OH GOD, KINO IS HOT

Kino no Tabi is one of those series that I rarely see written about and it’s such a shame, it’s an amazing series and deserves more exposure. The series follows a traveler, Kino, and her talking motorcycle, Hermes, as they circle the globe visiting countries one by one, staying exactly three days in each one. The sort of slice of life-ish anime uses the cultural exaggerations of each country to examine the many facets of human nature.

Movie Rating: 9/10

The movie starts off with Kino and Hermes entering a new country, supposedly renowned for its advanced civilization highlighted by towering skyscrapers. So they’re rather surprised when the land looks barren and the first village they come to looks like run down farmland, to make things even more suspicious, it appears as if they’re being watched. However, it’s not long before they stumble upon the main city which is indeed a marvel of advanced architecture.

As with any country Kino and Hermes visit, they’re greeted with some odd customs, in this case, they must be cleaned and disinfected before entering the city. Kino is put through one of those airlock chambers that you would see in research labs and afterwards her clothes are returned, cleaned, pressed and sealed in vacuum packed plastic. Hermes gets treated to a tune up, fixing his broken clutch, filling his gas tank and gets retrofitted with a emission lowering and noise canceling exhaust attachment. These guys take their cleanliness seriously.

After settling into their luxurious hotel, which costs Kino a grand total of $0.00, she receives a request from the hotel’s owners. Their daughter has contracted a disease exclusive to their country and they would like Kino and Hermes to take some of their time to tell her stories about their travels, having been treated to a free stay at their hotel, they gladly accept. But before visiting her, Kino goes out to do some sightseeing, this main part of the country is a sealed off dome, isolated from the pathogens of the outside world. There are those who live in the country side, but a guide explains that they are actually considered the elite, those who have been chosen as cultivators for the outside lands.

Kino is then taken to the hospital to visit the hotel owner’s daughter, Inasha. After having dinner with her and her parents, regaling her with tales of their travels, Inasha speaks to them privately, telling Kino about the disease she has and the dreams she has for when she is cured of it, ultimately she wants to live in the countryside. Inasha takes Kino to an observatory to tell her a secret, the reason why she wants to go to the outside world. A long time ago she met a boy named Rogue, who she met at the very place they stand, after he vowed to make it to the surface. Soon afterwards his family was selected to become cultivators and the two have been corresponding by letters ever since, she wants to be cured of her disease so that she may one day be reunited with him. As a final request to Kino, Inasha asks her to deliver a sculpture of a wooden bird that she made after Rogue explained the existence of birds to her, the skies of the inside city being devoid of them.

After leaving the main city, Kino goes to the place where Inasha told her that Rogue lived, but finds nothing but the ruins of a village. Soon after she is approached by a man named Cole who identifies himself as part of the country’s special defense force. He gives Kino directions to the country’s border, assuming that she has become lost, but is surprised to hear that she is looking for a boy named Rogue. He brings her to an underground facility that houses a network of surveillance cameras scattered around the country, confirming Kino’s suspicions that she was being watched.

Cole explains the truth, the place where they stand is called the post office, the boy named Rogue has been dead for months, the letters Inasha has been receiving are written by himself. He goes on to explain the truth behind the cultivators, they are specifically chosen families who are healthy and have no relatives, they are then purposefully inflicted with the country’s disease and used as test subjects to find a cure. Rogue has been right under Inasha’s nose the whole time, in a research facility below the main city. It’s a cruel fate, but the sacrifice of few is the benefit of many so they will continue doing it.

Kino isn’t one to question the customs of others and calmly gets up to leave, but apparently this is not a secret that can be let loose, Cole attacks Kino. The fight doesn’t last long, ending off in head to head face off, pistols at the ready.

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, doctors administer a new drug that slows down the advancement of the disease, made from the research data gathered from experimenting on Rogue and his family. Along with the new medicine comes another letter from “Rogue” thanking Inasha for the present and awaiting the day they can meet and talk once again.

Elsewhere, we see Kino leaving the country of sickness with Hermes, pondering their next destination in their endless travels.

Thoughts

An interesting movie, to say the least. As with a lot of the other arcs in Kino no Tabi, I got sort of a bittersweet “end justifies the mean” sort of message from it. This story in particular runs quite parallel to real life, we don’t go as far as isolating ourselves in disinfected and sterilized domes, but if you consider the mass amounts of inoculations, vaccines, antibiotics, etc that are available to supplement our own immune systems, it’s a figurative rather than literal dome of protection that we encapsulate ourselves in. Whether this is for the betterment of the human race is questionable.

