| first post in hundreds of years |
[Apr. 21st, 2008|07:27 pm] |
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For those of you reading sbflj (I assume all or most of you to be LJ friends of this account), sorry about it spamming your friends page! I was messing around with Feedburner and I didn't anticipate sbflj reposting everything that was on the front page. Forgive my tinkering! |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 11th, 2006|02:50 pm] |
Whoa guys! Check this shit!
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) sbflj
Some stuff comes out a little weird but it's pretty much awesome!
We have ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) starcreator to thank, so thank him. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 31st, 2006|08:49 am] |
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INTERNET BIRTHDAY POST |
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| postscript to that last review |
[Oct. 27th, 2006|07:24 pm] |
There's this really awful slot machine gag that probably only I and a million Japanese salarymen got:
See when these guys show up on the screen you have to press the buttons in the order that the numbers on their heads indicate. So say here, you would press the right button, then the left button, then the middle button. Shuu breaks 1 and 2's necks with his feet, then slices 3 in half. Shuu does not get bells and recieve ten tokens, however. That would be sort of too much of a suspension of disbelief. |
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| and now: a real post |
[Oct. 24th, 2006|06:41 pm] |
It's about Fist of the North Star again. They're having a revival. A really big one. Three movies and two video releases, covering from the part where the story gets really good up to the best part and then let's not worry about the rest. The first one has already had its theatrical run and its Japanese DVD release, and it has like three different titles even if you leave out the first title:
HOKUTO NO KEN: RAOH-DEN: JUNAI NO SHOU
I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS IT'S HOW THE NARRATOR SAYS IT
BUT EVERY ANIME SITE AND INDEED THE FILENAME OF THIS VIDEO GETS IT WRONG.
A review follows.
( Read more... ) |
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| AND ITS NAME IS-- |
[Oct. 20th, 2006|01:44 am] |
And yeah I don't write as much in here as I used to and yeah, really (spoilers) I'm just holding stuff back for when I get a blog elsewhere, but you know what? You know what? Even if I just link to trivial shit on this LJ IT STILL MEANS YOU GET TO WATCH THE BEST GALAXY ANGEL EPISODE:
WEDDING CAKE GATTAI SPECIAL
further spoilers: voltron's torso is visible for two frames during the transforming animation towards the end |
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[Oct. 18th, 2006|07:14 pm] |
Guys I think I know what I want for my birthday:
http://www.hlj.com/product/oht00087
this is, for example, the perfect slot machine accessory; my old kaiyodo kenshiro figure, in the POINTING POSE, keeps falling off
C'MON PUMPKIN JESUS |
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[Oct. 1st, 2006|01:44 am] |
It's been sort a rough week between school and everything (you'll notice I've pretty much ceased blogging since school started, I guess?) and in the face of adversity I strive to geek out harder. So rundown.
Honey and Clover just ended, man, and spoilers follow.
( Read more... )
But I geeked out way harder than that, though. Tonight the guys and I went to this karaoke place, see, and I sang YOU WA SHOCK (among other hits including DANGER ZONE) so goddamn loud that I don't think I have a throat anymore. It was pretty rad. |
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| before it's no longer the right day for this |
[Sep. 18th, 2006|10:02 pm] |
Today is Akira Kamiya's birthday. Let's celebrate the voice of Kenshiro with this.
Guys, I don't know if anybody still remembers, but THE KAMIYA CONNECTION article has kind of swerved into a massive feature-length piece on Japanese slot machines, so bear with me on that. |
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[Sep. 14th, 2006|11:12 pm] |
I have good news! Badass Manly Anime Reviews have apparently been quite the success, because not long ago I recieved a request to review the recently released Special Edition of Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. I accepted, of course, and now the film sits in front of me. (This is my first review copy, people! You all owe me a drink!) Anyway, let's talk about it, shall we? I'm splitting this review into three parts: the review of the movie, the review of the DVD release, and a parting word from the popular Badass Manly Anime Reviewer: I love this movie too much to actually do the full review in that voice. The result is disjointed, but anyway, moving right along!
Monkey Punch's Lupin III is a character with a lot of history, but that doesn't mean you need to know anything coming into this movie. What you need to know is that Lupin steals things, Jigen shoots things, and Goemon cuts things. Fujiko seduces Lupin into getting her way but never quite gives it up, and Inspector Zenigata chases after them all with handcuffs, hollering "DAMN YOU, LUPIN!".
This is Hayao Miyazaki's first film. He'd done a lot of TV anime work, including directing several episodes of the first Lupin III TV series, but this is the first time he's ever been given the reins for a movie. And boy, did he ever take the reins; the man took Lupin's world and covered the place in Miyazaki-dust. This treatment requires that we go someplace small, scenic and quiet, and Miyazaki sends Lupin to the remote, tiny, and fictional European nation of Cagliostro to crack a counterfeit money scheme. It makes for quite a number of breathtaking views; the backgrounds are unusually detailed, sometimes overshadowing the characters themselves. The Miyazaki treatment also requires that his penchant for angelic, doe-eyed young heroines be satisfied, and so we have Clarisse Cagliostro. So innocent and sweet is she, that some call her Japanese animation's first moe character (a statement Miyazaki would likely throw a fit over).
So if it changed so much, what about Lupin is left in Cagliostro? What's left, simply put, are obstacle courses and chases. The castle is used to great effect, with Lupin jumping between towers, being pulled by the current through the castle's aqueduct, and a spectacular finale inside the bowels of a clock tower. The animation, (done, incredibly, in four and a half months) is top-rate stuff that holds its own today. It's fluid, it's detailed, and most entertainingly, it has a strong understanding of physical comedy. To watch Lupin stumble, stutter and narrowly escape death to Yuji Ohno's (always the man who scores Lupin and always a pleasure) distinctive soundtrack is a joy and a laugh, every single time.
