As seen elsewhere on this blog, i’ve become a fan of anime in the past several years. I think there’s several reasons:

a) I’ve always liked animation, whether movies, TV cartoons, and in many cases, even ads;

b) the diversity of animation just keeps on getting better and more interesting, even if increasingly computer-based. Of course, just as seen in video games over the past 15-20 years, there is no substitute for actual plot, good writing and coherent themes with good character development. The best looking animation(s) can still end up boring and predictive without them (yes, Appleseed Ex Machina – I’m talking to you!);

c) I think in part anime is also interesting because so often the characters are written in a more over-the-top sensibility (certainly every Initial D episode i’ve ever seen qualifies on that score, but many others are right behind) and often have characters act as if they are in ‘life or death’ struggles (which in many cases isn’t true, but they act that way anyway).

d) Anime just has a different take on things. It’s not usually glorified sitcom situations or plots (at least not the anime I watch) and often has crazy inclusions for characters (Poipodor in Mars Daybreak comes to mind) or fantastical futures that all but make no sense (IGPX) but somehow still manage to entertain.

Which brings me to Initial D. This is an anime series about a school kid living in Gunma province in northern Japan, whose father runs a tofu shop and is an ex-street racer. The father, Bunta, subtly encourages this trait in his only son by having him deliver tofu to several accounts in the early morning over a mountain pass. The kid, Takumi Fujiwara, is fairly dense but seems to have a talent for racing and surprises older 20-somethings who race more seriously. In the first several series, we see Takumi’s talents develop until he’s the equal or better of most other racers in the area and beyond. In Stage 4, ‘Project D’ – he’s now become part of a traveling race team led by a former rival, Ryosuke Takahashi, who dreams of conquering japan’s many mountains and street racing teams with his brother Keisuke and Takumi as the two ace racers on the Project D team. They travel around Japan, challenging team after team in tough and varied races.

What’s appealing about this series is as mentioned before – the characters take themselves VERY seriously, which in some cases comes across as laughable but endearing in a way. You’d think the world would end if this kid doesn’t win a given race by the way they act in posturing against each other up to and during each race.

Also cool is simply the thought of blasting down mountain roads in souped up cars at clearly WAY illegal speeds – watching it on animation is about the only way i’d ever do THAT – I don’t like driving SLOW on cliffside roads – ask kerewin about that one when we were driving around on Crete or Santorini last fall!

Also amusing is how no matter where they go, everyone (racer-wise, anyway) knows about them and keeps putting the best racers up against them. Yet no cops ever show up to THROW THEM IN JAIL for such blatant mountain-racing at nearly every mountain pass they encounter? This was amusing in Wangan Midnight too – although in that series they are largely blasting around highways IN THE CITY at ridiculous speeds but also apparently immune to police (or at least, invisible)?

Anyway, Initial D is pretty entertaining – don’t expect detailed character development or much valid social commentary – it’s pretty focused on one thing, blasting down mountain roads in the middle of the night. But it does a good job of handling that story over and over. Hoping there will ultimately be a Stage 5, but time will tell…..

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So finally saw Speed Racer (the 2008 live-action version, not the original 60s anime) tonight. When this movie came out, I was definitely interested in seeing it, but then many reviews were middling to bad, so I didn’t. The Wachowskis are somwhat polarizing filmmakers these days, and have a lot to live up to (and live down) after the Matrix series went from excellent (1st) to good (2nd) to somewhat mediocre (3rd). But V for Vendetta was also excellent (IMHO), so whatevs – most other filmmakers would be completely jealous to have only a *couple* of those movies in their CV, after all.

Anyway, this movie takes in a lot of the original anime’s plot devices (yes, Chim-Chim is here) and I was definitely pleased to see a scene where they go through all the Mach 5′s special devices (but they never used the Ctrl-G ‘Homing Bird’? They used to use that all the time in the anime!). Racer X of course is key to the plot, and he doesn’t disappoint, either. The look of the cars varies from ‘shiny Hot Wheels surrounded by CGI’ to semi-real looking (when the humans are in them or driving them on “normal” streets).

