure it was just a way for there to be yet another "farewell" scene. Ah well.

 

My dislike of this movie bums me out, partly because I was hoping to have something new to love and partly because it disrupts my internal narrative of Shinkai as this talent gradually but steadily finding his voice as a writer and director. It makes me less optimistic about The Garden of Words, his latest work, but maybe the strictly realistic setting has prevented Shinkai from further Miyazakian whimsy.

I enjoyed CWCLVFDB, but I have to agree with you.

 

You won't be disappointed about Garden; I consider it a throwback to his earlier works.

Well, I started re-watching Real Drive and Dennou Coil. I'm a couple episodes in both series and it's come back to me as to why I love these two series: both dealing the eventual blending of virtual/augmented reality with our reality, which is used to explore its characters and the world around them. 

[Mangela Lansbury]

I loved the way that Dennou Coil blended the spiritual or paranormal with the digital, too. I haven't watched it since it aired, but I remember it setting up this mythos around weird shit going down that really deftly entangled the pasts of individuals and the histories of places, and drew both of those into this constant march of progress.

I should watch it again, I was in a weird place last time I saw it so that might all just be bullshit.

[Dewar]

I think, because they rely on long-form adaptation more, they know the pitfalls of it a little bit better. Everyone knows the big mistakes that anime adaptations have made: Dragonball Z's infamously slow pace, Fullmetal Alchemist's non-canon ending full of  off-the-wall revelations, Death Note's tragically compressed second half, Bleach's sudden flashbacks mid-action to unrelated events... These mistakes are still being made in 2014, but most shows are content simply to break off where the source material ends, in hopes of a second season or an OVA coda.

 

Now they just need to learn to wait until the Manga is over and then do it in one shot.

[BadHat]

My dislike of this movie bums me out, partly because I was hoping to have something new to love and partly because it disrupts my internal narrative of Shinkai as this talent gradually but steadily finding his voice as a writer and director. It makes me less optimistic about The Garden of Words, his latest work, but maybe the strictly realistic setting has prevented Shinkai from further Miyazakian whimsy.

 

I thought CWCLVFDBOMGWTFBBQ was a pile of hot garbage, but Garden of Words was very enjoyable, not to mention one of the most gorgeously animated things (anime or otherwise) I've probably ever seen.

[Twig]

I thought CWCLVFDBOMGWTFBBQ was a pile of hot garbage, but Garden of Words was very enjoyable, not to mention one of the most gorgeously animated things (anime or otherwise) I've probably ever seen.

Wow that does look pretty.

 

*adds it to the list*

[Twig]

Also Parasyte keeps getting better and better. I love the constant back and forth between Shinichi and Migi regarding pragmatism vs moral codes. Like, it's a pretty cliche thing - humans are the real monsters! - but I think it's very well handled on an episode to episode basis.

 

The catalyst for the final scene of this latest episode

(Shinichi's mom's death) was a bit too "oh wow so shocking isn't that shocking?!" ala that time in Fullmetal Alchemist (the first series) when the girl-dog-chimera is killed,

 but that's okay because the final scene was really good.

 

Also hoo boy what a cliffhanger.

 

So far I've only been keeping up with that and Denki-gai this season, because I know I love Log Horizon and Mushishi enough that having to wait a week between each episode would be painful. BUT. Parasyte is really good. Actually Denki-gai is also good but for completely different reasons, obviously. It can be a bit too cutesy at times... Is moe the right word? Even after asking and looking it up a million times over the past year I can never remember what moe is actually supposed to mean or be. I could look it up again, but I won't because I'll just forget in five minutes...

[namman siggins]

I loved the way that Dennou Coil blended the spiritual or paranormal with the digital, too. I haven't watched it since it aired, but I remember it setting up this mythos around weird shit going down that really deftly entangled the pasts of individuals and the histories of places, and drew both of those into this constant march of progress.

I should watch it again, I was in a weird place last time I saw it so that might all just be bullshit.

It's not bullshit and that's one of the big reasons why I fucking LOVE that show.

 

The magical, paranormal and spiritual that runs through the show never felt forced or out-of-place; it seemed to me the most logical place to go when a technology like that is commonplace. I mean, just look at the Internet, and all the net-urban legends, creepypasta and taking old conspiracy/zoological "theories" and giving it a more elliptical or kaleidoscopic scope to it. 

[Twig]

I wish you guys would stop talking about anime I haven't seen and making it sound interesting. How am I supposed to catch up with my list if you keep doing that?

 

I caught up to Log Horizon today and I'm mad because I want more now but I won't get more until next Saturday and fuck. Interesting things happening. Moving slowly, but that's just the pace it moves at. All about the payoff with Log Horizon! Episode five had some good payoff, and now we're back to the slow pace. Just like I like it. Mmm.

[Blambo]

 

[Twig]

Have you seen Cromartie High School, Blambo? If not, I think I'd probably recommend it to you...

[Blambo]

Oh God, it looks amazing. After I finish this bridge nonsense I'll check it out.

