What a beautiful anime we have here! Makoto Shinkai’s has always been making pretty-looking anime with his characteristically slow pace and rather poignant theme. In this latest entry, Shinkai plunged fully into fantasy genre and the result was…interesting.

Not only the genre change, this time Shinkai dealt with somewhat larger cast of characters and many minor ones along the journey through Agartha. It’s also the first time shinkai dealt with dynamic plot compared to his previous works which were mostly about internal struggles of only one or two characters. ‘Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below’ (from now on will be referred as only ‘Lost Voices’) was, in its core, about people who suffered the loss of their loved ones and coming to terms with their losses. In short, it’s about learning to say goodbye. What’s interesting was how the anime had fancy way in telling this simple concept using high fantasy setting.

As expected, Asuna was your regular high school student with defective yet loving family. One day she ran into Shun, a strange boy from the underworld called Agartha. Shun changed Asuna’s life and later lead to her journey into the underworld. She was accompanied by Morisaki who also sought his wife in the afterlife. Lost Voices made it clear that it drew inspiration from several mythologies involving travelling to the underworld to bring back the dead.

I love the breezy pacing of Lost Voices. It provided opportunities for characters exploration through interactions between Asuna and Morisaki and lots of sight-seeing of Agartha. Credits also went to Shinkai for having this big scale anime under control. His works has always been about personal matters and this one was no exception. Despite all the spectacles, the anime stayed true to its concept of finding lost loves. Lost Voices remained a personal journey as much as an epic journey to the unknown lands.

For any fantasy story, world building is very, very important. Lost Voices did decent job in presenting us the world of Agartha. But it still fell short in several aspects. The world building was, in my opinion, the weakest part of this anime. You could blame it on my being a long time fan of fantasy anime and you would probably be right. Agartha was too generic and derivative for me that it bothered me. It kept reminding me of other anime to the point beyond simple homage. How do I explain this? It was like revisiting the world in Nausicaa or Laputa, even the technology and monsters were similar. The villages and the people, along with how they dressed and lived came straight from Tales from Earthsea. And apparently they hired makeup team who worked in Xamd’ Last Memories to do the makeup here.

I also thought that the world of Agartha could have been better portrayed in depths and details. Part of the reason of this was that the protagonists of Lost Voices didn’t really get involved with the world. They were just passing through and just heading towards their goal. Sometimes it was like tourist sight-seeing; beautiful but insubstantial. Several minor characters were not well explored. The stark example was the mute Agartha girl who was included in for no good reason and without clear context. Shin’s character was also a bit under-explored; I wanted to know more about his conflict with the people of Agartha. But the one subplot that I wanted to see more development was the relationship between Asuna and her mother; how they dealt with the lost of Asuna’s father and how Asuna had become so lonely and friendless.

I know I have spent the last two paragraphs complaining (I love complaining). But never let those discourage you from watching this anime. All the signatures of Shinkai that I have come to love are all here in this movie. The looks and the sounds were near flawless and the story was emotionally poignant. It’s just that Shinkai stepped out of his familiar territory in this movie. I admired him for doing so and would love to see him continue to challenge himself.

Rating: B

Facts

Title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below (aka Hoshi o Ou Kodomo)
Genre: fantasy, drama
Released date: May 7, 2011
Running Time: 116 minutes
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Animated by: CoMix Wave Films

Addendum (May 14, 2012): Canne has advanced to the third round of the 2nd Aniblog Tourney in which only 64 blogs remains to compete. My big thank you goes to all of you my readers, fellow bloggers and friends both old and new. Your support is deeply appreciated. And lastly, I tip my hat to my good friend, Jordan of The Otaku HQ. Don’t forget to visit his blog.

Until the next round…

Canne’s anime review blog has finally stepped into the arena! It’s a pleasure to have friends, new and old, gathered here even for a short while. In order to make this post (which many people said was obligatory) more entertaining, I have employed the post format I occasionally used in my anime reviews; the debate between positive and negative persona of Canne.

Positive Canne: Hello everyone! You have no idea how excited I am right now! For the second time, we are participating in the Aniblog Tourney. I have already discovered and re-discovered so many great blogs. This tourney is about…

*Negative Canne snatches the mic away*

Negative Canne: Can you please get to the point? People don’t want to read the same old stuff that every single blog has already written!

