Summer Wars (Mamoru Hosoda, 2009)
Kenji Koiso has his summer vacation all planned out: he and his friend Sakuma have jobs as low-level administrators of OZ, a massive online social network used by a billion people around the world, and they’ll be working hard to make sure its myriad services run smoothly. Until, that is, Natsuki — the most popular girl in school — offers him a different job: accompanying her to her great-grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration. Needless to say, the prospect... Read More
The Dreams of Satoshi Kon
On August 24, 2010, the acclaimed anime filmmaker Satoshi Kon died from pancreatic cancer, which he had been diagnosed with only a few months before. Kon, who directed Paprika, Paranoia Agent, and Perfect Blue, was seen by many as one of the great anime filmmakers — one whose stunningly animated films often delved into disturbing subject matter but were also driven by a deep concern for the growing sense of alienation and confusion in modern society. After his death, Anime... Read More
Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone (Hideaki Anno, 2007)
Two things are certain about the legacy of Neon Genesis Evangelion. First, the fourteen years or so that have passed since its TV debut have done little, if anything, to diminish the shadow that it casts over the entire anime landscape. Indeed, nearly any anime title that involves giant robots, (young) characters struggling with psychological trauma and alienation, labyrinthine and esoteric conspiracies, and/or apocalyptic scenarios will inevitably be compared to Hideaki Anno’s... Read More
Steven Greydanus: “The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki”
Steven D. Greydanus (of Decent Films fame) has posted a wonderful overview of Hayao Miyazaki, his films, and their influence on American cinema. Miyazaki’s American proponents hoped Ponyo would be his breakout film stateside, but mainstream success in America continues to elude him. That is a shame, and our loss. Hayao Miyazaki is one of the most important living filmmakers many readers haven’t heard of. He can easily be called the world’s foremost living director of... Read More
The Film Noir Roots of “Cowboy Bebop”
PopMatters explores some of the themes lurking in of my favorite anime series: The animated series Cowboy Bebop is a blend of classic film noir motifs mixed into a futuristic setting that reverses the roles of gender and character. Consisting of a concise 26 episodes and one movie that doesn’t drag out the story, the show managed to raise the bar for not only anime, but television in general. Taking the stereotypes from film noir and paralleling the story of (Jacques Tourneur’s)... Read More
Studio Ghibli announces their next film, “Karigurashi no Arrietty”
Studio Ghibli’s next film will be an adaptation of Mary Norton’s The Borrowers. Entitled Karigurashi no Arrietty (lit. The Borrower Arrietty), the film will be the directorial debut of Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who has worked as an animator on previous Ghibli films, including Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Spirited Away. The original, Carnegie Medal-winning 1952 novel revolves around the “little people” — 10 centimeters... Read More
Twitch reviews Mamoru Hosoda’s “Summer Wars”
Twitch gives Mamoru Hosoda’s (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) Summer Wars some very high praise: Make no mistake, Summer Wars is gorgeous to look at. The surprise success of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time means that Hosoda had far more resources at his disposal for his second film and seemingly every penny was put into spreading lush visuals across the screen. But while filled with dazzling images — particularly in the OZ sequences — Hosoda never, ever loses... Read More
The Sky Crawlers (Mamoru Oshii, 2008)
Run an informal poll asking otaku to list today’s greatest anime director and two names will immediately appear at the top of the list: Hayao Miyazaki and Mamoru Oshii. But what is odd is that they’d be at that position for different reasons: the two directors and their cinematic visions could not be more opposite. Miyazaki crafts deeply human fables woven together from classic fairy tales, environmental concerns, fascinations with flight and old Europe, and traditional... Read More
Vexille (Fumihiko Sori, 2007)
It’s an undeniable fact that CGI has changed the face of animation. Whether you’re talking about the style and aesthetic, the production methods, or simply the time and effort involved, the impact of computer animation has been huge. In fact, I daresay that it’s becoming difficult for some folks to think of animation as anything other than computer-generated, thanks in large part to a little company called Pixar. As a longtime fan of the art form, I find myself... Read More
On Evas and Angels
Despite coming out over a decade ago, the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion remains a potent cultural force in Japan. In fact, while traveling through Japan a few weeks ago, I was amazed at the number of advertisements for the new Evangelion movie — which comes out June 27, 2009 — as well as the number of toys, themed pachinko parlors, Evangelion-decorated tissue wrappers, and other manifestations of the series that I saw. In the essay “On Evas and Angels:... Read More
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