ZONE OF THE ENDERS 2: The Second Runner

I know all these link blogging posts are lame... but I've been having trouble getting excited enough about anything to post anything else. ^_^;;; I promise to do a nice juicy post about PLUTO once it's finished, as I don't want to spoil anything or make a fool of myself with my own wild theories as to how it ends.

In the mean time... this is something I'm excited about right now, as I just bought ZONE OF THE ENDERS 2 off Ebay. It's one of my favorite games of all time, along with MEGA MAN LEGENDS 2 and METAL GEAR SOLID as a franchise.

Given that, it's not surprise that I like ZONE OF THE ENDERS 2 so much as it shares things in common with both franchises; the slick, cell shaded, 3-D anime look and immersive 3rd person RPG gameplay of MEGA MAN LEGENDS, and the same game designer as METAL GEAR SOLID in Hideo Kojima, who beyond being a pioneer of cutting edge immersive gameplay, is also a masterful storytelling.

Both METAL GEAR, and ZONE OF THE ENDERS really upped the ante for visual storytelling across all media, in my opinion... the first METAL GEAR SOLID was so visually beautiful and so engrossing a story, it was actually maddening to have to actually PLAY the game, as you were dying to get to the next cinematic and find out what happened next... ZONE OF THE ENDERS 2 has much the same effect on me.

The reason I was prompted to post this trailer is because... it's amazingly good, and totally reminded me how much I loved this game and wanted to finally own it. The fasted paced music, the stunning, and epic, visuals, and the urgency in the plot... it's engrossing.

I really like the depth of the mythology of ZONE OF THE ENDERS as well; which is shocking for a game that Kojima-San worked on as a side project between METAL GEAR's; an epic, hard sci-fi, world of political strife, philosophical musings, and high-energy drama and romance.

Set in the not to distance future, Man has moved out into the solar system and unearthed a powerful force deep in space; Metatron, an ancient technology closer to magic than anything else in existance. Metatron is used to power special Orbital Frames, which become the center of a massive conflict between the Earth Federation and the outer colony armies of Bahram, which have a foothold on Jupiter and Mars.

The first game involves a young boy named Leo Stienbeck, who comes across a mysterious Orbital Frame called Jehuty during a Bahram offensive that kills his parents and almost kills him and a young girl he likes. Having no choice he stumbles into Jehuty and this puts him at odds with Bahram, which wants to recover the Orbital Frame at all costs.

To be honest, I've never played the first game... I don't like the 3D cinematics they used, as they're very early on in the Playstations evolution and look awkward and clunky... surprisingly, even compared to the in game models and animation! The story is intriguing, and the gameplay was supposed to be pretty inspiring for it's time, but by the time I'd gotten interested in the series, ZONE OF THE ENDERS 2 had come out, and by all accounts at the time, was vastly superior, and in fact, somewhat revolutionary, as it was the first game engine to be able to hand multiple enemies on the screen at the same time without any slowdown; combat was fast paced and epic, forcing you to battle up to 40 enemies at any given time, as enemy robots swarmed around you like locusts.

ZONE OF THE ENDERS 2 expanded on the mythology, as the story moved onto an older protagonist named Dingo Egret, a salvage miner on Mars, who discovers the remains of Jehuty, who was apparently abandoned by Leo at the end of the first game, during a Bahram sneak attack. Injured and dying, Jehuty uses Metatron to resurrect Dingo, but his survival now depends completely on Jehuty, and he's trapped inside the robot, and forcibly implicated in a massive conspiracy perpetrated by Bahram to use Metatron to activate a massive, ancient weapon; Auhman, a super-massive fortress with unlimited destructive capabilities, and use it to destroy the Earth and game independence for the outer colonies.

ZONE OF THE ENDERS 2 sees the return of most of the characters from the first game, weaving them into the story, giving it depth and history. Beyond that, the anime tie-in ZONE OF THE ENDERS: DOLORES, I; which I actually really enjoyed and found to be a refreshing departure from anime convention, as it featured a fun, but mature and involved, hard sci-fi story with a middle aged, caucasian, protagonist, and a series of references to North American action movies (there's an actual episode that is basically anime DIE-HARD); also helped to expand the mythology, as it took place simultaneously before and between the first and second games, and had two characters cross over; Viola and Nohman.

So, yeah, I hope people enjoy the trailer as much as I do, and I cannot wait for the game to arrive in the mail!

EVANGELION 2.0: You Can [NOT] Advance

DID YOU CUM IN YOUR PANTS YET, NERDS!?!

I really love the new score for the EVA movies... each one gets a little more Gregorian and epic. I'm doing a complete 180 on my 1999 opinions of EVA, and going on record as saying I love this shit... Emo-bullshit and all. It's very 90's... all they need is for Shinji to lament how music died with Kurt Cobain, and it'd be the voice of a generation of sad teenagers all grown up; tears streaming down their pale cheeks. This is the only sadgasm I can stomach. Super fucking excited... I hope the next movie gets a theatrical release here as well. ^_^

ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION: On a Related Note...

Another stupid link-blog...

This is the opening to Mega Man 8, and it pretty much sums up everything that I ever wanted to see in a Mega Man anime... GOD I wish someone would make that show! GRRRRRR! SO FRUSTRATING!

Even for J-Pop, this song sounds pretty good to me... just the right amount of cheese and drama, and a decent beat. Sort of a rock throwback to the ASTRO BOY theme song.

Also, possibly the best fan-created Mega Man themed comics I've ever read; this guy is a HUGE Mega Man nerd, and has an especially big hard-on for Fire Man: http://www.dzarchive.com/iragination/comics/

ANIME INVASION THIS SEPTEMBER: Worth it?

This September sees two movies based on anime that have found success in North America getting a limited engagement in theaters: one night only. They are:

EUREKA SEVEN: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers



and,

EVANGELION 1.0: You are [NOT] Alone



Now, I get EVANGELION, Gainax Studio's Golden Cash Cow, which is pretty universally worshiped by nerds the world over as the definitive gateway to anime fandom. Whether or no you understand it's complex and adult plot, it's philosophical musings, or it'd delving into psuedo-Jewish mystism, it's stands as one of those things that people seem to just have an experience watching; wowed by the visuals, shocked by the content, and challenged by the plot. Plus, with FUNIMATION being the MICROSOFT of anime these days, it's not surprising they'd want to get some more widespread exposure for what will probably be their biggest money-maker for now and probably for years to come.

EUREKA SEVEN on the other hand I understand a little less. It was popular when it was on, but I don't really think it was a breakout success for either YTV or CARTOON NETWORK, as YTV has pretty much marginalized it's block of prime-time adult oriented anime programing (I think BIONIX is now on at 1:00-3:00 am Saturday nights or something, whereas it was formerly their Friday Night nerd grabbing ratings machine), which leads me to believe that it was to costly to license those shows with very little ratings payoff. As for how it did on DVD I can't say; I don't really follow the industry that closely. The only sure-fire way I know to just a shows success in North America is by seeing how many people cosplay as characters from that show at ANIME NORTH; the answer being very few. Add to that that BANDAI is not nearly the industry giant it was before, having less new material coming out as compared to FUNIMATION, and with less consistency (from personal experience, 9 out of 10 releases, of late, have seen some sort of delay or re-solicitation). But, then, that may explain why they'd put the effort into getting exposure for a movie tied into a series that probably did ok for them a few years ago; problem is that I don't think the modern anime-nerd's memory is that long.