Positive Canne: Alright, alright! The point of this post is to give new visitors a quick impression of this blog and to remind old friends why this blog is worthy of their support. But truth be told, as the official goal of the tourney stated, the fact that you guys are here has already served the tourney’s purpose. I know that we don’t update as often as others and maybe not as funny…

*Negative Canne snatches the mic away*

Negative Canne: What’s the matter with you displaying our weakness to people like that?! This is not the time to discredit yourself ! Let me put it this way, Canne’s anime review blog is a solo anime blog and has been active for four and a half years. We did things in our own pace and style. But one thing you can be certain, we are always regular and consistent in what we do. We do not post a lot but we post something that matters. We do not usually follow trendy topics so you can be sure that you’ll find something different here when everyone else is talking about the same show all over the blogsphere. We do both series/movies reviews and editorials when we are inspired.

Positive Canne: Let me continue! Negative Canne is absolutely right! So I urge you to browse through our blog for reviewsand editorials via the main menu. Or if you want a quick look at our most important works, simply check out our FLAGSHIP CONTENTS page. We have compiled lots of great posts you might be interested in there.

Negative Canne: For once we are in agreement. Go on!

Positive Canne: Thanks. I just want to let you know that having you guys here reading our works puts warm feeling into my heart. That is the most rewarding thing for me. We also secretly hope that our works will inspire you to think and do wonderful things in your life. As for the tourney, my fate in your hands and your support will be deeply appreciated!

Negative Canne: Oh, and if you want to see this post format in its full potential, check out these reviews in which we hadsome heated debate about certain anime.

*phone rings*

Positive Canne: *picks up the phone* Hello? Who’s this? Wha…wait…is this for real? Is it really you, GoGo? Hey, it’s GoGo Yubari herself calling! OMG, I can’t believe this. She has been my avatar since the very beginning! Now she’s here!

Negative Canne: She has something to say? Well, let’s hear what she has to say!

*turns on the speaker*

GoGo: It’s been two years since the last battle but my hunger for blood never goes away! Vote for Canne for he is my biggest fan. Vote for Canne for I will make sure you regret it if you don’t! Vote for Canne unless you want my meteor hammer buried deep into your skulls!

*hangs up*

Positive and negative Canne: Isn’t she fascinating? Well, that’s all for now and we hope to see you again soon here or better, in the next round. Oh! and one more thing, please vote for Glo and either Klux or Chii as well!

Hopefully, I can finally watch and review it with eyes unclouded.

It’s been more than 10 years since the last time I watched Princess Mononoke back in my school days. This was one of the first Ghibli films I was exposed to. I remember that I did not love this anime all that much. I didn’t really get it and was puzzled by the critical acclaims the movie gathered. Was it the decapitation by arrow scene or the music? It must be the music. Yeah, I was kind of thick-headed back then.

So ten years had passed and my anime experience became much stronger. I decided to watch Princess Mononoke again. It turned out that I did not love it more than I used to but I admired the anime immensely more than I did in those days. Here’s the review from the guy who can finally watch Princess Mononoke with eyes unclouded (at least that’s what I was trying to do).

Since there’re already countless of brilliantly written reviews of this anime from both anime and movie critics, there’s no use for me to repeat about the same old topics like plot summary, feminism or the timeless music of Joe Hisaishi again. Instead, I’ll raise five points that I deem significant and unique. They are something that only few (if any) other anime could capture, even after a decade had passed.

1. Being green is not as easy as it seems

Of course, trees and forest and eco system are essential for keeping our blue planet alive. We all know how important nature is and we should all help preserve and restore it. But most of the stories in all media almost always tell stories from one side; the green side. It’s all about evil men trying to destroy nature for some greedy reason. In Princess Mononoke, half of the movie focused on the human faction who was cutting down the forest and hunting for gods. They were not evil. They were just like the rest of us who lived under our own complex conditions that drove us to do what we did. Princess Mononoke told the story from both sides in a non-judgmental way. I sympathized with human in this movie. It’s not enough to only care about the green. There’re endless details to consider and that’s very hard.