There is something further that is different; something less tangible. Lupin III is not quite himself. Nobody is, but Lupin in particular is tamer; the whole premise of the movie is based on deeds too kind for Monkey Punch's Lupin III to ever commit. Clarisse's unfathomable sweetness, even her moe, turns everybody in this movie, save the villain, into a total softie. There is no darkness here, no betrayal. Everybody is going to help everybody out, and everything is going to be just fine.
In the final scene, Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon are driving away in their beat-up Fiat. For a moment, Lupin is bummed about leaving Cagliostro, but Fujiko pulls up on her bike, and she's got a lovely bunch of plates for printing counterfeit money. That old greedy Lupin is waking up again. He reaches for the plates, but Fujiko, ever the tease, drives off with a smile on her face. Lupin takes a look behind him, and Zenigata and his Interpol men are on their tail. What follows is a shot that, for whatever reason, really speaks to me: We see the Fiat from the front, swaying leisurely on the country road. Behind them, of course, are the cops. Both Lupin and Jigen are grinning ear-to-ear like idiots. In pursuit and being pursued: this is their natural state. They're home.
The film ends on that note, with a shot of the country road leading into the hills, the hills leading into the highway, the highway leading into the city, and beyond, the sky and the sea come together into a single, endless blue expanse.
Those of you who already know how awesome this movie is are probably concerned with the quality of the release itself. A bare-bones, non-anamorphic DVD of this movie has existed for some time, after all, and there's nothing really wrong with it. The box and the menus were ugly, and that was about it. But the Special Edition, you see, is better. The menus are quite nice. The box is a step up; Manga has opted for an emulation of Disney's line of Studio Ghibli releases, with large reminders that this is a Miyazaki film. The artwork used is a shot from the film of Lupin carrying Clarisse. It looks to be a vector trace of a scene from late in the film. It loses a lot of the original shot's warmth, but it's at least cleaner than the fuzzy mess on the cover of the old DVD. It's adequate as opposed to ugly. Now me, I'm a simple guy, and I don't see why they don't just put the original movie poster on the thing. Just look at that thing! It's not ugly, it's more than adequate; it's beautiful.
So far, this Special Edition is only a little bit better than the old release, and this does not a Special Edition make. The main concern here is that the movie is remastered: the resulting video is much cleaner and crisper than the old video. But don't take it from me; I'm no kind of video expert. Here's a comparison shot from my favorite scene.
This is the old.
And this is the new.
Do you see it? I mean, aspect ratio aside. Because I do. And I like it. I like it a lot. Unfortunately, the remaster came at something of a price. Cagliostro takes care of all the credits the old-fashioned way: in the beginning, with some music. When the movie is over, there is a "THE END" (which is, by the way, inexplicably removed in this version), and that is all. The old DVD of Cagliostro was left exactly as it was, as it should be. Unfortunately for the animation studio, Tokyo Movie Shinsha, that means that the opening credits are untranslated. It's not that TMS is uncredited on the old DVD, it's that they are credited after the movie has ended, in a traditional credit roll added by Manga. But TMS made the movie and they want to be in the opening credits too, dammit. It's a reasonable sentiment, but in so doing, sadly, they ruin them.
The opening credit sequence is a montage of Lupin and Jigen traveling to Cagliostro in their Fiat, while the haunting theme song (forgive me if I wreck this: "Honou no Takaramono") plays. It's a somber, quiet moment in a movie that consists largely of chases, capers and antics. In this version, though, the animated sequence is replaced with a series of stills with English credits overlaid. The stills are from the corresponding scenes, at least, but they're stills. And so, the opening credits, formerly beautiful, are now a black eye on the rest of the film. This really shouldn't have to have happened. The English and Japanese credit sequences could have been done with alternate angles, and everybody could have been happy. This is the only thing truly wrong with a release that is well worth the price in all other respects; that doesn't mean I can overlook it.
On the other side of the disc are the extras: the first is the full-length storyboard feature that we've been getting from Disney's Ghibli releases. This is wonderful material to have; even in stills, Miyazaki's drawings exude the personality, the energy, the sway and the bounce, that define the completed film. There's the trailer, too. Some sketches, some screenshots.
My favorite of the extras, though, is a fascinating interview with Yasuo Ohtsuka, the animation director. Ohtsuka doesn't give straight answers for the softball questions the interviewer lobs him. He chooses instead to be (refreshingly, in this business) candid about his work. He's an old, old hand, and with experience comes insight. Insight and disillusionment. It's clear that the man has been beaten down by his job, and as such the recurring theme is a lament for the Japanese animation industry. We've certainly seen it in recent years: the glut of hastily, cheaply animated cash cows, produced by committee. In this environment, "Masterpieces can't be made," he says. "There's no way they can." Maybe not right now. I'll be waiting here, holding out hope, until we see another Cagliostro.
Badass Manly Anime Reviewer has always thought this movie was pretty rough-ass harsh. You know that part where he fuckin' like fights the count, and he's all like "shit i don't need no fuckin' rings TAKE THAT SHIT SON" and Count Calabreeze fuckin' does some Wolverine Rocket Punch shit? Me and my frat bros like high-fived every five minutes for a solid week when we fuckin' saw that part, man. Talk about a badass dude. And the theme song is fuckin' crazy metal. |
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