I'm also suspect as to how well similar releases in past years have worked out for other companies such as VIZ or MANGA CORPS. NARUTO rakes it in hand over fist for VIZ on a nearly daily basis, but how many sales did their one day screening of CLASH IN THE LAND OF ICE AND SNOW,or the BLEACH movie MEMORIES OF NOBODY really generate? I'm fairly certain that the little attended screening of KARAS that Jerry and I attended (and which was super-awesome by the by) didn't generate many sales for MANGA CORPS... outside of me that is.

So I guess my question is: does this work? Aside from Miyazaki movies, wide release anime has never really been all that successful without some kind of successful franchise tie-in. POKEMON go four wide releases before the diminishing returns killed it, as did DIGIMON (awesome and totally superior to POKEMON as a series and standalone movie in every way) and YU-GI-OH (a guilty pleasure of mine), while STEAMBOY and PAPRIKA, while garnering critical acclaim (STEAMBOY was a full house at TIFF the year I saw it, and PAPRIKA is at 82% positive on ROTTENTOMATOES), went mostly unnoticed.

My theory is that if the end result is that it sells a lot of DVD's, that's all that matters; but if no one goes to see it, how many DVD's does it really sell, especially in the modern age of internet thievery and fan-entitlement gone wild? In that case, is it still worth it?

At any rate, I'm excited about getting the chance to see either EUREKA SEVEN or EVAGELION on the big screen, but I don't think that either will be successful enough to achieve my dream of seeing popular anime getting wide releases in North American theaters.

MARVEL ANIME TRAILERS

I stumbled up these just a few minutes ago and totally blew my nerd-wad up in this bitch!



The WOLVERINE trailer is... fucking confusing. Either they're adapting that shitty DEL REY "manga", or they never bothered to read a WOLVERINE book. I have a strong suspicion that Wolverine will, at some point, make out with Sabertooth, thus releasing years of built up sexual tension and titilating both 12-year old yaoi obsessed fangirls, and homosexual comic store managers (you know who you are).

Seriously, though, Wolverine is a beautiful, beautiful, man in this trailer, and it's weirding me out. He's, like, 7 feet tall, has no body hair, and is totally not Canadian. It may as well just NOT be Wolverine. I can't tell is I'm being a fanboy asshole for nit-picking on what a confoundingly off model adaptation this looks to be, or if I have the right to be a little peeved that they seem to have totally missed the mark here.

The animation is beautiful though.



IRON MAN, on the other hand, looks SICK AS FUCK. That is EXACTLY what you both want and expect from the anime version of Iron Man... cool ass robots, shit exploding, and guys being rocket punched through the Tokyo Tower! BOOSH! Nerd-wad exploded. I heard tell that this was going to be a 26 episode series, which totally has me excited, and unlike the WOLVERINE trailer, while they obviously took some liberties, I think the premise of Iron Man actually sort of appeals to the Japanese storytelling sensiblities and remains mostly intact. Same but different is totally the way to go with a project like this, combining the best of both worlds and making something that has broad appeal on both sides of the planet.

On an unrelated note, I've also starte watching the French produced, CGI animated, IRON MAN: ARMORED ADVENTURES, and it's actually really good. The animation is really nice, the storytelling is smart and mature without going so adult as to alienate the younger audience, and some of the design stuff is fucking amazing... he has an EVANGELION LAUNCH TUBE! Awesome. I don't know how IRON MAN went from being a B-Grade comic book hero to MARVEL's top media property (*cough* Robert Downey JR *cough*), but he's beating the FUCK out of media cross-promotion.

On a related note...

PLANET HULK: The Movie



I'm totally excited, as MARVEL has finally been getting their animation game together since HULK/WOLVERINE/THOR, which was awesome, and PLANET HULK is the best HULK story I've probably ever read... it's HULK as CONAN. Awesome monsters, gladiator fights, giant robots, incredible violence, drama, romance, a strong character arc... PLANET HULK has fucking EVERYTHING.

My only complaint is with the Hulk design... why is he so tiny and so pretty? That's a little weak. Other than that, I'm totally exited.

Some Nerd Shit to Ponder...

I've been busy slowly disassembling and then slowly reassembling my life as I moved into my Condo. It took me about a month and a half to move, and then another move to get sorta-settled (I'm not completely settled yet... still have to paint the apartment before I can finally unpack everything and actually HAVE a bedroom and free access to all my shit (which is currently still in boxes).

Anyways, I'm going to try and get my focus back and start posting more regularly and about shit that's actually, you know, significant (which is questionable when applied to the stuff that interests me). So I'm going to start by wading in the shallow end and just highlighting some nerd stuff of interest.



GI JOE RESOLUTE. Anime-looking webisodes written by Warren Ellis. 10 in total (five minutes each, with the last one being 10 minutes), which will air as a full movie on Teletoon Friday April 24th at 11:15pm. It's VERY Warren Ellis-y... straight talking dialouge, crazy future-science babble, particle cannons, and two guys die in the first 2 minutes.



The opening from the new (2009) ANN OF GREEN GABLES anime. I has this great '80's TVO Edu-Anime feel to it. It's the sort of thing that the CBC would be smart to try and pick up, but never would. The Japanese love the SHIT out of GREEN GABLES, yo.



T28 (aka TETSUJIN 28 aka GIGANTOR) CGI movie produced by IMAGI, the guys that went bankrupt trying to make ASTROBOY and GATCHAMAN... I actually don't know anything about this aside from the sick looking trailer; like when or even IF it's coming out, but MAN does this trailer look SWEET. These guys have made THREE movie I'd give my left nut to see, and I don't have any idea if ANY of them are coming out. -_-



9, the crazy Tim Burton, Tim Russianlastname, creepy CGI kids/action movie about little toy-guys made out of burlap sacks fighting to survive in a killer-robot-ridden post Apocalyptic world... sort of like LITTLE BIG PLANET without any humor. This looks fucking CRAZY. I can't wait for September, and then 3-4 month's after that for the DVD.



And finally, something that Kiza (my ex-roommate) has gotten me into; GUNDAM MS IGLOO. Japan has finally gotten it's shit together when it comes to CGI animation, and produced one of the most detailed, well designed, and well animated CGI series I've ever seen in MS IGLOO. Not only that, but it's one of the only GUNDAM series I've actually been seriously interested in, and really showcases why the series has been steadily popular for 25+ years. The humanity, the drama, the contemplative nature of the narrative, and it's examination of the philosophy and motivations of soldiers; it's just compelling stuff. Add to that the no-nonsense realistic robot warfare action, and you have something that's truely unique to Japan, but also has universal appeal outside it.

