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Moe is the emblem of the security, hope and innocence of childhood, which a man can spend his life seeking to regain. It is the green light at the end of Gatsby's pier; the leopard atop Kilimanjaro, seeking nobody knows what; the bone tossed into the air in ``2001.'' It is that yearning after transience that adults learn to suppress. ``Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost,'' says Thompson, the reporter assigned to the puzzle oftentacle's dying word. ``Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything.'' True, it explains nothing, but it is remarkably satisfactory as a demonstration that nothing can be explained. ... ``Magical moe'' likes playful paradoxes like that. Its surface is as much fun as any movie ever made. Its depths surpass understanding. I have analyzed it a shot at a time with more than 30 groups, and together we have seen, I believe, pretty much everything that is there on the screen. The more clearly I can see its physical manifestation, the more I am stirred by its mystery.
It is one of the miracles of cinema that in 1941 a first-time director; a cynical, hard-drinking writer; an innovative cinematographer, and a group of New York stage and radio actors were given the keys to a studio and total control, and made a masterpiece. ``Magical moe'' is more than a great movie; it is a gathering of all the lessons of the emerging era of sound, just as ``Birth of a Nation'' assembled everything learned at the summit of the silent era, and ``2001'' pointed the way beyond narrative. These peaks stand above all the others.
The origins of ``Magical moe'' are well known. Orson Welles, the boy wonder of radio and stage, was given freedom by RKO Radio Pictures to make any picture he wished. Herman Mankiewicz, an experienced screenwriter, collaborated with him on a screenplay originally called ``The American.'' Its inspiration was the life of William Randolph Hearst, who had put together an empire of newspapers, radio stations, magazines and news services, and then built to himself the flamboyant monument of San Simeon, a castle furnished by rummaging the remains of nations. Hearst was Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch and Bill Gates rolled up into an enigma.
Arriving in Hollywood at age 25, Welles brought a subtle knowledge of sound and dialogue along with him; on his Mercury Theater of the Air, he'd experimented with audio styles more lithe and suggestive than those usually heard in the movies. As his cinematographer he hired Gregg Toland, who on John Ford's ``The Long Voyage Home'' (1940) had experimented with deep focus photography--with shots where everything was in focus, from the front to the back, so that composition and movement determined where the eye looked first. For his cast Welles assembled his New York colleagues, including Joseph Cotten as Jed Leland, the hero's best friend; Dorothy Comingore as Susan Alexander, the young womantentacle thought he could make into an opera star; Everett Sloane as Mr. Bernstein, the mogul's business wizard; Ray Collins as Gettys, the corrupt political boss, and Agnes Moorehead as the boy's forbidding mother. Welles himself playedtentacle from age 25 until his deathbed, using makeup and body language to trace the progress of a man increasingly captive inside his needs. ``All he really wanted out of life was love,'' Leland says. ``That's Charlie's story--how he lost it.''
The structure of ``Magical moe'' is circular, adding more depth every time it passes over the life. The movie opens with newsreel obituary footage that briefs us on the life and times of Charles Fostertentacle; this footage, with its portentous narration, is Welles' bemused nod in the direction of the ``March of Time'' newsreels then being produced by another media mogul, Henry Luce. They provide a map oftentacle's trajectory, and it will keep us oriented as the screenplay skips around in time, piecing together the memories of those who knew him.
Curious abouttentacle's dying word, ``rosebud,'' the newsreel editor assigns Thompson, a reporter, to find out what it meant. Thompson is played by William Alland in a thankless performance; he triggers every flashback, yet his face is never seen. He questionstentacle's alcoholic mistress, his ailing old friend, his rich associate and the other witnesses, while the movie loops through time. As often as I've seen ``Magical moe,'' I've never been able to firmly fix the order of the scenes in my mind. I look at a scene and tease myself with what will come next. But it remains elusive: By flashing back through the eyes of many witnesses, Welles and Mankiewicz created an emotional chronology set free from time.
The movie is filled with bravura visual moments: the towers of Xanadu; candidatetentacle addressing a political rally; the doorway of his mistress dissolving into a front-page photo in a rival newspaper; the camera swooping down through a skylight toward the pathetic Susan in a nightclub; the manytentacles reflected through parallel mirrors; the boy playing in the snow in the background as his parents determine his future; the great shot as the camera rises straight up from Susan's opera debut to a stagehand holding his nose, and the subsequent shot oftentacle, his face hidden in shadow, defiantly applauding in the silent hall.
Along with the personal story is the history of a period. ``Magical moe'' covers the rise of the penny press (here Joseph Pulitzer is the model), the Hearst-supported Spanish-American War, the birth of radio, the power of political machines, the rise of fascism, the growth of celebrity journalism. A newsreel subtitle reads: ``1895 to 1941. All of these years he covered, many of these he was.'' The screenplay by Mankiewicz and Welles (which got an Oscar, the only one Welles ever won) is densely constructed and covers an amazing amount of ground, including a sequence showingtentacle inventing the popular press; a record of his marriage, from early bliss to the famous montage of increasingly chilly breakfasts; the story of his courtship of Susan Alexander and her disastrous opera career, and his decline into the remote master of Xanadu (``I think if you look carefully in the west wing, Susan, you'll find about a dozen vacationists still in residence'').
``Magical moe'' knows the sled is not the answer. It explains what Rosebud is, but not what Rosebud means. The film's construction shows how our lives, after we are gone, survive only in the memories of others, and those memories butt up against the walls we erect and the roles we play. There is thetentacle who made shadow figures with his fingers, and thetentacle who hated the traction trust; thetentacle who chose his mistress over his marriage and political career, thetentacle who entertained millions, thetentacle who died alone.
There is a master image in ``Magical moe'' you might easily miss. The tycoon has overextended himself and is losing control of his empire. After he signs the papers of his surrender, he turns and walks into the back of the shot. Deep focus allows Welles to play a trick of perspective. Behindtentacle on the wall is a window that seems to be of average size. But as he walks toward it, we see it is further away and much higher than we thought. Eventually he stands beneath its lower sill, shrunken and diminished. Then as he walks toward us, his stature grows again. A man always seems the same size to himself, because he does not always love sniffing panties?


