Thursday, November 27, 2008

Origin: Spirits of the Past

When Funimation claims a gem from Gonzo, they put their heart and soul into doing a great job. Origin: Spirits of the Past is a great gateway anime for people waiting for the next Miyazaki flick.
The story is post-apocalyptic and easy enough to follow. Years ago, “the forest” became a dragon and attacked from its secret base: the moon! Now, the remains of mankind live in the overgrowth ruins of toppled-over cities, trying desperately to coexist with a very dominant and sentient forest. If they do not respect the forest’s authori-tah, the forest will go Swamp Thing on mankind’s ass and steal back the remaining water. Our protagonist, a young boy named Agito, discovers a girl from the past sealed in suspended animation, Toola. Together, they will learn what caused Earth’s drastic shift and discover a way to bring the forest and man together. For hardcore environmentalists, this is yet another film that caters to your self-righteous dogmas.
Origin is a bit of Princess Mononoke without the animals, a bit of Naussica without the flying, and has a walking volcano fortress. Thus, something for everyone. It follows a perfect three-act structure, though several scenes and character choices and seem unearned and rushed for the sake of preserving an hour-and-a-half runtime. The visuals are astounding, from tidal waves to the vehicle designs to the encompassing forest, which is as gentle as it is hostile. This film really captures the beauty of a skeletal sky-scraper sheathed beneath a mossy skin. The soundtrack has the heartfelt ambience you’d expect from an anime aimed at Japanese teenagers. Which is fine for me considering I still think of myself as a teenaged Japanese girl.
The American voice acting is superb, and the script matches very well with absolutely no awkward translation errors, so kudos to John Burgmeier’s work. Burgmeier also provides the voice of Shunack, the film’s very believable and sympathetic villain. Great performances also spring from the well of talents named Christopher Patton (Agito) and Carrie Savage (Toola).
Origin does well to create an original world of decay and growth, destruction and creation. It does very well as a cautionary tale about the corruption of power (both by the forest and man’s technological drive for success.) Frankly I wasn’t expecting such a well-constructed argument. The philosophy of Origin lies somewhere between Transcendentalism and Buddhist detachment from past desires; and oddly enough the difficult dramatic decision lies with both Agito and Toola. Still, in the end, forest=good, fire=bad, drop-kicking a flaming hunk of magma=badass. This was an all-around excellent visual romp that planted its seed in my heart and took root.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Basilisk

“To the one I love; prepare to die.”

A time of ninjas and shoguns. The 400-year-old peace pact between the warring Iga and Kouga ninja clans has been abolished. Now, to decide the political fate of Japan, the top ten of both clans must battle to the bitter bloody end. Yes!
Tragically caught in the middle are Gennosuke and Oboro, leaders of each clan, who must bury their love and hopes of peace to carry out the bloody fate of their clans. No, not love! It’s West Side Story without the dancing. Yes! It’s Romeo and Juliet except Romeo could use Samurai Jack as dental floss! Halleluiah!
What sets Basilisk apart is its stunning production budget. Fast-moving action scenes are balanced with white-outs, magnificent landscape shots and surrealist super-powers that make Naruto’s displays of power look like a dollar-store Christmas wreath.
Basilisk, despite being a ninja show about ninja blowing apart other ninja using ninja techniques, is loaded with driven, believable and empathetic characters. By halfway through the series, when we are down to the final five on either side, trust has been betrayed, loyalties have been forsook, and slaughter is impending. Yes! Granted, the ninja powers defy logic in a way that would make Stan Lee blush, but it doesn’t worry about creating a magic system for the sake of marketing and video game copyrights. Sure, the old guy with the elf ears can stretch his arms infinitely and the paraplegic has a 12-foot sword down his throat, but so what – bloodshed!
The deaths can be just as sudden and surprising as the narrow escapes. You feel the imminent danger in every scene, and the consequences are palpable. These are awesome fights that are spaced out very well with compelling, though predictable, scenes of loyalty, fury, and startling compassion.
Funimation grabbed a hold of this series as soon as they could, though its constant soft core rape scenes and oceans of blood will keep it off Adult Swim indefinitely. I chose to watch the whole series dubbed, and it turned out far easier to follow than the subtitles. Though some characters seem mismatched, and the choppy rhythm falls short as it many dubs, it still holds together well. What hurts Basilisk is the melodramatic performance on both ends for the part of Oboro, who is sadly a flat, generic innocent girl, and there is only so much you can do with imaginative dialogue like, “I love you too much to fight you,” and “Anakin, you’re breaking my heart.” Hint, hint, George Lucas.
I didn’t expect much from Basilisk, but now I have seen its true power, and I will never underestimate Gonzo again.

Cat Soup

Cat Soup

Not every film needs clever dialogue or a plot…but it helps. Cat Soup, the half-hour surrealist journey and nothing short of an amazing drug trip. The story follows two adorable cats who quest to find the missing half of the older sister-cat’s soul; from there it derails. A short piece with practically no dialogue, it has won several awards across the world, including “Best Short Film” at the 6th Fantasia Film Festival and “Excellence Prize” at Japan’s Media Arts Festival. Despite its international acclaim, I was surprised at its obscurity here in the states.
Cat Soup’s artistic success became a total surprise for director Mr. Blank. To him, Cat Soup is an animated tribute to a bizarre manga called Nekojiru, which is to Hello Kitty as Bizarro is to Superman. What surprised me was the dry treatment of injury and bloodshed in this film. While the soundtrack creates the ambiance of a child’s bedtime story, there is a significant amount of mutilation. Cat Soup meets many elements right in the center: cuteness and sadism, life and death, creation and destruction. It straddles a strange line between innocence and deviance, particularly for vegetarians or animal rights groups.
Some of the chapters run a little too parallel to the Bible for comfort: the flood of Genesis, the reversal world-destruction of the Book of Revelations, the fat man in bondage from…the Gospel according to Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
Being in the center of so much visual chaos, I can’t say I like or dislike Cat Soup. I wouldn’t have another spoonful without administering certain illegal stimuli, but I won’t discourage you readers from the joy of experimenting.
The jewel of this experimental movement is the imagery, loaded with enough dreamlike surrealism and symbolism to make Freud and Carl Jung soil themselves. Artist Salvador Dali was one of the aesthetic influences, and it shows, especially the sequence in the desert where the two cats hitch a ride inside a water elephant…take that as literally as you can.
Obviously, Cat Soup is not aimed at everyone, or anyone in particular. As director Tatsuo Sato (Ninja Scroll series and Shigofumi: Letters of the Departed) marks in his commentary, “just enjoy the imagery” because “you have to use your brain to watch this” odd, discolored jewel. It is funny in a detached way, cute in a creepy way, and downright confusing in every way. Cat Soup: to be eaten with a knife.