This particular episode is my favorite of the series so far; The Gravity Front. The great thing about this particular series, as opposed to the first MS IGLOO series which had a serialized narrative, is that it's made up of stand alone episodes that you can freely walk into without having seen any of GUNDAM at all. This episode is about a group of Earth Federation 'Zaku-Hunters', a tank unit that specializes in fighting the Duchary of Zeon's mobile suits, and in particular the unit's leader, a man haunted by visions of a Death God, with a powerful grudge against one particular White Zaku, who cost him his leg. The story is basically MOBY DICK with giant fucking robots, which is the only real way you could made MOBY DICK any better!

Anyways, it's worth a watch if you've never seen any GUNDAM before, but wondered why it was such a big deal to the Japanese.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5iCpa5t0kE
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDiwDTMmLWE
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK4SCvU3Amo


Anyways, just though you might be interested in some of this shit...

"YO! SON GOKU AND HIS FRIENDS RETURN" (Thank you Nadia Oxford)

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Because I remain as if a small child inside, I present to you Toriyama's new DRAGONBALL OVA. Thanks to Nadia Oxford (AKA Mumbling Kitsune) for alerting me to it through her column on the unfortunately shitty new ANIMEONDVD site (sorry... Mania fucked it up. It used to be much better).

While this probably won't register on many peoples radars as being anything all that signifigant, as it's sort of a fluffy filler story, it's a nice bit of oldschool anime fun. Basically, there's a big party and everyone's invited in an almost Perez-esque character-wad, which is interupted by Vegeta's long lost loser brother, Tarble, who was exiled long ago for being an embarassing wuss. He crashes onto Earth with his ridiculous looking Pac-Wife and pleads for his big brother's help in beating up some Freeza-Level Space-Jerks. Goku and the gang, hungry for some action as they haven't put the boots to some kind of God-Like Cosmic Menace for almost two long years, argue about who will handle this new menace. After drawing radish straws, it's decided that these new alien threats will be deligated to the children, who need training anyways. Hilarity and property damage ensue.

As much as I love the episodes of DRAGONBALL where stuff gets blowed up, my favorite episodes were actually ones like this, were you get to see these characters completely out of their regular context. My absolute FAVORITE episode of DRAGONBALL is actually a filler episode, which was never in the manga, but could easily have fit in with Toriyama's brand of nonsensical pratfall humor, is the one where Chi-Chi forces Goku to go get his Drivers License, and Picollo decides to challenge him to a Drivers License-off, which almost destroys and entire city, and totals their respective cars. This episode is more up that alley, which is one of the strengths of DRAGONBALL that has made it an endearing fan favorite for the past 25+ years; the frictionless marriage of over-the-top martial arts action with ridiculous prat-fall comedy.

So while this episode doesn't really come off as being all that significant in terms of giving content starved DRAGONBALL fans any sort of closure post-series closing (DRAGONBALL has one of those typical shonen manga, "And they had adventures FOREVER" endings that's not actually an ending), it is a fun, nice looking, diversion that reminds one of why they liked this series in the first place, and why they still like it.

CASSHERN SINS: RETURN OF A HERO?

I was fucking around on YOUTUBE when I stumbled upon this... the trailer for the new CASSHERN series (the first episode of which I have watched). I wish this trailer was a little better so as to visually express how awesome this is to me, but it's a pretty short teaser.

CASSHERN: SINS is a... unbelievably bleak revisualization of the classic 70's anime series, about a young man who becomes a cyborg hero that battles robots that have become self aware thanks to his father, and go to war with humanity. SINS recasts Casshern not as humanities savior as in previous incarnations, and not as a cyborg, but rather as an android mercenary in service of Blaiking Boss (aka The Black King from the previous series), who is assigned to kill Luna, humanities savior, which he succeeds in doing... only to bring about the end of the world. 100 years later, the Earth's enviroment is hostile to both humans and robots alike; the air is poisonous to humans, and corrosive to robots. Humans are all but extinct, and robots are in constant disrepair, having taken to cannibalizing each other for parts. It is now that Casshern, the destroyer of the world, returns, with no memory of what he has done, or where he has been for the past 100 years. Now, in this dark and violent world, all he can do is seek the truth behind his existance, and redemption for his sins.

It's hard to really get an impression of what this series as a whole is going to be like from the first episode... especially if you're already a fan familiar with the previous incarnations of Casshern; that first 5 seconds of Casshern telling Luna he going to kill her is pretty shocking. The fact that the crux of the show is the mystery of what has happened to the world and Casshern's amnesia also leaves your head spinning, as everything is a mystery yet to be solved. All you really get out of the first episode is some amazing fucking action, and an overwhelmingly BLEAK atmosphere. Soooooooooo bleak.

At any rate... I'm in for the long haul. This is the kind of anime I live for... slick animation, cool character designs, awesome robot murdering action, and a conflicted hero more monsterous and violent than his enemies.

I should really write a thesis on the difference between the Japanese idea of what a superhero is VS the North American idea of what a superhero is...

At any rate, here are some clips of the previous incarnations of this robot killing franchise.


SHINZO-NINGEN CASSHERN (Neo-Human Casshern), circa 1973. Unfortunately, beyond this excellent opening, I have absolutely no nostalgia for this show, as it was never licensed in North America. But I've got to say... for 1973, this is a pretty tight looking show. Casshern, even from his inception, has one of the best characters designs I've ever seen; even 35 years later he can still rock that collar, and the helmet/facemask combo is pretty sick, even moreso in that the facemask opens and retracts, allowing him to have expression when not in "MUST KILL ROBOTS" mode. Frankly, the initial setup for the show of a post apocalyptic world where rogue AI's subjugate humanity, and their savior is a cyborg that violently rips them in half, is pretty intense for the 70's. I also like the very 70's anime idea of having a mechanical dog that transforms into a plane and breaths fire and is named "Frienda." Oh, and his mom was a mechanical Swan. ANIME!



I don't know why this opening was never included when this OVA was released over here. Probably because it didn't have an awesome theme song, like the original 70's show (complete with children's choir in the background). This OVA was actually one of the first anime I ever saw, back when SCI-FI Channel was still doing SATURDAY ANIME, in the mid 90's, and was directed by Umetsu Yasuomi, who is still one of my favorite directors/character designers. Casshern gets a pretty sick redesign, which keeps pretty close to the all but perfect original design, as do all the other characters. Having never seen the original show, I can't tell you how faithful a revamp this was, but I have a felling they pretty much stayed true to the original, but condensed the entire thing into an easily digestible 4 episode OVA. Some seriously sick robot killings, and one of the best final battles in all of final battles (though it still doesn't beat the end of NINJA SCROLL).



This is actually probably the only part of this movie you need to see... it was a FUCKING MESS. It was beautiful to watch, and one of the more ambitious Japanese films to be made, no doubt, but that just makes it a beautiful FUCKING MESS. Seriously, I just did not get what it was about. They took a simple, hard to fuck up concept, of a kid inheriting a horrible legacy from his father, forcing him to sacrifice his humanity to become a robot murdering cyborg hero, and they turned it into some psuedo-arty pile of shit. But the above action sequence, where Casshern tears apart an entire robot army by himself? WORTH IT. Just not the rest of this steaming pile.

As an added bonus...



