The Christian Science Monitor brings us Manga: Another way of the seeing the world. It’s not a bad article — it doesn’t say much you haven’t read before, but it at least says it well (but The Dark Knight being anime-inspired? Huh?).
I am slowly coming around to manga — or at least, finding things I like (which isn’t to say I ever hated it) but thus far, Nana is the only title I’ve stuck with (oh, Nana). I’d love to find more, though. (My finances would rather I not, however.)
Yeah, I don’t really have much to say right now. It’s been a busy week at work and I think the pre-holiday shutdown is already beginning.
You have, without a doubt, already watched the Wolverine trailer (oh, excuse me, X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer). It probably says something about me that my main thought was “The cinematography looks good.”
Still, the cast is good and the actors seem to be taking this seriously (but not excessively so). It might actually end up being good.
The Japanese sisters known as Aranzi Aronzo are probably most known for their craft books featuring their line of cute mascots characters, but the ladies have also created plenty of comics, an abundance of which are featured in The Complete Aranzi Hour from Vertical Books.
Most of the stories here are two pages and are almost all surreally pointless. Best friends White Rabbit and Brown Bunny play together joyfully, enjoying cherry blossoms and warm sunny days as well as each other’s company. The yokai-like Sprite and Spritekin get into weird situations and the naughty Bad Guy and Liar are always trying to provoke each other. A few comics feature photographs of plush versions of these characters in the real world. There overall effect is innocently subversive. It’s cute and fun without feeling saccharine and there’s no winking irony or cruelty here. It’s just delightful.
Aranzi Aronzo have a good eye for character design — obviously, Hello Kitty and all of Sanrio are influences — but there’s also a definite Kid Robot/vinyl toy sensibility here (and oh, if there were vinyl toys of these, I’d be buying them by the case). The design will appeal to adults and children alike (while there’s a little bit of blood from scraped knees and such, there’s no violence. Some characters, like Spritekin’s pet, Sprite Kong, are definitely weird, but nothing is really scary. I’d be happy to hand this a child).
It can be read straight through (which is what I did) but since the stories don’t connect to each other at all, it makes an excellent book to pick up and just read little bits of every now and then. I think it’s an excellent book to leave out for guests.
Also included are lyrics to songs (no music, but there are suggestions on how to sing these songs) and a few activities, like mazes and spot the differences. I was a little disappointed to see there was no craft projects, but that’s OK. I have other Aranzi Aronzo books for that.
Everyone I know has loved Aranzi Aronzo’s work, from little girls to grown men to everyone in between. You probably won’t read anything else for a long time that is as much fun as The Complete Aranzi Hour. I know I won’t.
I have a good friend who constantly supplies me with the most incredible and random Asian movies. He suggested this idea to me so I ran around trying to find movies I had on hand that would suit. I feel like there are a few other movies I should have around, but I did come up with two for tonight’s double feature.
First up is Sleeping Bride, based on a comic by the legendary, godlike Osamu Tezuka and directed by Japanese horror master Hideo Nakata. After her pregnant mother is seriously injured in a plane crash, Yumi is born asleep. The sleeping girl catches the interest of our hero, Yuichi, who spends some time in the same hospital as her as a child. Inspired by the story of Sleeping Beauty, the young Yuichi kisses Yumi in an attempt to wake her up.
And you can probably guess where this story is going. After many, many, many montages of Yuichi kissing Yumi, he eventually finds success as a teenager. Yumi awakes and can almost immediately walk, speak and read (although she spends the first day vocalizing much like a baby). She’s obviously childlike, but Yuichi is charmed all the same.
Sound creepy? It is a little, but the movie is overall so completely innocent that nothing really feels untoward. The movie is, of course, more interested in the boys’ reaction to Yumi — both Yuichi and Yumi’s doctor, Hikawa, struggle with their feelings for her (once again, not as creepy as it sounds) and Yumi’s missing father also enters the picture. Yumi’s not given much of an inner life (not trying to give too much away, but viewers only get to spend a few days with her). I’d almost call her a manic pixie dream girl, except she’s just sort of there. Other than being childlike, she doesn’t have much of a personality.
Neither does this movie. There are some nice scenes — there is, in portions, this sort of naturalist atmosphere with lots of ambient sounds and natural light, but those are negated by an overly dramatic score. I spent the first half hour waiting for something — anything — interesting to happen (did I mention the many, many scenes of Yuichi kissing the sleeping Yumi?). I realize that I have a DVD copy of this that was made from a VCD, but it had a made-for-TV feel to it. The production values and acting were all just above mediocre. This isn’t a terrible movie, but lackluster. It’s somewhat heartfelt but it just misses the emotional notes it should hit.
It did make me curious about the original Tezuka comic, however. I don’t think it’s been reprinted here, but I could be wrong.
No YouTube clips, but you’re not missing much. The all-region version YesAsia has seems to be the only way to get it.
I saved Cutie Honey for the second feature, mostly because I’d seen it before. Directed by Hideaki Anno, who is mostly known for being the mastermind behind the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, the best word I can use to describe this film is “giddy.” Actress Eriko Sato brings such open-hearted adorableness to the title role that it’s nearly impossible for me to not like her. She’s infinitely fun to watch. But honestly, everyone here is having fun — the special effects look purposefully cheap and the costumes are over-the-top in terms of ridiculousness. The colors are super-saturated and don’t let you forget this is a live-action adaptation of a manga (and later, anime) series.
There are many bizarre touches — at one point, the characters are inexplicably riding Segways through a tunnel while chatting. There’s a “music video” sequence that seems included just to show Sato wandering around looking sad in various outfits. At one point, one of the bad guys breaks into song, complete with his henchmen playing instruments. The main villian, Sister Jill, is played by a man. But it all works together somehow since it never takes itself seriously. It’s just pure cinematic candy. Even when Sato is only in her (admittedly, rather modest) underwear, the whole thing just sort of feels innocent.
The plot seems like Hideaki Anno trying to continue to work out his daddy issues, but the friendship between the childlike (and sometimes childish) Honey and lonely policewoman Natsuko grows into a lovely one and they each learn from each other. Of course, it’s all a little obvious and heavy-handed, but it’s still effective.
Yes, this is probably one of the silliest movies you’ll see. But it’s good because of that. And while Anno is back depressing everyone Evangelion (and I can’t blame him for going back to it — it makes money and it’s still good), it’s great to see his more light-hearted side.
This is a short clip and really has nothing to do with anything (there’s a lot of that in movie) but I think it’s a good illustration of how you can tell everyone is having fun. Our three main characters have just gotten drunk and have decided to sing karaoke:
She raises some good points and asks some good questions. I know when I first started reading comics, pre-puberty, I didn’t really think much of the supposed sexiness of the characters I was reading about. I just saw them as strong women. The older I got, however, the more I began to question the difference between the written portrayal of these characters and how they were drawn. Couldn’t some of these female characters just wear a few more clothes every now and then?
There is definitely plenty of troubling images presented to women of all ages — in comics as well as cartoons — but I think there are still plenty of strong ones, too (and sometimes, characters show both). I loved reading the comments in this thread at Jezebel — you begin to see who women relate to and why (lots of Darias out there, but also a good number of Sailor Scouts and votes for Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Deaths and Deliriums. Even a few Rogues and Shadowcats). While we may have a way to go, I’m glad to see there’s someone for everyone out there.
