Anime – We Are Movie Geeks

Review: ‘Halo Legends: The Babysitter’

At E3 this past year Microsoft announced that they’d be making an anthology anime series much like ‘The Animatrix’ but based around the ever popular Halo franchise. The first part of the series is titled ‘The Babysitter’. It’s a cool look into the war on the Covenant from a different perspective than we’re used to as players of the games.

The 105th (which I have to assume is a reference to the 501st from Star Wars) is one of the best tactical strike groups in the human forces. Their ODST, or Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, and they’re insanely well trained. When we meet the team, their sniper is awfully upset because the team has been relegated to back up. A strange place for some of the best of the best to be placed. Worried that they’re going to be babysitters for some other new shooter, the sniper is getting out all his frustrations, making quite the racket. Turns out they’re backing up some one even better than them. it’s a Spartan.

Spartans are genetically enhanced super soldiers who have had a rather heated relationship with other soldiers. The teams mission is to take out a high ranking official in the enemy army known as a Prophet. Upon entry it’s very obvious that the Spartan is going to be the baby sitter of the bunch and that the ODST are in way over their head.

As a short story this works pretty well. It’s paced well, the voice acting is good, and the stoic Spartan is as powerful as you’d expect him to be. What really makes this whole thing special is the last few moments which really hit a chord with me. I didn’t see something coming and WHAM, I was taken aback. This is a very well written look into the Halo universe and puts a spin on what we think about the Halo characters. My only gripe would be that some of the characters seem to shift proportions a little too much. Normally anime, especially feature film anime, has this thing about body shapes and how they’re supposed to be exact through an entire feature. Here it’s kind of hit or miss. But that’s a SMALL gripe for such a good short.

Screenwriter Tapped for GHOST IN THE SHELL Reworking

Being one of only a handful of Japanese anime feature films I have seen (and one of even fewer that I even halfway liked), GHOST IN THE SHELL is a brilliant film. Under the direction of Mamoru Oshii, it features stunning visuals and a complex narrative that, unlike a lot of anime, doesn’t lose you halfway through if you aren’t taking notes. So, it pains me to hear that DreamWorks is moving forward with their proposed, live action remake.

Variety is reporting the studio has brought in Laeta Kalogridis to adapt the animated film into a live-action, 3-D feature. It was announced back in April of 2008 that DreamWorks had picked up the rights to the property, and Jamie Moss had been brought in to pen the screenplay. There is no word what happened with Moss’ involvement on the project or how far into the screenwriting of the film he got.

Kalogridis previously worked on the screenplays for ALEXANDER, Timur Bekmambetov’s NIGHT WATCH, PATHFINDER, and SHUTTER ISLAND. A timetable for production or release of GHOST IN THE SHELL has not been announced.

Review: ‘Ponyo’

Ponyo swims into theaters today, and as the latest film from director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, who gave us such landmark titles as Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle, this little fish finds itself in a very big pond, and in some highly esteemed company.

The movie tells the story of a magical fish, who yearns to leave the ocean and visit the human world. To this end, she sets out on a quest that nearly takes her life. She is rescued by a human boy, Sosuke, who takes her home in a bucket, and promises to take care of her. When Ponyo’s father, Fujimoto, a once human mad scientist who fell in love with the sea, learns of it, he is furious, and comes to take her back. But Ponyo is too much like her mother, and will not be contained. She is determined to become a human girl, and won’t let anything stop her from being reunited with Sosuke.

This film looks and feels like vintage Disney. From the art style to the color palette to the hand drawn animation, Ponyo seems like it could have come right out of the Disney vault. That’s no surprise when you consider that Miyazaki has been described as “the Walt Disney of Japan”, and many of the staff who went on to create Ghibli had worked on some classic animation titles, such as The Last Unicorn.

Aimed at a young audience, Ponyo is something of a departure from Miyazaki’s more recent films. That kid friendliness may translate into bigger profits at the box office. Anime films, while a hot commodity in certain circles, tend to receive critical acclaim here in the states, but sell most of their tickets at home in Japan. Ponyo’s appeal to a younger demographic may help it to buck this trend.