HURRICANE POLYMAR! Also directed by Umetsu Yasuomi, it's probably one of my favorite anime ever... I wish I had it on DVD, so I could rewatch it OVER and OVER and OVER. It was this nice blend of violent superhero action and SCOOBY DOO-ish humor. Plus it has one of the best lines ever, "Cat-Sharks WILL die, and Hurricane Polymar will kill them!" Said completely without irony. AWESOME.

MY FIVE FAVORITE ANIME AND MANGA: THE CHRIS BUTCHER CHALLENGE

Internet celebrity, local comics retailer, and BFF Chris Butcher Facebook challenged me to blog about my five favorite anime and manga... which is no easy task.

I have watched... a LOT of anime. And I have read... a LOT of manga. On and Offline, printed or scanlated, legitimate and bootlegged (that's a whole other blog post). Admittedly, not all of it is great, and not all of it is good, but it's still a LOT of manga/anime to try and quantify. But I will try...

---

MY TOP FIVE MANGA (In no Particular Order)

I'm not going to try and put these in any sort of order... I can't specially say there is any one of ANYTHING that I love definatively more than anything else, so I'm just putting these down in the order that they come to me.

1> SOLANIN by Inio Asano

This is actually a pretty recent favorite, and I've been meaning to get around to doing a review of it on it's own, but it's pretty safe to say that SOLANIN is probably going to remain one in my top five for years to come... or, at least, until someone licenses more of Asano's work in North America (NIJIGAHARA HOLOGRAPH and GOODNIGHT PUN-PUN are pretty amazing in their own right). There are many things I like about SOLANIN that give it greatness in my eyes... I like that it's a complete story (especially given the way that VIZ decided to collect both volumes into one giant tome), I like Asano's atypical, intricately detailed, art style (particularly his use of computer effects and lighting), I like his sensitive storytelling, and his offbeat sense of humor.

But that really stands out about his work is how contemporary and accessible it is; moreso than any other manga I've ever read, this is something that really bypasses the culture gap and speaks to things that everyone can understand. It's still set in Japan, and about Japanese characters, and has Japanese cultural references, but it's not done in a way that's so dense and alien that it would be off putting to someone that isn't familiar with manga. It's much close to an alternative graphic novel or an indie movie in it's tone and setting. The closest thing I can liken it to is SCOTT PILGRIM; a story about a group of 20 somethings on the edge of adulthood, dealing with their fears and aniexties about growing up.

SOLANIN really spoke to something in me when I read it, and though it's only been a week, it still stands out as something GREAT to me, and I hold it near and dear to my heart, and probably will for years to come.

2> BATTLE ANGEL ALITA: LAST ORDER by Yukito Kishiro

Ha ha ha... I'm not sure this is a controversial addition to a "TOP FIVE" list, as it's could be considered a pretty basic shonen manga... and a psuedo-sequel at that... but BATTLE ANGEL ALITA: LAST ORDER is fantastic to me. Kishiro's art is at it's best, with years of experience and experimentation behind him, and his storytelling equally as honed and matured, he takes characters that I had a fondness for, goes back and successfully reimagines and reinterprets them. I love the way he mixes character development, psychology, and philosophy, with kinetic martial arts action and well researched sci-fi/space opera. BATTLE ANGEL ALITA: LAST ORDER, to me, takes what started out as a pretty standard, only slightly above average, shonen sci-fi/action fantasy manga, and elevates it to something truely original and special.

3> KUROSAGI CORPSE DELIVERY SERVICE Eiji Otsuka and Housui Yamazaki

KUROSAGI CORPSE DELIVERY SERVICE is something that's a little tricky for me to quantify. It's a book that differs hugely in tone and texture from chapter to chapter, and is more episodic than most manga tend to be, though there is a more serialized story taking place in the background. At times it's can be grim and gorey, at others darkly comedic and offbeat. Whenver I'm asked what it's about by people I tell them, "It's SCOOBY DOO for adults." Short, episodic, offbeat mysteries solved by a group of entertaining and diverse 20 somethings just out of college. Much like SOLANIN one of the things that makes it so appealing to me is it's contemporary setting and how that somehow translates into greater accessability across cultural barriers to me. Something about more modern and comtemporary portrayals of Japanese youth culture really bridges that gap (possibly the greater influence of North American culture in modern day Japan, or possibly in that all young people generally have the same fears and concerns about the final crossing into adulthood?). Either way, every single chapter either intrigues and draws me in with it's perfectly paced storytelling, well researched themes, and original spin on a concept (my favorite remains the insurance adjuster that kills people with probablility), or it's offbeat and dark sense of humor. It also helps that the art is appealing and expressive.

4> PLUTO by Naoki Urasawa

This was actually pretty tough... Naoki Urasawa is probably one of my favorite mangaka, period, and there are MANY titles of his that I find astonishly good (HAPPY, MONSTER, 20th CENTURY BOYS), but if asked which of his series I like the most, I think I can definatively say that PLUTO is at that top of that list.

Now, most all of Naoki Urasawa's works I've read share a certain storytelling aesthetic that has become almost a formula; a small story that slowly grows into a huge conspiracy, with each chapter ending on a bigger and bigger cliffhanger to keep you constantly hungry for the next chapter. And PLUTO is no different from MONSTER or 20th CENTURY BOYS in that respect. Where it does differ though, and thus, what draws me in, is that PLUTO can almost be considered a proffessional fan-wank, as it's based on the story THE WORLD'S STRONGEST ROBOT by manga great, Osamu Tezuka, and features one of the World's most beloved fictional characters, my childhood hero: ASTRO BOY (Tetsuwan Atom).

It's not just that this is a darkly modern retelling of a classic story made to reflect modern day values and real world happenings; it's how obvious from the way the story is presented that Naoki Urasawa is himself a fan. There's a sense of reverence for the material and characters that can be felt on each page; the way he takes pleasure in teasing you with callbacks to the original story, and the quietly grandiose relish he takes in revealing a beloved character (in the first chapter he appears in, Atom is shown on a single full page spread with no dialouge, illustrating the impact that his appearance should have the audience, as it's what everyone has been waiting for).

The power of PLUTO for me is in that, not only is it an intellectually engaging exercise like Urasawa's other works, with beautiful, detailed art, expressive cartooning, and clear, precise, storytelling, but it's also a love letter to something that was important to him as a child, and because of that, it takes me back to that place I was at as a child, were I didn't just dream of being a hero, I dreamed of being a ROBOT hero, and friend of humanity. Though a dark and gritty, adult thriller, PLUTO is about to magically transport me back to a time when my eyes were wide with excitement, and my heart was open.


5> ??? Undetermined

Given that I only have one spot left, it's become incredibly difficult to narrow it down to any one manga... do I give this final spot to DRAGON HEAD, with it's compelling storytelling, and it's bleak world view? Or would I risk alienating PLANETES, with it's deft characterization, and philosophical examination of the human spirit? What about PARASYTE, with it's dark humor and engaging outsiders view of human nature? Or BERSERK, with it's peotic fusion of romance, philosophy, and graphic violence? What about ONE PIECE, which never fails to put a smile on my face? Or GENSHIKEN, with whose characters I can really identify with? GANTZ, EDEN, SUIKODEN III, PILGRIM JAGER, CLAYMORE... the list goes on. I guess I can only really have a top four if I can't narrow it down any more than this.

