Tag: anime

Film by Ezekiel Yu
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A shot from Satoshi Kon's "Perfect Blue," depicting Mima Kirigoe in the car mirror, as reviewed by poet and critic Ezekiel Yu for the automachination literary magazine.

 Angel of Love: Reviewing Satoshi Kon’s “Perfect Blue” (1997)

Of the two Satoshi Kon films I’ve seen (both as part of the syllabus for an anime class I took as an undergrad), those being Perfect Blue and Paprika, I remember considering the former to be the stronger overall work of art. Though it came earlier in Kon’s oeuvre, Perfect Blue’s relative accessibility seemed to work in its favor, while Paprika’s story and characters get muddled in surrealistic Freudian psycho-babble, despite the occasional intrigue of its visuals.

Having just watched Perfect Blue again, I found it to be even better in certain respects, though on the whole I would not rate the film nearly as high as its most ardent admirers; and while Kon’s concerns about the blurring of fiction and reality, the unreliability of memory, and post-Internet celebrity obsession have always been praised as prescient, Perfect Blue seems even more so today, what with the rise of live-streamed entertainment and the increasingly unhinged behavior of those infected by the para-sociality it helps cultivate.

It is a welcomely lean affair, as well, clocking in at a mere 81 minutes; which goes to show how much ground artists can cover in under 90 minutes if their sense of visual storytelling is sufficiently developed—especially in a medium like animation, which has the potential to manipulate imagery to an extent most (pure) live-action media simply cannot. This is a double-edged sword, however, for such advantages allow for the possibility of excess and unjustified narrative obfuscation (see first paragraph). […]

Film by Ezekiel Yu
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A still from Hayao Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron", depicting the protagonist looking sternly through a golden gate.

Between Two Lives, a Dream: Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” (2023)

The work of Hayao Miyazaki with Studio Ghibli has never affected me in the way it has many others of my generation. For one, I never wholly vibed with anime otaku culture, and whenever I did get around to enjoying that particular kind of media, I always preferred reading the manga over watching their animated adaptations—I find the voice acting annoying, for the most part, whether sub or dub, and not even a studio like MAPPA can out-animate one’s imagination—and the culture itself did not feel like a natural home for me, what with all its quirks and gate-keeping. (This is, to be fair, not unique to otaku culture, but still.)

Miyazaki, however, is often viewed as an exemplar of how Japanese popular art can transcend its niche appeal. His films tend to be critical darlings and have even been given rather favorable ranking in lists such as Sight & Sound’s Greatest Films of All Time. I’ve personally met more than a few people who adore his Ghibli productions but have only, at best, a marginal interest in anime as a whole. Like the work of Satoshi Kon and perhaps Makoto Shinkai, it’s pop anime for art lovers, for cinephiles, not just for nerds who gush over fan edits and cosplay as the hottest character from the hottest new show at A-Kon. (No hate, though: I enjoy stuff like Bleach and One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen as much as the next guy…) […]

Film by Jessica Schneider
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A shot from René Laloux’s La Planète sauvage (Fantastic Planet) of a Draag falling asleep next to an Om child.

Ethereal Circle: On René Laloux’s “La Planète sauvage” (“Fantastic Planet”, 1973)

There are some animated films that are not made for kids. In fact, some are not even made for most adults, and this may be one of them. So, let us not be mistaken that René Laloux’s Fantastic Planet (La Planète sauvage) is, on all accounts, a savage and violent tale where humans (called Oms) are nothing more than tiny animals forced to bend to the whims of larger, more ‘sophisticated’ creatures, called Draags. Within this post-apocalyptic world, the Draags rule and humans at best are regarded as nothing more than pets and at worst, they are vicious vermin deserving of extermination.

Fantastic Planet opens with a frightened human (Om) mother running with her baby. She appears terrified, and in her attempt to find safety, she climbs up a hill, only to then be pushed down by some large, blue hand. Once more, she attempts to climb, and is pushed down again. Still clutching her baby, the hand then flicks her several feet away. Suddenly, the blue fingers lift and drop her, wherein the force of the fall inevitably kills her. ‘What a shame. We can’t play with it anymore,’ says a group of three Draag children. Following that, a young Draag child and her Draag leader father approach the scene. The Draag child (Tiwa) asks if she can keep the orphaned baby Om as a pet. ‘Why is he crying, father?’ she asks. ‘He must be scared. Or hungry,’ her father replies. He allows her to keep the baby Om, but instructs, ‘You must take care of that animal.’ […]