That in no way implies that the movie is dumbed down from Ghibli’s other titles. Ponyo may have kid appeal, but parts of the film are very dark, and might be a bit frightening to young viewers. There are some scenes for the parents, too. The portrayal of Lisa, Sosuke’s mother, as she deals with the strain of having to juggle caring for him and working at the local senior center while his father, a captain, is out at sea, is both humorous and heartwarming. Fujimoto’s efforts to keep Ponyo a fish and prevent her from joining the human world highlight the folly of human wisdom, and the struggle that all parents face as they resist the idea that their children are growing up.

The film touches on some of Miyazaki’s favorite themes, such as environmentalism, and the relationship between humans and nature. Ponyo and Lisa are both strong female protagonists, while there is no true “villain” in the film. Fujimoto is misguided, but well intentioned, wanting only to protect his daughter, and the sea he loves.

Ponyo boasts an impressive cast, with Liam Neeson giving his acting talents to the voice of Fujimoto. Cate Blanchett continues her trend of otherworldly female roles, playing the part of Gran Mamare, the spirit of the sea. Tina Fey and Matt Damon voice Sosuke’s mother and father respectively, while Sosuke himself is played by none other than Frankie Jonas, the youngest of the Jonas Brothers. Noah Cyrus plays the title role of Ponyo, while Golden Girl Betty White makes a wonderful appearance as both Yoshie and Noriko. White is having a busy year, also appearing in The Proposal and Love N’ Dancing. Cloris Leachman, a veteran of Ghibli films who played in Castle In the Sky, also lent her talents to the film as Yoshie and Noriko.

If you’ve got a taste for some vintage animation, or if you’re a parent who’d like to indulge in a bit of nostalgia while taking your children to see a modern day classic, consider a trip to the theater to see Ponyo this weekend.

Renner Could be ‘Max Max 4’

After watching ‘The Hurt Locker’ a second time, it seems star Jeremy Renner is poised for the A-list. After bumping into him at CineVegas, he certainly has the entourage to prove it. Well, that move up to super stardom looks to take its next step, as Renner is attempting to fill the role left open by Mel Gibson.

In a recent interview, Renner says he is screen testing and meeting wiht George Miller about starring in ‘Mad Max 4.’ In fact, Renner says he is “fighting” to do the film. Renner also said this would be next Summer, so ‘Mad Max 4’ might be coming our way sometime in 2011.

The next installment in the ‘Mad Max’ franchise, which, when last we heard, was still titled ‘Mad Max 4: Fury Road,’ has gone through several iterations under director Miller. Earlier this year, it was announced the film would be done using 3D stereoscopic anime. No word has come down to the contrary, and what we see when it finally comes out could be a digitized version of Renner.

Source: Modesto Bee

New ‘Astro Boy’ Pics

Summit Entertainment/Imagi Animation has let loose with half a dozen new stills from their upcoming ‘Astro Boy’ feature film. These images include the first shots of Dr. Tenma, President Stone, and Dr. Elefun.

Check ’em out:

Also live is the timeline on the film’s official site. It goes from the present date all the way back to 1928, the year Osamu Tezuka, the creator of ‘Astro Boy’ and “Father of Anime,” was born.

‘Astro Boy’ is set for release on October 23rd, 2009.

Source: Official Site

Review: ‘Eden of the East’

Strange cell phones, secret organizations and 20,000 unemployed Japanese citizens suddenly disappear and a school girl gets pulled into the middle of it when sheâ€™s rescued by a nude man suffering from amnesia and brandishing a cell phone in Washington DC. This is how weâ€™re introduced to Eden of the East. Yeah itâ€™s a lot to process, but the journey is well worth it.

Saki Morimi is a college graduate on a trip to the United States when Eden of the East starts. She leaves her fellow graduates in New York to head over to Washington DC to see the White House. Itâ€™s not long after her arrival that she gets into some trouble with the police over throwing something and a naked man distracts them, saving her. The man is Akira Tokizawa, or he soon will be. After Akira helps Saki, she gives him her coat and they end up back at his place. He has no idea who he is or where he comes from, but he does find a small apartment filled with weapons and explosives and several passports with many different names. Assuming one identity (Akira) and burning the rest he runs back to Japan with Saki and their adventure begins.

