Archive for the 'Anime' Category

2nd GIG

Published
by
David
on November 11, 2004
in Anime and Japan
. Comments

What a boring couple of days it has been, very little to mention other than at last new episodes of ‘Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2nd GIG’ are starting to filter through the torrent networks after a rather long hiatus.

GITS

It has got to be my favourite anime at the moment but is so philosophically dense that I constantly have to pause and flick back each episode just to try and make sense of things! As you might have been able to tell from the title each episode should ’stand alone’ on its own but at the same time make up part of a larger ‘complex’ - the upshot of this is more twists and turns in plot than I think just about any normal human could keep track of.

GITS

My favourite characters have got to be the Tachikoma’s which are essentially robots endowed with a sophisticated AI (Artificial Intelligence) which give them an interesting collective personality. Their role is basically as a glorified ‘Swiss Army’ knives to aid Section 9 in their investigations. They frequently have lively debates amongst each other about the nature of their existence and for this reason are closely monitored by the Major who fears their autonomous nature. They became so popular in Japan that they spawned their own series of mini-episodes!

GITS

If you’re interested in watching it you can get the torrents from here. Episodes 1-15 are currently available.

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Paranoid Fruit

Published
by
David
on October 27, 2004
in Anime and Japan
. Comments

Another Wednesday is here and the nexus of the week has been reached! I like Wednesdays because I don’t have any Computer Science lectures, only a Japanese class in the afternoon which makes a nice change from the norm.

Today I thought I might pass comment on the two anime series we’re watching at the society this term - Paranoia Agent & Fruits Basket. Both are fairly wacky pieces, one with a fairly complex and mind twisting plot the other is just plain stupid, but very funny - I’ll leave it to you to decide which is which!

Paranoia Agent

Paranoia Agent is primarily about a kid dubbed with the title “shounen bat” who has been going around on roller-blades attacking people with a golden baseball bat. Two detectives are on the case to stop this kid from any committing more attacks but they soon find that this is much more than they can handle…

Paranoia Agent

The animation is excellent, if somewhat a little psychedelic at times! One thing which confused me was the volume of central characters which soon mount up so much so that I found it difficult to keep up with who was who, the less be said about the complexity of the story line!

Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket is a completely different animal (that was a very poor joke for those who have seen it!) which follows the story of a high-school girl, Honda Tohru. Having lost her mother in a car accident, she has come to live alone in a tent in the forest near her school. Never a quitter, she strives to honor her mother’s memory and work hard to do the best she can with her life but soon things overcome her. Who will turn up to help her out?

Fruits Basket

The synopsis makes it sound a bit depressing but in fact it’s absolutely hilarious - you’d have to see it to know what I mean! The story line is pretty random and at times it does feel like the same stuff is being recycled a bit but it’s still fun to watch.

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Grave of the Fireflies

Published
by
David
on October 11, 2004
in Anime, General and Japan
. Comments

Went to the first Anime society meeting of the term this evening. We watched a great (but exceedingly depressing) film called ‘Grave of the Fireflies‘ (Hotaru no haka) which is a story about the struggle of two children to survive during World War II.

Grave of the Fireflies

The story revolves around Setsuko and Seita who are brother and sister living in wartime Japan. After their mother is killed in an air raid they find a temporary home with relatives but after quarreling with their aunt they leave the city and make their home in an abandoned shelter. I won’t say much more about the plot-line as it would spoil it if you haven’t already seen it but needless to say not all stories have happy endings. It works particularly well in highlighting the plight of ordinary people and serves as an good illustration to how during conflict it is usually the innocent who suffer the most.

After this light beginning to the evening we met all the new freshers who had joined - I think some of them looked a bit bemused by the whole experience! We then voted on what series to watch this term which I would mention but I can’t remember what they were (someone enlighten me please!). As a side note, hearing someone speaking Japanese with a slight Scottish accent was fairly amusing, weather the person in question is aware of this I’m not sure! It reminded me of school language lessons where people were speaking French with a heavy Norfolk accent - hilarious ;-)

In slightly less interesting news… Had my first ‘Distributed Computing‘ lecture today, unfortunately the lecturer didn’t exactly bring much enthusiasm to the subject which wasn’t very inspiring but anything beats what we had to put up with last year in certain quarters (hint hint).

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Smoke & Mirrors

Published
by
David
on September 16, 2004
in Anime and Film
. Comments

Having predicted only 5 days ago that the film ‘Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence’ would shortly emerge I was proved right today and now have my hands on a shiny new copy of it. The picture quality is excellent although its only shortcoming is that the subtitles were done by fans in rather a hurry by the looks of it. This somewhat dilutes its meaning and significance but doesn’t take away from its status as a magnificent masterpiece, seamlessly combining philosophical wisdom with beautiful visuals of a caliber never seen before. Having only watched it once so far my brain is still struggling to catch up with what’s just been thrown at it.

Innocence

Making sense of any of it will take a fair while I imagine. Perhaps once I’ve have a chance to do this I’ll write a proper review, but I’m not sure I could really do it justice. Here’s a little quote to wet your appetite:

“There is something evil about several people holding mirrors. It is not that it exposes evil; rather, it helps create evil. In other words, mirrors are to be glimpsed at, not to be stared at.”

There’s an interesting review on Wired here.

10/10

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Innocence

Published
by
David
on September 11, 2004
in Anime, Film and Japan
. Comments

Since it’s release in Japan earlier in the year I’ve been trying to get hold of a decent copy of ‘Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence‘, the follow up to Mamoru Oshii’s highly influential animated thriller ‘Ghost in the Shell‘. So far I’ve had no luck, all I can find is a bad cam copy which doesn’t do the piece justice so I’ve avoided watching it. I thought I’d comment on it now as it’s just started its US release and I’m pretty mad that I haven’t seen it yet! I’m pretty sure a good copy will come along soon but in the meantime here’s a few stills and some detail to tide fans over till then:

Innocence

In the year 2032, technology runs amuck, and the line between humans and machines has been blurred beyond distinction, resulting in the proliferation of murderous dolls. Humans have forgotten that they are human and those that are left coexist with cyborgs (human spirits inhabiting entirely mechanized bodies) and dolls (robots with no human elements at all).

Innocence

Batou, a detective for the government’s covert anti-terrorist unit, Public Security Section 9, is investigating the case of a murderous gynoid (a hyper-realistic robot).

Innocence

Writer/director Mamoru Oshii creates a future where technology and nature collide. The picture above shows part of the robot assembly process, including the mass production of eyeballs (yum).

Innocence

As Batou delves deeper into the investigation, questions arise about humanity’s need to immortalize its image in dolls. The answers to those questions lead to the shocking truth behind the crime… and quite possibly the very meaning of life.

Innocence

I seriously cannot wait to see this film as it looks set to be excellent. Considering that it’s been 10 years in the making it had better be! The first installment is pure philosophical gold which has caused much head-scratching (putting a lot of people off in the process). It is this which holds its main appeal for me aside from the beautiful animation. Here’s what the director had to say about the story:

“With cell phones and the Internet, people’s perceptions have expanded, but they’re unaware of how this has made their bodies obsolete… Humanity has reached its limits. I believe that we must broaden our horizons and philosophize about life from a larger perspective.”

Enough said. You can access the official website here.

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