weyrbunny

Colorful was well done--very It's a Wonderful Life. But it will never be one of my favorites. I much preferred Tokyo Godfathers and Wolf Children, just to name two other family dramas. I commented on Colorful over in Anime & Toons... by the way. Back on topic: um, none of these films will ever air on Toonami because there are no explosions. Except for the emotional kind.

Yeah, the list seems particularly warmed-over this year. At least it was a reminder for me to visit the library to see what new 2013-14 anime movies are available--first up was Colorful, next up is Patema Inverted.

Eh. This one was dull, outside of the Zaheer conversation. By the end, I was thinking of it as “The Everyone Gets Lectured Episode.” Objectively, it was necessary for moving every subplot forward and I suppose I should respect the honesty on display, but I just didn’t find the story or execution engaging. When Korra confronted Zaheer, I did at least find it interesting that Korra not only spoke in short, defensive bursts—“I will no longer be scared of you…this was a mistake…you don’t know anything about me…my problem is you…you ruined me…I can’t trust you”—but also that she used “villain” phrasing, meaning that she speaks in a way that most hero archetypes don't. Heh—for using Mako as a verb. Izumi makes it official, I think: Every daughter of the Gaang is a badass. Some of the musical cues in the prison or Spirit World scenes really reminded me of the score from A:TLA. Into the Inferno’s great Last Agni Kai, and possibly something from The Crossroads of Destiny, came to mind.

Watched Colorful over the holiday…I can see why it won a bunch of film awards. It’s a slice-of-life drama about family dysfunction and emotional issues in modern Japanese life (i.e., emotional intelligence). The spiritual beginning reminded me of the outstanding Haibane Renmei, but that just turned out to be framing really, and ultimately Colorful delved into depression and the social conflicts of puberty (and modern society) more like Tokyo Godfathers. I think I was most impressed by how awkward and complex some of the conversations were and that the main character was allowed to stew in his anger and confusion, like a real teenager and not just a bratty stereotype. But, it was too much of a message movie for my taste. It was well done—I respect its quality, but wish it had been less…It’s a Wonderful Life. There was just an undertone of old-fashioned social propaganda on family values and how people should conform to norms that bugged me. Some of it is very subtle: the characters make thoughtful decisions or try to be repair their relationships, which is great…and then the results only lead to things society moralizes about, like not going to art school, not getting divorced, etc. It undid some of its complexity by being very..."restoration of the nuclear family." It also has layers of anger towards women or girls—all of the female characters are there to be judged or shamed in one form or another, and it’s usually sexual. Even the dead grandma is criticized (not about sex!). Some of it can be attributed to adolescent confusion about relationships with women, I think, and the movies’ point is that everyone has flaws, but when you compare what the men are criticized for (work or school), Colorful’s issues with women and sex become apparent. Anyway, it's a good-quality film regardless, and if you gravitate towards slice-of-life and dramatic anime, it's definitely worth watching. The person I watched it with absolutely loved it and found it very uplifting, for example. But I'm just too sarcastic for "uplifting"...

FYI, here's Toonami's December 2014 movie schedule: Dec. 6: Hellsing Ultimate 9 Summer Wars Dec. 13: Hellsing Ultimate 10 Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos Dec. 20: Dragonball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan Akira Dec. 27: Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance Original announcement: http://toonami.tumblr.com/post/102102142900/movie-time-announcement