Ask me again in another year.

TOP 10 ANIME (In no Particular Order)

1> COWBOY BEBOP



Do I really even need to explain? COWBOY BEBOP was, by no means, the first anime I ever watched, or the first one I really liked... but it's still one of, if not THE, best. Brilliantly directed, with great art, great animation, and great writing. With it's offbeat humor, mature storytelling, memorable characters, and shocking ending, I never seem to get tired of watching it, and can always go back.

2> LUPIN THE III: CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO



Hyao Miyazaki could probably be considered his own catagory, in which I could quantify and definatively rank my favorite Miyazaki films in order, but as a stand alone, CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO is one of my favorite animated films ever because it gives you the contemplative and immaculate storytelling of a Miyazaki film, with the chaotic fun and daring do of Japan's favorite anti-hero, Lupin the III, my favorite anime/manga character of all time. Lupin is just a great character. He's fun and charismatic... at times a righteous hero, and at others a righteous bastard, but at no point can you NOT like him. CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO is just a wonderful film on all fronts, featuring a wonderful character.

Oh, and to be even more specific... it's go to be the STREAMLINE dub. Anything else is unacceptable to me.

3> MILLENIUM ACTRESS



Speaking of animation directors that could really have their own catagory, SATOSHI KON. Yeah, he could probably be considered the next Miyazaki in a way; a wholey original and insanely prolific film maker. Of his films, all of which I love, I have to say that MILLENIUM ACTRESS is probably my favorite. What makes it my favorite? I'll be honest... I'm just being completely arbitrary here... it's one of the only films to make me actually shed tears. And that's a very short list (three of them are also animated. :B). I chalk it up as a testiment to Kon's ability to make something so beautiful it's actually able to move my cold, robotic, heart with genuine emotion. All of his films and great and fill me with wonder, but this one actually moved me.

4> GIANT ROBO: THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL



EPIC. GIANT ROBO is just... isanely epic. It's so grandiose, with it's massive symphonic score, breakneck pace, and mind bending visuals (the Eifel Tower twisted and snarled, as Paris is riped apart as a choir cries, "DIESE IRADE!", and the Eye of Volger looks impassionately overhead). Heroic sacrafice, tragic deaths, savage betrayals, hidden agendas, family secrets, heroic destinies; GIANT ROBO has fucking EVERYTHING. It's just insane, frantic, pulpy, fun and excitement, and I just keep going back for me and more.

5> AKIRA



There's actually a whole lot of stuff I can put on this list, but I do actually have 5 things that edge out just about everything else in the world, and AKIRA is one of them. AKIRA is something I saw very early on in my early exploration of anime, back when all that was available to me was VHS recordings I had my aunt and uncle make when they had a US Satellite. WAAAAAAY back when the SCI-FI Channel was doing SATURDAY ANIME. Yeah it was cut and yeah it was censored for languege, but that didn't affect my fasination with this movie, and the subsequent fasination it sparked for more of it's like and for the culture that spawned it.

The detail in the art, the audacity and ambition of the animation, and just how fucking COOL psychic power battle could be... it was unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and is unmatched to this day in a number of respects... even by it's own creator. AKIRA is a very tough act to follow.

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Game set and MATCH, Butcher.

ANIME OPENINGS FROM SHOWS THAT I LIKE (Part 1)

Seraphicgate was lamenting the lack of good anime lately, and I was going to do a long list of shows that I've liked... but it would have taken a long time to properly describe them. So, instead, I've decided to find the openings, and then do a little description, and let the shows sell themselves.

PARANOIA AGENT



See review below. I love this opening... it so simple, the the contrast of the upbeat song and the creepy image of characters laughing at you while floating, dreamlike, through various backgrounds, fucks my shit up.

BERSERK



Also, the opening form the AWESOME looking PS2 game... SWORD OF THE BERSERK was probably my favorite Dreamcast game of all time, and Zodd was proabably the most frustrating Boss of any game EVER.

BERSERK is one of the best anime and manga I've ever seen. It's an odd cross between shonen ultraviolence and poetic romance, about a man who continually defies fate, even as another man is swallowed up by it. I also like the fantasy world it inhabits where magic and monsters seem to be on the cusp of disappearing from the world and becoming epherial legend. Gattsu (Guts, Gatts, whatever pronounciation) is one of the most bad ass, and most complicated, characters I've ever encountered

GENERATOR GAWL



This is actually one of the few anime that I recomend the dub specifically, as the dub signifigantly deviates from the sub script to create something unique, contemporary, and way more accessible and original than the original script. It's a great take on the Japanese idea of what a superhero is. I... LOVE the Transforming Hero genre, and the idea of transformation itself fansinates me... particularly as portrayed in GAWL. The idea that becoming is hero is painful and that there is a lose of control and humanity. The portrayal of a hero that is as monsterous and frightening as the creatures he fights... is awesome to me.

Also, this theme song has been on my MP3 player for 4 YEARS.

NOIEN TO YOUR OTHER SELF



One of the more innovative, original, and contemporary shows that's come out... uuuuuuuh... EVER. You could almost swear it was written by Warren Ellis, as a huge part of the shows premise deals with Quantum Theory and it's practical application. NOIEN also has one of the better female protagonists I've seen in any show, as Haruka, while having no outwardly physical power of her own with which to fight, is never, at any point in the series, helpless. In fact, she's probably the strongest character in the show, as she's the only one that proactively deals with her problems, and solves her own disfunctions, while all her friends are crippled by them.

INFINITE RYVIUS



This show was basically LORD OF THE FLIES in space. It was this really clever and serious hard sci-fi show about a large group of kids that get abandoned in space after a terrorist attack kills all their adult supervisors and leaves them on the run from an unknown enemy. Soon society starts to break down as the kids are forced to grow up too fast. Hard choices are made, and not a single character is unleft emotionally unscarred, as everyone slowly loses their minds giving into peer pressure, emotional pressure, and external pressure. One of my favorite parts of the show is how they stress how ridiculous the concept of a giant humanoid robot would be, and how space battles would be nothing like in anime, but would actually be really show, tedious, and involve a lot of math.

REIGN THE CONQUEROR



A really odd take on real life historical figure Alexander the Great (ALEXANDER SENKI in Japan), this paticular version combines historical fact with outlandish fantasy, creating a hybrid the likes of which has never been seen before. If nothing else, I just LOVE Peter Chung's (AEON FLUX) art direction and character designs... the guy has a style that no one else in the world has. I liked the portrayal of Aristole as a manipulative villian, and Plato as a genius that figured out Quantum Theory and transcended humanity after creating a Quantum Computer called the Platohedron, and how it's Alexanders ability to subconciously control the Platohedron that allowed him to conquer half the world by manipulating fate in his favor. It's all very weird and abstract and very AEON FLUX-y.

