Can I Take Nothing for Granted, Dragon Dynasty?

So much for the Criterion of Asian film.
Cheerily awesome two films a month initial schedule quickly gives way to one a season; promises of never before seen quality soon turn out to be piss poor transfers and frequently unintelligible subtitles, but fuck it, you were putting out a bunch of movies that made a big impact on me for cheap, and I was happy to go back and collect them.
At least they were uncut and had the original language tracks, right?
Apparently not any more.
Finally got around to watching the DVD of Jet Li's THE ENFORCER (My Father is a Hero, possibly his best work) and...there's only the fucking shitty English dub they did several years back.
While I'm not surprised they'd suddenly stop bothering - Weinstein has film blood on his hands the way Kissinger does political - I am surprised to have discovered this on my own, several months after release.
Twitch, at the least, should have been in an uproar. But I guess nobody really gives a flying fuck about old kung fu movies, which is probably why they never get treated the way they should be.
I hate the world, and I'm going to bed.

Katsuhiro Otomo's Tokyo Metro Explorers

The lightest thing by Katsuhiro Otomo I've ever read. Tokyo Metro Explorers is a short, inconsequential read that wont launch you into profound thought or change your mind. Nonetheless, this is not a mark against its quality. Indeed, it's a fun, enjoyable read, one of those things that can get you to briefly view the world through the curious eyes of a child. It'll take less than twenty minutes to read this thing and it'll make your day a slightly happier one.

By the way,
...I never cease to love Otomo's paneling.

New trailer for Symbol is so much more informative

Much like the teaser, the full trailer remains fascinatingly bizarre.

I mean...it's just the teaser with one other bit cross cut.
So it would be just as enigmatic.
But I admire the way it flaunts it's obtuseness.

Me? I'll tell you. My name is...

And thus, episode 16 concludes, having brought Shin Mazinger a much needed injection of energy and complication. I'm on board again. And I said I had this basically dropped earlier...

Episode 15 introduces one gigantic plot twist that I somehow did not see coming. I should've known that Imagawa still had one of those in him. Then 16 really returns some spice to the series. We start with Baron Ashura giving a silly fourth wall-breaking monologue proclaiming to the viewers that this show will be different from this episode onwards. And different this is - we get a new opening sequence, one that actually has some non-stock, OP-exclusive footage! Some awkward romantic development between Kouji and Sayaka threatens to derail the episode, but we get the entrance of Mechanical Lifeform Kedora, the civilization destroying brains to put this transgression to a halt. The Kedora are fucking ugly looking, resembling mutated, tentacled cyclops vaginas.

A Kedora takes over Mazinger, which requires joint badassery on the part of Nishikiori and Kouji to recapture. Our favorite fighting brains unfortunately seem to be in dire straits when a frustrated Dr. Hell begins stepping on them, only to be interrupted by Gorgon. The addition of a third party excites me. Here's to Duke Gorgon fucking some things up!

The Hurt Locker

Unlike any other war movie I've ever seen. I think Roger Ebert puts it very well when he suggests that while we look for explosions in other standard war movies, The Hurt Locker (directed by Kathryn Bigelow) is atypical in the sense that we absolutely hope "none will happen." Anyway, one fuck of an amazing film. I'll slightly hesitate to call it generational or one of the greatest films I've ever seen for the time being, but there is no doubt that at the very least, this is the best thing I've seen this year. For sure, The Hurt Locker wont fade from my memory for a long long time.

In case you aren't familiar with the plot, it revolves around the exploits of a team consisting of a bomb tech and his two man support group. Staff Sergeant James, the bomb tech, is the prime protagonist, though the two supporting characters, Sergeant Sanborn and Specialist Eldridge receive so much coverage that they don't even seem like mere "support." By the end of the film, one of the primary reasons while each bomb confrontation is so tense and suspenseful is because you actually give a damn about those three characters. From the first five minutes of the film, it is made clear that any character is fair game to be killed. And throughout the movie, whether by a spontaneous IED detonation, or a shot from an invisible sniper, this notion is reinforced so that viewers remain stressed and paranoid throughout the two and a half hour long run time. Additionally, the editing and camerawork does a masterful job in helping keep viewers on their toes.