2. We are not made to fit into the world or even each other

After watching this anime, it occurred to me that human were having trouble getting along with everything else, even among ourselves. In the anime, Lady Eboshi’s ironwork fortress was full of outcasts; women seeking freedom from oppressive society, lepers who were shun by people, the fortress itself was built to withstand the invasion from the greedy government. The presence of human fortress disrupted the long standing harmony of the forest along with the gods and animals. Everywhere human went, they fight with the ones who were there before and they fought with each other. What’s more, human also suffered from internal struggle and conflict as shown by San’s character. She was human but was raised by wolves. When she met Ashitaka, she found herself in difficult situation; she was human but she also hated them as much as she loved them.

3. You may be able to defeat the gods but you will probably not survive the aftermath

This was like an analogy of the world nowadays.  We are arguably the most powerful faction on the planet. With fire and steel, we conquer all, even the old gods of the forest, the sea and the sky. But we forget that we cannot survive just on our own. We are actually part of something bigger than ourselves and once we destroy everything else, we find ourselves in trouble. Yes, I am referring to the global warming, among many things. In Princess Mononoke, Eboshi and her host did not have much difficulty in killing the Deer God. But the aftermath of that event left lots of men dead, the survivors homeless and the land completely drained of life. Luckily, Ashitaka and San managed to return the severed head back to the angry god and restored life. In reality, we do not have the same kind of opportunity like that.

4. The governments are not to be trust, never!

This one was probably a no-brainer. Anyone in the position of power is never to be trusted. There’s always hidden agenda to look for. In the anime, Lady Eboshi was used by the government who gave her the intelligence on the location of the Deer God. Once she left the ironworks’ fortress, the government sent his samurai to lay siege to Eboshi’s fortress in an attempt to take over the ironworks and the ability to produce powerful firearms. Why was I not surprised?

5. Watching anime at the right time is as important as watching the right anime

The thing is. I wasn’t ready for Princess Mononoke when I first saw it. I was too young, too ignorant and inexperienced to truly appreciate it. I could feel that this was a great anime but I didn’t understand why. Now I do and I am grateful to myself for giving the anime another chance.

A masterpiece tells the story from the eyes unclouded. Princess Mononoke was that kind of anime which displayed the views from all sides. It showed the bitterness, the tenderness and weakness of human lives and how our fate intertwined with the world. Though the anime utilized surreal objects like the Boar God or the Kodama, its concept was very real; an epic fantasy at its best.

For most of you, my friends, I urge you to watch this anime again if you are free. And for some of you who have not watched Princess Mononoke, you must watch it now. I cannot guarantee that you’ll love it but at least you’ll have some idea on how far an anime can go, what one anime can achieve.

Rating: A

Facts
Title: Princess Mononoke (aka Mononoke Hime)
Genre: historical, fantasy
Released date: July 12, 1997
Running time: 134 minutes
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Animated by: Studio Ghibli

This post is a direct continuation of ‘When did your anime fandom truly begin?’ in which I talked about the time when anime fandom truly began. After I wrote that post, it occurred to me that I was also discussing about the nature of ‘anime fan’ as well. What I wrote could be used to identify a person who was an anime fan.

So now I’m writing this post based on the information from the previous one. This time, I will try to propose a set of criteria to help me (and other people) identify a true anime fan. It’s of course not easy to do so. Anime fandom, like everything else involving human, has a wide range of possible features and diversity.

My criteria for identification and classification of anime fan are as followed.

Here’s the rationale for my criteria.

• First Item represents awareness and independence
• Second item represents quantity and diversity
• Third item represents duration and consistency
• Fourth item represents application and inspiration

All four items in combination represent ‘passion’ which defines being anime fan.

The strength of this definition is that you can be confident that the person meeting all four criteria is not just a brief enthusiast that will drop out of anime after a few months. So you can save the space in your facebook anime friend list and not make a mistake by talking too deeply into anime and end up as a weird person in your friend’s eyes. The criteria also include potential or growing anime fans whom you may be interested in further encouraging him/her deeper into anime fandom.

But be warned that anime fandom is a dynamic event. The criteria only capture the person at only one point in time and re-evaluation is warranted especially for those initially classified as ‘possible’ and ‘probable’ anime fans. Another issue that is probably up for debate is the number of shows a person must have watched. Setting the bar too high will unfairly exclude many anime fans and setting the bar too low will include too many people who only watch a few shows (which is a very likely scenario since anime has become more widely available these years).

