Anime blast

An anime cicle is taking place here in Havana City. It is an important event since it is the first time we see Japanese animation films in a movie theater. Sadly the truth is that we get to see the films in a TV, not in the big screen. There is a small room with fourty seats, air conditioner and a TV inside the movie theater, that's the real deal.
So far I have seen four features: "Akira", "Macross plus", "Ghost in the shell" and "Perfect blue". I missed(not because of me) "Ninja scroll", "Nausicaa and the valley of the wind" and "Grave of the fireflies". I have left to watch "Spring and chaos" and "Metropolis".
Although the four films I saw share considerable quality, "Ghost in the shell" lacked in impact and "Macross plus" was not as astonishing as "Akira" or as complex as "Perfect blue". The latter was like a thriller( I suppose that's what it is) and had some similarities with another excentric flick, "Mulholland drive". Both tackled on the subjects of innocence losted in the way to stardom and the wicked face of show bussiness and in both of them the line between reality and dreams is blurred. "Perfect blue" may not be a perfect film but once you have seen it you will be so fascinated that it won't matter. The main character, Mima, is deeply explored and the supporting ones get their share too.
I ended up considering to watch it next to "Mulholland drive" but I would finish the trip with serious brain damage.
Everyone thinks "Akira" is a classic, a masterpiece, and they may be right. I haven't seen such a tremendous display of chaos in years. I thought the world around me was falling apart. In one moment I figured that the japanese were off the map in matters of imagination and vision. I mean, I tried to follow the plot as far as I could but the mayhem was too big, all about mutations, explotions, the fallen bridge, the sequence where Tetsuo is being stalked by the giant toys. I left the room walking five feet off the ground.
Perhaps you have seen those movies already and this comment means nothing for you but I had to say something. If you have any oppinions about anime, have heard rumors or want to express yourself freely on a movie you liked too much, do it.

Best regards, Julio.

I saw all the films you mentioned.

My opinions...

Macross Plus is severely overrated in my books. It has great looking animation but once it boils down, it's basically an overglorified soap opera with Top Gun background...and it gets boring even at 4x30 minutes (or 2 hours straight, depends what version you saw)....C

Ghost in the Shell is an entertaining, intelligent piece of cyberpunk/sci-fi. I am very partial to the "realistic" art in this film (as opposed to the big heads/eyes/limbs etc. which are so often in anime), and the atmosphere. Is recommended to people who like the genre ... B+

Perfect Blue might be my favourite of the bunch. A fine little thriller with stalking/double personality element, which definitely profits from realistically depicted city life. I mean, at the times you are caught wandering if this is actually an animation you're watching... A-

Akira is rather good, but people tend to superglorify it. In its stripped down essence, Akira is a very, very good action film, and you can read a more elaborate take on it here... A

Ninja Scroll is a guilty pleasure. No plot of merit, but cracking action sequences throughout and good pacing make this a very entertaining 90 minutes... B

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is in my opinion one of the best 5 animated films ever. Epic saga of a young heroine which tries to restore peace to her post-apocalyptic habitat with a strong ecological message underlined ... A

Grave of the Fireflies won the heart of many a critic and fan alike, but I found it blah. It looks like its sole purpose is to make you reach for tissues, and I don't care too much with films which are hell-bent on that... C-

Metropolis is beautifully animated and pretty entertaining. Still plot leaves something to be desired...but not to miss, esp. for the great visuals... B+

Spring and Chaos...I actually never heard of Sorry.

I'm sure Linespalsy will chime in eventually and overkill on Nausicaa and Akira.

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(signature space for rent)

oops, somehow missed it, this topic is seemingly in two places. here and in the movie review thread, i posted there already. too lazy right now to comment on the all those titles, so i'll just copy paste what i wrote before:

howdy julio,
i like anime a lot [or might i say, i like a lot of anime], always nice to see someone posting here about the stuff. macross plus is more visually impressive if you take into account that it was originally produced for television as a four part miniseries [television anime are generally much less impressive looking than theatrical anime due to budget/time constraints], and then re-edited into a two-hour movie. up to the point when it came out it was widely regarded as the most impressive looking tv anime ever made, i'm pretty sure it was the most expensive too. personally i think it's overrated. has too many annoying character similarities to 'top gun' [which i totally hated] for me, but some pretty impressive sequences, especially towards the end.

