To see what this has to do with Halloween, you can read my meandering essay, "Trick or Treat".
What I saw at the convention was shown late at night (the 'midnight
movies'), but it was at an anime convention. I guess I got the
formative notion right then that flying people movies were kindred of
the fight show and historical drama as rendered in anime. I was eager to
share what I had seen, and find ways to let others see the same
vigorous, if somewhat ragged-edged, creativity that I had.
For the record, from memory, some of the movies I saw that summer
at Anime Expo, were:
In any case, I began noting on the mailing list whenever a midnight
festival of Hong Kong movies was showing at the local art theatre. I'd
share tidbits about the arrival of a Jackie Chan film in limited release
to a regular theater. And I procured some of my favorites and showed
them at NOVA meetings.
Before long, a member who lived in another city and came to the
occasional meeting posted a rather scathing message to the mailing list
protesting the dilution of the club with non-anime. I was stunned. It
was quite a bitter message as I read it. It had never occured to me that
somebody might feel threatened by the casual mention (truthfully not
more than once a month) of local theater showings. And I always showed
my own videos on my own television, in a corner of the meeting, rather
than taking over the main screen.
Maybe I was wrong. I don't know. If so, then maybe I'm heading for the
same attacks in the future. Folks seem generally tolerant of stuff going
on in the corner of a meeting nowadays, and I've shown a few Hong Kong
movies in recent history. So we'll see.
What got me to thinking about this, and reminiscing, is that NOVA is
heading toward it's annual Halloween party (October 21st, Tigard City
Hall ;^)~ ) and I'm weighing two movies in the balance to show in my
'corner'.
The first I have seen, and it is cheesy yet fun. It is called The
Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, and was co-produced by Hammer
Films (a well-known American producer of horror films from the
mid-fifties to the mid-seventies) and Shaw Brothers (a famous Hong Kong
studio at the time, and known for more than just kung-fu). Peter Cushing
plays Professor Van Helsing. The premise is that Dracula has moved to
China to rule over the Seven Golden Vampires, and Professor Van Helsing
agrees to help the inhabitants fight them. This movie is notable for
it's kung-fu vampires!
I think it's a lot of fun, and my only reservation is that the movie has
some images of women with exposed breasts. This occurs when the 7GV are
raiding the village to get fresh victims, and in their temple when they
prepare to drink their blood. In all honesty, it's not the least erotic,
but one must think about these things in our Puritan society.
I thought I might be able to bypass this problem with a neat trick. See,
the DVD has two versions of the movie. The second version, titled The
Seven Brothers Meet Dracula, is ostensibly the version originally
released in the U.S., whereas the first would have been for the wider
world audience. Great, I thought. The second version will be a
prude's version with no breastage, and I can show that one.
But it was not to be. The second one has the exact same scenes
with exposed breasts as the first. The real difference is that the
second version has been edited down to a much shorter film. The result
is that the story which was enjoyable in the first version is a jumbled,
confusing mess in the second. Out with that option. So I'm taking an
informal poll on the NOVA ML to see if there are any objections to
showing it, if ample notice is given.
I have another candidate, which while gorey, is so only in a cartoony
over-the-top way. It is called "Bio-Zombie" and is a Hong Kong
homage/rip-off of Dawn of the Dead. I have recently done a
preview screening of it, and review it elsewhere on this site. I'd have
to agree with other reviewers who say it is corny and that the violence
is over the top. That sounds just about right for a Halloween party.
On the other hand, this morning I went to Dr. Levin to have the stitches
removed from my gum graft (periodontal surgery can be such
fun). He practically cooed over the success of the graft. So
according to him, the danger area now has enough tissue to "last a
lifetime". Considering my dodgy health, that could be less time than he
intended ;^)~
So the second (and hopefully last) graft, on the opposite side of the
lower jaw, won't happen 'til 'next year' (January, ouch). I don't know
whether it's a good thing or a bad thing that I now know what to
expect.
My regular dental hygiene visit should be a barrel of laughs this time. That's next Tuesday. Then as if I wasn't getting poked and prodded enough, next Friday is the semi-annual physical exam. Wish me luck!
Here are the anime reviews I've managed to recover so far. They are not necessarily in chronological order, sorry:
A word about how I create reviews. I don't speak Japanese (my attempts at study were foiled by parenthood). So if I'm reviewing a raw Japanese show, I'll often search the internet for factoids. I don't give credit all the time, but I try to write my own words, aside from the factoids. So if you spot a possible (certainly unintentional) plagiarism, please let me know.