The movie itself owes a LOT to Pixar (Monsters, Inc and The Incredibles most notably for the factory scenes and the Racer family neighboorhood/house/school/etc.). It also definitely takes from at least two PS2 videogames I own – Kinetica (robot battle-racing) and XG3: Extreme-G Racing (hyper-powered motorcycles with weapons) – both games are played on crazy tracks that soar up/down/multiple dimensions/aerial/underwater/you name it. Props must also be given to drift racing/dirt track racing in general (given the way they drive the cars almost horizontally a lot of the time) and the old standby – Initial D, which I’m sure the Wachowskis have watched at least most of. In the big rally race mid-movie, some of those crazy mountain races look a LOT like the way Initial D shows its crazy mountain racing (the latter’s animation being far more primitive, however).

Finally, there is a lot of IGPX here too (a recent anime from 2005) in the look and feel of the racetracks, especially the Fuji race – and the battling between the cars during the race.

As you’d expect, the races themselves are very well done and crazy to watch, and the movie doesn’t try to oversell the characters, either – unlike the mostly cheesy Racer family seen in the anime. I would say the Racers are as appropriate for the story as The Matrix’ characters – without the speechmaking every 15 minutes by Morpheus of course . What was a bit sad was that actor Emile Hirsch (who plays Speed) was BORN the same year I graduated from high school – DOH! I guess you can’t win them all. The usual anime ‘challenges’ confront Speed and the rest to varying degrees – *almost* insurmountable odds, increasingly maniacal opponents, crisis-whew-bigger-crisis-whew, etc. – But it moves along fairly well and has a bit of fun even with camera asides in a few tiny scenes.

In summary, I was far more entertained by this movie than say, Avatar – even though the latter is of course way more advanced effects-wise. Even having seen some of the SR anime before as a kid (probably 30+ years ago) didn’t really spoil anything. This is a great movie, and i’d definitely see it again on the big screen (Cinerama or midnight movie at The Egyptian, anyone?) I watched it this time at home on my computer……

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So I finally watched Akira recently. This is one of the anime movies that started it all, way back in 1988. It shares many (now) typical anime plot devices (angry head cop going-it-alone against the system, devil-may-care central characters that live (and often die) completely in the moment, a post-apocalpytic Neo-Tokyo that has more than one section of the city living in all but anarchy, subtle yet pervasive technology throughout everything the characters see and experience, etc.) – many of these themes, however, originated in *this* movie, so small wonder these influences persist to this day – Akira is by far among the best anime I’ve seen to date.

Like the first Ghost In The Shell movie, this one doesn’t seem to have any CGI in it – given that TRON and The Last Starfighter weren’t too many years before this movie, the lack of CGI (or, CGI integrated into anime) isn’t very surprising. The scenery and drawings are fairly impressive with a meticulous attention to detail, and the characters are drawn with a wide range of emotion throughout.

There are definite external inspirations within Akira in turn. The super-bikes all the main biker gang characters own are obviously influenced by the TRON light-cycles (and 80s ‘crotch rocket’ street bikes from the real world of the same era). And there has to be a shout-out given to Escape From New York (and similar but far cheesier early 70s post-apocalyptic sci-fi) as influential upon the burned-out city in Neo-Tokyo.

Without revealing very much – essentially one of the main biker-gang members, Tetsuo, is inadvertently exposed to a mutant on the run from a secret army agency. This exposure (of course) begins to create powers in this kid and one can begin to predict what happens next – although it’s still not near as predictable as you might think, and just when you think the movie is ending, another plot twist moves in another direction – nice!

To repeat, definitely one of the best anime I’ve seen yet – others have amazing animation/CGI but largely flat characters (Appleseed); interesting stories that sadly create inherent plot contradictions over time that aren’t resolved (Witch Hunter Robin); or very simplistic (but fairly entertaining) plots in a completely fantastical setting (Mars Daybreak – all hail talking Belugas!). Akira stands way above all of those – if you only ever see one anime – make it this one.

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Generally speaking, I’ve loved animation since well, forever. Over the past several years, besides the rise of Japanese anime in US pop-culture, another worthwhile offshoot of animation has been a variant of (arguably) good ol’ claymation - except with Lego bricks. Saw this Lego Matrix homage today, reminded me of the White Stripes Lego video of several years ago – enjoy!