Also, with respect to human testing, that’s another moral issue that is often the center of debate. I’d like to think that basic human rights would prevent situations like the ones depicted in this movie, but reality might not be that convenient. Perhaps not in the current day, but there have been recorded cases where human testing has been done, specifically during WWII the Germans did a lot of inhumane testing on the prisoners in their concentration camps. When the war was over their research was discovered by the allies and despite how disturbing their methods were, the results were invaluable, they weren’t about to toss away the research data just because it was gained by immoral means, they used it and many medical advances were made because of it. Does the fact that the end result was achieved through malicious means make the results malicious themselves? Does the greater good of the end results mean that the methods used to achieve them were ultimately good? If you prefer to deny the fact that testing is done on humans, apply the same questions to animal testing.

With that in the back of my mind, another thing to consider is the fate of Cole and the origin of Rogue’s last letter. The nature of Kino’s visits, staying only for three days, often leaves the question of what becomes of the country after Kino leaves it, and this time is no different. Did Cole die in the shootout with Kino, because Kino obviously made it alive. Perhaps Kino merely wounded Cole and left him questioning the system that his country employs, supposedly for the “greater good”. Or maybe Kino spared his life but Cole continues to believe in their methods. Taking into account Rogue’s last letter, it would seem to be the latter. Since the letter mentioned that Rogue awaits the day they can once again talk in person, it suggests that the country continues to strive towards a cure through human sacrifice. However, yet another possibility to consider is that Cole died and it was Kino that wrote Rogue’s last letter as one final ray of hope for Inasha. But I guess thinking about all those things will do nothing but give you a headache, such questions are never answered anyways.

As for the technical aspects of the movie, they were so-so, nothing really special but they did the job. The short was produced by SHAFT so the animation quality wasn’t spectacular, but not bad by any stretch. I’m kinda pissed off that the fight between Cole and Kino was so anti climactic and not a proper shootout. Compared to the battles in the anime, especially the coliseum arc, it was really lackluster.

One thing that caught me by surprise was the ED song, which I thought was amazing despite not usually caring about soundtracks. I’ve been looping it ever since I finished watching and am currently looking for an mp3 of it =D

And so, my recommendation is a definite watch. Regardless of whether you’ve watched the first movie or the series, it’s surely worth your time to check this one out. The story, like all arcs, is largely independent of any overlying plot, so you don’t need to watch anything prior. And if by chance you like what you see, it’s a good reason to watch the rest of the series. The best way to experience the story, chronologically, would be: 1st movie -> anime series -> 2nd movie. I’d also go as far as recommending the novel, which gives a much more in depth telling of the events of the anime.

Kino is garmoe <3

~ Shirukii ~

I don’t even know what to say…

This movie went so far beyond my expectations that I have a headache just thinking about how I can possibly convey what this movie made me feel in mere words.

Back when the first chapter of Byousoku 5cm was released, I criticized it for belittling the theme of distance. And while I still stand by that assertion when isolating the first chapter, the movie as a whole changed that notion completely. It was VERY well done.

Oukashou

Toono Takaki and Shinohara Akari transferred into elementary school around the same time and shared many things in common. As a result, the two quickly became friends, spending so much time together that the rest of the kids began teasing them for acting like a couple.

Unfortunately, Akari learns that she’ll be moving away after the graduating from elementary. Despite the sadness he could hear in Akari’s voice as she told him this, and his own pain from hearing the news, the harsh reality is that they are both powerless in this situation.

Flash forward to a year later, the two have been keeping in touch by mailing letters back and forth. And since it’s been quite a while, they decide to meet in person. In preparation, Takaki writes a long letter that he thinks conveys all his feelings. However, the journey to meet Akari is disastrous, due to heavy snowfall, train after train is delayed as the time they agreed to meet fades distantly away, and to make things worse, a gust of wind blows away the letter he painstakingly wrote for Akari.

By the time Takaki gets there, it’s 11:15 p.m., way past the 7:00 p.m. time they set. But much to his surprise, Akari is still there in the cold of the train station, waiting for him. The two eat dinner together and go for a walk, stopping under a sakura tree where their feelings are summed up with a kiss. They talk the night away in a small shed before separating once again at the train station, promising to stay in touch with e-mails and phone calls all the while knowing that they may never see each other again with Takaki moving away farther than a train ride could hope to cover. As the train speeds Takaki away, Akari grabs a letter out of her pocket, one that she had written to Takaki, but probably figured it wasn’t needed after what they’ve been through together.

Cosmonaut

Ever since that day that he transferred into her middle school, Sumita Kanae has been in love with Toono Takaki. She studies hard and manages to get accepted into the same high school as Takaki, and enjoys every day she spends with him, even though sometimes it can be a little tough. Despite her friends telling her that he probably has a girlfriend back in Tokyo and she should spend more time thinking about her future, she can’t get Takaki off her mind.