Now, I’ll give you some possible scenarios using these proposed criteria (the names of the subjects in these scenarios are fictional-any resemblance to any real person is purely coincidental).

Scenario 1: Yii believes she is the most avid anime fan. She has been watching dozens of anime series of varying genres per year for 3 years now. She maintains her own anime blog which talks about anime she has watched and she frequently participate in her local anime conventions. Using Canne’s criteria, is Yii an anime fan?

Answer: without any question, Yii is a definite anime fan because she fulfilled all 4 criteria.

Scenario 2: Kluxx has many friends who are anime fans. She hates being alone so she always accompanies her friends to anime clubs and watches every anime her friends watch. She occasionally contributes in her friends’ anime blogs. When she is alone at home, Kluxx loves listening to R&B music and even writes songs by herself. Using Canne’s criteria, is Kluxx an anime fan?

Answer: No, she is excluded because she does not fulfill the first criterion on being independent in watching anime (which by the way is the most important thing).

Scenario 3: Valenz has just discovered the brilliance of the media called ‘anime’ a couple of months ago. His love is fierce and burns brighter than the sun. He watches anime all night and day and by now, has devoured 50 series. He also reads a number of anime blogs but remains silent so far. Using Canne’s criteria, is Valenz an anime fan?

Answer: No one dares question Valenz’s love of anime. But he still needs to prove that he can carry his love pass the ‘anime honeymoon period’. Using Canne’s criteria, he now only fulfills the first two items and is classified as ‘possible’ anime fan. He will possibly become a definite fan afterwards.

Scenario 4: Gloe claims he is the number one anime fan in the world. He has watched anime every week for more than five years. After intense interrogation, it is revealed that the anime he has been watching was Bleach which has been running for like 110 years. He does cosplay as Ichigo more than once and owns every figures of Rukia ever sold on Earth. Using Canne’s criteria, is Gloe an anime fan?

Answer: He is definitely Bleach fan but unfortunately, he is not yet a definite anime fan. The only thing he lacks was diversity in anime watching. In Gloe’s case, he is identified as ‘Probable’ anime fan.

Scenario 5: Baka-rapper has been a prominent anime blogger and a respected figure in anime community for several years. He has watched all kinds of anime and in numbers beyond count. But for the past two years he suffered an accident and he has to stay in rehab center. As a result, he has not watched a single show or updated his blog in two years. Using Canne’s criteria, is Baka-rapper an anime fan?

Answer: If it was two years ago, Baka-rapper undoubtedly fulfilled all 4 items. But now, since he has to take a break from anime watching, he cannot be identified as an anime fan. This scenario showcases the limitations of the criteria. In Baka-rapper’s case, he must be re-evaluated after he has recovered from the injury.

Why am I making all these criteria? You may ask. The answer is simple; it’s for fun. I love exploring and observing people and events. Plus, I’ve heard too many people claiming to be the most avid anime fans only to be found dead in the water a few months later. But the most important reason is probably to establish some commonly accepted standard definition of anime fandom. And having a standard definition will facilitate further exploration and discussion (by either me or other writers) on the subject in the future.

Being a lonely anime fan in the world full of non-anime fans, I have no way to experiment the criteria with real-life person. In the end, these criteria are still not validated and are subject to further revision. Your expert comments and suggestions will be most welcomed.

Note: your opinion will be taken into consideration upon future criteria revision. I’ve also invited some experts to give their opinion on this.

To celebrate 10 years of being an anime fan (can you believe that?), I am writing a multiple post series focusing on anime fandom. I reckon despite more than four years of anime blogging, I seldom wrote about anime fandom at all (with few exceptions). So for this first part, I’ll discuss about that specific time when a person start being a true anime fan.

We have all been asked this very same question more than once. ‘How long have you been such a huge anime fan?’ The answer naturally varied depending on how you thought you started being an anime fan. But the diversity of definition on this subject made our answers somewhat unreliable.

For example, I once ask my RL friend (who has now retired from anime fandom) this question and he told me he had been anime fan for a decade. But he, in a matter of fact, had very low knowledge about anime which only expanded back for a year or two. Only after I asked in detail that I found out the truth; he had only watched the original FMA and then he was watching FMA: Brotherhood. If I had used the same logic that my friend did, I would have been an anime fan for more than twenty years now because I watched my first anime when I was like five years old.