I just finished Wool by Hugh Howey. Wow. Just wow. Well OK, I was bored and impatient with the first 100 pages, but fortunately after that it gets awesome! I'm now eagerly awaiting Shift and Dust, the next 2 books in The Silo Series, from the library. The story, a parable about modern society, information control and IT, is post-apocalypic sci-fi--very suspenseful, with great twists and a smart heroine. It made me appreciate the Internet. It made me want to rebel. Wool was recommended to me as an example of the self-publishing revolution, by the way, because it was serialized as e-books and reached #1 on Amazon, etc. just from word of mouth and online reviews. (It was eventually printed.) I'd link to articles about its remarkable process, but they tend to (over)explain the plot--it's best to go in knowing less. Otherwise, I've spent this Fall reading or re-reading the Tortall universe books by Tamora Pierce. This means The Song of the Lioness quartet, The Immortals quartet, the Protector of the Small quartet and the Tricksters series--yeah, my binge-watching has spread over into binge-reading. (I stopped before the Beka Cooper series, because the reviews are kinda wrathful.) Anyway, I loved the Alanna books (Song of the Lioness) when I was a kid and I'd read some of the others sporadically, so I decided to see how they held up and if they were as feminist as I remembered. They're actually more feminist (example: ), and they hold up very well. Some books are better than others, as you'd expect. The early series--I really wish Pierce'd had a better editor, so that major events didn't get lost in sentences like "And then he died," for example. And even for young adult novels, the language was noticeably unchallenging at times. But, there were no bad books among the 14, amazingly, and I was impressed by how they never felt repetitive. Each series built on the previous, and tweaked the heroine model so they had very different personalities, goals, etc. It was just a wonderful read, really.

3.3 - Ashes and Diamonds Series 3’s slightly longer run times have been put to good use, I think. Conversations are unhurried in ep. 3 like never before, and there are a wealth of character moments to appreciate. (This oughta be Flynn’s BAFTA reel.) The dialogue did seem clichéd and repetitive in places, unfortunately. The restating and overstating of the show’s many death themes really stuck out. I suppose this fits with pensive and reflective characters trying to recover from Reid’s actions. Using that many clichés, though—it added unoriginality to an episode where the case-of-the-week was already predictable. Actually, my suspicion is that the psychic case was only there so Drake could eventually say “…hope is made a phantom.” It also bugged me that the case’s outcome seemed to excuse or make less of Reid’s violent actions by having someone else repeat them. Reid’s behavior may be psychologically understandable, but it is not excusable. I was a bit surprised by how willing Drake and Jackson were to cover up for Reid, too. It simply came down to friendship, I suppose. There was a nice tension to the scenes where other characters talked about how honorable or good Reid was though, because Drake or Jackson seemed to grapple with their knowledge that this was a Reid who hadn’t existed for years. Wild West saloon imagery this episode…and they're not even trying to be subtle with the Alice in Wonderland references. In ep. 2, it was all the caterpillars (“Who are you?”) and butterflies. In ep. 3, it’s the endless looking glasses, of course.

Ep. 3.2 – The Beating of Her Wings Wow, the daughter…at first I thought they were just setting up Alice as a mirror/plot device for Reid’s grief and how it informs his police corruption, but damn, they went there, and they did so convincingly. To think I was finding the first half of the episode dull, well-trod ground—turns out it was just the calm before the storm. I kinda loved the intricate storytelling—fairy tale language intercut with visual clues—that became the reveal. My interpretation of events was that Matilda wandered into Reid’s office and saw the photos of Jack the Ripper’s murder victims (for a 5-yr-old, yikes!), and through the trauma of the shipwreck and the memory of Reid being angry conflated them with her father. The show doesn’t bring up Jack the Ripper much anymore, come to think of it—this was a riveting way to make sure his spectre lingers. There was also some overt scaffolding here: the Buckleys preyed on Alice, Obsidian preyed on the Buckleys, Reid and the police preyed on Obsidian...it felt very much like Whitechapel is just a food chain for predators. My favorite line in the episode—“your smile is a wolf’s maw” said about Capshaw—reinforced the feeling. Second episode in a row with Wild West imagery, too—last time it was the train heist, this time it was ‘prospecting’ by the river. It was probably there in S1 and S2 too, but I’m just noticing it now.

Thanks, radishcake, for setting it up. How about ‘More Than Just the Show Rises From the Ashes’ as the S3 tagline? There’s also Reid’s “We ARE the Abyss” line, which is shaping up to be S3’s theme, I think. ---- Ep. 3.1 – Whitechapel Terminus This was a really strong premiere. The acting and directing were superb—I noticed multiple shots where the camera lingered just to let the emotions play out on the actors’ faces, for example. MacFadyen and Flynn rose to the challenge, of course. They may as well’ve called the Necropolis line “Train of Death.” I wish the show hadn’t used that detail actually, since it totally foreshadowed the disaster. How bleak and ironic also, and therefore in keeping with the show, that averting one disaster actually caused another one. (If I understood the railway logistics correctly…) There was dialogue from S2 used as voiceover at the beginning…I think it was Susan saying “35 died so that 250,000 could live,” and the point was that she was horrified at what Reid had done for the “greater good.” Well, I noticed at the end of this episode Susan saying “55 lives for $350,000” in an eerie parallel and subversion of her earlier indignation. How interesting that Susan has taken up Reid's motive and the corruption that accompanies it. I must start using the word “vigilate.”