The two of them are actually close friends, Kanae often goes to school early in the morning to greet Takaki in the archery club and waits after class is over to ride home with him after his afternoon practice. Despite their friendship, Kanae can’t bring herself to confess as she always sees him sending e-mails with his cell phone with a nostalgic smile on his face. Seeing this, she can’t help but feel a little saddened that it’s not her that he’s mailing and that her friends might be right, that he has a girlfriend back in Tokyo.

One day, Takaki doesn’t show up after school at his usual time, so Kanae decides to go home alone. On the way there, she notices Takaki’s scooter parked on a hillside and decides to check it out. Sure enough, Takaki is lounging on the hill, cell phone in hand with that same nostalgic smile on his face. When he sees Kanae he invites her over to talk. They end up discussing where they plan to go to university, Takaki having already decided on Tokyo and Kanae still having no idea what she wants to do after high school. But nevertheless she builds up her resolution and vows to do what she can.

Introduced by her sister, Kanae’s hobby is surfing, but she’s not very good at it. One day she manages to successfully ride a wave, something that she’s never been able to before. Taking it as a good omen, she builds up her courage and decides to confess her love to Takaki. On their usual stop at the convenience store, Kanae’s scooter breaks down on her so the two decide to walk the rest of the way home. Despite the ideal chance, Kanae can’t bring herself to confess, and ends up breaking into tears, frustrated. Just as Takaki asks her what’s wrong, their attention is diverted by a shuttle taking off into space.

Seeing the look in Takaki’s eyes, Kanae gives up on her plan to confess to him. She knows it’s true, that Takaki has someone else he loves, the one he’s always mailing. The look in his eyes that very moment and all the times she’s seen him smiling happily at his cell phone is not something that Kanae can compete with, no matter how hard she tries, Takaki will never look at her with those same eyes.

Byousoku 5 Centimeter

Takaki passes a girl on a set of train tracks and mistakes her for Akari, only to have her disappear behind a passing train when he looks back.

The years have flown by and Takaki is a grown man in the working world. After leaving Kanae behind, he went to school in Tokyo and the two drifted apart, he’s also lost contact with Akari, who is now engaged to another man. But even though they are walking different paths in life, the two can’t help but keep each other in the back of their minds.

Most likely in a moment of weakness, Takaki seems to have started dating a woman he met through his work. But he doesn’t really have any feelings for her and soon starts to ignore her calls and e-mails, much to her dismay.

Having found the letter that she meant to give Takaki all those years ago, Akari has a dream of the past on an all too familiar train ride. The dream shows Takaki and Akari in the process of growing up, the excitement of running to the post office to mail each other letters and get them in return. But slowly the letters became more and more scarce and the two drifted apart. Though many times the two thought they may have spotted each other on a train platform or walking down the street, they never met face to face after that one night many years ago.

But life moves on, no matter who you’ve met in the past and the troubles you face in the future, time continues to pass by. As Takaki crosses a familiar looking set of train tracks and sees a cherry blossom tree in full blossom, he remembers the girl he once loved and smiles as he remembers she once told him the speed at which a sakura petal falls is Five Centimeters per Second.

Thoughts

My original criticisms of the first chapter were based around the fact that the distance between Akari and Takaki wasn’t very overpowering. A couple hours on a train isn’t such a bother that they should have waited a year to meet up, even if they were only middle schoolers at the time.

But ignoring that small gripe, the rest of the movie was freaking awesome in its story. The idealistic feeling that Akari and Takaki would meet again and pick up where they left off that ends up causing pain to the third party Kanae was wonderfully conveyed. I’m not going to label Takaki as a typical dense male lead in that he wasn’t able to see Kanae’s feelings, he probably knew, but just cared so much for Akari that he shut out all possibility of hurting her.

That having been said, I felt a lot of sympathy for Kanae, who was desperately chasing after Takaki knowing that she would never be in his sights. Not only was going to the same university as him a hopeless endeavor for someone with such little motivation, the look in his eyes when he was mailing Akari was something she was powerless to fight against. It would have been nice to see what became of her after the timeskip though, rather than only seeing her crying as Takaki flew off to Tokyo.

I’m also really happy how they handled the ending. Shinkai is known for his sad, or at best bittersweet, endings, and Byousoku 5cm was no different. His choice to not have a happy ending for the AkariXTakaki couple came off very realistically. With all these melancholic endings, makes you wonder what kind of love life Shinkai had in his own childhood XD

Life is not such a romantic that you’re able to rekindle a relationship after years of the flame weakening. That was perfectly conveyed when everyone became adults, even though they were in a position where they could meet without much problem, and even though they still had lingering feelings for each other, the distance between them has grown so much that they are little more than a memory in the back of each others minds.