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Finally popped up on my hold list at the library, and was able to watch the original Ghost in the Shell movie (again – saw it several years ago once before) tonight.

While the first two GITS movies have the same characters but an almost completely different storyline than the two series and much later 3rd movie, it’s interesting now to go back and watch this one again, having seen all the rest. It’s obviously older – there isn’t any CGI in this one, all classic animation (although I guess it has since been remade itself and incorporated some CGI). The characters, excepting Aramaki, all seem somehow ‘younger’ – almost as if you are seeing The Major in her late 20s or something. It’s not impossible to believe that her merger with The Puppetmaster program by the end of this movie made her into the arguably colder, more calculating/mature and ‘older’ Major of the later series? Interesting to think about at any rate. Batou seems younger too, as if he’s all but ready to *tell* The Major he loves her, but as per usual, seems torn up about it? Hard to say. He’s definitely a colder fish in the first TV series, if not the second.

As the story here (and in the second original movie) are again, not part of the rest – seeing them before/after everything else is fine, you aren’t losing out – there are only really five characters here from the later series – The Major, Batou, Togusa, Chief Aramaki, and Ishikawa. Saito gets mentioned but they never show him, and Borma/Paz don’t exist here.

I think of the three movies, I like this one best. Its story can stand alone, even though of course it was easy to build a sequel and later series from it. Of the two series, the first one was better for me (see earlier post on this). Great stuff, definitely top-tier anime, for sure.

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Well, after 2-3 weeks of off-on watching, I finally finished the second Ghost In the Shell anime TV series – S.A.C. 2nd Gig. This series is a continuation from the previous Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (see earlier post on that one here).

This second series is more of a political thriller than the first. Both series have a long story-arc that persists until the end, but they don’t seem to ‘explain’ as much in this one by the end – there are still at least a few motivations and actions I didn’t quite understand. There is more straight up ‘battle’ and conflict in this one too – and I liked the fact that they gave the other members of Section 9 (Paz, Boma, Saito and Ishikawa) a lot more to do in this series, than just focusing on the main four characters (Togusa, The Major, Batou and The Chief) as seen in the previous series.

There is a great villain in this one too – Kazundo Gohda, the head of the Cabinet Intelligence Service. Besides being facially disfigured and scarred (like all great over-the-top villains) this guy has plans within plans within plans, something every other main character finds out all too often along the way. While personally I thought The Laughing Man from the previous series was a more interesting foe for a variety of reasons – I had small hopes he’d show up in this one at some point – Gohda is definitely a man with a complex and hidden mission.

The main ‘anti-hero’ in this series Hideo Kuze, who remains at least in part a semi-major enigma. It would have been neat to see another episode of flashback(s) to his wanderings in Eurasia and how he came to his revolutionary stance portrayed in the series. They explore some of this through dialogue, but IMHO not enough. The Tachikomas even get a bit more to do – there are computer simulations of them used for the various episodes centered around computer hacking, besides their usual role as battle-backup for Section 9.

All in all, another great and interesting series – the animation is again excellent, The Major isn’t near as invincible in this one, and even Batou has to face up to a number of his own demons by the end.

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gee, another one? Yep. This is the third Ghost in the Shell movie, but unlike the first two, it follows the storyline(s) from the two seasons of the anime TV series, Ghost in the Shell: SAC and Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2nd Gig. I am just about to watch the latter season, so there are still back-story gaps for me, but suffice it to say, this is a very good movie, and I would judge it better than Ghost in the Shell: Innocence for both plot and character detail (see earlier post for that review). Both are equally beautiful animation, no issues in that dept.

The same characters from Section 9 are here again, although most get short shrift per usual. Another unusual element in this one is the comparatively minor role of the Tachikoma AI ‘tanks’ seen in other parts of the various movies and series – while they help in one major assault in the movie, they are otherwise largely ignored or left out. As in the previous movies and series, The Major, Batou, Togusa and The Chief are the main four to watch – the Chief less so this time around, however.

As these series/movies are largely detective stories, I don’t want to talk about spoilers – just watch the darn thing and enjoy it! I did.

This is the second Ghost in the Shell movie, circa 2004. It focuses mainly on two of The Major’s investigator/partners from Section 9 – Batou and Togusa, and a wide-ranging crime investigation that spans yakuza battles and pleasure robots killing their masters.