So here I am again, to share my impressions of a show I have little hope
of understanding. Moreover, a show which makes Serial Experiments Lain
actually break a sweat in the race to be the least-animated animated
series. What's the show, already! It's Boogiepop Phantom. There, I said
it. What are you going to do about it?
If you like scenes which linger lovingly on street lamps, transit
trains, and the by-now-obligatory immobile street crowd, then you
probably have the complete Serial Experiments Lain in your DVD
library. You should start saving for Boogiepop Phantom too. The series
is only twelve episodes long, so it shouldn't be too hard to do.
Seriously, though. This seems to be a part of a growing genre of anime
in Japan. This genre has existed from the start, but is really
flourishing now on the late-night satellite channels like
Wow-Wow. Boogiepop is on at 2a.m. on TV Tokyo. What sort of audience you
get at that time I can only guess, insomniac for one. But somebody
watching television at 2a.m. is more than likely a little bit more
patient than the average prime time viewer. So shows like these take
their time. The story evolves through dialogue, imagery, flashbacks,
visions, and the internal monologues of the characters.
For the non-native viewer, a consequence is that the show is more than a
little bit hard to follow. But I'm guessing that even a Tokyo resident
will scratch her head a bit over this show. It is classified as horror,
and has a bit of the Clive Barker leaky-reality feel to it. In the first
episode Tonomura Moto is introduced. She is apparently obsessed by
germs, as she opens doors with tissues and is constantly washing her
hands. Not particularly good at making friends, she lives in a bubble of
her own making.
As if her life isn't bad enough she was in love with a boy, Saotome, who
has disappeared, and being painfully shy she never even approached
him. But fear not, in the dark of night Moto is walking home from the
karaoke bar, alone, when Saotome manifests in a cloud of light. Moto is
understandably disturbed, but soon overcomes her discomfort and talks
with him. After a short conversation, Saotome reveals his true colors,
grabbing Moto and spewing ectoplasmic tentacles from his mouth. But
before he can do the nasty to Moto, he is 'killed'. Boogiepop Phantom
has made her first appearance.
So who is Boogiepop Phantom? The info out there is sketchy, but I did
glean this bit from EX Remote:
BOOGIEPOP WA WARAWANAI (BOOGIEPOP PHANTOM)
TV Tokyo Overview: A secret organization that
Wed/Thu protects the world from danger, Boogie
1:45-2:15am Pop. Based on the grand prize winner of
the 4th Dengeki Game Novel contest.
With her first and second appearances (in the second episode) Boogipop
Phantom is enigmatic, and despite the capsule review above, her motives
are not at all clear. She at least seems to object to what I think
are good acts, too. I don't know, does grabbing weird invisible
fist-sized spiders off of people and eating them qualify as a bad act?
When I was but a wee sociopath, attending college (or more often, not,
as I seem to recall through the fog), there were two magazines which
were favorite pastimes, in lieu of studying. One was the National
Lampoon, which though sophomoric in it's humor, was actually very clever
in it's early years.
The other was Heavy Metal. Years later, I chanced to look into an issue
and was disappointed with the total dreck I was confronted with. Could
this be the magazine I had so enjoyed when only a few years younger? I
theorize that it went downhill, that the creative juices of the editors,
writers and artists had run their course. Or it just wasn't as cool
after all the drugs were purged from my system. Whatever.
In any case, in its heyday, Heavy Metal was the magazine. Based on the
French magazine Metal Hurlant, it contained a wide variety of art
styles, though always of the most exciting and beautiful quality. The
stories were, how shall I put it, obscure. I don't know if this was a
French thing, avant garde and all that, or if it was an Art thing, but
there you are. The magazine was full of stories that didn't go anywhere,
but boy was the journey fun.
One of my favorites was 'The Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelius' by
Moebius (now known by his real name, Jean Giraud, and working in the
movie industry -- he was a primary art designer for Alien). Moebius is a
fantastic draftsman, but not the best storyteller, and the Airtight
Garage wandered all over the place. But I didn't care. The line art was
so careful, so idiosyncratic, and the vistas so far-reaching and
beautiful, that the characters could have been discussing their grocery
lists (actually I think that was Chapter Five) and I still would have
come along for the ride.
