This episode starts off with a beach, climbs up a mountain by the middle, and ends it off in a nice and comfy B&B. If only more shows were as versatile in their settings.
One thing I really like about this show is the way they tell all the little stories about Potte's late father. Where most shows would have just shown a lazy flashback, this one lets the people and their expressions paint a far more vivid picture of just the kind of person he was which is made all the more impactful whenever we get to see how Fuu takes it all in. It really fits in with the overall thematic focus on Photography and how it "immortalises those precious moments", only this time it's with the power of words.
This would've definitely been the show of the season if not for Uchouten Kazoku.
Kuromajo 37
Yeah, not even Black Magic could make Karuta interesting.
The manga artist George Akiyama is no stranger to controversy. In 1995, he published a work entitled An Introduction to China: A Study of Our Bothersome Neighbors, a stridently nationalist work blasting Chinese as cannibals and denying the Rape of Nanking. It became a bestseller. This film is an adaptation of a decades earlier manga of his, one which also concerns itself with cannibalism but places it not in the context of ugly xenophobia, but in the far reaches of Japan's own history, namely mid-15th century Kyoto, just before the beginning of the Sengoku period. Against the backdrop of drought, flood, and general distruction, a desperate, starving woman turns to human flesh for nourishment, even making an attempt on the flesh of her infant son. (The issue of Weekly Shounen Magazine that this ran in was banned in several regions of Japan due to the content.) This is the story of that son, Asura, named after devils by a monk who wanders in and out of his life. In him and those around him the war between beast and man rages.
This is a CG film, and it does suffer somewhat from lack of detail in the base models and mechanical-looking character animation that can crop up with CG. However, it is able to compensate for these issues with extremely strong art direction.
Typically, when art direction is worthy of praise, it is because it creates landscapes of breathtaking beauty. Here, it creates landscapes of terrifying ugliness. With grays, browns, washed-out lighting, dust, dirt, blood, grime, it paints the portrait of a withered land with a withered people, only a small step away from total desolation. From the screen leap out cries of suffering and pain, stifled by the stagnant air before they can reach any ears.
The CG models fit into this world thanks mostly to the texture work, using variegated colors and shading that draw out a character's life, or lack of it. The hatching used in the hair also adds a layer of visual interest. The models thus avoid the artificial, plastic feel that even much more technically polished CG animation can have, a feel that would have been detrimental to the environment this film is trying to establish.
It's worth noting that the film makes use of 2D animation for water and fire effects, which adds a lot to the scenes which call for them. It blends in well with the CG, and is more convincing than CG effects would likely have been.
The sound direction compliments the bleakness of the art direction. It sucks you into the film's world even before the film proper starts, when booming thunder rolls underneath the crashing waves of the Toei logo. From then on, the unease rarely stops, carried by tight editing and imposing camera work. The oppression works itself under your skin and stays there, which is a mark that the film has succeeded at evoking the feeling it set out to evoke.
Whether the film succeeded in giving a satisfying narrative and thematic arc is something I'm less sure of. It's so unflinching in its display of human misery that I began to wonder if there was anything meaningful beyond that. While there's a climax, it lacks a catharsis that would relieve the built-up tension. The ending comes a bit abrupt as a result.
The monk's moral of 'people can live despite suffering' merely shrugs its shoulders at what happened, and Asura becoming a monk himself doesn't seem entirely justified by his character arc.
I get the feeling that there's elements of Eastern religion at work here that I, being a stranger to that world, am not able to understand or sympathize with. If I studied more of its theories of suffering, the material world, and renunciation, I might be able to make better sense of the story. So in the end, I do feel there's more to this than tragedy for tragedy's sake, even if I can't fully grasp it.
At any rate, I think this is a film that will stick with me for a while. Well worth my time.
Hmmm, nice impressions. I can't say I really want to watch this movie, but that was a good read either way. It's interesting that they used 2D effects in a CG movie too. Speaking of CG movies which are somewhat hard to grasp but seem to have a deeper meaning to them, are you watching Re:Cyborg anytime soon?
When you say this, I literally realized there is no stand out Green Precure. That's just sad. At least Yellow and Blue have some stand out Cures despite having mostly mediocre selections.
When you say this, I literally realized there is no stand out Green Precure. That's just sad. At least Yellow and Blue have some stand out Cures despite having mostly mediocre selections.
To be fair, if you're not Usagi, you're suffering.
But she gets everything handed to her as well, despite having no worthwhile talents whatsoever. Meanwhile everyone has some form of talent that would benefit them from having a boyfriend, and everyone gets snubbed. Hell
In Ami's case, her boyfriend was pretty much written out of existence after the first season
I was just curious. Show is finally coming together and I'd noticed the episode director & storyboarder the past two eps hadn't worked on it earlier when it had "issues."