The overall message of this movie isn’t your typical “love conquers all”, but rather that there are many encounters to be had in life, and love doesn’t always happen on your first try. But that’s not to say that it’s a pessimistic ending, not at all, a broken heart will heal and the experience will last a life time. What makes all the difference is your ability to accept what has happened, learn from it and move on towards the future.

I don’t think I have to vouch for the technical aspects of Shinkai’s works. Anyone who has seen any of his work will know that everything is painstakingly detailed and smoothly animated. Regardless of how many times I see his work, the backgrounds that Shinkai manages to come up with impress me as much as the first time I laid eyes on them.

The soundtrack is also top notch. The moving piano solos add a great deal of emotion during critical scenes and the diverse range makes them feel uplifting yet sad at the same time. And then there’s One More Time, One More Chance, a song I heard was written in memory of a deceased girlfriend and originally used for a 1996 movie of the same title. An amazing piece.

I don’t think there’s much more I can say about this movie, you have to watch it to truly understand how everything comes together to create such a wonderful experience, even more so if you can identify and sympathize with the characters.

In fact, the only complaints I have with the movie as a whole is the unrealistic portrayal of the cosmos and the nigh impossible trajectory that Kanae’s paper airplane took.

EDIT* Actually, upon a rewatch, I felt that the characters could have used a lot more development. For the simple overlying theme of “moving on”, the character development was adequate. But I couldn’t help but think “This would have been so much more awesome if we had been able to get to know the characters better”. But they got the point across and I guess that’s what counts. Still an amazing work of art.

Side Note: Takaki has the same mouse as I do! The MX Revolution, such a great mouse, especially when you’re using it with Vista. Kind of sucks for gaming though, which is why I keep my mx518 out to swap to when needed. Takaki has a better monitor than I do though, damn 30″ apple display, that thing is beautiful.

~ Shirukii ~

Alternate Titles: Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (TokiKake)
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Based on the novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui

I’m surprised that TokiKake went under the radar for so long, released in 2006, it won several awards for best animated picture in Japan. I would never have come across it had it not been for screenies being spammed in 4chan’s /a/.

Although it didn’t have quite as much hype as a certain Makoto Shinkai movie, I have to say that (for the moment at least) I enjoyed it much more. It was simply amazing, great characters, a good script and a decent plot to carry it through.

TokiKake is a story centered around a trio of friends (from left to right) Makoto Konno, Chiaki Mamiya and Kousuke Tsuda. One day, while dropping off career surveys, Makoto falls on a strange object which imprints a number on her arm.

Later that day she is involved in an accident that should have killed her, however, something strange happened. Moments after the accident she was transported back in time to before it occurred, effectively saving her life.

Although initially skeptical about her newfound powers, some terribly unscientific testing eventually confirms it, she can leap through time, and when I say leap, I mean it in its most literal sense.

At first it’s all fun and games, she uses her power to improve her grades, read her friends’ baseball pitches and extend time at the karaoke box. However, it soon becomes apparent that changing the past has unpredictable and often catastrophic repercussions.

Thoughts

I’ll stop the summary there, as going any further would spoil the movie. Also, as with any movie that packs this much character development and plot into such a short time, it’s hard to compress into a decent summary without basically rewriting the script. Although I won’t be summarizing any further, I will be talking about plot and character elements, so a spoiler advisory is in effect from here on in, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED =)

I wouldn’t say the premise of TokiKake is anything new. It’s a plot that’s been played out hundreds of times before. An unfortunate and pitiable hero is graced with a peculiar power which makes their life a blast for a while, but they soon realize that one person’s happiness is another person’s sorrow.

In TokiKake, Makoto is given the power to travel through time, she uses the power to go back in time and change events that would have otherwise caused her inconvenience. But as she starts to play with time, she realizes that making things go your way isn’t always straightforward, and doing something that benefits one person will often cause direct harm to someone else.

One of the things that the movie did that many others do is make the character responsible for her actions, even at the end. Most movies of this kind will have a ‘reset’ type ending where the character realizes her wrongs and goes back to before it all happened, effectively setting everything right once again. Sure the character learns her lesson, but it isn’t reinforced by any sort of consequence. In TokiKake, Makoto isn’t fully relieved of her pain. Although things end up more or less the same, she still has to cope with the loss of a close friend, it’s a bittersweet ending that almost made me cry manly tears like a little girl.

Another brilliant path the movie took was in the way that Makoto used her power. A lot of movies take the high road and have the main character try and do something for the good of humanity, like going back to WWII and killing Hitler, or something. But no, Makoto uses time traveling in the way that most selfish, greedy, self-concerned human being would, for her own benefit.