WITCH HUNTER ROBIN



The thing I liked about this show was that it was sort of a combination of ANGEL and BUFFY, but only the good elements of both... a weird hybrid of supernatural thriller and 80's detective drama. The art direction was also pretty excellent, and I like the character designs a lot. Also, I like the shows one homosexual character (or, at least, the english dub directors decision to cast it that way), which was very true to what it's like to be a closeted homosexual in Japan (it's alright as long as you're married and have a kid that grows up to resent you). The show is full of twists and turns, betrayal, double crosses, and everyone in the show is pretty intelligent and on the balls. It's a smart and mature show that doesn't need to resort of excessive sex or violence to be smart and mature.

I find this opening very much gives you a good idea of the emotional spectrum that the show covers, showing Robin's pain and longing, but also her lighter side in the final seconds, with a quick montage of her being a cute, but eccentric, teenage girl.

ERGO PROXY



I actually went with the trailer instead of the opening, as the show is way to complicated for me to express in a short period without spoilers, and the opening doesn't give much of a hint as to what the shows about, or how FUCKING GOOD it is. ERGO PROXY is one of the overall BEST anime I've ever seen... it's this weird, dark, gothic, Euro-sci-fi story by the same director as WITCH HUNTER ROBIN (which explains why it features another strong, goth-girl, protagonist). As mature and dark as the show is, though, it also has a really odd, black, sense of humor about it, which plays heavily into two episodes... a clip show which is structured like a cheezy game show, but the stakes are nuclear armaggedon if the main characters can't remember or figure out what it is that been going on for the past 13 episodes; and another episode where they encounter a Disney like figure that has Godlike power over the world he's created for himself. The series also has one of the more truly adorable characters I've ever seen in Pina, a cute psuedo-sentient robot girl who is SO ADORABLE that it actually becomes creepy.

.HACK//Sign



This show has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard, period...

I don't usually go for dialouge heavy anime like .HACK//Sign, but the shows so complicated and character driven, I found it really engrossing, and the direction, along with the way they used the aforementioned excellent soundtrack, manages to have every episode build and build, until it's nearly a dirvish of action and emotion, and then ends on a huge cliffhanger. I also like the idea behind the show of people interacting solely through the RPG setting of THE WORLD, and the background elements of the world using humans as part of a larger program to create a perfect AI through the observation of human interation on a massive scale, and the idea of the program in charge of nurturing that AI trying to emotionally cripple it by trapping an emo-kid in the program (Tsukasa is sooooooooo fucking emo... but with good reason, as you slowly find out through the creepy flashbacks to his/her life outside the game). The only weakness that the show has is that it's part of a franchise, and thus you don't get the full effect until you play the games... which I just don't have the patience for. The show itself is mostly self contained, as long as you don't give a fuck about what happens to Aura or Morganna... which I really didn't.

That's all for now... I'll do more some other day.

PARANOIA AGENT: Satoshi Kon... WHY ARE YOU SO GOOD!?!

I have to give it to ADULT SWIM... they sure know how to cut a trailer.

I'm actually a little ashamed to admit that, despite being a huge fan of Satoshi Kon's works (all of which I own now... he's the only director who's movies I will sit through subtitled). PERFECT BLUE, MILLENIUM ACTRESS, TOKYO GODFATHERS, and most recently, PAPRIKA... all of them are probably among some of the greatest examples of why you should RESPECT anime as a valid and mature storytelling medium. And Satoshi Kon is one of those rare directors that can use this medium to do more than just make a movie... he makes elevates it to ART.

See... one of the things that's always struck me about Satoshi Kon's films is that they don't actually need to be animated. Especially TOKYO GODFATHERS, which didn't even have Kon's usual themes of fantasy, unreality, and psychology; there is nothing in that movie that could not have been done in reality. So why animate it? Or any of his films? Almost all of them could just as easily have been done live action, especially in this new age of digital filmaking. Animation is a long, hard, and expensive process by comparison. So why go through the trouble to animate stories that have more in common with low budget indie character studies than high budget escapist fantasy?

Because it's art. Satoshi Kon is a genius not just because he's a master storyteller, but because he's a master animator, who understands how to portray, with either subtlety or exaggeration, the full range of human expression. His observation of motion and emotion is, frankly, astounding, and brings something to his storytelling that an actor might not be able to. That he is an animator means that he doesn't have to direct an unreliable human actor and rely on their performance to get across what he he sees so clearly in his head... he can create what is in his imagination far more clearly and more gracefully than you could ever achieve in reality.

But I digress... the real reason I'm here is to talk about PARANOIA AGENT, which is an interesting experiment for Satoshi Kon; a 13 episode TV show.

PARANOIA AGENT is a series of episodic character studies about people under extreme emotional duress, with a serialized plot in the background connecting everything together, which allows for a more decompressed story arc told through what amounts to a series of short films.

Feeling the pressure of deadlines and peer pressure within her office, designer Tsukiko Sagi walks down a dark and lonely street on her way home. Her paranoia mounts as the darkness begins to close in, and she imagines she's being followed. She runs and falls, relieved that it was only her imagination... only to be attacked from behind by an elementary student wearing in-line roller skates, and carrying a bent, golden baseball bat. This is how the urban myth of violent attacker, Shonen Bat (Bat Boy, or Li'l Slugger in the dub) is born.

The series follows the investigation into the Shonen Bat attacks, as he appears to be attacking people seeming at random, with only a thin thread connecting them. People secret lives and daily pressures are examined, as Shonen Bat's attacks become more prolific and his power grows as he feeds on the paranoia and dark thoughts of society, until he is finally too powerful to be denied.

PARANOIA AGENT is apparently a mish-mash of unused idea's that Satoshi Kon failed to find a place for in his other movies, and investigates some of the same themes; losing oneself in fantasy, multiple personalities at war with each other, abstract idea's becoming reality, the darkness that resides deep within the human heart (the one episode about the child that finds out her father has a secret camera in her room was ESPECIALLY dark)... betrayal, lose, regret, sadness, suicide, insanity, time travel, reality and unreality... there is nowhere Satoshi Kon won't go, and nothing he won't touch.

That's not to say there isn't humor... PARANOIA AGENT is a surprisingly balanced series and can even be considered a black comedy at times. One of my particularly favorite episodes is one about three people that meet on a Suicide BBS and arrange to meet in person so they can all die together. One is an old man, called "Fuyubachi", one is a younger man, called "Zebra", and the last, which is a shock to the other two, is an eight year old girl, called "Kamome." Despite the premise of the story, it's actually one of the more ridiculous, offbeat, and heartwarming episodes, as the two older characters, quite responsibly, try to dodge Kamome, all the while trying to commit suicide themselves (quite incompetently), without involving her. In the end they're brought together even as they try to die. Another element that I like about this episode, which also factors into Satoshi Kon's other works, is his willingness to have homosexual characters and not portray them as offensive stereotypes or comic relief, but as real characters (it's hinted that Zebra is gay, and if you know anything about Japanese society and their treatment of homosexuals, it helps in understand why he'd probably want to commit suicide).