Direction, writing, and acting are fantastic. There's an unfocused, confused, something-about-nothing feel around the characters' words, dialog, and actions that make things really emotionally realistic. You can't describe many of the characters, even the minor Iraqi ones, with only one word. There are people who complain that this randomness and disorganization is messy, but in my mind, its this "messiness" that make these characters relatable to actual people.

Unfortunately, there is one significant blemish marring this film. For how realistic it is usually, there are transgressions at times that will leave even those of us without any exposure to the military and combat whatsoever dumbfounded. In one particular scene, one sniping soldier manages to miss all of his stationary targets, only to finally hit a moving target without a sweat. The insurgents apparently can snipe with AKs without a scope. Ranks and orders are apparently easily disregarded with little consequence. In some situations, soldiers would have obviously shot instead of standing by. However, I suppose some liberties had to be taken for the cause of dramatic license, and for something funded solely by Kathryn Bigelow and a partner, realism could not always be afforded, as it comes at a premium.

Anyway, the The Hurt Locker (as well as the fact that the director is a woman, props props props to Bigelow) surprised the hell out of me. I had no clue that this was going to be one of those movies from which I would come out a slightly different person. If it's playing in your area, definitely watch this thing.

Invertebrates are the new moe

I suppose it was inevitable for moe characters to literally become spineless.

(Incidentally, Karas was better than I expected, considering it's about a comatose animist Power Ranger who can transform into the Batmobile)

Anyway. Bakemonogatari seems pretty good so far, through episode 4. SHAFT is a very hit-and-miss studio for me, but so far Shinbo's visual tics remain in the "stylish" zone, as opposed to Soultaker Incoherence. It's kind of coming off like a remake of Mushishi in contemporary drag, with more T&A, but maybe that's because the main dude's hair keeps blocking one of his eyes. I am sort of wondering if the whole series is just going to be "semi-hapless dude exorcises cursee of the week, adds to harem"; I'd like to know just how low I should be setting my expectations.

Also, did they get Hajime "Invader Q-Ko, FLCL manga" Ueda to do the art for ep 4's ending? That's random.

Summer Wars - Mamoru Hosoda's next film

Despite the wholly generic and unflattering title, I'm still eager anticipating the August 1st premiere of Summer Wars. Why? Because Mamoru Hosoda also happens to be the director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and the first Digimon movie, two things that rank highly on my list of favorite animated films. One of my favorite aspects of Hosoda's films is the delightful touch of homely, slice-of-life-ish, cynicism-destroying humor that is so refreshing when compared to the hyperactive rapid-fire humor style that is the norm in anime. Anyway, the fact that Summer Wars features a lot of the staff who previously worked on The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (including the scriptwriter Satoko Okudera, also credited with writing Andrew Cunningham favorite Miyori no Mori), is nothing but good news. Crossing my fingers for something damn good. 

By the way, Yahoo! Movies Japan has a stream up of the first 5 minutes of the film, though it's been working inconsistently for the people who've tried it out. 

Baccano! 1705 The Ironic Light Orchestra

Echoes of Baccano 2002 here; definitely a Baccano novel but far removed from the main thrust of the series in time and tone.
And like Baccano 2002, that makes it all the stronger. The story of Hughie and Elmer's first encounter, back when they were both around fourteen or fifteen, The Ironic Light Orchestra quickly spirals outwards into a really fucked up mystery novel. While unpredictability has always been one of Narita's strong suits, he really topped himself here. With Elmer and Hughie's personalities not yet fully formed, their energies still raw from their horrible, horrible creation...myths, almost -- the focus initially seems to be on them, and the supporting cast just foils to illustrate that. But Narita's characters have a way of exploding in ways you don't see coming. One character here makes such an impact I'm seriously thinking about reading back through the series to see if she's been mentioned before.
Along the sidelines, the infamous samurai, Denkuro, mentioned in passing in any number of novels but never actually a main cast member, finally shows up; a few other major characters make brief appearances or are mentioned in passing, indications of the network that will eventually draw together and summon a demon. Although perhaps the most astonishing twist in this sucker was the minor bad ass who abruptly -- in the epilogue! -- turns out to be Maizer...which is apparently intended as an aural pun on Miser. Argh.
I sort of trapped myself here by not wanting to actually talk about the plot -- it was a bit too good to spoil even if the chances of many people other than me reading the series any time soon are super slim. So this ended up more incoherent than usual.