What has this got to do with Boogiepop Phantom? Well, like Serial
Experiments Lain, Shamanic Princess and other plot-challenged series
(okay they have plots, but let's face it, plot takes a back seat to cool
in these shows) the journey is ultimately more important than the
resolution. So while I might get a few blisters along the way, I'm
willing to walk a few more miles with Boogiepop Phantom.
Directed by Watanabe Takashi
Character Designs by Suga Shigeyuki
Original Character Designs by Ogata Kouji
Produced at Mad House
Copyright � 2000 Kadono Kouhei / Mediaworks / Project Boogiepop
Now I'm going to say this just once. Will the person in the back of the room who
shouted 'Outlaw Star' slink out quietly before I kick his ass?
So now that you're all primed for a review of Cowboy Bebop, which everybody's had
a chance to see by now, let me put your mind at ease. This ain't about Bebop.
It's about a new show airing on WowWow, 'The Big O'. My fixation with coolness
comes from watching the first episode of this series (unsubbed) at the behest of
Tom Jansen, resident mech-head. The show places both feet firmly in the cool camp
with its choice of music (jazzy, symphonic, again eclectic), characters (James
Bond via Pierce Brosnan, rather cute android girl) and yes, Big O! Does it
measure up? Not to the benchmark, of course, but it is pretty cool.
I know, I know, it's hella unfair to rate a show on the strength of a single
episode, and it's way hella unfair to compare it to Cowboy Bebop. But when you
walk in the Crips' neighborhood, wearing Crips' colors, you better be a Crip. And
Big O isn't content to walk in Crip neighborhoods. It also traipses over to the
Bloods' block as well, borrowing style and imagery and hardware from 'Giant
Robo', the Roger Maris of anime cool to Bebop's Mark McGwire. So the Big O team
is obviously itchin' for a fight!
But enough of that. I am certainly willing to look at another episode, and Tom
can be my supplier for at least a few more after that. Thereafter, we'll just
have to see (says smartass Don). In the meantime, what's it about (so far)? In
the first episode, we are informed (fleshed out by the magic of Internet-supplied
synopses) that the series takes place in Paradigm City. This is a reasonably
modern-looking burg, sorta like a well-lit Gotham City. It's got that little
extra flair, though, with partially collapsed skyscrapers, looking like a cross
between the leaning tower of Pisa, and the Empire State Building. Has Godzilla
been here?
As a backdrop, we know that forty years ago a mysterious event left everyone with
no memory. In the aftermath, folks are left with no education, no knowledge how
to work all them newfangled devices that make life so sweet. Somehow, in the
intervening years, folks figured out how to work a refrigerator and open a beer,
and things are back to more or less normal. But as a side-effect, technology is a
premium good, and those who can procure it, or work it, can write their own
ticket.
Into this ragout rides Roger Smith, 'the Negotiator', complete with upper-case
'N' and quotes. He's the cat that won't cop out when there's danger all about,
Roger! Oops, that's Shaft. Roger is a rather cool, debonair fellow who
negotiates for a variety of things, among them technology and poor kidnapped
souls. On one of these negotiations, he becomes attached to R. Dorothy
Wayneright, who turns out to be an android, and has a certain charm of her own.
Clearly there are multiple parties after all the riches that technology can
bring, but I'm afraid that I lost track of all the threads about the time that
the first villain robot showed up to steal a buncha cash out of a bank with
seemingly endless snake arm vacuum cleaner attachments, extruded from it's
lobster-claw hands. This was the cue for Roger to summon forth his neatest
technology toy, The Big O. Yes, it's a giant robot, and yes, it's rather
steam-punkish. At least Roger rides inside of it, instead of perching on it's
shoulder in short pants while it slugs it out with the current Bad Bot.
This serves to explain why there are tilt-a-whirl skyscrapers in Paradigm City (I
was kinda hoping they were the result of Donald Trump suffering an aneurism and
trying out new architectures as a result). It's a little harder to understand why
Roger the Profiteer hasn't sold the damn thing and retired to the South of
France. At least until you see him sitting in the cockpit in his double-breasted
suit throwing roundhouse punches without actually soiling his immaculate outfit.
Of course a stylin' guy like Roger would prefer to beat the crap out of his
opponents without incurring the heartbreak of sweat stains!