i would also agree with you that akira is just incredible to watch. it's just such an impressive production. it both sets and breaks most of the stylistic standards of anime.

one thing i've argued is that in general anime plots are based around building a plot on some heavyhanded and often rather pretentious contrivances in an attempt to fool the audience into thinking they're actually about something smart - they usually arent. that's usually the view i take with me when i start watching anime, though perhaps you'd come away with a different one.

if you liked 'perfect blue', i very strongly recommend you try and find 'millenium actress' [2001 - same director], it's one of the best anime to come out in a loong time. in terms of narrative chaos it's a lot like perfect blue, which is really weird considering it's supposed to be this sort of epic romance story. it's really an amazing visual and narrative mess to watch.

out of curiosity, what kind of market for anime do you have there? like are there anime available in stores or is it just the rare showings at special events like the one you described that you have access to. interesting post, anyhow.

hey mairosu, i like how we both commented on the lameness in top gun in totally separate posts about anime, not related to that movie at all. that's syncronization for ya. it's like asuka and shinji from episode nine of neon genesis evangelion. word.

I am very happy to see that there are some guys out there who share love for anime. Yesterday I watched "Spring and chaos" as a part of the anime cicle. It is an one hour long TV-movie about the life of a japanese poet named Kenji something. The film combines CGI with traditional animation and features astounding visuals. Since we are taken inside a poet's feelings and thoughts there is room for metaphores and a load of beatiful images(think two trains bursting off the ground and flying in the sky or a bunch of spectres in a swamp. All the characters are cats, literally speaking) The pace on the other hand is slow and I did not cared so much about Kenji's ideas, fair ones but these are tough times, Kenji wouldn't have lasted a day in modern society. I found it interesting enough to staw until the end. Thirteen persons left much earlier.
We can't find anime in videostores so there is no market for it. First of all we can't afford to buy nothing in videostores(Get this, my parents salary is... 40 bucks a month... combined!!!! Ask a cuban inmigrant if you like, you will see I am not lying) Fans of anime, wealthy fans that is, download them from Internet, then make the transfer to CD. This cicle is the first one ever and it was done thanks to a foreing fan's help. I've heard of "Millenium actress" by Satoichi Kon, can't wait to see it. Looks it's as good as "Perfect Blue".

Yours truly, Julio

What a cool and thoughtful post.Its nice to see someone making an effort whilst seeking an opinion.Big yourself up sir! These are the ones ive seen:

Grave of fireflies depressed me. A or z whateva.

Macross. Not the best mecha series by far, the main story just daraags.... but the aerial scenes are still bangin.
C

Akira. Should not mess with things we cant control. love the bike scenes and the back drop of neo Tokyo is amazing. Cant believe this was done in 80s.
A.

Perfect Blue. Ok, I know the main character was animated and everything but give her a freakin oscar! Now! Ending was unexpected.
B+.

Ninja scroll. Jubei vesus that blind guy is one of the best fight scene in an anime. Have a soft spot for Ultra-violence and nudity .
A

If you like anime I would recommend fan subbed anime. This ia stuff from japan that hasnt been licenced yet in N.America. If you like it then buy it when its lisenced..Support anime whateva(can someone clarify this?).You can get most of the stuff on Bittorrent. Im into naruto big time right about know.I also recommend cowboy bebop the series although the movies cool as well.
peace.

I hear you bro, I lived in the 90s Yugoslavia.

yeah i can see what you're saying about spring and chaos, and i agree that it wasnt all that great, i am however a big fan of miyazawa. i cant say whether or not this movie does justice to his life, but it's certainly not of the same caliber of his stories. if you can find it see the short adaptation that takahata [grave of fireflies, pompoko, only yesterday] did of miyazawa's excellent short story, 'gorsch the cellist.' in any case i'd strongly recomend reading some of his work regardless of what you thought of 'spring and chaos' as he's one of the great poets and childrens authors of the 20th century.

you can actually download some of his short fiction HERE which is part of AN EXCELLENT SITE DEVOTED TO MIYAZAWA KENJI. enjoy.