You get the idea. Defining the specific time when your anime fandom actually started is not easy. Below is the list of possible definitions used by many people with a few that I throw into the mix.

Your anime fandom started at the time when…

When you were exposed to anime for the first time

This is the worse definition, in my opinion. Lots of people passively watched anime when they were really young (some didn’t even know it was anime). Then they got to some popular anime again when they grew up. If we use this definition, we would have countless of false anime fans who only have vague memories of watching anime in their distant childhood.

When you start watching anime other than your gateway series

This one is more interesting. Gateway anime ignites the love but it takes some determination to keep the fire burning. Many people fall in love with their gateway anime but never seek another title afterwards. Nevertheless, this definition lack specific details on exactly how many further anime one need to watch.

When you have completed the list of ‘classic’ anime titles

Believe it or not, good number of fans only accepts another as a fan when that person watches certain set of so-called ‘classic anime’. It sounds kind of selfish and narrow-minded. Of course, there’s no argue that some ‘milestone’ anime will help expand your view of anime and will get you deep into conversations. But forcing someone to watch something actually destroys fandom itself. Plus, diversity in experience and taste help keep the discussion interesting.

When you have been watching anime continuously for more than a year

I like this one the most. It’s not about how many anime you watch or how fiercely you love it. The most defining factor is durability. Time can prove lots of things including true love. But then again, how much time do you need to prove yourself worthy of being called anime fan? This point is up for debate but in my opinion, it must be longer than usual ‘honeymoon period’ in which a new fan usually goes on a ‘binge anime watching’. So I’d say 6 months or a year, perhaps? (Take Yumeka for an example, it takes her 6 years to become stable!)

When you start expanding your love of anime into other kinds of activities

At one point of being an anime fan, anime starts appearing in your daily life and in your thoughts. It’s only natural that you will take anime fandom up to another level by putting it out in the open. This is when you start participating in conventions, talking in forums and commenting in anime blogs (this also includes other advanced fan behaviors). This definition sounds most solid but its weakness is that many silent anime fans would be excluded completely.

So there you go. There are so many possible ways to define that specific time when you become anime fan. If you ask me, I would call myself an anime fan after I have watched anime for a year and be sure that I won’t give it up soon after. Using this definition, I am utterly surprised that I have been anime fan for 10 years now.

How about you? In your opinion, which factor should be used to identify the beginning of anime fandom?

And finally, how long have you been an anime fan? Answer in the poll below!

Also make sure you read the second part of my discussion on anime fandom here.

For a movie that seemed to be universally loved, what’s there to debate about? Well, let’s find out!

Positive Canne: Hello everyone! It’s been a while. Today, I am going to review a wonderful movie called ‘Hotarubi no Mori e’ or ‘Into the Forest of Firefly Lights’. It was produced by the same people behind the equally wonderful Natsume Yuujinchou series. This anime is mainly about Hotaru who falls for Gin, the forest spirit. The twist is that they she cannot touch Gin lest he disappear. Every summer, Hotaru and Gin meet in the forest. As years go by, Hotaru turns from a girl to a woman while Gin remains the same. When the bittersweet story like this is joined by the slow, breezy pacing and beautiful scenery, Hotarubi no Mori e is like a dream, really good dream.

Negative Canne: You know what, the part where the girl grows up and the boy remains the same reminds me of that movie…you know, the one that girls are so crazy about…oh yeah! Twilight!

Positive Canne: Saying things like that can easily turn half the world’s population against you. Now back to our review, with all due respect to Negative Canne here, I don’t think we need him at all. I mean, this is a wonderful movie! And as I read around the aniblogsphere, everyone seemed to agree.

*Negative Canne snatches the mic from Positive Canne*

Negative Canne: With all due respect to Positive Canne, I believe that I, as a self-proclaimed amateur anime critic, have a responsibility more than just to recognize and praise good anime. I also have to point out what could have been done to make the show even better. So here I am, doing what I am supposed to be doing. I know that Hotarubi no Mori e is good but is just ‘being good’ good enough for you?

Positive Canne: I don’t understand what you are saying. Good anime is good! Why are you acting like a hater all the time?

