Mono no aware

I love Bakemonogatari. From the Heavy Crab, through the clever twist to the Lost Snail, the truth behind the Monkey’s Paw and the tension of the Snake Constrictor, it’s a visual treat and provides a metric fucktonne of characterisation and cinematography that I could wax lyrical on for ages. Except I won’t. First, it’s spoilerific. Second, I think I need an entire post just to explain why I find Hitagi Senjougahara to be awesome before even outlining what makes everything else about these episodes so great.

I would hardly dare to argue

Granted, she doesn’t appear much in the middle portion of the series, but trying to make sense of the Senjougahara Fascination phenomenon became a bit more important when I found myself a part of it. What the hell is this? Am I developing a 2D complex? Well, yes. And no. Idle thoughts coming up.

I was intrigued by Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 because of the Noitamin A timeslot (which has so far also yielded Higashi no Eden, Hataraki Man and Moyashimon) but also because of the promise to portray the events of an earthquake in as realistic a manner as possible. I’m guessing that animation, rather than live-ation, was the most efficient medium to go about this project for budgetry constraints; in terms of character designs and fluidity of animation I wouldn’t say it goes out of its way to dazzle the viewer though. It’s in Bones’ typical MO however: not necessarily groundbreaking but reassuringly solid and consistent.

The visuals do at least show how the events would look without overdramatising things, which is a particular benefit for those of us who have never actually witnessed a major earthquake for ourselves. I have to say there are some nailbiting moments here, mainly because the order of the day is preventing the drama being at the expense of being true-to-life. In the posts I’ve read so far it’s surprising how so many bloggers have found more to say on the drama side of things rather than the documentary aspect…and I can see why.

[Reposted, with edits, from my old side-blog. Much of the other content on there has now been moved to my revamped front page]

This post is partly inspired by Bateszi’s observation of how little those of us in the English-speaking world hear of drama- and realistic fiction-style Japanese cinema, and partly because a review for the movie adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s short story Tony Takitani is long overdue. The original story, by the way, is currently available in the Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman compilation of his short stories; another book on my ‘To Review’ pile.

The man of the film’s title is a graphical artist with a solitary life and an unconventional childhood. His mother died when he was born and his often-absent father is a travelling jazz musician; a man “as unsuited to being a father as Tony was to being a son,”. Tony Takitani is skilled and successful professionally but despite an agreeable personality and lucrative career he is something of an introvert. This life of solitude changes when he marries a woman with a passion for clothes and understands the true meaning of loneliness.