My only real complaint with the whole movie is Chiaki’s handling of the ending scene. Srsly, what was that, “I’ll see you in the future”? No you won’t, she’ll be dead. Should have kissed her while you had the chance! Isn’t it sad Makoto ;_;

On the technical side of things, the animation was decent. Not exactly KyoAni or Shinkai level animation, but it was a style that suited the tone of the movie very well, and succeeded in putting more focus on the characters themselves, rather than the designs. There were a few breathtaking shots though, most notably the scene where Chiaki freezes time, that was brilliant.

The music was great! I usually pay little to no attention to background music and insert songs, but in this case they were very fitting and added an extra punch in key scenes. I’m not about to run out and buy the OST, but I will admit that they did a great job using it to maximize the effect.

So, to summarize: excellent plot and pacing, good character build up (minus Makoto being slightly annoying sometimes), fluid animation and a great soundtrack. What are you waiting for, go watch it, nao!

“The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see…”

Oshi-…wrong movie.

~ Shirukii ~

Ah, finally subbed, I had been waiting for this ever since it came out in theaters in Japan. Being a live action movie, I kept my expectations low as they seldom, if ever, manage to be as good as their anime/manga counterparts. However, this one ported over fairly well.

Plot

From what I can remember, the movie is adapted from only the first season, so nothing about Morita’s past or the whole Hagu ordeal was covered. The movie took random bits from the first season are taken and compiled in a random order, and also added a few scenes that weren’t in the anime.

Obligatory Hagu shot

One thing that struck me as odd was that the cast didn’t seem to be friends at the beginning of the movie. Everyone had a rough idea of who everyone was, living under the same roof and all. But the bond between them seemed to develop as the movie went along, as opposed to having already been established from the beginning in the anime. Hell, Morita didn’t even know Takemoto’s name at the start of the movie.

Of the scenes that were taken directly out of the anime, there was:
- Beach/Onsen trip, complete with Morita’s soy sauce wallscroll
- Yamada’s piggyback confession
- Takemoto’s bike journey
They were each slightly tweaked, but in essence those scenes were cut and paste from the anime.

If I had to pin a main storyline to the plot, I suppose it would be the Morita, Takemoto and Hagu love triangle. A large portion of the movie was concentrated on Morita and Hagu interacting as both love interests and aspiring artists. Other than that there’s also the implied rivalry between Morita and Takemoto, though nothing really erupts between them as it did in the anime.

Bye bye ¥5,000,000

The rest of the movie was dedicated to random parties and a seemingly rushed attempt at examining the Yamada, Mayama and Rika love triangle.

While managing to somewhat mirror the non-linear “slice of life” feel that the anime had going for it, the events in the movie seemed less like a depiction of everyday life and more like randomly chosen snippets of youth. Although…trying to compress around 8 hours of anime into a 2 hour movie leaves you with no other choice.

Characters

While the characters did not get nearly as much time to develop as their anime counterparts, they managed to be relatively faithful and the acting was (surprisingly) not half bad.

Takemoto: Never would have thought possible, but the live action version of Takemoto is even weirder and more awkward than in the anime. Though not as indecisive, his inability to cope with conflict and decisions is still apparent. And even when he does manage to gather courage to say…ask Hagu out for lunch, he looks like he’s about to fall on the ground and start seizing up.

I also don’t like how his bike journey was done, it was taken completely out of context. In the anime he left because he was at a loss as to what to do in life, on the verge of graduating and not knowing what to do afterwards, he sets out to “find himself”. However, the movie does not do enough to stress that he is confused in life, and the timing of the scene made it seem like he was running away because of Hagu.

Morita: Morita was just scary X_X His insanity in the movie went horribly wrong, he came off as arrogant and overpowering whereas in the anime his insanity is more on the playful side. He was also much more blunt in the movie, saying and doing whatever he felt like, as opposed to the anime where he playfully avoided conflict.

Mayama: Wow they really took his stalker tendencies to the limits. He stalks Rika, acknowledges that he’s stalking her AND recognizes that it’s wrong. He goes as far as the gather random things that Rika has used and save them in labeled zip lock bags which he hangs on his walls -_-”

He also looks MUCH nerdier than his anime counterpart.

Someone should call the police…er, the real ones

Mayama stalks Rika

Yamada: Another stalker -_-” Same infatuation with Mayama as in the anime, same confession, and interestingly enough…same oversize eyes O_O.

Yamada stalks Mayama

Rika: Rika’s only role in the movie is as a stalking victim, poor girl =(

Coincidence my ass, this must have been awkward

Mario/Luigi: *cue mario bros. theme* XD Uh…not much to say about them, cept they might be gay (Uguu~! shock-u)

Nazi cat mascot:

*Kyon sigh*

Thoughts

Not a bad movie overall, I’ll probably burn it and toss it with the rest of my anime to be dug up and watched one day. If nothing else it brought back wonderful memories of watching the anime series, which I have a strong urge to rewatch right now, but alas I have too much backlog and school work to do so D=.