Ghost Hound licensed by Sentai Filmworks (Cough *ADV Cough)

ANN link

I'm not pleased it's ADV (probably no Blu-Ray), so I wont use an emphatic "FUCK YES!", but this is very very good news nonetheless for something I'd never thought would see the light of day here. Buy this mofo when it comes out in October. Awesome, enjoyable series.

Hariyama-san, Center of the World

Far and away Narita Ryohgo's best series, the Hariyama-san series -- of which there are exactly two books, so far -- effectively consists of short stories in whatever genre he damn well feels like. Hariyama-san himself is an eternal supporting character -- never integral to the action, he is often simply mentioned in passing. He's just in all the stories.
Each volume also has a fourth story that ties all the previous stories together into one big mash-up climax.
The first volume kicked off with a girl spying an axe murdered under her boyfriend's bed and trying gently to ease him out of the place, while he desperately tries to keep her there because he just saw a man running around with an axe outside his apartment. That man had actually being trying to kill the girl, but snuck into a yakuza's apartment across the way by mistake.
Then we get an INSANE magical girl -- she's from the kingdom of magic, but has watched too much anime and is constantly breaking the law and going to Japan to fight evil. But when she attempts to take down some yakuza, they take pity on her, promise her she'll never be made to fight for anyone again, and adopt her.
And then fuck up the magic police who come chasing after her.
Meanwhile, on a distant island, a boy discovers that he's actually the evil overlord, and everyone else on the island is a hero destined to kill him.
Even his girlfriend.

Hariyama-san, Center of the World 2, which I just read, is even more awesome.
Kicks off with a horror story about a taxi driver who picks up the ghost of a murdered girl; she's just about to kill him when she realizes his taxi is from another dimension.

Then we get the tragedy of No. 37564, an ordinary minion in an evil organization...for the fifth time running. Every single time he gets captured and mad scientists finish altering his body, the organization winds up getting destroyed by heroes. Before he gets brainwashed. Consequently he has become the strongest man in the history of time. Fortunately, he has absolutely no ambition, and is content to serve the twelve year old boy who runs the evil organization just like evil organizations are run on TV because he's suicidal and wants to be killed by the heroes. Who No. 37564 keeps fucking terrorizing.

The Don't of the Dead
A hitwoman with a pathological aversion to human body temperature has her dream come true when she finds herself mixed up in a war between Science Zombies and Magic Zombies. The two children controlling the armies turn out be zombies themselves, and totally running the whole thing as a game because they plan to kill her and turn her into a zombie slave. She sort of turns the tables on them, has them make her into a zombie, and adopts them.

The Red Death of Kashiwagi Cross
Opens with a hero No. 37564 beat up cheerily explaining how great heroes are to a totally unimpressed policeman, who eventually points out that this really isn't going to help him plead insanity. Fortunately, Hariyama-san doesn't press charges. (When No. 37564 punched him, he landed on the roof of Hariyama-san's car.)
The heroic chant he constantly repeats turns out to be a product of his brainwashing; the awesomely named Genociders turn out to be working for a mad scientist who betrayed the evil organization No. 37564 worked for (they briefly had a giant robot named Big Massacre, but No. 37564 kicked it. Once.) and when he tries to rejoin them they kill him.
And then he gets turned into a zombie.
And then he gets possessed by the little dead girl from the first story.
And then everyone has a barbeque at Hariyama-san's house.

So is this a thing now?

I can live with that. Sushi Western, Sukiyaki Western, it's all good.

Faust 7

Or, the problem with Faust. Japanese edition.
This sucker is 1800 yen, and well over 1200 pages.
I read two stories in it.
Nisioisin's Risuka finally resolved a cliffhanger set up three fucking years ago, when Faust 6 came out. It did so in characteristically disturbing fashion, and was well worth the wait.
Kadono Kouhei's short story is a beautiful piece of fan service, spinning of a minor character from Jagdtiger into a thin story of her own that mostly exists as an excuse to include a series of flashbacks - an encounter with Eugene, who has pretty much only shown up in Boogiepop in the Mirror: Pandora, but who I have long wanted to see reappear; a bit involving the origins of Spooky Electric; the moment Pearl first left the Towa Organization; and concludes with an appearance by Asukai Jin, now apparently working with the Towa Organization. The end title reveals that this story is VS Imaginator Part V. While I appreciated the fanservice immensely, the fucking thing is utterly incomprehensible without having read all of Boogiepop, and the actual story involved is largely opaque - hell, I didn't even cotton on that Katyusha was from Jagdtiger until the last fucking sentence. There's pretty much no meaningful resolution of anything contained here, and it winds up demonstrating both the weaknesses and strengths of Kadano's penchant for interlocking narratives through all his books. Which is probably why his strongest books are the ones that have the least to do with the others.