Eden of the East is about a game. A game that has twelve players called Selecao (Selaso). These Selecao are all given special cellphones and 10 billion yen in digital currency. They can spend it any way they see fit, but with the goal of â€œsaving Japanâ€. Each player can see what the other players are spending their money on, but none of them know who each other are. Akira is a Selecao and his trail of spending is his only link to who he was in the past. The evidence in the USA leads him to believe heâ€™s a terrorist, but he doesnâ€™t quite believe it, or he doesnâ€™t want to.

Saki comes with him when they reach Japan to help him piece his life back together and figure out who he is. Thatâ€™s where things really start to get weird. He lives in a shopping mall, is obsessed with movies and has a dog with angel wings strapped to itâ€™s back. Whatâ€™s interesting is how many references to obscure films are made. Obscure French films like â€œLe Grande Blueâ€ are mentioned and more than once.

What really starts to become clear is that Akira might be responsible for rounding up 20,000 uneducated and unemployed citizens called â€œNEETSâ€ and killing them all in a missile attack. Is Akira the kind of guy to kill thousands of people based on their cultural status to make Japan a better place? Or did he have other motives? Thatâ€™s where the mystery is.

The other Selecao all have different motives. Some donâ€™t want to play the game, but rather use the money to better their own lives. Others want to help a very small part of the Japanese community by helping hospitals and the elderly and some want to bring criminals to justice instantly without the law getting in the way.

The way they all go about their plans is rather interesting. Each player has a direct line to â€œJuizâ€ a woman who can make anything happen. When I say anything, I mean pretty much anything. You want the prime minister to say something, Juiz can get him to do it. Want some one dead, and Juiz will have a sniper ready in a matter of seconds. It does take a stretch of the imagination in some of the instances, but it also shows the viewer just how powerful the people running the game really are.

The title itself actually refers to a group of characters you donâ€™t meet until about half way through the series. Eden of the East is a group of students who came together to repair old equipment, recycle it and sell it again giving it new value. Many of them are actually NEETS. They developed a piece of software called Eden of the East that will take any picture and identify any person or object in it. Itâ€™s very cool stuff and comes in handy about half way through when people start to wonder who Akira really is.

The animation here is extremely clean. The characters all have very unique but realistic looks, and the scenery is all painted very beautifully. Thereâ€™s a smattering of CGI for cars and water, as well as large crowds, but itâ€™s all done with cell shading so it fits the style of the show very well. The audio is great as well. A terrific soundtrack and one of the better opening themes in a long time. The opening credits remind me of a James Bond movie and the end credits are some of the more imaginative Iâ€™ve ever seen.

Where the show suffers is that itâ€™s not all wrapped up in the end. There are a few too many loose strings and unexplained occurrences. Some characters just donâ€™t feel like they belong at all, and some are given a little bit too much importance without actually doing anything. Itâ€™s likely the show will have a sequel though.

As a TV Show this series has a lot of ambition and a lot of great writing. Itâ€™s finale is satisfying but makes you want more. If youâ€™re looking for a good mystery to sink your teeth into filled with missing people, secret organizations and a woman that has an obsession with cutting off peoples â€œJohnniesâ€ then please check this series out when it hits your shores. 4 out of 5 stars.

Ani-Mania: How Do You Afford Your Anime Lifestyle?

It’s been a month now, here at AniMania — a month of ninjas and wolfgirls, of star crossed lovers and hard boiled crime drama — and I realized that I haven’t even stopped to introduce myself. Travis told me when I started writing the column that I could post a short bio, but each week there were more shows, more reviews, more and better things to talk about than yours truly. And with so many new titles coming out, and so many great old series that deserve to have some light shed on them, there always will be. But here at the one month mark, I decided to take a break for this week, and tell you a little about myself, and part of my own descent into utter otaku geek-dom.

