Tokyo Godfathers - Anime Review

Rating: A

Synopsis: Three homeless people, Miyuki (the runaway girl), Hana (the ex drag queen) and Gin (the drunk) discover a baby abandoned in the trash on Christmas Eve. They baby becomes a catalyst for a journey that time after time serves up some crazy coincidences.

Tokyo Godfathers is a ridiculously heartwarming and wacky movie, while simultaneously having a lot of serious content - the main characters are homeless, people get beat up, etc..

Satoshi Kon directed/wrote/lots of stuff for this movie, and his ability to combine wackiness and true human feelings in an animated setting really shows. One of the elements of his style that show up a lot are ridiculously detailed and realistic backdrops, with slightly overly-cartoony characters set against them.

I don't want to give away any of the major plot points of the movie, it has a lot of twists and turns, and despite the darker components of the plot, it is lighthearted overall. Many elements of the Christian Christmas story come up, as well as the importance of family, giving the movie a good chance of becoming a Christmas tradition in any house - I highly suggest watching it in December!

Cutie Honey

Overall Rating: A+
Synopsis: The live action Cutey Honey is based on the long running media franchise of the same name. Created by Go Nagai and is considered the prototype for the transforming magical girl. Honey Kisaragi is a regular Catholic schoolgirl, until the day her father is murdered by the "Panther Claw" Organization. After his death, she learns she is actually an android created by him and within her is the Fixed System of Air Elements. By saying "Honey Flash!" she can transform into the sword-wielding red-haired superhero, Cutie Honey. Also, according to the theme song, she has the tiniest butt.

Cutey Honey is ridiculous. Ridiculously awesome. Cutey Honey gets her energy from eating...a lot, and she loves onigiri. The movie is basically campy fun, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a good laugh and a great time. Just don't expect to take it seriously.

Battle Royale Volume 1

Overall Rating: A
Synopsis: Battle Royale began life as a novel by Koushun Takami, which was then turned into a movie and most recently, a manga. The series has become infamous in Japan and throughout the world. In it, Japan is a police state, and every two years fifty 3rd year junior high (grade 9) classes are chosen to forcibly fight against one another until only one student remains alive. The results of the battles are then aired on television. The series follows Shuuya Nanahara and six other characters as the try to stay alive and find a way out of the "Program".

I first saw the movie version of Battle Royale a few years ago, and was blown away by it. It has a unique plot, is brutally violent, funny, and shows just how far humans will go to survive. I picked up the first volume of the manga recently, and it was just as good as the movie. The manga version is a little more explicit than the movie, so be forewarned, but it's an interesting read.

If you can take some graffic scenes of sex and violence, I highly recommend both the movie and manga versions of Battle Royale. It's definitely fucked up, but in a good way.

Train Man

Overall Rating: A+
Synopsis: Based on a true story, Train Man, or Densha Otoko, is the story of an Otaku who intervened when a drunk man was harassing women on a train. Train Man has a huge crush on one of the women being harassed, which likely resulted in him trying to stop the drunk man. After the incident, Train Man begins awkwardly dating the woman he has a crush on with advice from his online friends. Through the course of the movie, he goes from geek to...well not exactly chic, but definitely less of a geek.

I can sum up Train Man in two words, awkwardly adorable. Watching the main character struggle with his otaku personality, and trying to figure out how to impress the girl he is in love with reminded me of when I first started liking girls. Fortunately for me, I didn't have quite so far to go, and I didn't have to resort to help from my equally inept online friends, but I had my moments.

At any rate, the real fun of the movie begins when Train Man starts posting his story to a board he frequents and starts getting advice from his online friends. They consist of a student-age shut-in, three other otaku who hang out in internet/manga cafes, a married couple who don't realize they are both on the same board because they have grown so distant, and a nurse. These 7 "friends" give Train Man advice on hair cuts, places to eat, and more to try to help him win the girl. There are moments of geeky excellence, where TM is able to overcome his otakuness and do some very sweet things, and some moments where it becomes a train wreck, where you keep watching even though everything is going wrong. It all comes together as a movie that feels like it really happened (probably because it did ;-) and had me going "Aw!" a lot and clasping my hand over my mouth. Definitely worth seeing if you like geeks and romance.