I had forgotten that Pabu shot laser beams from his eyes in Nuktuk. Seems funny now. I’d actually watch a mover about a laser-beam-eyed ferret. Korra’s segment was humanizing, I guess, but I was unimpressed by its platitudes. It was a nice reminder of the depth of Korra and Asami’s friendship, though—how supportive Asami is, for example. Wu’s “I’m not like you, Mako. I wasn’t raised by a pack of cops in the woods” made me laugh out loud. It was just such a mixture of images and metaphors…the slow camera pan over the too-interested crowd while Mako hemmed and hawed about his breakup with Korra also made me giggle. Regarding Varrick’s “This is no time for thinking, Kid. We’re heading into the big finale”—please let this not be prophetic or a meta-excuse about the show’s end.

FYI, Amazon UK released 3.1 and 3.2 on Nov. 14th but it's one episode a week after this. The Hollywood Reporter says there are 8 new episodes total in S3, BTW.

I’ve spent this Fall catching up on British dramas, and by coincidence I finished Ripper Street just in time for Series 3 to premiere. I liked but didn’t love S1 and S2, I think because they suffer in comparison to other thematically similar shows like Copper, Whitechapel, Luther, even From Hell. Had I seen Ripper Street first, my opinion might be the reverse, for example. And, as others have mentioned, I too grew tired of the repetitive violence. I also didn’t care for the show’s habit of “fridging” women or girls for man-pain or plot device. It makes sense within the context of the show, of course, the context being the Jack the Ripper murders. Well put. I did/do like the show’s main characters, and at one point in S2 I realized that I was actually missing them, especially Drake, because the history lessons were taking up the screen-time. Even the new supporting characters seemed under-served: I was disappointed for example that after initial promise, both Shine and Flight just…stagnated. Joseph Mawle and Damien Molony are capable of so much more as actors, I think. (Molony was excellent in Being Human and Suspects, and anyone else seen Soundproof? Such a great performance by Mawle.) All that said, the last two episodes of S2—“Our Betrayal Pts 1-2”—might be my favorite of the show. They finally pulled the trigger on multiple plots and themes, including Reid’s descent! And I’ve watched the first two episodes of S3 and found them to be really strong, with more really interesting developments. I hope it continues like this, because I'd love to love S3. Shall I create a S3 thread with a SPOILER prefix that can be removed later? Because I was genuinely surprised by , for example, and have questions. I was even more surprised that they managed to accomplish the reveal without it seeming like total soap opera. It was highly melodramatic, of course, but the acting sold what could've been desperate and eye-rolling, IMO.

I happened upon an essay/comic titled How Did Book 3 CHANGE Korra: A Thought Comic. (Just click to ZOOM.) It does a decent job of summarizing and analyzing Korra's psychology throughout the show. It also looks at how she compares to Aang and addresses her unlikeability. If the image wont load for you, it's housed on this Deviant Art page.

I kinda loved the fight scenes this episode. They were so much more creative and complex than Kuvira vs. Korra, and Bolin in particular seemed to have really good form. I was annoyed by the awkward reunion dinner scenes at first—Wu annoyed me or something—but then I realized the three characters were enacting a form of separation anxiety. This made it much more interesting. It’s something like: after long absences, people try to provoke each other in ways that reestablish their relationship, particularly the power dynamic. The point is to see if the person behaves as they did before the separation, so Korra, Asami and Mako being defensive, short-tempered and falling back into their prior squabbles makes perfect sense to me now. It’s too bad that Opal has become pretty one-dimensional this season, but I still don’t mind the character. I believed her dismay over Bolin and her family in this episode, for example. My theory is that Opal has been given character traits assigned to Korra in Books 1 and 2, to fill that gap now that Korra has mellowed. For example, Opal has been impatient, rude and unforgiving recently, which were words used to describe Korra's early brashness and aggression. Or, it just makes Opal like the rest of the women in her family. Don’t get me started—Nick’s website really does fail on a basic level. Which is why I forsook it. And, I agree about their anime hair. It made me giggle repeatedly. I also cracked up when Varrick made the face on his wanted poster just as he passed one. It’s the little things…