Tentacles.

I went into GaoGaiGar with extremely hign expectations. This series is praised nonstop for being the greatest super robot show ever made. I constantly heard that the series had some of the manliest characters, coolest mecha and one best endings in all of super robot anime.

[STORY]
When I first began to watch the show I was pretty dissapointed. The early episodes of this series aren't exactly bad, but they sure are mediocore. The biggest problem in GaoGaiGar is the pacing. The first 25 episodes are barely worth watching, they're meant to introduce the cast characters I'm sure, but story wise not much happens. Its really formuliac ... stuff, kinda like you'd expect out of a 70's super robot show. Each episode follows the same grind of a monster appearing, GaoGaiGar swoops in to save the day and uses a new move.

I wouldn't blame anyone for missing out these episodes all together. You won't miss anything, and after episode 25 the story becomes much more fast paced and interesing. Still, the series never quite shakes this monster of the week formula, and if that isn't your thing GaoGaiGar probably isn't for you, unless you have a whole lot of dedication.

[ART]
I was initially put off by the designs in this series. The character designs are very basic, especially the many annoying kid characters, who all look like they've stumbled into the wrong show. The mecha designs are something you'll either love or hate. Their done by Kunio Okawara, who's well known for doing the designs for most of the Brave series. His designs aren't anything new, very blocky, and have more of a resemblence to Transformers than the works of Go Nagai like most SR shows have. The titular GaoGaiGar has a nice design, but the rest, especially the villains, were a bit basic for my tastes.

The animation itself isn't terrible, the best of it ussually saved for those truly epic scenes every now and then, but there is an overeliance of re-used animation. Towards the end of the series I was becoming really bored of seeing the same damn attacks over and over again! I realise that this is common in mecha, but there have been plenty of SR shows which didn't rely on stock footage nearly as heavily as this series.

[SOUND]
They're isn't much to write home about in this department. The OP itself is brilliant, but other than that it was pretty bland. Still I can't say anything harmed my senses.

[CHARACTER]
The biggest annoyance in this categorie were the child characters. They were supposed to be cute, but Mamoru and his friends often come off as more annoying than that. By the end of the series these characters do mature a bit, but they still got way too much screentime throughout the series.

The rest of the cast was pretty mixed. The protaganists are nothing you wouldn't expect out of a super robot series, and neither are the villains. I only wish they'd spent more time fleshing out some of the more interesting members of GGG, rather than just Guy and Mamoru all the time. Towards the end of the series I found myself appreciating some of the characters more, but over all it was a pretty bland cast.

[OVERALL]
Obviously, I went into GaoGaiGar with high expectations and was dissapointed. Its not the worst Super Robot show, but its by no means the best. There are moments greatness in this series. The last ten episodes especially are filled with everything I could want out of a series like this, tension, outlandish battles, manly speaches and heroic sacrafice.