In terms of animation, PARANOIA AGENT probably could not look any better. The art direction, character designs, and animation (expect for one episode, which was more along the lines of what you average TV animation looks like), are all top notch, demonstrating Satoshi Kon's ability to manipulate the atmosphere of an animated show and create an oppressive feeling of paranoia and psyhological terror (particularly in the third episode, about the woman with dissociative personality disorder, which terrifying on an almost Hitchock-ian level). This, combined with the visionary music of Susumu Hirasawa, also creates one of the best anime openings I've ever seen seen... something is simultaneously upbeat and disturbing.

PARANOIA AGENT is what I love about anime... that it has the ability to do things that are challenging and unafraid of tackling themes that would give others pause, but all done in a way that's totally engaging and entertaining... done in a way that draws you in and captures your imagination, creating a immersive world of fantasy. And Satoshi Kon is someone what creates stories about the dangers of immersing yourself in fantasy and escapism... the irony of which is not lost on one who indulges himself regularly in fantasy and escapism.

Black Lagoon - Red Fraction - Mell and My Anime Lamentations

Funimation has finally started releasing all of the GENEON shit that they scooped up when them bought up all the SOJITZ shit that ADV somehow lost, and all the GENEON shit that was just lying around when they went tits up, making Funimation pretty much the Kings of Anime... the OTAKINGS of Anime, even. :B One of the things that I'm actually quite interested in and am relieved to see is BLACK LAGOON: THE SECOND BARRAGE, as I bought and enjoyed the first season of BLACK LAGOON and was pretty pissed that I'd probably never see the second season.

BLACK LAGOON is basically just action pornography, a handy little expression I got from an utterly BRUTAL review of BAD BOYS II I read in the STAR a few years ago. Action Pornography is basically excessive violence and absurdly over the top action scenes (EX: when John McClain kills a helicopter with a car). BLACK LAGOON is aaaaaaaall about the action pornography... and that's GREAT, because that's what anime is supposed to be about. At least... that's why I originally got into anime.

I sort of miss the days of oldschool anime; the days of VAMPIRE HUNTER D cutting guys in half, or Jubei Kibagami stabbing a guy with a fucking log and then leaving him to burn in a wave of melted gold while screaming, "GENMA! BURN IN YOUR GOLDEN HELL!" You just can't see that kind of crazy shit on Saturday morning! And EVERYTHING used to be like that... at least, everything I saw. AKIRA, VAMPIRE HUNTER D, NINJA SCROLL, GHOST IN THE SHELL, SPRIGGAN, DEMON CITY SHINJUKU, IRIA: ZEIRAM THE ANIMATION, FIST OF THE NORTH STAR... crazy, violent, sex filled, exploitive shit that you'd NEVER see over here. The kind of shit that would have made Uncle Walt's anti-semetic head roll back and melt as if he'd just looked into the Arc of the Covenant. I miss those the days when Cat-Sharks would die, and Hurricane Polymar would kill them.

I think that may be part of why I sort of find myself falling out of anime again. It happened when I first moved to Toronto back in 2000 as well, though that was mostly due to financial restraints, it was also because there was just nothing that interested me... and I find it happening again. I'm not really sure it's because my tastes have changed; I still like all the stuff that I liked back when I got into anime in the first place; but that the industry has changed over in Japan, leaning more toward Otaku pleasing, Moe-esque, material; teenage power trip fantasy wank material about having awkward relationships with pre-teen girls in a the fantasy Japan of the 1980's, were people still wear uniforms and dance around their emotions. Where's the GUTS that anime used to have? The take-no-prisoners attitude that wasn't afraid in get in there and fuck things up a bit? Where have the Gattsu's (BERSERK), Kenshiro's (FIST OF THE NORTH STAR), and Jotaro Joestar's (JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE), gone? The by the balls heroes of my young adulthood that would solve their problems definitively by cutting them in fucking half with a ridiculously huge sword, or make their heads explode by punching them a few hundred times?

That's not to say that there hasn't been shows that have met my expectations, or shown a little class; but those have either had an oldschool mentality (like THE THIRD: GIRL WITH THE THIRD BLUE EYE), or have been more contemporary and given a taste of the modern Japan, or shown a wider world view (COWBOY BEBOP, THE BIG O, GIANT ROBO, FLCL, GUNBUSTER II, GENERATOR GAWL, READ or DIE, ERGO PROXY, SAMURAI CHAMPLOO, etc etc) than "Japan, 1985." Fuck, even PRINCESS TUTU managed to be a psychologically deep and fascinatingly original show that took a dismally pedestrian and derivative manga and elevated it to as close to fine art as TV anime can get.

Anyways, at the very least, this lack of good shit to watch is saving me money in the long run. I just miss the magic is all.

That said, BLACK LAGOON is a series I enjoy... there are a lot of obvious homages to various actions movies (one of the secondary characters is obviously based on John Woo, and one storyarc is obviously based on Robert Rodriguez EL MARIACHE franchise) in it's content and the excessive gunplay, horror show violence, and filthy fucking language. There's also a bit of deeper characterization, which is nice, as one character is forced to deal with the fact that she doesn't like the person she's become, while another has to deal with the fact that the world is a much darker, sicker, place than he'd like to believe it is. There's an interesting dynamic as they both simultaneously try to change each other; Rock tries to get Revy to deal with the darkness inside her and open up to the idea that she is allowed to be happy, while Revy tries to get Rock to admit to the harsh realities of the situation and place that he is in, and that there isn't always a silver lining to every dark cloud. The series is both humanitarian and nihilistic at the same time, examining both the bright, and dark, sides of human existence.

Anyways, all of this was brought on by the fact that I am currently obsessed with the theme song from BLACK LAGOON which is called RED FRACTION by a singer named MELL. It's that perfect sort of crass J-Pop that manages to somehow not sound like it came from the 80's, and the awkward English lyrics add a sort of rawness to it. The AMV above is a pretty good example of both the song and the anime. ENJOY.

SPEED RACER: I Get it, But no One Else Does.

I went to see SPEED RACER yesterday with my friends Jerry, Murray, and Carlos, and it was pretty much exactly what I both expected and wanted from the movie... which is why I can understand the intensely negative critism the movies been getting (seriously... 35% at Rotten Tomatoes is a little harsh....), because what I expected and wanted from this movie is vastly different from what your average critic, or even your average movie goer, is looking for.

See... the problem is that SPEED RACER is a PERFECT adaptation of the cartoon. It is EXACTLY like the cartoon in every possible way. Nothing was really done to tone down the 1960's absurdity of the material they were adapting... no effort was made to make this movie darker or more realistic, or in any way more palatable to a 21st Century audience. Characters have names like "Inspector Detector", or "Crusher Block", Racer X is still has an incredibly melodramatic back story, and Spriddle and Chim-Chim are still annoying but somehow endearing. Some of the movie's humor involving Spriddle and his pet monkey was positively groan worthy at times, but obviously appeals to a younger audience (they literally throw monkey poo at a guy... kids LOVE that kind of shit, pun intended). The improbable stunts, the simplistic, "Everything will be ok if I can just win this race..." plot... it's all there.

