Onani Master Kurosawa: Redemption is in your own hands

A long time ago I saw a single-page scan of what looked like a one-off doujin Death Note parody where a kid made it his mission to masturbate daily in a girls’ toilet at school. His triumphant “Just as planned!” was amusing enough but I assumed it was a throwaway piece of toilet humour so after forgetting what blog I saw the pic on I thought nothing more of it. That was until the community word-of-mouth thing featuring Ghostlightning, David and Samshiel among others jogged my memory. The doujin in question was Onani Master Kurosawa and it proved to be more than just dirty jokes and a parody or two. A hell of a lot more.

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Click for the full size version

Make no mistake: this is a story with strong language and shows events and behaviour that are liable to offend some. It has some wonderful bits of humour though, including neat jabs at not only Death Note but Haruhi Suzumiya and Code Geass, but what makes this something I’d recommend so strongly is the fact that the superficial lulz accompany something more memorable and moving. If you excuse the pun, I never saw it coming.

Bakemonogatari: tsunderisms and a higher class of fanservice

I know I’m late to the Bakemonogatari party. I shouldn’t be, considering how it’s so Relevant To My Interests: it has a vampire, a tsundere, puns and wordplay with Shinbo occupying the director’s chair, for crying out loud. The first couple of episodes didn’t blow me away immediately though: there’s always this vibe of quirkiness that surrounds everything that Shinbo does, which means I have to do a little mental adjustment to appreciate it so I’m confident that it’s worth sticking with.

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The whole catching of a floating girl reminded me of the beginning of Miyazaki’s Laputa for some reason. Oh yeah, the staircase looked like DNA or something

I was a little sceptical about the Nisio Isin connection since he was the author of that Death Note spin-off I had mixed feelings about. This is I think completely his own work however, and fortunately has plenty of potential too. After I’d sat through both halves of the first arc my confusion gave way to a sense of respect for how the visuals and themes worked together. I now have a really good feeling about this one.

High on the Ether of Lily Chou-Chou

All about Lily Chou-Chou is an odd film. I find two types of oddness that run through the Japanese live-action movies in my collection: there’s the energetic, mad type of odd that drives the likes of Survive Style 5+ and the back catalogue of Takashi Miike and there’s the gentle, whimsical oddness of, say, Tony Takitani. Lily Chou-Chou falls in the second category. It’s not frenetic and off-the-wall, but its narrative has a shuffled chronology that jumps back and forth and there are some scenes that are quite shocking; it takes on some familiar issues but the execution is both beautiful and highly unconventional.

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I mentioned the film to Bateszi absolutely ages ago; I recommended it to him by reputation before I’d seen it for myself (the same approach has given me a couple of other titles, namely Tokyo Sonata and Audition that are on the ‘to watch’ shelf, and two more in the form of Funky Forest: First Contact and Taste of Tea that I’m planning on picking up). I wish I hadn’t left it so long.

When did Spice and Wolf get this good?

Spice and Wolf was always a B-list title for me, albeit an enjoyable one. I appreciated the fact that it was an unusual series in terms of the setting, characters and story but even so it lacked a certain spark; something that would take it above merely enjoyable and into something to really look forward to every week. Maybe the animation was lacklustre, the direction not firm enough or the plot itself didn’t set the world afire but whatever. I wanted to love it but in the end it never really made a lasting impression.

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The second season has everything the first one did – namely a continuation of the two travelling companions making their way through a Middle Ages countryside with some medieval economics along the way – but somehow it’s much more impressive. Brains Base are handling the animation better than IMAGIN did and the Lawrence/Horo relationship is actually developing now; There’s certainly much more dramatic tension than I ever noticed in the first few episodes, which is also what makes the second season really outstanding.

Tsukihime, far side route: here’s to Akiha

Looking at the screencaps I took while reading my way through Tsukihime it struck me how many of them featured Akiha. As a general rule I screencapped whenever I felt a given moment was especially important to the story so the folder of pics that’s sat on my hard drive since I finished the VN really helped jog my favourite memories of it. I don’t want to downplay the significance of the other two leading ladies in this of course: Hisui and Kohaku have well-written backstories that build on the unfolding of the scenario as a whole which, by the way, explains a hell of a lot that the TV show didn’t.

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Disarmed me with a smile

There’s also an avenue which left me a little frustrated: Yumizuka was another fascinating character who, in my opinion at least, is crying out for a side-story of her own. Whether the rumoured re-release of Tsukihime will resolve that I don’t know; it certainly continued to give a ‘one rewrite away from brilliance’ feeling because the emotional clout of the story was stretched too thin: after all those replays I found myself wondering if I was able to care about all of them enough. Forgive me then if this post very much about Akiha.

Ryu Murakami: In the Miso Soup

in-the-miso-soup-coverAs far as fans of sharp, contemporary Japanese psychological thrillers are concerned, Ryu Murakami is often the first names that spring to mind. Quite rightly too considering he wrote the original novel of Audition and has several of his other works published in English in recent years: I have to say I really enjoyed Audition and can easily see how it was made into such a popular film (which, to my shame I STILL haven’t seen). In the Miso Soup is in some ways pretty similar but interesting in aspects I never expected; I don’t see it as such a good contender for on-screen adaptation though.

The story follows Kenji, a young freelance Tokyo tour guide who takes an American businessman called Frank around town on a ‘sex tour’ of the city’s nightlife during the lead-up to New Year’s Eve. There are one or two things that seem amiss with Kenji’s new customer from the start but Kenji rejects the alternative of a quiet time with his girlfriend in favour of some much-needed work. He soon begins to regret his decision to accept this lucrative offer when a darker and more dangerous side to Frank begins to emerge.

Eve no Jikan (Time of Eve) Act 5: Chie & Shimei

Although the episode titles are usually self-explanatory for this series I’d say this outing was as focused on Rikuo as it was on the young girl and her elderly companion. Not that this is a bad thing, mind: we’ve been given hints of who (or what) they may be already, and they’re frequent visitors to the café anyway. It’s not so much who they are as why their relationship is the way it is that is interesting for me because of the resulting ethical questions. Not to mention another tantalisingly small piece of the jigsaw puzzle of the backstory for the show.

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Perhaps we’re supposed to be concentrating on Chie and Shimei here but I was even more fascinated by Rikuo’s predicament in this episode. The philosophical stuff – and simpler, more day-to-day issues too – gave me plenty to think about, and ultimately provided the biggest emotional hit from Eve no Jikan‘s latest quarter-hour offering. As unlikely as the prospect may be, I hope Ray Kurzweil is watching this too.

Kara no Kyoukai #6: Boukyaku Rokuon (Oblivion Recording)

I must admit that the premise of this outing didn’t fill me with as much enthusiasm as some of the earlier ones. It sounded like the story was shying away from the hard-edged grittiness that I’ve come to respect so much in the series, what with it being about something as light-hearted as Mikiya’s kid sister Azaka looking for fairies at school. Sure enough, the general tone of this movie is a lot brighter, more humorous and is mostly concerned with Azaka and her personal perpective on things rather than putting Shiki in centre stage.

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What pleasantly surprised me though was that this relative levity and the shift in character focus offered so much to enjoy on their own. Azaka has always been a bit, well, overprotective of her elder brother but this is where she is given the opportunity to explain why as best she can. The mystery thriller side of things is still present, of course, but it’s more character- rather than plot-driven. With a some FIRE to spice it up a bit.