For starters, maybe I should explain the term, otaku. Simply put, an “otaku” is an anime fan. And I don’t mean just any fan. An otaku is a really geeky, hopelessly obsessive fan, whose whole life revolves around buying and watching anime. The only thing geekier than an otaku might be what the Japanese call a “hikikomori”, someone who becomes a hermit, refusing to leave their home, no longer able to function in normal society. Otaku are still marginally functional. They have jobs. So they can buy more anime…

One of the marks of a true otaku is that they don’t just buy the shows — they buy all of the STUFF that goes along with them. There are posters, figures, wall scrolls, models, soundtracks — life sized body pillows of the characters in their underwear — the list goes on. And I decided, right at the beginning, that I wanted no part of it. All of those things smacked of geekery, or worse yet, being a NERD, and I still considered myself to be a normal, well adjusted individual who just happened to like anime. At least, that’s what I thought.

It started with Inuyasha figures. ONE Inuyasha figure. I’d seen them for a while at the Hot Topic store, but resisted getting any, dismissing all of that as a bunch of childish nonsense. But one day, after seeing them for about a year, and feeling particularly nostalgic for that old sensation of buying a “toy” again, I decided to treat myself, and bought the figure for my favorite character, the priestess, Kikyo.

Then I noticed Naraku was on sale. Six bucks! I couldn’t say no to a deal like that. But now I had a problem. It was one thing, to buy one figure, on a lark. Now I had two: Kikyou and Naraku. But Kikyo and Naraku don’t go together at ALL (unless you’re one of those underground Kikyo x Naraku shippers, but we won’t get into that here). Somehow, this led to an epic quest to collect all of the Inuyasha figures. Unfortunately, Hot Topic had just discontinued them. After visiting every Hot Topic within a 50 mile radius, picking up Sango at a con (if it sounds bad, it’s supposed to), and receiving Kagome as a gift, I finally had the whole set, all except for Kouga, but the Kouga figures had some sort of problem at the factory, and came out a little orange looking, so I held off on getting him.

Around the same time, I innocently noticed that I was running out of new things to listen to in the car, so I bought one of the soundtracks for Cowboy Bebop, and two from Big O. Geekery aside, the soundtracks from both of these shows stand on their own as great music, and if you like jazz or bebop, they are well worth a listen. At this point, I was unconcerned. I’d picked up a few toys, but so what? They all fit neatly on one table, and it was fun to buy toys again. And then — well, I’m still not sure what happened.

For one thing, Christmas happened. A close friend of mine was in danger of moving out of state, and as a special gift, in anticipation of all the Christmasses we then figured we’d be out of touch for, he went and did the unthinkable, and got me two limited edition Motoko Aoyama figures. To this day, he won’t tell me how much they cost him, and though I did get him a Shinobu, and later chipped in to buy him a sword, I still don’t feel like I’ve adequately returned the favor.

That next spring, I was at a con (I’d started going to cons by this point), and was able to haggle a great deal on a Rei Ayanami figure. It was “Wedding Rei”, and I ended up having my friend help me smuggle her to the car, because my girlfriend has been wanting to get married since somewhere around the second date, and if she found out I saw Rei in a wedding dress before I saw her in one, she’d kill me.

My girlfriend found out (they ALWAYS find out), and ironically, she didn’t kill me. Instead, she got me a Gothic Rei figure for my birthday. I have a VERY understanding girlfriend. I’d say it was all downhill from there, but it had probably been all downhill the entire time. And so where does that leave things now? Well, let’s see, looking around the room here, my Inuyasha figures are piled on my writing table, along with a very nicely sculpted rendering of Alex Row from Last Exile. A small Rei and Sesshomaru are on top of the computer desk, along with Gothic Rei, who is wearing skirt and sitting on concrete, which can’t be very comfortable. Wedding Rei is on the chest of drawers, with Kikyo, Kagome, two Motokos, and a Haruhi Suzumiya figure.