The truth about the new MAHOdou, a store that can't sell anything or produce anything, not that the other ones could...oh snap, they could!
And when you can't sell plastic shit anymore you close shop. =p
There are only like two examples in other series (Jupiter and whatsherface from Tokyo Mew Mew) and the former basically ceases to exist over the course of her own show.
Yayoi, what kind of miserable failure do you need to be to not be able to do 1+2+3+4? Fuck, just last night I took a screenshot of Ojamajo Doremi where they had to do adding decimals, and you can't do that? That's first grader shit.
I think now I understand why you guys call Reika "Reikabot". I mean, "Why are you screaming when you aren't playing?" What?! What kind of question is that? You essentially just asked "Why do you care how your teammates are doing? You're not playing". Haven't you said several things about "teamwork" and such? Well...there you go. Also that was a stupid ass connection of math to drawing for Yayoi. You could have used the fact that geometry is the foundation for drawing. You could have pointed out that proportions and ratios are a big part of making your drawings aesthetically pleasing. But no. You told her she could make an illustrated math book.
I think I just realized that what I just typed is rather robotic itself.
Also note that I know absolutely nothing about drawing, so if what I just wrote sounds like bullshit, it is.
There are only like two examples in other series (Jupiter and whatsherface from Tokyo Mew Mew) and the former basically ceases to exist over the course of her own show.
There are only like two examples in other series (Jupiter and whatsherface from Tokyo Mew Mew) and the former basically ceases to exist over the course of her own show.
Yayoi, what kind of miserable failure do you need to be to not be able to do 1+2+3+4? Fuck, just last night I took a screenshot of Ojamajo Doremi where they had to do adding decimals, and you can't do that? That's first grader shit.
I think now I understand why you guys call Reika "Reikabot". I mean, "Why are you screaming when you aren't playing?" What?! What kind of question is that? You essentially just asked "Why do you care how your teammates are doing? You're not playing". Haven't you said several things about "teamwork" and such? Well...there you go. Also that was a stupid ass connection of math to drawing for Yayoi. You could have used the fact that geometry is the foundation for drawing. You could have pointed out that proportions and ratios are a big part of making your drawings aesthetically pleasing. But no. You told her she could make an illustrated math book.
I think I just realized that what I just typed is rather robotic itself.
Also note that I know absolutely nothing about drawing, so if what I just wrote sounds like bullshit, it is.
This episode was actually really lewd to the point that it took me much longer to finish it to capture it. Everyone goes through their trials, although how they got split off in the last episode pretty much lied to me since Venus is now with Pluto, and Jupiter is on her own.
Jupiter tried to tell Queen Nutella just how much of a cool dude Usagi is, and thus gave her electric shock therapy fetishism. However, I really want to know who directed this. There were upskirts GALORE in this episode, including a wholly unnecessary (yet very thankful for) complete underskirt of Jupiter. All I know is that Jupiter is also the one with the ass to go with that bust. But seriously, it's leotards. Why not the real deal?
Glad someone else finally checked it out! I didn't know about the author's history which is kinda uh, interesting and I definitely agree with you on the somewhat underwhelming nature of the ending in retrospect.
I was expecting the story to develop along the lines of "monster finds redemption after a touch of compassion", and it sort of did but sort of didn't.
Asura's second "death" falling by the hands of the mob feels like a renunciation from society, and that bothers me. I would have liked to see Asura reach out to others in the way he was reached out to. Although I suppose his offering of the meat to Wakasa was that, even if it was poorly received.
Like I said, I think it may be more of a mismatch in values than an actual flaw in the storytelling.
I have no idea what the point of the post-credits shot was though.
Thanks. I think it'd be interesting to watch just as a case study in experiments in CG animation, but you have to have the stomach for its brutality. It's definitely not for everyone.
Speaking of CG movies which are somewhat hard to grasp but seem to have a deeper meaning to them, are you watching Re:Cyborg anytime soon?
I was expecting the story to develop along the lines of "monster finds redemption after a touch of compassion", and it sort of did but sort of didn't.
Asura's second "death" falling by the hands of the mob feels like a renunciation from society, and that bothers me. I would have liked to see Asura reach out to others in the way he was reached out to. Although I suppose his offering of the meat to Wakasa was that, even if it was poorly received.
Like I said, I think it may be more of a mismatch in values than an actual flaw in the storytelling.
I have no idea what the point of the post-credits shot was though.
It's been a while since I saw it so my recollection might be a bit spotty but I think the post credit scene with
the shot of the city was some kinda message on humanity's ability to survive the harshest of conditions and come out stronger in the end, hence the shot of the thriving city in (what I guess is) roughly the same place where all the horrendous stuff in the movie went down, only a couple years in the future.
I guess it kinda works in with the overall moral of the story of redemption through perseverance.
