Anime director Mamoru Oshi (Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Blood the Last Vampire, Jin-Roh: the Wolf Brigade) has been off the radar for quite some time. On Friday night, December 12th, the Lincoln Center of NYC became the only place in the country to check out his newest piece, SKY CRAWLERS.
Based on a novel, Sky Crawlers is a story of perseverance and the banality of an existence centered on combat. There is a war, a struggle between two nations happening in the skies above us - but it's not our problem. Yuichi Kannami is a top fighter pilot who has just transferred to a new base. New plane, new missions, new crew to meet. And, like every other pilot there, he is a Kildred: an immortal who will never grow up. These genetically-engineered living dolls trudge through their day-to-day routines, repeating tasks and only feeling the thrill of life while fighting in the skies.
Peter Pan references set aside, this movie drags at the pace of a coma. Harold Pinter himself would admit the film's minimalistic approach is a bit too slow. Even the dog-fight scenes between the fighter planes seems to lack immediacy and drive. On top of that, Tetsuya Nishio's (Naruto, Jin-Roh) symmetric and almost flat character design gives little complexity to the film's aesthetic. The coloration is bland, holding an almost salt-worn quality, which only drives Oshi's point home about how dull a Kildred's life is. Without the aerial combat, this film could have been made live-action in the 1960's and no one would have known the difference.
On the big screen, the fighter plane sequences are dazzling. The sharpness of the 3D is so well done, it's easy to forget you're watching an anime. Every bullet shot tears across the screen, and for the first time, bullet-time met air planes: Max Payne would be pleased.
Yet, pacing set aside, Oshi has created a fascinating proposal: a world that uses a never-ending war as a means of keeping the peace. The lackluster nature of the immortal Kildreds only smooths out their passion and personal drives, keeping them willing to fight. As the story progresses, Yuichi becomes close with his mysterious captain, Kusanagi, and the two develop a strange cat-and-mouse/friendly fire relationship as they delve into the others' past secrets. All of their questions and searching lead back to their mission: to fly until shot down, until confronted by the mysterious and untouchable Teacher.
Subtext and subtlety are more important to this film than the amazing plane fights. The bare minimum script leaves small clues in an almost "Memento" style, that does not need to be pieced together in order to follow the film. What matters in the symbolism. The children cannot surpass the Teacher, the "father" figure who taunts them silently from above. The Kildred's lack of drive for life causes them to shut down their hearts, blur their memories, and live half-consciously just to stave off their immortal boredom. If only they'd take the cues from every vampire story every written: IMMORTALITY IS BORING.
This film could only be made by Mamoru Oshi: cryptic, distant and profound. Again, he has created a piece that provokes analysis and discussion rather than cosplaying fangirls.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
School Days
“At first, I was satisfied with looking…sitting next to her…just having lunch with her made me nervous. I wonder when it started…when I wanted to touch her, when I wanted to hold her…I ended up not being able to control myself with just that. I wanted more…more…and it turned into my selfishness.” – Makoto Itou, episode 12.
Half of me wants to recommend School Days because of the frightening bait-and-switch and treatment of high school sexual promiscuity. The other half wants to know how a series this twisted was ever pitched to a producer. Perchance it went something like this:
“Thank you for meeting with me, Mister Producer.”
“So let’s hear your idea, TNK studios.”
“Well, we wanna do a high school romance. We wanna start casual and light-hearted… then rape half the cast.”
“…go on…”
Makoto Itou has a secret crush on the beautiful, shy girl that rides the train with him every morning to school. She is Katsura Kotonoha: quiet, clean, and beautiful. One of Makoto’s classmates, the free-spirited Sekai, collaborates with him to help him get his mojo working. School Days begins with the light-heartedness of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, develops slower than Julius Caesar, and switches gears to spiral into an ending that would make Othello squirm.
Beautiful animation is paired with unusually overt dialog. The director is very careful to emphasize the character’s cell phone texting as their sole means of honest self-expression, since everyone is lying to someone else in this series just to keep Makoto and Sekai happy together. There is almost no music, but the sound of trains and ringing cell phones sets the lackluster pace of the series.
In order to make Makoto more comfortable around Katsura, Sekai puts him through special training…and that’s when things turn ecchi. Sekai literally throws herself at Makoto, saying that it’s “just practice” and not to be taken seriously. But of course she secretly loves him and longs to make Makoto hers. Now comes Makoto’s inner struggle: does he go for the girl who gets dirty with him, or for the girl he wants to get dirty with?
This is where things get complicated, and for the first half of the series, there is memorable (though sluggish) sexual tension and believability in Makoto’s infidelity toward both Sekai and Katsura. Whom does he like? Answer: both. Unfortunately, despite its poignancy on love and sex, School Days will never see the light of American television; you can thank the gratuitous sex, nudity and rape. That’s right, the “r” word – couldn’t have a show about betrayal and relationships with the “r” word.
By the story’s end, Makoto has the best year ever, having more affairs than Zeus, and less regret than a guest on Jerry Springer. I do not particularly recommend this series to experienced fans (let alone newbies); it’s just a bit too torpid. This anime is a carefully composed cautionary tale about the fruits of lust, and, though a bit exaggerated, a clear statement on the confusing physical dependence of adolescent sexual awakening.
Half of me wants to recommend School Days because of the frightening bait-and-switch and treatment of high school sexual promiscuity. The other half wants to know how a series this twisted was ever pitched to a producer. Perchance it went something like this:
“Thank you for meeting with me, Mister Producer.”
“So let’s hear your idea, TNK studios.”
“Well, we wanna do a high school romance. We wanna start casual and light-hearted… then rape half the cast.”
“…go on…”
Makoto Itou has a secret crush on the beautiful, shy girl that rides the train with him every morning to school. She is Katsura Kotonoha: quiet, clean, and beautiful. One of Makoto’s classmates, the free-spirited Sekai, collaborates with him to help him get his mojo working. School Days begins with the light-heartedness of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, develops slower than Julius Caesar, and switches gears to spiral into an ending that would make Othello squirm.
Beautiful animation is paired with unusually overt dialog. The director is very careful to emphasize the character’s cell phone texting as their sole means of honest self-expression, since everyone is lying to someone else in this series just to keep Makoto and Sekai happy together. There is almost no music, but the sound of trains and ringing cell phones sets the lackluster pace of the series.
In order to make Makoto more comfortable around Katsura, Sekai puts him through special training…and that’s when things turn ecchi. Sekai literally throws herself at Makoto, saying that it’s “just practice” and not to be taken seriously. But of course she secretly loves him and longs to make Makoto hers. Now comes Makoto’s inner struggle: does he go for the girl who gets dirty with him, or for the girl he wants to get dirty with?
This is where things get complicated, and for the first half of the series, there is memorable (though sluggish) sexual tension and believability in Makoto’s infidelity toward both Sekai and Katsura. Whom does he like? Answer: both. Unfortunately, despite its poignancy on love and sex, School Days will never see the light of American television; you can thank the gratuitous sex, nudity and rape. That’s right, the “r” word – couldn’t have a show about betrayal and relationships with the “r” word.
By the story’s end, Makoto has the best year ever, having more affairs than Zeus, and less regret than a guest on Jerry Springer. I do not particularly recommend this series to experienced fans (let alone newbies); it’s just a bit too torpid. This anime is a carefully composed cautionary tale about the fruits of lust, and, though a bit exaggerated, a clear statement on the confusing physical dependence of adolescent sexual awakening.
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