Kara no Kyoukai #3: Tsuukaku Zanryuu
Possibly the most thematically unpleasant instalment so far. Rape is always unpleasant viewing for me (unless it involves Krauser and a national landmark) and the violence is more graphic but damn, I do believe ufotable's art department have excelled themselves.
The attention to detail is staggering. Props to Ms Kajiura too - the BGM hit the spot every time.
Touko drives an Aston Martin, chain-smokes in her office and buys antique ouija boards by mail order but still has the cheek to plead poverty and fails to pay Mikiya's wages...must be a pain to work for someone like that. :P
Gakutou reminds me a bit of Arihiko from Tsukihime and Fujino bears quite a resemblance to Sakura from F/S N.
The shocking nature of the violence (which had me audiably gasping in astonishment) is balanced perfectly by the art, which is photorealistic at points.
More goodness that I'd award with a 9 score if I didn't suspect future instalments are likely to be even better. Cannot. Wait.
Kara no Kyoukai, in the grand scheme of things
Additional observations (sans screencaps due to laziness)
Yellow hooded mac. Whether it turns up in the novels or not I don't know but it suggests that NICE REFERENCE would make a fantastic drinking game for this. Possibly.
Doll factory fits with Heaven's Feel ending.
Stringy Vision isn't as unique an ability as I suspected (depends on the timeline really. Has the male Shiki acquired it yet at this point in time?) but I prefer the way it's shown here. Kaleidoscopic Irises benefit from the movie budget (I'd still call it an OAV with non-OAV distribution methods).
My MBV analogy for Nasu's storytelling falls apart a bit since this movie would be Sunny Sundae Smile (when Glider is far superior), although the hype surrounding movie #5 would make that Nasu's You Made Me Realise(!)
Perhaps a better parallel that otaku would understand is the three-stage evolution of Masaaki Yuasa. First attempt (Mind Game==Kara no Kyoukai) sets the aesthetic and thematic groundwork, second piece (Kemo==Tsukihime) puts it into a more cohesive structure and the third work (Kaiba==F/S N) is the pinnacle of the evolution, so far at any rate. I'd have loved to see Hideaki Anno's career take such a consistently upward path; his live-action movies aren't a patch on his animated work. Odd.
The only two questions remaining: when will I find time to watch the other four (fifty minutes does fit more neatly into my schedule than a fully-fledged two hour cinematic feature) and how can I survive the wait for the last ones?
Pom Poko and Whisper of the Heart
The cityscape background that is used in the closing credits of Pom Poko looks ALMOST EXACTLY like that of the opening credit sequence of Whisper of the Heart, even though the latter was made a year later. Funny that.
Goku Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei
Oh hell yes. This is not Sparta. THIS IS MADNESS.
That is all. Need sleep.
Macross Flashback 2012
Not something I'd watch over and over again (I've already deleted it from my hard drive but that's what I get for having to use an old laptop) but jeez...feel the nostalgia!
It's worthy of note that Lynn Minmay doesn't actually come across as even remotely annoying in this film. I think it's because she sings and doesn't talk.
I guess I'm a bit of a closet 80s music fan (Depeche Mode, New Order and the Cure especially) so saying the old-school synthpop has something of a retro charm to it is an understatement.
The live show-style music videos are interspersed with footage from the original SDFM series, including the launch of the Megaroad which (I think) isn't in the series itself. The snippets of scenes that did feature in the series reminded me of a number of things:
The animation quality of SDF Macross is a bit rubbish.
Roy Foker is The Man.
I really ought to forget I ever saw Robotech and collect the DVDs of the original instead.
Macross is the daddy.
"I love you so~"
Lucky Star OAV
I didn't get it.
Not that I didn't like it but the weird-out moments didn't really fit in. The main problem was that many refs went over my head I guess. I'm one of the only people on Earth who isn't a gamer (a group which includes just me and an isolated tribe in the forests of Borneo who don't have electricity) so that was particularly 'meh'. I'm sure if I'd actually played an RPG I'd find it hilarious.
The slice-of-life aspect was always the main draw for me anyway, so in that sense it was pretty much a feature-length episode. Highlights include:
You shall go to the ball. With leeks.
Lost in the woods: "the heavens have abandoned us!" After looking that up, I lol'd.
Volleyball. Tsukasa being cute.
Comic Book Store Man...in an RPG!! Okay, so I did find one of the gaming gags funny.
The whole pet shop scene was lost on me though.
Eve no Jikan #2
Words cannot express how brilliant this is.
Which would make for a really lame blog post. Damn.
Back to the drawing board.
Casshan: Robot Hunter OAV
Talk about old school...this remake dates back to the early 90s but it still feels like a 70s throwback (probably intentional). Sometimes, mindless cheesy action is a good thing if you're in the mood for it. Fortunately I happened to be in the mood for cheesy sci-fi at the time.
Absurdities:
-a robotic dog that breathes fire and turns into a miniature plane.
-mother's spirit locked inside a robotic swan.
-an indestructible and Angsy hero with morality issues.
-a busty blonde who manages to survive the whole war.
-a Bad Guy with typical inability to select competent minions.
-robots talking and acting like humans.
Cool things:
-hero does martial arts in midair.
-said bad guy laughs maniacally.
-busty blonde has the Gainax Bounce.
-music is either appropriate for the scene or appropriately cheesy.
-Bad Guy programmed to do what's best for the planet...hence why he's destroying humanity
-There's a Jonathan Clements commentary (note to self: give it a listen)
-it's a full-on nostalgia fest.
All in all, it's not great but it was fun.