Negative Canne: I’m trying to be a critic and critics are a bunch of haters, haven’t you heard? Anyway, I am sure that we all have seen Natsume Yuujinchou and loved it. Hotrubi no Mori e is created by the same people. It featured ‘forbidden love’ theme which has been used quite a lot even in Natsume series itself. The looks and the sounds are also identical to Natsume Yuujinchou. What I am trying to say is Hotarubi no Mori e is the work of someone who is so afraid of taking risk or does something out of his own familiar territory. They know they did something right with Natsume Yuujinchou and this time they are content with just doing the same. Watching Hotarubi no Mori e is like watching another episode of Natsume Yuujinchou but without Nyanko-sensei! Why make a separate movie at all when you can just make another Natsume episode?

Positive Canne: Alright alright! I get it. I know that this movie is a bit too similar to Natsume Yuujinchou even in production value. But in its defense, there’s a reason that this movie must be made separately. I know that the spiritual aspect and even the love theme could have been used in Natsume series, but not the ‘coming of age’ aspect. Don’t forget that this movie is not just about the forbidden love but also about Hotaru’s journey from childhood to adulthood. All the little things that Hotaru does during summer with Gin, they change as she grows up. It’s just beautiful.

Negative Canne: Your arguments would have sounded much more solid if this anime had put more work on its characters. Last I checked, having the characters standing silently gazing upon the gorgeous landscape does not count as character building or development. Gin seems like your average nice guy and Hotaru seems like your average high school girl. The only thing distinguished about their relationship is the ‘no touching’ rule which results in Hotaru’s multiple childhood injuries. The coming of age concept is evident enough but it is still underdeveloped.  I don’t see much challenge in Hotaru’s growing up except to her desire to touch Gin. This is one of a few times that I wish the movie were longer than it was.

Positive Canne: OMG, you are so heartless! Characterization is important, I know that. You can nitpick the anime all day long and end up missing the whole fun. Hotarubi no Mori e is not exactly a characters’ movie. I think the movie is meant to be enjoyed for its tranquil atmosphere. The creators clearly want the audience to enjoy the simplicity and beauty of the show and everyone more or less understands that, except you.

Negative Canne: Speaking of beauty, I couldn’t help noticing several lazy shots especially during the festival scene. Most of the people in the background were completely static. Nevertheless, most of the scenery was quite amazing.

Positive Canne: You are unbelievable, you know that? Sometimes I wonder if you like anime at all. But being as open-minded as I am, I will admit that this anime generally played it safe…maybe a bit too safe that it could not create much impact or challenge to us who have seen large number of anime before. But after all is said and done, Hotarubi no Mori e is like a nice cup of tea; it cannot fill your stomach but its taste and smell will calm you and make you smile. My rating is A.

Negative Canne: Believe it or not, I still like anime. And like I said before, Hotarubi no Mori e is a good anime and it hardly has any fatal flaw. The thing that bothered me is that it could have been much more if it took more risk and gave the characters more time. As things stand, I still don’t see any point in watching this anime if you have already watched Natsume Yuujinchou. My rating is B (see, I am not that heartless).

Rating: B+

Facts

Title: Hotarubi no Mori e (aka Into the Forest of Firefly Lights)
Genre: fantasy, drama
Released date: September 17, 2011
Director: Takahiro Omori
Animated by: Brain’s Base

Late to the party as always. Apparently many bloggers have written about this anime already. Here are some that I think are especially insightful.

• Otakuness
• KaminariAnime
• Moe Fundamentalism
• Altair&Vega
• THAT anime blog

Yellow Bracket...what a coincidence!

It’s that time of year again. And before I go any further, big salute goes to the tourney staff s who labored for months and finally made the tourney happened again, this time bigger and probably better. As you might have guessed, the final bracket has just arrived and I, as always, have more than a few things to say about it.

The Good

First of all, the bracket looks pretty and well organized. I like how the contenders are divided into groups of different color. I also like the new style of matching. Even though I was skeptical about four blogs being voted in single poll, the final results looks like a good idea. Two out of four blogs based on preferential votes would go on to the next round. Being able to vote 2 blogs gives the voters a nice choice and the underdogs a nice chance. Top tier blogs are also well spread out over the bracket.

This event will surely get me, along with other readers and bloggers, to know new blogs. It will also make anime blogging so much more fun. I feel really excited and revitalized.