Anyway, a lot happens in the first episode, and I'll eat my Ginrei Fanclub
Membership Card if there isn't a Bigass Robot Stomp at least every other episode.
I'd also like to see the relationship between Dorothy and Roger evolve. This
alone could raise the series out of the blood and organ bits of failed coolness.
So now that I've hammered you with spoilers, it will come as no surprise that
Dorothy appears to be smushed at the end of the first episode, ironically by the
villain-o-the-week robot just Smacked Down by Stone Cold Roger Smith (and Big O).
Wonder how she gets outta that there jam (robot sandwich with android jam)?
Magical Girls have ranged from the sachharine (Minky Momo, whom I like,
by the way) to the comical (Akazukin Cha-Cha). In between we've had
Hime-chan no Ribbon and Miracle Girls. But it was with the arrival of
Sailor Moon that an entire sub-genre gelled. Now we can all recite the
prerequisites:
Over time, there has been a gradual shift, an imperceptible transition.
The successful show has become the copy-cat has become the well-worn
genre. Within this repetition, there have actually been some original
moments. The trouble is that with a well-worn formula, you can get away
with a lot of just-don't-care storytelling. The viewer is comfortable
with the rhythms of the genre, and fills in the blanks. So I find it
hard myself to say when a M.G. show really is good.
One measuring stick I apply now is to see how my daughter likes it.
She's four years and seven months old, and has consumed every episode of
Card Captor Sakura ravenously. She's watched the eleven episodes we have
several times, sometimes with me reading the subtitles, sometimes with
no narration at all. As a result, I've enjoyed the show a lot more
myself than I might have if I'd watched it alone.
But this is not a foolproof yardstick, and at last we arrive at the
topic of this review. The series in question, launched in February of
last year, ran for 44 episodes. It's title is "Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne".
Here is the premise:
Maron is a direct descendent of Joan of Arc. It is because of this
connection with the young female crusader (an historical Magical Girl!)
that Maron has been selected to fight the minions of the Devil. These
minions inhabit objects of beauty, often paintings, and beguile
innocents to capture their souls. Maron, with the help of her apprentice
angel Fin (a diminutive winged sprite) becomes Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne
(divine thief Jeanne), and 'steals' these demon-inhabited objets d'art.
There is a lot of repetitive formula, declarative phrases such as 'Game
Start!' 'Checkmate!' and 'Collection Completed!' when she has collected
the demon with a pin which transforms into a chess piece. She has a
small array of gadgets which aid her in her tasks as well, such as the
Rebound Ball, a ball on the end of a cord attached to her wrist, which
can grab any object she throws it at.
For reasons which escape me, she is compelled to announce the time and
location of each theft, leading to large batallions of police waiting
for her at each crime scene (they of course don't know the true purpose
of her thefts). Almost always, Maron's best friend Miyako is there with
her police detective father, vowing to capture the vile thief Jeanne.
She cannot recognize Maron, because as Jeanne, Maron has blonde hair. I
imagine it is the same astigmatism which afflicts Lois Lane.
The romantic interest and the competition comes in the form of Nagoya
Chiaki, a fellow high school student by day, and the mysterious thief
Sindbad (yes, Sin-d-bad) by night. From the first few episodes, it is
not clear what his allegiance is, but he has similar equipment, his own
angel, Dark Access, and a fine nose for locating those demon-infested
artworks which Jeanne is trying to neutralize. What does he want? Who
does he serve?
On the whole, with the normal creative variations, Kamikaze Kaitou
Jeanne conforms to the genre admirably. But it has a low-budget feel to
it that I don't notice so much in Card Captor Sakura. For instance,
there are scenes, such as one from an episode where Jeanne is surrounded
by police, where the figures who menace her slide left and right like
ducks at a shooting gallery. When Miyako runs towards the foreground,
her image becomes courser, the lines of her dress thicker, as if the
artists simply blew up the cel for successive frames without even trying
to touch them up.
The writing and character development feel a little too peremptory to me
as well. It somehow reminds me of Devil Hunter Yohko, a second-string
series if ever there was one, and Zenki, of which--though it was one of
my guilty pleasures--I at least had the sense to feel guilty about it!
Kelly (my 4.5833333... year old) pronounces this a show worth watching,
saving and seeking out. But this feels like a B-grade filler series to
me. It's worth catching a couple of episodes to see if it somehow speaks
to you, but I doubt it will become one of your fondest memories.