Everything about this movie was exactly like the cartoon... which is awesome if you've got that prior knowledge. It was actually interesting going with Jerry and Murray, because it perfectly illustrates the divide between someone with an affinity for the original content, and the average movie goer who never watched SPEED RACER, or even any anime at all, and thus just would not "get" a lot of the movie's visual cues, in-jokes, and homages. In the end, Jerry ended up enjoying the movie a lot more than Murray did, and that's exactly how it's going to be for EVERYBODY. This movie is just going to fly right over people heads. Which is too bad, because it was actually pretty entertaining, and I really enjoyed the visual style... my only real critism with the movie is that it starts REALLY slow; especially for a movie about RACING. It took at least 15-20 minutes to get all of the plot setup out of the way and get to the shit you actually came to see... absurd car stunts, ninja's, mobsters, secret identities, cute girls flying helicopters, race-car vikings (YES... VIKINGS), melodrama, speed-lines, and a pounding orchestral (the chimes and harps make it sound very Hanna Barbara) soundtrack. Which this movie delivers in spades. It's a slightly deeper and more complex story than the cartoon (a parable about Big Business VS the Little Guy, corporate politics, and cheaters never prospering), but it still has that childlike sense of focus... "If I can just win this one race, everything will be ok."

Visually, I found the movie went back and forth between looking garish and looking stylish, but I really enjoyed a lot of the anime style wipes and transitions. The cast was perfect, and everyone played their parts to a T (particularly John Goodman, who I always like anyways, but seemed to be really channeling something as Pops Racer). This is a movie that will appeal greatly to children, who will appreciate the bright colors, fast paced action, and monkey-poo humor, and adults with prior knowledge or fond memories of the series, or at least some exposure to oldschool anime, and it's conventions. The only thing this movie really needed was to end on a watercolor still of Speed jumping out of the Mach 5 and taking his iconic pose.

NORTH AMERICAN ANIME

I bought the first half of OBAN STAR RACERS this week, and it was very good. OBAN STAR RACERS is a French/Japanese collaboration that appeared on the DISNEY CHANNEL in the States last year, as part of their JETIX lineup.

OBAN STAR RACERS is about a young girl named Eva, who was abandoned by her father at an oppressive boarding school since she was very young, after the death of her mother. Convinced that he was just to important and busy to visit her, she never blames him for his absence, and runs way from the school one day on a whim to find him. Meanwhile, the President of Earth approaches Eva's father, Don Wei, with a proposition to manage a race team which will represent Earth in an intergalactic race in the Oban System... with the fate of the Earth hanging in the balance should they lose to humanity's enemy, the Krog. Meeting her father again for the first time in years, Eva is shocked to find that he doesn't recognize her at all, but rather than accepting this, she instead stows away on the ship and ends up an unwanted member of the race team, taking on the identity of "Molly."

OBAN STAR RACERS is one of those great shows that appeals to children without pandering... it's a real solid, character driven, story with lots of action, adventure, drama, and emotion; exactly like the shows I used to love when I was a kid (which you don't see much of anymore...). The animation and art direction is pretty spectacular, with a level of cell/CG integration that's pretty unprecedented for TV animation. The backgrounds and the color palette are all bright, well lite, and very detailed, creating a lush, vibrant, world that's appealing to both children and adults. There is a lot of action, but no real violence; just a sense that the danger is real and the stakes are high. My only real complaint with the show is the human character designs having no noses. It works for the aliens, as they're all very weird and diverse looking characters, but the humans sort of look like Lego-Men, and it's a little disorienting when they're standing next to equally nose-less aliens, because they look like aliens too. Still, I can see how that style would appeal to the shows target audience... just not my personal aesthetic (though they have grown on me).

The show deals with various themes such as death, vengeance, bigotry, mourning, dealing with different cultures, mistaken identity, and crossing into adulthood. Much like HE-MAN, back in it's day, there is a moral to most episodes, but unlike HE-MAN, they don't telegraph it; it's subtle and comes from the characters growth. I also like that Eva/Molly is shown as being skilled but inexperienced, and has to work hard and train to become a better pilot, dealing with the frustration of not being immediately good at something... something children can relate to, and a valuable lesson about dedication.

I also like the idea that it's about a race... it's a simple, goal oriented, concept that makes for a lot of drama and allows the writers to raise the stakes by setting up various obstacles like time limits, targets, rankings... there's just a sense of "We HAVE to win!" which keeps the tension high, without having any sort of threat of mortal danger.

I wasn't really sure what to expect, really, as I was just going on how good the trailer looked, but the show lived up to my expectations, and exceeded them for the most part.

What really interests me though is the growing co-operation between North America and the Japanese to produce worthwhile projects specifically aimed at a North American audience, and the positive influence Japanese storytelling and art direction has had on such projects... of course this isn't always a success (GI JOE SIGMA SIX anyone? FOR KIDS messed that right up... by all rights it should have been a hit), but for the most part it's produced some of my favorite shows. One thing to note about these shows though is the differences in their productions.

CYBER-SIX is arguably the first such collaboration, but was more of an international effort: Produced by TELETOON, animated by TMS, and based on a Spanish comic by Carlos Meglia. It did fairly well on TELETOON, but bombed huge on FOX KIDS (which is understandable... it wasn't really made for the 9:00 Saturday time slot, and I'm pretty sure Middle America would be pretty intolerant of a cross dressing Spanish super heroine fighting a former Nazi), which is entirely unfortunate, because it was an amazing show.

AFRO SAMURAI isn't really a true North American/Japanese co-production, I suppose, as it was originally concieved in Japan, for a Japanese audience, and only a series of coincidences got SPIKE TV, Samuel L. Jackson, and the RZA involved. Still, it is something with broad international appeal, and did extraordinarily well over here. Personally, I applaud the support it was given by all the people involved... it was a project that really could have gone terribly wrong, but ended up excellent. I hear they're thinking of doing another season... I hope so!

IGPX: IMMORTAL GRAND PRIX was produced by CARTOON NETWORK in cooperation with Studio IG, and specifically Mitsuru Hongo (OUTLAW STAR), and was a pretty fantastic show, with a pretty high profile dub (Michelle Rodriguez and Lance Herrikson were a real surprise, and Mark Hamill is always amazing), but it performed horribly for some reason, and never found an audience, which is truly tragic. While CARTOON NETWORK had little to no input on the creative process beyond "Make a show about robots racing", it was produced with a North American audience in mind, and thus, I find it more accessible than a lot of anime.

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER is also not a true North American/Japanese co-production, as the Japanese have absolutely nothing to do with it... it's entirely concieved and produced by North American's, but animated in Korea, who really bring their A-Game. But there is an obvious and heavy anime influence, and the thing that makes AVATAR the ratings juggernaut that it is, is that it takes the best of both continents strengths to produce and intelligent, fun, and beautiful looking show the likes of which have no been seen in YEARS. AVATAR is not just the best animated show on TV... it's in the running for the best thing on TV PERIOD.

I'm not entirely show as to how successful OBAN STAR RACERS was for JETIX, or how successful it'll be for SHOUT! (especially given that it didn't air in Canada at ALL, so most people will have no idea what it is), but I am glad to see more and more successful cross culture productions with broad appeal and no need for the cultural shorthand that most anime requires. Most of all... I just want to see more things for children that are actually intelligent and most of all FUN to watch. You just don't see that anymore.