My girlfriend’s Haruhi outfit is in the closet — she sent it home with me, because she doesn’t have any more hanging space for the rest of her cosplays. My Sesshomaru costume is hanging on the back of the door. There’s a wall scroll in the corner of Yuko, from xxxHolic, and signed by the voice actress, Colleen Clinkenbeard, who also autographed the xxxHolic clock my girlfriend gave me at this year’s ACEN. Another xxxHolic wallscroll is over the bed. The swords from the aforementioned Sesshomaru costume are by the night stand. More posters and wall scrolls are piled around the room. And then there’s the anime. And manga. Man, I’m such a dork.

I’m still not sure just how I acquired all of this stuff. I have this sneaking suspicion that my friends gave some of it to me in an effort to pull me down to their own levels of geek-ness. That, or it’s a conspiracy by the NHK. Both scenarios are equally likely. For my part, I’m blaming the whole thing on Kikyo. Either way, that’s all for this week’s column. Look for more reviews next week, and if there’s something you’d like to see or comment about, feel free to leave a post about it.

(Edward Douglas does NOT own any anime body pillows. Instead, he plots ways to get his girlfriend to cosplay his favorite anime characters.)

Review: ‘The Sky Crawlers’

Sky Crawlers is an incredibly well animated film with gorgeous CGI aerial dog fights with creatively designed planes. But that’s maybe 5% of a film largely padded out with dialogue that touches on ideas but never fleshes them out. It was confusing, irritating and hard for me to sit through.

The film opens with an incredible and violent dog fight between two opposing forces, with a gorgeous P-51 Mustang inspired plane with a black streaked jaguar painted on the side. It’s a great opening to a film that will leave you ready for action and adventure. Sadly the director Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell) takes most of the two hour film to talk about characters you never meet and doesn’t explain what’s really going on until well over half way through the film. It’s a definite problem.

The basis for the story is that it takes place in an alternate reality. It’s planet Earth but the continents are shaped differently and the countries as we know them are completely different. Two large corporations are at war and over what isn’t ever explained. Maybe it’s a war based economy and the fact the war exists is what creates jobs. It’s all very vague. The year is somewhere in the 1950s where airplanes still fly under propeller power and classic cars fill the road, but there are computers, flat screen TVs and genetic engineering.

Our hero is Yuichi Kannami. He’s what is called a Kildren. Kildren are genetically engineered people designed to never age past puberty, and meant to fight in aerial combat. All of the pilots are like this and because they’re created they are legally able to be killed without consequence. It’s a very odd idea but hearkens back to the idea of replicants in Blade Runner. He’s stationed at a small air force base with just a few other pilots all of whom seem to have an typical anime air of mystery behind them. Their leader is a Kildren woman named Suito Kusanagi (Kusinagi is also the main character from Ghost in the Shell’s name).

Much of the film involves a lot of montages of time passing on base, airplanes taking off and a few random dog fights and the only real plot to any of this is that there’s an enemy pilot named The Teacher. He’s the one who was flying the plane with the Jaguar painted on it in the opening scene. Rumors fly around about him being this unstoppable pilot and that anyone who goes up against him will get shot down. There’s also a rumor that he’s an adult and not a Kildren like the others. He’s a character shrouded in mystery and if you can manage to stay awake through much of the boring dialogue filling the space between action sequences you’ll actually start to wonder who he is. Kusinagi has a child on base and there’s also a mystery as to who the father is. Is it the pilot Jinroh that Yuichi is replacing? Is it The Teacher? No one knows.

For a film that’s about pilots and dog fighting there’s very little of that, and the one truly epic battle that does happen is over far too quickly. Events just seem to happen in this movie without explanation and there are many characters that really have no place. The worst part of this film though is that everything is explained in literally the last 10 minutes. Ideas come flying out of no where with no build to them at all. I’m not going to give them away, but the story is so back heavy that you’re thrown way off (if you’re even paying attention) and just don’t care.