While I liked this movie, it has some similar plot elements (albeit more complex given it’s a self-contained movie/story) to a later S.A.C. episode from the TV series. And the absence of The Major means they have to flesh out the two male characters much more – which is a good thing, but I’m not sure they are completely successful. I think they paint a more sympathetic portrait of both Batou and Togusa in the later S.A.C. tv anime than here, but I may be biased, having seen that first.

One other interesting thing – I felt a strong Blade Runner influence on this film – from the noir-esque atmosphere, some of the things that happen to Batou during the investigation, and some of the philosophical commentary both Batou and Togusa make at points throughout the story (odd coming from hard-bitten cyberpunk cops, but that’s the noir element, definitely).

Still definitely worth watching, but if you haven’t seen S.A.C. – watch this first, THEN watch the first series.

Having been a huge animation fan for most of my life, over the past few years I have become interested in anime. For those of you who don’t already watch it, it’s the highly stylized, often violent and over-the-top (depending on the genre) animated art form originally from Japan (although its influence has been spreading for years). I tend to avoid most of the kiddie stuff (where grade schoolers seem to obtain super powers, enlist the help of monsters to help them solve crimes, mysteries or join up with elves, etc. to save the world) and go for more of the sci-fi, cyberpunk or borderline occult themed series. They just seem more interesting and often have better character development IMHO. And then the occasional guilty pleasure such as Initial D or Wangan Midnight, of course.

So, I saw the first Ghost In The Shell movie some time ago, and despite the main character apparently able to defy gravity with her cybernetic body, this is essentially a cyperpunk detective story at heart, and a good one. I’m not really sure what the risque content adds to the show, unless it’s just there to ‘excite the 8 year-olds’ given that it otherwise has little to no relationship to the actual plot (kind of like how Dr. Manhattan walks around au naturel in The Watchmen, but that’s a whole different set of gripes )

There are several later movies and at least two series that grew out of the first movie – this review is of Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (the first series). This is a GREAT show – they recently started showing it on Adult Swim (which is how I picked it up, then simply rented the DVD set and watched the rest on a recent business trip).

So the series tracks an elite group of mostly cyborg cops in future Japan called Section 9, and has at least one or two long-term multi-show stories beyond the episodic crimes being solved. The central character is ‘The Major’ – the same chick from the movie – and her fellow cyborgs/detectives and their section chief, who is both an old-school cop and master politician/administrator at the same time.

Some of the great things about this show are that it never insults the intelligence of the viewer, with the possible exception of the Tachikoma characterizations (a bit too ‘little kid’) – and treats the unfolding story around The Laughing Man (elusive criminal? hacker/vigilante? Watch and judge for yourself) with extra care to draw the viewer in and keep them guessing nearly until the end.

While it would be nice to see more of the history around other members of Section 9 in more detail (they are often only seen in limited scenarios or when the whole group is briefed on something by the chief) there’s still more than enough going on here to occupy the viewer. They also don’t ‘explain everything at the end of the episode’ a la Star Trek (I love ST since forever, but this IS a fundamental flaw, for pete’s sake!), which is nice. Many things about future Japan are never explained at all, or simply mentioned once or twice to suit moving the story forward but not much else.

The animation is generally very well done, and doesn’t seem to flip between drawings and CGI the way say, Initial D does. Or they are far better at hiding it. But generally, fluid and pretty animation (kind of has to be given the level of action, explosions, and running around in most of the episodes – this IS a cop show, after all).

Reading between the lines a bit, I’d have to say the future portrayed is a bit bleak, however – if people give up their human bodies when only a toddler or young child (like The Major and at least two other main characters) how can they be expected to really relate to society later on, not having gone through those same challenges we all do as we age? This perspective seems to flip all the recent military sci-fi I’ve read on its head – instead of a person nearing the end of their human life with a worn out body (only to be transposed into a super-soldier with a brand new, young, cybernetic body) – GITS: SAC has them doing it before they’ve really even lived much at all? Interesting….

At any rate, if you like cyberpunk mixed with detective stories, this is a very entertaining and thought-provoking series. It helps to watch some of the other movies first to set the scene and learn about some of the characters, however.

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