The Bad

The top 16 seeded blogs are supposedly placed in the third round and the rest placed in the second. But I am dying to know the precise seed ranking for this tourney. Unfortunately, the bracket does not show the ranking for each blog.

Maybe it’s just me but it seems like the Red Bracket is the weakest of the four brackets? Of course, it is nearly impossible to prevent discrepancy of strength among hundreds of contenders. And I am not saying the seeded players in the Red Bracket are bad or inferior (glances fearfully at Baka-raptor). I only think that the lower seeded blogs in this bracket have the best chance of breaking through the four-way round or beyond. There’s no psgels, Kurogane or Seaslugteam in this bracket.

The Ugly

This has nothing to do with the tourney staff. I am just saddened to see, despite the number of blogs participated, that many familiar faces from the first Tourney had disappeared (about 30 from 96). Some were close to me. I feel a little lonely for a moment. But things have to change and lives (blogs) go on.

List of blogs from the first tourney

Lastly, things to keep an eye on in this tourney

1. The Blue and Yellow brackets are virtually locked.

2. The bottom half of the Green bracket remains to be seen (but all hope is lost against psgels).

3. Watch the Red bracket closely. I believe there will be many surprise wins and upsets in this bracket

4. A lot more drama and clashes among bloggers and readers.

5. Don’t forget to keep an eye on me in the Yellow bracket, too! Remember, my avatar is also yellow (GoGo Yubari FTW!).

Also read others’ thoughts on the tourney (more may be added later):

Ambivalence

tRzR23 & TWWK

Glothelegend (Yellow Bracket is like a f***ing all star bracket Jesus Christ!)

Justin

Chikorita157

From what I saw, it kind of did.

Why did I start seeing anime scenes in every movie that I saw lately? Maybe I was just becoming a real anime fan now. This post is almost like a pop-up post for me. It is definitely short and I wrote it purely by impulse. But I had to post this. I had to. After I saw the latest trailer of Snow White and the Huntsman, the forest scene with the deer and the sprites struck me hard.

I couldn’t believe what I just saw! The scene was the complete duplication of the Deer God scene in Princess Mononoke. And to make things worse, the marble-colored sprites were seen purging on tree branch in the next scene, further reminding of the Kodama in Princess Mononoke.

Scene from Snow White and the Huntsman depicting the deer

Deer God from Princess Mononoke

Surely, forest gods and forest spirits are nothing new and any movie can legitimately put them in the story. But in this case with Snow White and the Huntsman, everything in the scene was similar to that in Princess Mononoke; the position of the deer, the large tree grove in the back, the pond, the lighting and the white forest spirits. Just look at the screencaps and you’ll see.

Another scene from Snow White and the Huntsman

Kodama (forest spirits) from Princess Mononoke

That’s all I would like to say for now. It’s just my observation and this post should not lead you against watching this movie when it actually comes out. But seriously, originality has never been Hollywood’s strongest quality and this case does nothing to improve that.

Here’s the SWATH trailer in question.

What do you think? Or did I miss something and misunderstood it? Please share your thoughts!

Life is a game…but whose game?

I feel like I am jumping on the bandwagon. Right now, everywhere I go in the online community, everyone is talking about The Hunger Games and more than a few also mentioned its similarity to Battle Royale. Both stories were mainly about a group of teenagers who were trapped in the deadly game orchestrated by the government. They had to fight each other to the death until only one victor remained.

On the surface, both titles looked almost identical. And if I didn’t care too much about trivial details, they had the same story in term of structure. What separated Battle Royale from The Hunger Games was how each title viewed the game. In Battle Royale, the attention was paid heavily to internal and interpersonal struggle of the characters. But The Hunger Games was about the slaves trying to rise up against their masters. It is important for you to know that I wrote this discussion based on Battle Royale manga and The Hunger Games movie only (I haven’t read the novel).

Battle Royale was a character experiment which showcased human in their worst and best forms

Battle Royale did not give much actual details about the government or the politics. The only thing the manga told us was that the game was created by the military government. At times, the politics felt like just an excuse to bring this group of characters together. The real juicy part was what happened to each character. Battle Royale focused on experiment with human lives; how far human would be willing to go in time of crisis, what human was capable of when the rules were lifted and  how hard it was to remain civilized when life was at stake. We got to see the once normal students did the unthinkable inhumane things. It was bloody and ugly. Battle Royale showcased human in their worst and best forms. The whole story revolved around the characters and how they dealt with the game.