But two stories is uh, a very small percentage of this book. While I've spoken glowingly of the five really great writers involved with Faust, three of them are missing in action (seriously, they couldn't get Maijo Otaro to do anything?) and beyond those five, Faust's line up is pretty thin. I initially started reading Faust to find more writers like those five, and instead I've mostly found writers who wannabe like those five, but fucking suck. There's actually several new writers in this volume, some of whom might well be reasonably readable, but I've been burned enough by Faust that at this point I'm probably not going to actually take the time to read a bit of their stories and see. I'm just reading the bits I know to be good, and bunging the rest on the shelf. Which suggests Faust has failed it's function as an anthology; perhaps it's time to lay the thing to rest and let Risuka finish up in a reasonable god damn time frame.
Which might be my real point. With Faust unable to maintain even an annual schedule, Risuka's gradually building tension just becomes a stutter.

And on a lighter note

I can't even begin to comprehend the existence of this object.

Recycled Youth, Part 1: Let's Go Bowling

Looks like Wally stole some of my thunder before I got around to posting this, but I haven't read his take yet. Let's see if we agree or not.


Mamoru Oshii is one of those directors I want to like a lot more than I do. The first Patlabor movie is the film that convinced me anime was worth watching at all, but as time goes on I can't help but think that Oshii really needs the rest of Headgear to stop his depressive tendencies from drowning out all other nuance. He basically ruined Ghost in the Shell until Kenji Kamiyama came along, and Avalon proved he can depict shellshocked emotional numbness in live-action just as well as with cartoons. Tachigui was amusing, if slight, but Sky Crawlers once again finds him burying the needle on his emotional range.

Quick summary: In a European never-never-land where people read the Daily Yomiuri but watch Brit-accented television and occasionally speak passable English, air war has been reduced to a ritualized bloodsport between two rival military companies. Our main character, Yuichi Kannami, is a newly arrived replacement pilot for Rostock Corporation, but he quickly fits into the base's routine, if you ignore all the weird looks and trailed-off comments everyone on staff keeps throwing his way. Which Yuichi more than manages, a lackadaisal approach to plot progression that his director seems to share. A lesser talent might explain their film's central premise earlier than an hour and a half in, but not Oshii.

I should mention that I'm not a big dogfight fan, so pretty much none of the movie's action scenes did anything for me. On the other hand, the relative scarcity of such scenes tells me that's not where Oshii's main interest lies either, so I don't think I'm really misjudging the film by ignoring them.

In fact, Oshii's main interest seems to lie (as usual) in a militaristic, emotionally reserved, doll-like woman, hilariously once again named Kusanagi. And frankly, this time I share his interest; she's much more compelling than the male lead, in that she actually seems to have opinions about things. And likes to bowl.


Yuichi is really worryingly passive, which might be a comment on the placidity and lack of ambition of (Japanese?) youth, if pretty much everyone else in the film didn't act in the exact same beaten-down manner. In fact, he doesn't seem all that young, despite the occasional bit of dialogue assuring us that he and his fellow pilots all look like children. I'd assume this just an artifact of the anime tendency to draw everyone young (which this movie does deliberately avert for most of the bit characters), if there weren't another two characters that are exactly the same age visually, who are definitely not part of the whole Kildren thing. Then again, those two characters are whores, which might be meant to be part of the whole "youth as expendable commodity" subtext of the film.

And speaking of subtexts, I'm not convinced of Justin Sevakis' metatextual reading, but if true, I think this alleged hate-letter to consumerism having a tie-in video game is a blacker irony than anything in the actual film.