Damn. I wish I was an art student…

~ Shirukii ~

         Arashi no Yoru ni, or One Stormy Night, is a story of two friends trying to live an impossible life. I recently had the pleasure of watching this movie, and to the best of my knowledge, this title is relatively unknown in the western world. So here I shall talk of it, and with any luck, convince at least one of you to watch it.

         As I said before, Arashi no Yoru ni is of two friends, Mei and Gabu. Mei is actually a goat, and Gabu’s a wolf. I think now it’s becoming a little more obvious why these two friends were living impossible lives. The wolf clan and the goat clan are bitter enemies, namely because the wolf clan eats goats for meals. For a wolf and a goat to befriend each other would be unheard of, if not impossible. However, that is exactly what happens when Mei and Gabu first meet. On one stormy night, Mei was separated from the rest of the goats, and ran inside an abandoned barn to seek shelter. Cue Gabu, who too seeks shelter in the barn by chance. Gabu walks into the barn and discovers Mei hiding out, but neither are aware of each other’s true identity. In the pitch black night, they carry a peaceful conversation between each other, never once seeing each other for who they were. Or actually, I should correct that. They DID see who they really were, not simply what animal’s form they took. Concluding the evening, Mei and Gabu go on their separate ways after the pleasant talk, promising to meet the next day. Since they still have no idea what they look like, they make up the password “one stormy night”, so that they can identify each other by that phrase alone. They meet up the next day, and inevitably, the truth is brought to light. So begins their new and unusual friendship.

         Of course, if the story ended there, there wouldn’t be much of a story, would there? Mei and Gabu continue meeting up in secret, not letting their clans know of such absurd activities. Unfortunately, one day they are found out, and everything starts to spiral out of control. Mei and Gabu both face tension from their respective clans, and are ordered to betray their impossible friendship. After reassessing their friendship and of their future, Mei and Gabu take a leap of faith together, hoping for the best.

         A story of a talking wolf and goat trying to save a friendship sounds like a strange story to watch, childish even. However, this story has conflicts between family, conflicts between friends, and conflicts within oneself. Throw in the constant battle between life and death, and maybe this anime has a little more than a little child can appreciate. Some scenes were a little sad, some scenes a little touching. I thought it conveyed the conflicts fairly well, while still managing to make me burst out laughing at less serious scenes. It was a good mix, but I didn’t feel like it went too deep into either end.

         One of the first things to notice about this anime is the animation style. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s by no means a bad style. Analyzing each individual component may make the animation seem bad, but when they come together to form the fluid animation, it creates quite the environment. The first part would be the background. This pretty much consists of two styles: normally animated scenery and CG backgrounds. The normally animated backgrounds looked rather two dimensional, not giving a good perspective of the scenery. However, this was the effect that was intended, and I thought it was done very well. I’ll get back to why in a bit, but for now, I’ll move onto the CG backgrounds. These were pretty standard stuff, nothing really to report here. The CG was nice, but it was rarely used. And when it was, it sometimes seemed a little out of place, given the uniqueness of the animation style. Finally, the characters were animated in quite a different manner than the backgrounds. With a different style, it made the characters stand out from the background quite a bit, which didn’t take away from the animation at all. Instead, the merging of the 2D backgrounds with the distinct characters created quite the effect. As I said before, individually, 2D backgrounds with characters that don’t seem to fit with the background at all would normally make a terrible looking scene. However, it’s quite the opposite here. Instead, the animation gives off a very “picture book” feel. It was as if you were looking at the illustrations found in a picture book, which I thought was a really nice touch. I later learned that in fact, the original source for the story WAS a picture book, only proving that it translated well from paper to the screen.

         The music was nice, always being a good match to what was happening on screen. Although matching, I doubt I’ll be listening to the music much outside of the movie, unlike the wonderful music found in Beyond the Clouds. The only non-instrumental song was AIKO’s “Star”, the ending theme. I’ve uploaded that, and you can find it here.

         On the more negative side, I felt that the goat clan had some problems. Mei’s mother was never truly expanded on, even thought she really should have been. Instead, she was introduced as a character of importance in Mei’s background, but only left at that, never explaining her full story. The general lack of importance of the goat clan to the story seemed like a problem too, while the wolf enjoyed much screentime and was making quite the ruckus. Finally, I have something against Mii [Note: Mii is Mei’s friend]. I normally don’t complain about voice acting… but Mii just seemed really off, she was too unnatural. Luckily, since she was a goat, she had a lack of dialogue, so it didn’t pose too large of a problem.