[N1njaSquirrel]

Also check out Detroit Metal City and Gyagu Manga Biyori (which is really hard to find online)

 

DMC is hilarious. It's one of my faves, and is about a death metal band. It revolves around Negishi, who's a sweet mild-mannered kid who wants to sing sweet swedish pop songs, but is rubbish at it, and is also the lead singer of DMC, Lord Krauser III, which is a super popular death metal band who has a ridiculous metal background which the fans totally believe, and it's really crass and funny. I love it.

 

[Twig]

At any rate, I'm glad I'm not the only one around here who loves Arakawa Under the Bridge. It's so good.

[Blambo]

 

What's not to love?

 

Ninja squirrel: I'll checkem out

[tegan]

Unusually specific request:

 

I'm thinking of upgrading my WDTV Live. Has anyone here used one, or a similar set-top box devices? I've used mine (a first generation model) for years, but it's always bugged me that it has problems with MKV and video files with concurrent subtitles, namely anime. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations?

 

UPDATE: I got the 2014 WDTV and can confirm that it still can't do concurrent subtitles. Booo.

It also still can't play some of my MKV files, including the ones I bought it for. Boooo.

 

Still neat though.

[Codicier]

Okay, so I took a break from watching Chihayafuru because it was a recap episode and watched another of Shinkai Makoto's movies, Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below. I think I've finally found one of his that I don't like, despite its whimsical and evocative title. I know that his favorite anime is Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky, but for him to make such a clear imitation of it as a feature-length film is hardly flattering. It makes me wonder if all the comparisons being drawn between the two creators, despite their works having very little in common besides medium, have gotten to his head somehow.

 

I watched Yosuhiro Yoshiura's Patema Inverted this weekend, and it felt like it had at least a few similarities with some of Miyazaki's stuff and Laputa in particular. We've got weird quasi magi science going on in the ruins of a modern society, a reasonably sympathetic central hero who happens to have lost his father in a flying accident, and smart heroine who felt like a mix between Nausicaa and Sheeta(from Laputa), well paced a great mix of slow word building and burst of action, moments of great humour, with a really nice (although certainly well flagged) twist in its tail. 

 

Probably the least Miyazaki thing about it is that it has a clear and unsympathetic villain, something Miyazaki rarely allowed his films to have, although interestingly Laputa is perhaps the exception to this rule.

 

It feels like Patema perhaps would stand up to comparison to Laputa than the work you are talking about (although i haven't seen the one you mention yet)

 

 

UPDATE: I got the 2014 WDTV and can confirm that it still can't do concurrent subtitles. Booo.

It also still can't play some of my MKV files, including the ones I bought it for. Boooo.

 

Still neat though.

 

Booooo indeed. I wonder why this seems something almost universal to almost all "smart' Media Boxes and TV's that aren't full PC's. 

[Blambo]

I'm trying to figure out why I like ghibli films so much. In general their stories are really badly plotted and paced, basically the same characters and plots appear in each movie (young protagonist goes on a coming of age journey with a cute animal/cast of eccentric yet empathetic characters, usually including an gentle parent, boistrous townspeople, an enthusiastic younger character to look after) and sometimes the entire premise is weird and bogus, usually serving to give a shade of a reason for the occasionally interesting designs. Save for the films by Takahata (Only Yesterday is the most non ghibli film in the ghibliverse and is amazing), the only thing that's left for me is the mystery, world building, and art/animation. Also I guess the thing I most like about them is their attention to mundane detail and focus on little moments of character, even in the most sweeping fantastical pieces.

What do you guys think of this kinda stuff?

[tegan]

Don't be so hasty to conflate Ghibli with Miyazaki. He's the face of Ghibli for sure, but Isao Takahata's nearly as prolific and is, frankly, a better filmmaker.

[Codicier]

I'm trying to figure out why I like ghibli films so much. In general their stories are really badly plotted and paced, basically the same characters and plots appear in each movie (young protagonist goes on a coming of age journey with a cute animal/cast of eccentric yet empathetic characters, usually including an gentle parent, boistrous townspeople, an enthusiastic younger character to look after) and sometimes the entire premise is weird and bogus, usually serving to give a shade of a reason for the occasionally interesting designs. Save for the films by Takahata (Only Yesterday is the most non ghibli film in the ghibliverse and is amazing), the only thing that's left for me is the mystery, world building, and art/animation. Also I guess the thing I most like about them is their attention to mundane detail and focus on little moments of character, even in the most sweeping fantastical pieces.

What do you guys think of this kinda stuff?

 

What specifically do you dislike about the plotting? I'm mean as you say the efforts they aimed at children definitely share a common core of theme's and tropes that they build their narrative around, but I'm not sure how much of a problem I feel this is(or else every single western film based on some variation of the heroes journey is in deeeep trouble), I mean it's entirely possible to do interesting things with tropes  and some of the little ways Ghibli did subvert them feel significant both considering their intended audience and when they were produced. Many of those strong, capable, young protagonists are female, and it was rare their conclusions were unambiguously happy, often featuring concepts like loss and death which you still don't see much in works aimed at children.

 

Is there one of them you think is a "prime offender", one which you think hits all the red marks you mention? 

 

Because I don't feel you're wrong at all, it just feels like perhaps they are no worse in their reliance on tropes than 99% of the works that address a similar audience, and better in some important ways.