I'm having a hard time deciding what to think of Sky Crawlers. It's not a bad movie exactly, but it doesn't really seem fully baked. I think a large part of that has to do with Yuichi's failure as a lead character. He is such a passive, empty shell that I find it very hard to empathize with or find interest in him. It's a good thing his callsign is "Cairn", because for most of the movie he may as well just be a big pile of rocks. He does eventually start showing signs of life about an hour in, once another new arrival starts acting as a catalyst, and I did genuinely enjoy the movie after that, but it was kind of a hard slog getting there. There are some nice bits, and it's a reasonably affecting tone poem, but Catch-22 this is not.

Ultimately, I'm just tired of all of Oshii's characters being so one-dimensionally numb and mopey. Real life is plenty depressing and pointless-- the point of art is to synthesize that raw dross into something meaningful. Oshii just seems to throw his hands up, more often than not. I thought being a pet owner was supposed to improve your mood.

The Sky Crawlers

In classic Oshii fashion, the basset hound is arguably the most vibrant, dynamic, and interesting character in this entire film. I dearly hope that one day, Oshii will decide to take a break from his usual fare and make an entire batshit movie centered on the awesome dog. When we see the basset hound, we know that it is clearly alive. The same cannot be said of the human characters. Going along with another Oshii trademark, there are often times when the characters seem to more closely resemble puppets spouting off Oshii's agenda than realistic approximations of people. Rarely do I see anyone speak in long, expository sentences approaching monologues. The dialog sounds like a resolution of Oshii's own thoughts and opinions (though the screenplay was apparently written by someone else). This is not necessarily bad. Oshii's films have never been very character-centric, but more thematically-centric. It's part of his signature stylistic imprint. At its best, (see Patlabor 2, Ghost in the Shell, Jin-Roh), the "Oshii style" prompts some profound contemplation when kept to moderation. At its worst (see Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence), the writing can get tedious, winded, and heavy-handed. Instead of giving viewers ample room to ponder things on their own, themes and messages are beaten over their hands as Oshii masturbates to philosophy. Showing and suggesting is more engaging than telling. Unfortunately in the Sky Crawlers, the writing tilts more towards the excessive, heavy-handed side. With the bullshittery not being engaging enough, the characters are nowhere near interesting enough to carry the show.

The art doesn't really help to make this thing any more interesting. The character designs are bland as hell. This reflects the fact that the characters themselves are living in a purgatory of sorts and are leading very pointless existences, but I can't help but feel that they could have been more distinct and still would have accomplished that aim. By the way, Kusanagi, the lead female character looks fucking scary, reminiscent of those pale sex dolls from Ghost in the Shell. Creepy eyes, man. Character animation was rather disappointing for a film, by the way. As for the score, it''ll remind you of Seirei no Moribito, if you've seen that before. Kenji Kawai utilizes many of the same instruments and sounds that he's used before. The music won't blow your mind and make you drool for the soundtrack, but it's pleasant and unobtrusive, if not entirely memorable. As a positive, the CG air combat sequences are awesome, and the planes look pretty sick. The backgrounds are definitely nice on the eyes, lots of sky, ocean, and green land. Again though, don't be expecting anything absolutely jaw-dropping. For orgasmic eye-candy, watch Innocence on Blu-Ray.

At this point, I may be sounding like an absolute hater of The Sky Crawlers, but really, I didn't hate it. Granted, I wouldn't have minded putting those two hours I spent watching this film towards something else, but I don't regret watching it. Oshii has some interesting things to say, especially regarding the concept of status quo, even if he gets his themes across in a tedious manner (I still do not get where the hell Justin Sevakis gets it that this movie is specifically directed at otaku tastes in Japan in his ANN Review). You also get a couple of those signature appreciable Oshii musical interludes. And honestly, the only truly cringeworthy moments are the instances when the characters converse exclusively in engrish during aerial combat. Overall, I'm just pretty indifferent and ambivalent to the whole experience. So, for now, I'll give a cautious, weak recommendation, but by no means should this be required viewing. Definitely not Oshii's best.

A Retrospective on the 2008 Mumbai Incident

It may be frowned upon to introduce political matters to this site, but I found this documentary too visceral to ignore, even if it is a bit one-sided in its depiction of the terrorists. Some amazing, graphic footage in there.