Mei and Gabu enjoying each other’s company

The two conflicting clans

A small sample of the “picturebook” backgrounds

         Overall, I wouldn’t rank Arashi no Yoru ni a masterpiece, but I would say it’s definitely worth your time to watch. It’s an animated picture book story of predator and prey just trying to get along, braving a new world that needs to be faced because of closed-mindedness. My little summary doesn’t cover a lot of this movie, and I highly suggest you watch it and find out what happens. What are you waiting for? Watch!

//Soda

 
           “Wow”. That is the first word that comes to mind when I think of this movie. It may just be my inner geek talking, but I really enjoyed all aspects of this movie. It’s a cute story about an otaku changing his life around after he meets the girl of his dreams. Sure, it’s a clichéd story, cheesy even, but that didn’t stop me from liking it.
           Densha Otoko even has a history behind it. It’s not a simple story that a bored writer decided to conjure up. No, it’s actually based on true events, which only makes this story so much more enjoyable. Back in 2004, this little drama unfolded at 2chan with our main character sharing his latest experience on a train ride back home. Now I’m sure most of us know what 2chan is, but for the uninformed, 2chan is a Japanese board [not to be confused with Futaba channel, sometimes also called 2chan]. According to Wikipedia, it’s thought to be the largest forum in the world. Interesting stuff. In any case, yes, Densha Otoko (the person, that is. To be referred to as “Otoko” from now on) posted his account of first meeting the girl of his dreams on a train, in which he protects her from a crazy drunk. After that first encounter, Otoko gives his address to the woman so she can send a gift of thanks. He never got her number or her address, and deeply regretted that. A few days later, he gets a package from her, and it’s a Hermes tea set. This earns her the nickname “Hermes” on 2chan (and thus will be referred to as such). Otoko informs 2chan of the newest development, and many Anonymous agree that the tea set was too expensive to be merely a simple thank you gift. The Anonymous stick with Otoko, and give him advice on anything and everything. He contacts Hermes and arranges a meeting, in which from then on, their relationship starts to grow.
           By giving a little history, I’ve already given you a summary of beginning events. Given the nature of the story and the history of it, it leaves no real surprises and has a very predictable ending. However, this doesn’t detract from the movie at all. This movie isn’t about a grand fantastical story with plenty of plot twists and surprising elements. No, it’s just a story of a man, a woman, and a legion of anonymous as they go through life. It isn’t just a romance story; it’s a story of change. That single moment on the train cued the beginning of the rest of Otoko’s life. He changed himself from a full blown otaku to a regular member of society. Although he originally changed himself only to be more presentable for a girl, he eventually comes to the point when he starts changing his life for himself. He’s moving forward, getting as much as he can from life. He inspires the lives of many other 2channers, giving them the courage and motivation to fix the problems in THEIR lives, instead of just sitting back and giving tips on Otoko’s.
           And this isn’t just a serious movie about growth and relationships. The comedic moments had me laughing out loud, from the gunfight at the frontlines to the immaturity and childishness of Otoko. It serves as a reminder that sometimes we need to look at ourselves and laugh too, not only at the loser otaku that acts before us.
           Now as much as I like this movie [so much in fact, that I took a break from writing this post and watched the entire movie again =p ], I wouldn’t be quick to recommend it. I would say that this movie has a small target audience, and outsiders won’t appreciate it to its full extent. Anime obviously isn’t an alien concept to me [otherwise what am I doing writing for Anime Blog ga Arimasu?], but even then that may not be enough for full enjoyment. Some knowledge of 2chann would be preferred, like the anonymous system or the common ASCII art and stuff like that. And if you add a pinch of being an otaku into the mix, then you can easily relate to Otoko and his situation, as well as understand his actions. I’m not anime guru, certainly not a 2chann expert, and I would say I’m not THAT big of an otaku, yet you already know of my opinion on this movie. As long as you understand the world of otakus, this movie should at the very LEAST be worth your time.
           Now I admit that when I first heard of the Densha Otoko movie, I was a little worried. The history of the movie greatly interested me, but I wondered how the execution of the retelling would go. After watching it, I must say all fears were for nothing. They turned a great otaku story to a great otaku movie. And now one more otaku enjoyed it.

           Oh, and one last thing. There’s an additional one minute clip after the credits roll. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the smile shown in the last second of the clip alone can justify watching the entire movie.

//Soda

Kumo no Mukou
Yakusoku no Basho
Beyond The Clouds
The Promised Place

Synopsis:

Two friends, Fujisawa Hiroki and Shirakawa Takuya, are planning to build a plane and fly to Ezo Tower, a skyscraper that extends to the heavens. Some say it is a powerful military weapon, others say it is a monument of national identity in times where world war looms and the North & South sections of Japan have been separated.

