Sarah

Last week I watched and reviewed Princess Mononoke, one of Hayao Miyazaki’s well-known masterpieces and said that I would tackle Spirited Away the following week, since it was the first screenplay he wrote after Princess Mononoke.  Well, that week is here and I must say, I throughly enjoyed this film.  Miyazaki sure has one wild imagination because his films are strange in their own way.

Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
5 Stars

Last week I watched and reviewed [Princess Mononoke], one of Hayao Miyazaki’s well-known masterpieces and said that I would tackle Spirited Away the following week, since it was the first screenplay he wrote after Princess Mononoke.  Well, that week is here and I must say, I throughly enjoyed this film.  Miyazaki sure has one wild imagination because his films are strange in their own way.

 

Our heroine Chihiro is in the midst of a big move to the suburbs with her family when they take a wrong turn at a dirt road near some spirit shrines and end up at the opening of a large building.  Her adventurous middle class parents decide to get out of the car and investigate.  Chihiro refuses to go, begs them to come back, but finally gives in and grabs hold of her mom as they walk down the long dark tunnel.  On the other side of the tunnel there was another opening across a room that lead to a bright and sunny field of grass with a path leading to what seemed like a run down amusement park.  With every step they took the abandoned park seemed to draw them in.  Once they crossed the river and walked up the steps they smelled the delicious aroma of a banquet waiting for them.

Upon finding the feast, Chihiro’s parents sat down and began gorging on the food in front of them.  Chihiro, still nervous about the consequences of being discovered, stood outside the barrier that held her parents.  Chihiro wandered off to explore, while her parents pigged out on food, and ran into a boy named Haku.  Haku was frightened that she was there and told her she needed to leave before the sun went down.  With only seconds before the sun went down Chihiro ran off in the direction of her parents.  When she arrived at their side she discovered two large pigs dressed in their clothes.

Frightened and feeling abandoned, Chihiro ran off in the direction of the car, only to discover that the grassy field was now a river with a ferry drawing nearer.  Day had become night and she was becoming see-through.  When the ferry reached the bank where Chihiro stood, it began unloading its passengers.  The passengers all began walking towards the bath house at the end of the village in a parade of colors.

Chihiro had ran off and hid in nearby bushes where Haku finds her moments later.  He tells her to eat a berry or she would disappear.  If a human does not eat food from their world they will disappear, if they eat the wrong food, like her parents, then they will turn into pigs.  Haru secretly leads her into the bath house, where everyone is freaking out because there is a human in their world, and tells her how to save her parents.  Chihiro must get to the boiler room and beg for a job from the spider-armed Kamajii, the keeper of the boiler room.  This is when Chihiro meets Lin, one of the women who take care of the baths.  Lin leads Chihiro to the office of Yubaba, the witch that runs the bath house, and determines the fate of the people in the world.  After nearly being spotted a couple of times she finally makes it to see Yubaba.  Chihiro needs a job in the bath house or Yubaba will change her into an animal, so she begs Yubaba and gets turned away multiple times.  Finally Yubaba gives in and Chihiro signs a contract giving away her name, from that point on she becomes Sen and that is where her real adventure begins, but you’ll have to watch to see the rest of that.

Hayao Miyazaki’s films are fun to watch and enjoyable all the way till the end.  The story in this is fun to follow along with, and easy on the brain.  This one is very predictable, but that does not detract from the story.  Comparing this to Princess Mononoke, I would have to say that I enjoyed Spirited Away much more.  Yeah, the story in Princess Mononoke was fun, and full of battle, but the struggles of a sheepish girl in a new world was way more fun to see how she accomplished everything.  A must see for those who enjoy the other Miyazaki films.

• Title: Inuyasha 2
• IMDb: link

Inuyasha is still one of my favorite series.  When I mentioned it to a fellow anime-buff, they told me I must watch the subbed versions, not the Adult Swim version.  Way better in his opinion, so I must take that advice and re-watch the entire series.

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InuYasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking GlassRead More »

Now here is a classic anime, Akira.  This one is a little older than I like to review, but I figured it was a good time to throw it out there.  If you haven’t heard, they are coming out with a new live action Akira, hopefully they will improve a few things.

This is post World War III, 30 years later to be exact, in Tokyo.  Tokyo was destroyed in the war and Neo-Tokyo was built on the remnants of the old city.  Don’t start thinking this is a paradise, no way, the city is riddled with gangs, crime and shady political characters in office [what’s new about that?].

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AkiraRead More »

Have you ever felt like you spent your entire life searching for something that you will never see again?  Chiyoko Fujiwara definitely spends eternity looking for the man that gave her the key to his heart.

At the beginning of the story, Japan was at war and anyone who opposed the war was sought after by military police.  Chiyoko Fujiwara, the main character, at the time was a young and aspiring actress, who in the future will star in many films spanning thousands of years.

Millenium Actress
5 Stars

One day she was walking down the street when a stranger bumps into her, he quickly apologizes and hurries off into the bushes.  With police hot on his tail, Chiyoko lies and sends the police in a different direction.  She then joins the stranger and offers him a safe hiding spot for the night.  Chiyoko takes him to her family’s store and the two sit in the storage room and talk for just a bit.  The only thing she learns of the stranger is he is a painter, he opposes the war and he has a key that is the most important thing he has.