Ani-Mania: ‘Basilisk’ Review

â€œTo my beloved: please dieâ€ (but read this review first)

I stumbled onto Basilisk through our local anime club. It was a little slow for me at first, and hard to follow â€“ the club room is noisy, and this is one show where you definitely need to pay close attention to see all the nuances of what is going on â€“ but after a few episodes, I was hooked. So hooked, that I started searching the web for all the nifty Basilisk fan stuff I could find (there wasnâ€™t much, although Funimationâ€™s site for the show is quite cool, especially the little â€œWatch Them Dieâ€ section). After that, I went on to the manga. I bought volume 1, and tore through it, reading in every spare moment I could get.

This is a really great series. Seasoned ninja fans wonâ€™t find much that is genuinely new â€“ the show is an adaptation of Futaro Yamadaâ€™s novel â€œThe Kouga Ninja Scrollsâ€, which also inspired the classic live action â€œShinobiâ€. But hey, Shakespeare didnâ€™t exactly invent most of his stories, either. Thereâ€™s always room for another retelling of a really classic story, provided itâ€™s done really well, and Basilisk is done REALLY well. Ninja stories often suffer a campy treatment (think masked guys running around in black pajamas sporting headbands that read â€œNINJAâ€ in English â€“ just in case we had any doubt) but Masaki Segawaâ€™s adaptation elevates the genre to the same level as the high samurai dramas that get so much attention. If Kurosawa had done a story about ninjas, this is probably what it would have looked like.

If youâ€™re familiar with Shinobi, or some of the other works inspired by Yamadaâ€™s novel, youâ€™ll already know the plot. If you donâ€™t, thatâ€™s okay too. This is a great place to start. The main story revolves around two feuding ninja clans, one from the province of Iga, the other from the province of Kouga. The two clans have hated each other for 400 years, but are forbidden to fight by an ancient treaty. The opening of the story has Tokugawa Ieyasu witnessing a demonstration by two members of the rival clans of their ninja skills. Historical figures and references abound in the story. Like Ieyasu, Hattori Hanzo and Yagyu Munenori, who also witness the fight, were both real people, and the provinces of Iga and Kouga are real places. While not entirely historically accurate, there are enough references to make a student of Japanese history smile and nod knowingly.

After witnessing the contest, the Shogun Ieyasu announces he will use a competition between the two clans to decide who will be the next leader of the Tokugawa clan. Each side will use their ten best warriors. Iga will represent one of his sons, and Kouga the other. Whomeverâ€™s side wins will become the next shogun, and the victorious clan will be established for 1000 years. The treaty forbidding the two clans to fight is repealed, and a messenger is dispatched to each ninja village bearing a scroll that lists the names of the chosen fighters. Continue reading Ani-Mania: ‘Basilisk’ Review

Ani-Mania: ‘Soldiers of Space’ (UchÅ« no Senshi)

UchÅ« no Senshi, (lit. Soldiers of Space) is a six-part anime OVA (original video animation) by Sunrise, based on the book Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.

I was surprised to find this little series from 1988 on the anime site I use to keep up on my favorite shows. It is a more faithful adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein’s original novel. Though it takes some liberties with the races of certain characters. For instance, Johnny Rico, who in the novel is portrayed as an Asian Filipino, is a blond-haired blue-eyed white boy.

One of the main features of the book that the series brought to life is the power armor that the mobile infantry wear in battle. It was pretty neat to see those aspects of the book, which were largely ignored in the 1997 movie adaptation staring Casper Van Dien.

All in all, it’s a neat series. I was a little bit annoyed that Johnny is made to look like a whiny little wuss in the beginning. He has a lot of trouble with physical demands of both his position on the football team as well as his military training and subsequent deployment in the the war. Though, I might be a little bias as I was a big fan of the 1997 movie.

The OVA is fun, but it’s pace is really slow. There is a lot of character development and the action is a little disjointed and less intense by today’s standards. Although, it was nice to see Johnny’s transition from a spoiled rich kid to a military commander. The power suits brought a cool element to the OVA as well.

If you are a fan of the book, then the anime is definitely worth checking out. If you are looking for a real thrill of a movie and some ultra violence, then I would suggest you watch the 1997 film by Paul Verhoeven and enjoy the ride.

You can find the 6 episodes on a number of different torrent sites online. Enjoy!

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