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Thank you Terajima-san. Nice to get a FR from an ole club member.

I love your favourites by the way

Thanks

RIP

F

rip :(

Hey buddy! I just read your Mononoke Hime review and have to say that you might completely misunderstand what art is at a fundamental level.

What does, "The problem is that I do not like movies that seem to have been created solely to spread an idea" supposed to mean? Do you really think that there is any art that doesn't spread a message?

Let's look at one of your favorite movies. "Hotaru no Haka," or "Graveyard of the Fireflies," can be understood as story made to criticize the use of firebombs by the American military during World War Two.

I choose a different interpretation, saying that the movie tells us about pride. We see the pride of the Japanese Government refusing to surrender causing more death and devastation, we see the pride of our main character in MANY ways (SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS) that eventually got him and his sister killed, we see the pride of the aunt figure thinking she knows best and can control everything about the children, so on and so on.

That's what makes these stories special. They tell us something about ourselves, each other, or the world.

A good STORY is MORE than just a good NARRATIVE

Now, let's take a look back at Mononoke. We can choose to learn a lot of different things from Mononoke. The weakest one, in my opinion, is that which you put in your review. Namely, that the movie serves to tell an environmentalist message, and the evilness of humans. Valid to be sure, but pretty surface level.

The way I choose to interpret the story is that of a criticism of Partisanship in contemporary (or at least modern) politics, wherein the Humans represent Progressivism, and the forest beasts Conservatism, all in a very broad sense.

We can see that the Humans are ambitious, bold, innovative, and effective. They're taking an untamed land and bending it to their will. They are, however, plagued by infighting. We can see the Samurai killing the people of Iron Town for their resources, and the people of Iron Town killing the forest life for its resources in turn.

In opposition are the forces of nature. They're old, dying. Their influence is waning, and their gods are dying. To preserve their power, they brutally attack the humans in gratuitous displays of gore and destruction, fighting desperately a battle they know they cannot win.

We can interpret this paradigm of Conservatism vs. Progressivism in modern events such as World War Two which shaped Miyazaki's life, or in the presidency of Donald Trump. We can see figures like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and understand them as being not unlike the people of Iron Town, their eyes clouded by hate, so consumed in the furthering of their agendas that they act in destructive ways.

My understanding of this movie is changing all the time, and that's what makes it so special to me. It's something I watch every couple years and understand in a new way. Why? Because it's telling me something. Something that isn't so clear all the time, but something that is profound.

Definitely not cluecless, I won't be bored for the next 5 years or so. Gantz is planned for the very near future! Seems to be highly rated

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Ha, well i've been doing a whole chronological readthrough of manga just to find the hidden good stuff :p I guess it really worked, but I don't know anything about manga written after the year 2000 :p If you have any recommendations, let me know!

Yea thats so true Matsumoto is a genius at doing that so great!

Well thats nice to hear hope you get around to all of them they're great.

Thanks for the friend request and thank you for your compliments! I see you really like Taiyo Matsumoto thats awesome he's really amazing. Cool stuff man.

accepted! :) and true, i really like the taste of yours! You'll love them:
http://myanimelist.net/manga/3285/Holyland
http://myanimelist.net/manga/529/Smuggler

cheers

Thanks, glad that you enjoyed it. We do indeed have some very similar tastes.

Hey just wondering about the reason you sent a friend request?