The next day she is walking home thinking of the stranger in the storage room, once she arrives back at her house she notices the key in the snow by her porch.  This frightens young Chiyoko so she scoops up the key and rushes to the store to find the police searching for the mysterious painter.  The painter had successfully made it to the train station, leaving Chiyoko to wonder if she would ever see him again.

From the moment Chiyoko met the strange painter she knew she loved him, so she spent the next thirty years searching for the painter.  She carried the key on her mission to find him, only to lose it or get it stolen from her periodically.

When Chiyoko grew old, she decided to retire to her quiet mountain villa, where she would live out the rest of her life, no longer searching for the mysterious painter.  One day a director, who you come to find out, knew her when she was younger, shows up to interview her for his documentary, “The Seven Specters: The Legend of Fujiwara Chiyoko.”  With him, he brings the key she had lost on the set of her final movie.  The key unlocks the story of her life; it brings her back to the days of searching, movies and her childhood.  She takes her two guests through each movie from her past in chronological order.  In every movie she acted in, she is the same character, always the girl in distress searching for the boy who stole her heart.

Chiyoko admits that she hoped the painter would see her in one of her movies, and by the mid-50s, she was at the peak of her stardom.  Surely, the painter would see her, which is only if he is still alive though.  The rest of the story is a mystery unless you watch it for yourself.

This was a well thought out movie, every minute kept me guessing if I was going to see Chiyoko reunited with the person she loved and searched for thirty years.  I am not much of a fan of love stories or romance, but this was good.  The movies she acted in kept the pace up beat, there was action involved and a good bit of fantasy.  The story lacks in humor, but here and there you might chuckle, so do not go looking for that when you watch this.

For those of you who watched Paprika, and liked it, this the same director, Satoshi Kon.

Gene Starwind and his adolescent business partner Jim Hawking work together to help anyone with anything they need, as long as it pays well.  The two of them take on a job as a simple bodyguard of a mysterious outlaw.  This outlaw turns out to be Hilda, the most sought after outlaw of the Kei space pirate guild.  When Hilda is killed in battle Gene and Jim are left the XGP15A-II, a highly advanced spacecraft also known as the Outlaw Star.  Also, just before Hilda was killed the three of them came in contact with a bio-android named Melfina.  Hilda was in search of Melfina.  Melfina was made to connect to the over-advanced spacecraft, the Outlaw Star.

Outlaw Star
4 Stars

Gene Starwind and his adolescent business partner Jim Hawking work together to help anyone with anything they need, as long as it pays well.  The two of them take on a job as a simple bodyguard of a mysterious outlaw.  This outlaw turns out to be Hilda, the most sought after outlaw of the Kei space pirate guild.  When Hilda is killed in battle Gene and Jim are left the XGP15A-II, a highly advanced spacecraft also known as the Outlaw Star.  Also, just before Hilda was killed the three of them came in contact with a bio-android named Melfina.  Hilda was in search of Melfina.  Melfina was made to connect to the over-advanced spacecraft, the Outlaw Star.

The Outlaw Star needed to be repaired and restocked with ammunition after the battles with the space pirates, and the only person that they can turn to is Fred Luo.  When Gene went to Fred for the supplies, Fred was under attack by the known assassin, Twilight Suzuka.  Gene fights Suzuka to save Fred, eventually offering his life in place of Fred’s.  When the crew of the Outlaw Star prepared for their next departure, Suzuka decided to tag along uninvited.  The crew works together to complete tasks and bring in money, but Gene always thinks of the get right quick schemes.  Gene’s harebrained idea is to enter the intergalactic race on Heiphon, but soon comes to realize that it costs money to enter.  Gene had to go beg Fred to sponsor him, but since Fred is in love with him, it was not too hard.

During the race, the Outlaw Star is attacked by the McDougall brothers’ ship, which is being piloted by Harry McDougall under the false last name of Williams.  While Melfina is busy navigating the Outlaw Star, Harry McDougall enters the ship’s navigation system and reveals he is a bio-android as well.  After the race, the Outlaw Star needed more opportunities for riches, and they take on a series of tasks to reach their goal.  Some strange characters pop up, like the old man outlaw who needs their help recovering a large load of dragonite.

Eventually after 26 episodes, you reach the end.  The ending is awesome; it was the only part I could stay focused on to be honest.  The epic battle between the McDougall brothers and the Outlaw Star is full of twists.  Harry and Melfina both navigate their teams to the Galactic Leyline, the main thing everyone is searching for the entire series.  Watch the series to see how the rest of the story pans out.

Let’s just say that this anime is interesting.  It starts good, gets a little slow in the next 14 or so episodes and then has a good ending.  A few filler episodes in the middle are worth watching just for the sheer comic effect, but have little meaning.  Except oh yeah, Gene got neat bullets.  I watched the dubbed version of this, since it came out quite some time ago.  I am not sure, if it was the dubbed version or if the writers really did mean for it to be as cheesy as it was at times.  Not to mention the couple of times that Gene was a little creepy, whether it was how he looked or the words he said.  The overall series is good, I liked the anime, the idea and the characters, but it was just too darn drawn out for me.