Using salvaged parts and buying the rest at their part time job at a factory that produces military guided missiles, the two inch slowly towards their goal. One day, through a conversation that led her to its discovery, their classmate, Sawatari Sayuri, is let in on the secret and the three vow to fly to the tower together. However, as summer vacation ends and the three near the realization of their promise, Sayuri goes missing.

Flash forward three years, Hiroki is in high school and Takuya is working in a research lab, both in Tokyo, both leaving unfulfilled lives after the disappearance of Sayuri. Takuya is in the field of researching parallel universes, which are described as dreams and possible future paths of the current universe. The same research is being conducted at a much more advanced level at the Ezo Tower. It is apparently possible to replace a portion of the current universe with that of a parallel one.

The key to the expansion of the parallel universe lies with Sayuri, who has fallen into a coma like state where she is in a constant dream, apparently linked to the parallel universes. Hiroki also has these dreams, but his are fragmented. He eventually realizes that his dreams may be Sayuri’s current reality and vows to protect her and fulfill their promise of going to the tower.

When Sayuri is asleep the expansion of the parallel universe around the Ezo Tower remains in check, however when she shows signs of waking, the expansion is rapid and uncontrollable. Hiroki and Takuya learn about this and have converging opinions. Takuya believes that the fate of Sayuri is less important than the fate of the world, which may be consumed by the expanding universe. Hiroki wants to fulfill his promise and bring Sayuri to the tower, by doing so he believes she will awaken. The two fight at first, but are brought together by an unexpected force, a terrorist network. Headed by the owner of the factory they once worked in, the terrorist cell plans to destroy the Ezo Tower when world war is declared. Hearing their situation, their former boss orders Takuya and Hiroki to carry out the job, in exchange Hiroki will be able to bring Sayuri to the tower, and by destroying it the expansion of the parallel universe will be halted. Everyone wins.

Unexpectedly, this is exactly how it occurs, the plan is executed flawlessly. Sayuri awakens to a new life, which she plans to use on furthering her relationship with Hiroki, whom she loves. The tower is destroyed and the expansion of the parallel universe is stopped as the war rages on in the background.

Thoughts:

I really like this movie, Shinkai Makoto is a genious, both in animation and in directing. The carefree lifestyle portrayed in the beginning was done exceptionally well and served as a perfect contrast to the events in the latter half of the movie. The drama was not over done and for once I am thankful for that, as forced drama can wreck a series. The characters were also well done, although Takuya seemed sort of underdeveloped and seemed like a background character to me. The main focus was on Hiroki and Sayuri, who were connected by their dreams and promise to each other.

There was not much action in this movie, a few battle and launch scenes, some Evangelion type computer lab scenes, and a really big explosion pretty much sums it up. The ending was well done, but rather anti-climactic, there was no drama or suspense, everything went according to plan. I thought that the two fighter jets near the end would have spotted him and we’d get a desperate chase scene going, but alas, no complications. There was also a lack of closure, as with the other Shinkai Makoto work I’ve seen (Hoshi no Koe). Questions still linger in my mind:

What will happen to Sayuri and Hiroki?
What will become of Takuya?
How will the world react to the destruction on the Ezo Tower?
Etc.

If I had any imagination I could develop theories and answers for myself, but I’m lazy and rather uncreative, and so I’m left with a slight sense of incompleteness.

The music and animation was AMAZING, absolutely perfect. The character designs still need work, but the surroundings and backgrounds were drawn and animated very well, at a level on par or possibly higher than Kyoto Animation’s work. The music was very fitting, classical piano and violin scores reverberated in the background sending a chill up my spine at crucial, tense and emotional moments. And although I believe the ending was a little anti-climactic, it achieved an excellent catharsis through the use of beautiful animation, dialogue and music.

The animation quality is simply amazing in this movie.

I wish I had enough focus and determination when I was a kid =\

His synch ratios are off the charts!!! …err, oops, wrong anime.

I wanted to put in more screenshots, but I realized that if I included everything I wanted to, this page could take a VERY long time to load D=

Victories

- Animation quality
- Musical score (OST)
- Relationship between Hiroki and Sayuri
- The few action scenes
- Physics!

Phailures

- Too few action scenes
- Character designs still feel rough
- Takuya, such wasted potential
- Lack of explanation of the war, tower, alliance, UN forces and especially what took place in the three year gap. (Though with a limited amount of time, this is inevitable)
- Lack of suspense during ending where there could have been

All in all an EXCELLENT work of art, if you haven’t already, watch it.

~ Shirukii ~