Tag Archives: serious business

Mouryou no Hako, a boxful of wonderfully hard-boiled madness

Posted on by
9

I started watching this back in ’08 but for a number of reasons I didn’t get around to finishing it. The subbing was sporadic, the plot derailed into a lengthy period of three blokes sitting around a table talking, other shows caught my interest, etc., etc.. Last week though I finally sat down and practically forced myself to finish the thing; the mid section was as tedious as I remember but pushing on to the finale was worth every minute.

This is an extremely unusual series, which is why I’m not surprised that it’s already virtually forgotten. It’s straight-faced and serious as hell, challenging the viewer from the outset by starting off very weird indeed. And it gets weirder. Even so, I found it to be a piece of sheer bloody genius with a multi-layered maze of a plot that starts off with bizarre yuri overtones, moves into hard-boiled detective fiction with serial killers and femmes fatales, dabbles in esoteric Japanese folklore and rounds it all off with a closing act that reaches Nasu-esque levels of twisted insanity.

Read all...

Reading stats: 916 words, 4 images; estimated reading time 3:40 mins

Remembering Satoshi Kon

Posted on by
10

I must admit I didn’t hear about Perfect Blue until around 2004, when the only anime I’d watched were Miyazaki’s Laputa, Anno’s Evangelion and Tsurumaki’s FLCL. It was an eye-opening experience to say the least, but that day was a pretty significant turning-point in making me the fan I am today.

I’m sure the obituaries and tributes to Satoshi Kon from his family and friends will be formed as I type and my sincere condolences go out to them. I’m afraid I know nothing about who he was as a man: I sadly never had the opportunity to meet him. His work however is something I’ve become very familiar with over the years, and it’s my love of this that I want to express, as my way of acknowledging what he achieved.

Read all...

Reading stats: 801 words, 1 image; estimated reading time 3:12 mins

Kara no Kyoukai: Satsujin Kousatsu (part 2)

Posted on by
5

I found myself staring dumbly at a blank screen for quite some time before being able to type a single word about this film. My feelings mirrored the closing phrase of Takami’s Battle Royale, “…but of course they’re part of you now.” I followed the characters through thick and thin; I felt stunned, drained and somewhat overwhelmed. Rewatching the series in its entirety didn’t lead me to believe this instalment is flawless but I was able to view it as the final(?) component part of the greater whole.


Not many of the scenes were brightly-lit enough to give decent screencaps

I believe it’s unfair to judge the Kara no Kyoukai adaptations against the other Type Moon productions when its source material pre-dates them all, but the fact remains that in terms of storytelling, presentation and character dynamics it’s a classic in the making. I’m not using that term lightly either: I’m choosing my words carefully here, even though I’m using so bloody many.

Read all...

Reading stats: 1759 words, 6 images; estimated reading time 7:02 mins

Anime as Serious Business part 1: anime and the silver screen

Posted on by
12

First: my expansion of the point I raised with Gaguri, initially touched on during my second Kara no Kyoukai post. It stems from the time when I became an anime fan proper which, to get what follows after the jump into perspective, happened at a relatively late age when I was already a general film/TV nerd. Second: to clarify on my stance on this issue I dropped English language and literature in favour of a more science-orientated timetable post-GCSE, in the hope that it would improve my employment prospects. Long story short, it didn’t, which meant I abandoned my favourite subject to make a gamble that I regret to this day. Just so you know I’m not trying to be clever here, because I couldn’t even if I wanted to.

kara-no-kyoukai-claymation
Just for the record I stole this pic from a blog called, appropriately enough, Serious Fucking Business, which is well worth a visit

So then, I’m an academic without being an intellectual, watching anime as a layman but one who likes a decent movie in addition to the typical box office blockbuster. I hope I’m not insulting your intelligence here in pointing out that the term ‘anime’ is merely an umbrella term for a set of artistic techniques (animation) and the geography (Japanese in origin); except my own set of standards and definitions need something a bit more specific than this to differentiate a certain type of anime from the rest. No, I don’t have higher education qualifications in this area, but I still want to talk taxonomy. Please hear me out, ‘kay?

Read all...

Reading stats: 1194 words, 4 images; estimated reading time 4:47 mins