The Hunger Game was a power struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed

The Hunger Games, on the other hand, spent a lot more time describing the politics behind the game and the events leading up to it. It was not the character experiment like Battle Royale; all players were well prepared for the game. The Hunger Games was about how the government tried to control the citizen of the twelve districts with the 24 tributes being the representatives of each districts. They even tried to control the hope of people using the game. During the fights, the tributes were not as thoroughly studied in the way the Battle Royale did. But the tributes, mainly Katniss, fought to remain themselves and to be free of the oppressive power of the Capitol. By winning the love from the general audience, Katniss and Peeta gained leverage with the government and managed to shake the foundation of the Capitol’s power. This was where the movie reminded me of another movie ‘Gladiator’ in which a general-turned slave became more powerful than the emperor of Rome by winning the love from the crowd.

The bottom line is that Battle Royale and The Hunger Games are two different entities. Despite the similar structure, the two titles were very different in terms of concepts and ideas. I just watched The Hunger Games and thought it was a solid film. What do you think? Do not hesitate to share your thoughts here.

p.s. You might also want to check out the similar post over at Black Strawberry

I have no idea how any anime could be any simpler than this. Ninja Scroll the series clearly rode on the overwhelming success of its 1993 movie predecessor. The series used the exact same tricks and materials. Only this time, instead of a 90-minute long movie, we got the same thing stretched into a 13-episode series.

It was another adventure of Jubei who was unnaturally prone to getting involuntarily involved in other people’s conflict. This time, it was the feud between Hiruko ninja clan and Kimon ninja clan. The Hiruko tried to protect the light maiden, Shigure, who held the power to restore the clan to its former glory. While the Kimon clan sought to steal the same power. Yagyu clan also intervened by order of the current government which feared the rise of the old power.

The story was as simple as that. Jubei met Shigure and decided to help her get away from the deadly ninja sent by both Hiruko and Kimon clan. Every episode was about Jubei battling with one or two new ninja and left mountains of dead bodies behind. I thought it was fun at first. Ninja Scroll the series relied on only one thing; the battle scenes and ninja secret arts. These action sequences were well crafted for its time with fluid movement and trilling speed. And the blood…the show never lacked blood.

I never thought I would say this about any action fantasy show. But some of the ninja in this series were way over the top. I could deal with mutant-like ninja or even the one that was made up of one eyeball. But I just could not swallow the robotic ones. They just didn’t fit with any part or the setting of the show. Some of the ninjas looked very disturbing to me that I was glad I watched them with empty stomach. But that’s a trivial complaint. Let’s just say that I did not find this anime’s character design very appealing.

Ninja Scroll paid more attention to what happened to the characters rather than how these characters changed and grew. Almost all the ninjas appeared on screen in a ‘snapshot’ fashion. They were purely defined by their own unique power, not the kind of person they actually were. Even Jubei himself remain as stable as a mountain. The whole series were like single small episode of Jubei’s adventure. The only one that displayed some dimension was Shigure who lost the one home she knew and took off on a perilous journey. At the end of the show, Shigure finally learned about her origin and had to make the biggest decision of her life.

Kitaro composed the opening and ending theme for this anime. I wasn’t sure if the music was hip in 2003. But listening to them now, in 2012, the two themes felt a little dry and overly simplified. Nevertheless, electronic pieces used throughout the show did give the otherwise conventional action scenes the unconventional feeling. Animation wise, it had nothing special to boast about. I also noticed that the animation in the non-action sequence was almost conspicuously lazy.

Conclusion: Ninja Scroll the series offered nothing but what Ninja Scroll the Movie had already done. Other than occasional impressive action sequences, this series was all-round inferior to the movie and worse, it took much longer time to watch. To my readers, watch Ninja Scroll the Movie instead and you can save 5 precious hours of your life for other cool anime.

Rating: D+

Facts
Title: Ninja Scroll: The Series
Genre: action, fantasy, historical
Released date: 14 April 2003 – 15 July 2003
Episodes: 13
Director: Tatsuo Sato
Animated by: Madhouse