Paprika - Anime / Movie Review

Rating: A+++

Synopsis: Dr. Tokita has created the DC Mini, an unstable device still in testing that allows psychological researchers, such as Dr. Achiba, to look into the dreams of patients. Paprika is Dr. Achiba's younger, sassy alter-ego, who appears in dreams to assist neurosis diagnoses. An unknown villain steals three DC Mini's and begin wreaking havoc on the researchers by invading people's minds and dissolving all dreams into one. The mystery of the missing DC Mini's gets deeper as the world gets more surreal.

Quick History of Paprika:
Paprika is based on a science fiction novel of the same name by Yasutaka Tsutsui. It's a futuristic science fiction story he began in the late 80's/early 90's, and began serialization in the Japanese woman’s magazine Marie Claire in 1991. Tsutsui had many offers from other directors and producers, but chose Satoshi Kon to create an animated film of the Paprika story. The two bartenders in Paprika are voiced by TsuTsui and Kon.

Paprika is an amazingly beautiful movie. If you are in one of the U.S. cities showing Paprika, just GO SEE IT NOW! Now now now! Ahem, back to critiqueing - The brightly colored animation style lends itself perfectly to the surrealistic backdrops, and the story, though uncomplicated, definitely has some twists and turns.

The story follows Paprika/Dr. Achiba's efforts in reality and dreams to investigate the disappearance of the DC Mini. As the movie primarily explores realm of dreams and the cross-over between dreams and reality, some parts of the plot could be missed if you're not paying attention. Some of the characters are a bit stereotypical (beautiful uptight genius Dr. Achiba [and her beautiful uninhibited alter-ego Paprika], grey-faced sourpuss chairman, etc.), but it didn't bother me, as it helped keep the story going even in the midst of the most over-the-top craziness.

The consensus of the viewers I know is that they wished there was more. We did not feel like we'd been cheated out of our money, but rather, we could have spent twice as much time watching more and more dreams, more Paprika investigations, more everything. It is a gripping and awesome movie and I hope you all get to see it. Paprika (the character) has been one of Tsutsui's most beloved characters over the past 16 years, and having seen the movie, it is easy to see why. Paprika is perpetually courageous, young, excited, and whip-smart.

Pictured (l to r): Paprika and Dr. Achiba
In the opening sequence, we follow Paprika as she goes in and out of reality to travel around the city - hopping in and out of advertisements, skipping across the road, stopping time and traffic for fun - she's brilliant and bright. Then she changes into Dr. Achiba, yawning as she drives in to her office early in the morning. It gives the audience exactly the right idea about the characters in relation to each other and their surroundings.

In lieu of being able to buy you all tickets (which I would sincerely love to be able to do), here is a link to a free download of the theme song from Paprika "The girl in Byakkoya" provided by the creator Susumu Hirasawa's website. Susumu believes the song should be released for free.

So, in case you didn't get the drift, I think you should go see the movie because it's absolutely awesome.

Millenium Actress - Animated Movie

Rating: B+
Synopsis: 2001 Japanese animated film. Directed by Satoshi Kon (pronounced "Cone"), animated by Studio Madhouse. A documentary director interviews a former actress, Chiyoko, about her heydays in film during WWII. Millenium Actress has the immersive ephemereal feel that Kon is an expert at.

Millenium Actress gives me that vivid meta-feeling I get when watching Charlie Kaufman's films (Adaptation especially). The story follows two documentary makers as they interview actress-turned-hermit Chiyoko and slowly become recurring characters in her stories from the past. Fiction and reality become so intertwined that it becomes difficult to tell which is which, but the recurring plotline is recognizable, and is expertly given a new twist each time it appears.

I really enjoyed Millenium Actress. The animation is beautiful, and the various WWII film stories manage to incorporate fairy tales, science fiction, and historical dramas into the plot seamlessly. I watched this movie recently in order to gear up for Kon's new film Paprika opening in the U.S. later in May. It can be a bit difficult to grasp some of the things going on in Millenium Actress, so watch it with an alert mind (be careful, Nick fell asleep during the movie, but that's mostly his fault).

Beautiful, award-winning, with a compelling story (and it's #14 on IMDB's Top 50 Animated Films) - you should totally netflix it.
Millenium Actress Trailer (Quicktime)