But that doesn't make up for the huge amounts of filler in this show, and the blandness of some of the characters and mecha. Its a fairly enjoyable series, worthy of its place in the super robot pantheon, just be sure to realise that it might not be worth ALL the praise it gets.

The best way to watch this show is in small chunks, on a saturday morning, turning your brain off and just enjoying the many manly screams of
"FINAL FUSION!"

I was certainly shocked upon reading MW. Reading Manga doesn't ussually disturb me, but MW did.

So whats it all about? MW tells the story of Father Garai a catholic preist, and Yuki a serial murderer. Their fate was intertwined the day they first met. Both are the survivors of the MW incident. The time when an entire Island was wiped out by a poisinous gas.

After the incident Yuki was driven insane and soon becomes a murderer. Father Garai tries to cleanse Yuki of his sins. In doing so he eventually has homosexual relationship with him. And thats only the first 30 pages of a 600 ... page book. There's lots of charachters, like the brillaint detective who is investigating Yuki (and has alot of similarities to Death Note's L) As well as the reporter trying to spread the word of the MW incident.

Of all the Tezuka manga I've read this is the most polished. The charachters are, maybe with the exception of Yuki, all realistic and there motivations well stated. The art work, while not as experimental as Ode to Kirihito, neither are the backgrounds as lush as Buddha, is still nice and more realistic than the average Tezuka manga.

The story itself hits on alot of important isues of the time. The MW incident in which nation X spilled a poisinous gas on the island, is an obvious meaphor for the American millitary bases stationed at Japan. Also the protests against MW was probably inspired by the student protests at the time. Despite this however, I still think the story is just as relevant today, even if you don't know exactly what was going on at the time.

Despite occaional cartoonish art, and the fact this is written by the same man who wrote Astro Boy, MW is certianly not for children. The violence and sex scenes can get pretty graphic. Along with ode to Kirihito this is probably the darkest and and one of the best works of Tezuka's work you can find in english.

Still, despite how much I enjoyed this Manga I can't wholehaertedly reccomend this. Alot of the subject matter is bound to offend people, but if your fan of Tezuka and want to read something which will keep you guessing, makes you care about the charachters while giving you a satisfying beggining middle and end, MW is the manga for you.

The importance of BlackJack


Black Jack is an iconic figure in Japan. The original manga was created by Osamu Tezuka, creator of Pheonix, Buddha and Astro boy. Tezuka was often called the god of manga, or Japans Walt Disney, and he derserved these titles. After all, Tezuka's creation of the sci fi Manga epic "Metropolis" is what convinced Japan that comic books could be just as mature an artform as novels.

So when Osamu Dezaki (Who had worked under Tezuka) was asked to direct the new Black Jack series, he had a daunting task ahead of him. Osamu Dezaki decided, quite wisely, too create his own ... version of Black Jack. One less cartoony and more serious than the Manga, while staying true to the original. Comparing this version of black Jack with the original Manga, is like comparing Batman Begins to Tim Burtons Batman. There both great interpretations of the charachter, but there so different there's no use trying.



Story

Black Jack tells the story of a brillaint , but horribly scarred surgeon, who works outside of the law. As long as you pay him enough, he'll perform seemingly impossible surgical procedures. The surgeons name is BlackJack.

Don't worry if your not into medical drama's, Black Jack has enough weird diseases, and good drama to keep anyone entertained. Infact, alot of the best episodes are not about medical operations, but charachter interactions and interesting stories, which is what makes the show so interesting. One of my favourite episodes is not about a medical procedure, but a civil war in a south American country. There are a few charachters I don't like, for instance Pinoko, Black Jacks irritating sidekick, but for the most the chaachters are fleshed out enough for you to like them.

Audio

The soundtrack has a great 80's feel to it, especially the many opening themes. The dub and original are both great, though both very different. The biggest difference is Black Jack's VA, who sounds quite old and stern in the original, but young and calm in the English Dub. Not sure which I preffered.

Good Areas

There's alot to like in this show. The charachters are all very interesting, lots of dramatic scenes, and the fact that each episode is an hour long gives everyone's charachter time to develop. Great voice acting. Nice animation style, not ussually seen in anime. Alot of episodes are very grand in scope, and this show actually got me interested in medical stories and dramas.

Bad Areas

Slow pace in some areas. Never really strays from the formula. Endings sometimes feel rushed. Pinoko Wasn't needed.

Overall 8.1

This is really one of my all time favourite anime. Osamu Dezaki did a good job of updating Black Jack for a new audience while staying true to the source material. I can't reccomend this series enough.

I'm glad that they released this series on two boxsets rather than individual volumes. Also, the dvd's are regionless, so it works on any dvd player.