Viz Sig Ikki snapshots

As David Goodwin has recently posted, Viz has loaded some new stuff onto its Sig Ikki site, namely Bokurano, Dorohedoro, Saturn Apartments, and I'll Give It My All...Tomorrow. Bokurano needs no introduction. Stephen Paul did some great work back in the day, translating many chapters of the series for his site Manga Screener, which has since unfortunately become inactive (along with many of its seinen-scanlating cousins, though Kotonoha appears to have experienced a slight revival). However, the other things were entirely new to me:

Saturn Apartments-
The least interesting first chapter of the group for me. The premise was somewhat hard for me to accept. Humans leaving Earth for a stratospheric halo after agreeing that the planet should be made into a giant nature preserve? Hmmm...that's likely. Something about "window cleaners in space" rubbed me off the wrong way too. I know utter realism is neither possible nore particularly appealing in fiction, but when something is going for a "harder," more realistic sci-fi edge, I find certain features of debatable, dubious realism to be quite distracting and jarring. Another quibbling point for me was the art style, which I found to be somewhat forgettable and nondescript. However, I realize I might be being unfairly harsh. First chapters are rather inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, and I find the class conflict to be rather interesting, so I am going to keep on reading.

Dorohedoro-
Engaging beginning with some nice messy and grimey art. Magic, amnesia, and a dystopian city, of-used manga devices all appear, but Dorohedoro features some odd little things in its first chapter that separate it enough from the rest of the crowd that I'm in for the ride. The protagonist, Caiman, is a man with a reptile head who was transformed from an ordinary man. But inside him is an ordinary man who may or may not be his previous ordinary self. We first see him with some helpless dude trapped between his jaws, quite the striking introduction. The dystopian city is called The Hole, where the non-magic-wielding masses have consolidated. The magic users apparently live in a different dimension, and come to The Hole to sadistically practice their magic on the poor city commonfolk.

Bring on the next few chapters, and I'm not sure how book releases will work for these Ikki series, but if Dorohedoro stays consistently good, I'm all for buying a print edition.

I'll Give It My All...Tomorrow-
Not much to say. Pathetic, fat, jobless, single man with a disappointed elderly father and a daughter who is secretly working as an escort gets a new bearing on life when he decides to take on the unrealistic dream of becoming a mangaka at 40 years of age. Simple premise, simple art style, and simply a pleasant read. It's got my favorite opening chapter of this bunch so far and I'm eagerly looking forward to more. I'd love a print edition for this one, as well.

Ikki site is live

Viz has finally updated their Ikki online magazine site, posting the first chapters of Bokurano, Dorohedoro, I'll Give It My All... Tomorrow and Saturn Apartments, in addition to their usual update of Children of the Sea; a week from now they'll include Afterschool Charisma, House of Five Leaves, Kingyo Used Books and Tokyo Flow Charts. Each month they'll update the series with a new chapter, posting them individually once every week.

It'll be interesting to see how this works out for the already "established" series -- will Viz only published the first few volumes of them online? Bokurano is already familiar to fans through the usual means, and I wouldn't be surprised if Dorohedoro has grabbed enough of a following, as well.

Regardless, it's great that we're finally seeing these kind of titles gain further ground in North America.

We already had an Alan Moore tag anyway

Came across this page from one of Rick Veitch's famously bizarresome dream comics while cleaning out my hard drive. Never fails to crack me up.

Blade of the Immortal, Volume 21

The Prison arc is over.

FINALLY.

The last two volumes have gone a good way in redeeming the tedium. After tracing the manga's "horror" roots from the beginning, Samura also recalls one of his greatest strengths, delivering one cinematic action sequence after another. The most desperate confrontation -- against a seemingly perfected immortal as the greatest results of Brando's experiments -- ends in one of Samura's trademark two-page spreads. And the epilogue provides a fitting, almost feel-good wind down as characters reunite, stronger than before.

That is, if anything, the strongest argument in favor of the arc. While having the main character stuck in a cell for months doesn't allow any excitement, Rin sees a massive growth during these volumes that shows the kind of indepedence and convinction that many readers would think impossible of her at the start of the story. Doa and Isaku also gradually become very human characters, and the backbone for plot development; even Hyakurin and Giichi find internal resolutions before the end.

Outside of the likely involvement of Ittō-ryū and the ever-psychotic Shira, I've no idea where Samura has taken Blade of the Immortal in Japan. Still, for the first time in years for English readers, the narrative is wide open again.