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toblix

Paprika

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Man I totally missed the Tekkon Kinkreet release (I thought it was titled "Black and White" I must have misread it in some article)-- even my library has it! I'll have to watch it tomorrow.

I hope I'm not too late : Tekkon Kinkreet is shit after the first 5 minutes, don't even bother tracking it down.

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Thank god I saved this image.

Then, please thank me too for writing this message because without it this internet meme would have been left unused.

What was so weird about what I stated by the way? Or was it how I wrote it ?

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I'd rather not thank you.

How about qualifying your statements for the benefit of others?

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Sorry, he's what my short sentence meant :

Tekkon Kinkreet starts with a interesting visual edge and a chase that features hugely detailed backgrounds, gritty character design and animation that stands to 4°C tradition : it's like the ending escape of MindGame had been put upfront. The problem is that it doesn't go any further than where it starts : visually, the movie ends up being static and boring, the animation being a huge letdown after the first five minutes. The story which covers the oh-so-fresh 'good vs evil feat. schyzophrenia' theme manages to be, at the same time, a pretty big mess and underwhelming. It's an action movie, a mafia movie, a character centered movie, a sci-fi movie, a shonen anime, a comedy, a slice of life anime .... but none of these genre are explored fully or in an interesting way. The worst being that while surreal sci-fi elements and a bunch of characters are thrown at you, Black and White's character development stagnate at a nearly embarrassing level... ok, they're like twins, they are complementary, they are wild but no so much .... then what ?

The conclusion of the movie follows the same trend : it closes on the exploration of the theme in a naive, manichean way that recycles the most boring cliches anime has ever created when it comes to self exploration, inside solliloque included

In the end, it felt like the director was trying to emulate the emotional depth of animes such as Windy Tales or FLCL while using the craft of 4°C studio... but in the end, he only used the most superficial elements of these influences (the pace from windy tale, the surreal elements of FLCL) and never seem to find ideas of his own that would propel the movie to a higher level.

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Good man. See, that wasn't so hard was it. I think we all learned a valuable lesson here today. Hooray.

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I think we all learned a valuable lesson here today.

Indeed; as Public Enemy once said, "don't believe the hype." :fart:

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No, no that's not the lesson, the lesson was more about useful posts!

I thoroughly enjoyed Tekkon kinkreet, I found it visually striking, rich in detail and colour. I also enjoyed the soundtrack immensely, very nicely complements the film.

It's an action movie, a mafia movie, a character centered movie, a sci-fi movie, a shonen anime, a comedy, a slice of life anime
I wouldn't classify it as half those things even slightly.... just because a film has humour doesn't mean it's trying to be a comedy, sure it contains scant sci-fi elements and several mafia characters but that doesn't mean it's trying to be a movie specifically dedicated to those things.

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Good man. See, that wasn't so hard was it. I think we all learned a valuable lesson here today. Hooray.

Meh, I had already been taught this lesson once, but sometimes it just feels more efficient to state the conclusion rather than detailing the process leading to it. But that's just wrong I assume ?

I wouldn't classify it as half those things even slightly.... just because a film has humour doesn't mean it's trying to be a comedy, sure it contains scant sci-fi elements and several mafia characters but that doesn't mean it's trying to be a movie specifically dedicated to those things.

Maybe qualifying it as a comedy was a bit far fetched, but the mafia/cop subplot is one of the most developed aspect of the movie. More than that, it really follows the tradition of the yakuza movie; thus to me, the movie tries hard to be a yakuza movie. Same with the slice of life aspect and the shonen/sci-fi part : sure, the movie applies this genre's convention locally (2 or 3 scenes) but it is done with such dedication that I'm convinced Michael Arias wanted his movie to be a meta-anime that would feature all of these subgenres. Unfortunately, the result is not what was intended ... but the intent is still here.

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Yeah I'll accept I shouldn't have questioned the mafia one, that one really is a clear intention. but I still reckon the sci-fi was so light as to be barely there at all.

I guess I saw it as being primarily about Treasure Town and the interplay between the primary forces in control of it, mainly from the perspective of Black & White who have special arrangements with them. Also how development and outside influence affected all those things.

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The story which covers the oh-so-fresh 'good vs evil feat. schyzophrenia' theme manages to be, at the same time, a pretty big mess and underwhelming.

The conclusion of the movie follows the same trend : it closes on the exploration of the theme in a naive, manichean way that recycles the most boring cliches anime has ever created when it comes to self exploration, inside solliloque included

I do agree about the ending sequence and although it makes a sort of a hump of boredom or weirdness right at the climax of the movie, it didn't bother me so much. It did screw the pacing up though and I'm not so sure why a lot of it wasn't at least edited out. I read the team spent a lot of time on the matador sequence so they were probably left with the dire want to keep it in the movie even though it might not be helping it.

I also think it's really hard to get away from the good vs. evil thing a lot of stories go for just because it's one of those basic elements to story telling that you might not even know you are doing until it's finished. It's sort of inherent so it's somewhat forgivable.

I wasn't bored though, and I did feel for the characters. I mean I'd rather see a Studio 4C production way before any new Satoshi Kon or Miyazaki project anyday. I think they do interesting things by combining the digital age with traditional animation that so many other studios are so afraid to balance or try.

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Good vs Evil is a strong storytelling mechanic, but not necessarily basic. One of the pillars underneath it is having conflict between characters or a character's inner life. That does lead neatly into a hero/nemesis situation, but that's disregarding a wide span of possibilities on what 'conflict' means. Like, a movie like Solaris, which is riddled with conflict and turmoil, but it doesn't have an 'enemy' at all. Perhaps the semblance of one, but nope.

That's going off on a tangent of course. You all know this already, but I just like to hear myself talk.

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Yeah, you're right too. I'd probably be better off not addressing the subject of good vs. evil, whether it's inner or outer. Not sure there's much I can add.

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I guess I saw it as being primarily about Treasure Town and the interplay between the primary forces in control of it, mainly from the perspective of Black & White who have special arrangements with them. Also how development and outside influence affected all those things.

Well, I saw the movie being mainly about the story of Black & White and I didn't get the why so much emphasis was put on other characters/elements. At first, I thought they would all highlight a certain aspect of Black personnality or Black & White relationship, but they didn't so I was a disappointed.

But if you're right -and now, I kinda think you must be - I see now more clearly the angle of the movie. However, it doesn't seem successful to me either... I mean, if it was only the mafia, Black & White and the cops it would have been great... but why throw in Hebi (Snake ?) ? Treasure Town collapsing under the pressure of the shadow of a changing outside world, would have been much better, right ?

Anyway, thanks for the point of view, I never really thought by myself that Treasure Town's fate was the main topic of the movie.

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but why throw in Hebi (Snake ?) ? Treasure Town collapsing under the pressure of the shadow of a changing outside world, would have been much better, right ?

I thought hebi was supposed to be representative of that, and in essence his "sci-fi" cronies were an exaggerated caricature of the advancements of the outside world.

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