Being a Steve Blum completist, I've watched A Cat in Paris. It's a pleasant French animated film that could best be described as Kid's Noir. The story was too simple for my tastes, frankly. It lacked any hint of the philosophical complexity found in the best anime, for example. But, it did well in whimsy and style. The graphics are abstract modern art in style, retro, Picasso-esque even, maybe some German Expressionism influences...so if you like modern art like I do, it can be beautiful. It also has some well-done chase scenes and one set in complete darkness that made me appreciate the animators' creativity. There's an informative review at Movie Morlocks, BTW.

I was underwhelmed by this Beauty and the Beast, actually. It seemed enervated or like Beauty's part was underwritten. A stolid, adult Beauty was appropriate for the adaptation of course, but I just kept wishing she was even a little resistant to her family's oppression, for example. It was practically an Ever After audition tape for Angelica Huston, though. The arch mannerisms, the eyebrow acting--yeah, this was where she tried them out first, I think. Huston was fun here but also really overacting. I now consider her Ever After performance toned down, if you can believe it.

I agree there was a hint of meta about the princess' ages. I also took it as (further) affirmation that the show was probably more for adults than kids. I've since watched Rip Van Winkle and The Little Mermaid. I liked both, though The Dancing Princesses is still my favorite. Rip Van Winkle had a fairly different tone from other episodes--creepy and ghostly--and I'm not sure how faithful it was to the book. There's social commentary on civil rights and voting that struck me as a stab at 80's politics, for example. It was still well-directed by Francis Ford Coppola and Harry Dean Stanton conveyed the right level of sleepy for the role, I guess. It bugged me that the wife was just a one-dimensional nag though, but that part may actually be faithful to the book. And I had totally forgotten that the Little Mermaid dies--it's like the Disney version scrubbed it from my memory. (I think it was the one Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale I never read as a child, too.) How odd also to see a version where the prince chooses (arranged?) political marriage over fantasy love. This was the first time that I'd ever thought about the Little Mermaid story in terms of class warfare, too. Meaning, the mermaid-human differences become an allegory for upper class-lower class intermarriage, which the story ultimately rejects. All of this is going on while the actors are wearing long wigs held up by wires (which you can see) and enduring wind machines to make it look like they're underwater, of course. I guess the mermaid production design options were limited back then, but there's still a "criminy, will you look at that" aspect to the episode. The true star of The Little Mermaid though was, um, Treat Williams' pants. Just sayin'. Also, Helen Mirren has clearly been awesome since the beginning of time.

Well, ep. 5 zipped by and left me wanting more, but not entirely for positive reasons: it was another episode with little subtlety and few surprises. Oh, well, I was surprised that Kuvira revealed the full size of her army to Suyin. It seemed like an amateurish, prideful mistake to show an enemy her numbers. I suppose Kuvira knew Suyin would never acquiesce and so she’d need her full forces for a conquest. Or maybe that wasn’t Kuvira’s full army… I saw it as part of the parent-child rift theme. In the flashback, Suyin dismissed Kuvira like a disobedient child rather than treating her as an adult employee, which set up their rift. (Bataar Jr. complained about being treated like a child by Suyin as well, IIRC, so…another rift.) Kuvira and Suyin approached their rift with intractability of course, while Asami and her father played out the alternative path. I also see parallels in how both Zhu Li and Asami’s father told someone exactly what they wanted to hear. I hope it’s interesting to see which one is lying, if not both. Behavior Opal learned from her mother, clearly. I laughed at Varrick using himself as a power measurement. He’d totally do that. Also, Bataar Jr. still needs character development. I noticed during the fight scene that he kept growling—they couldn’t think of anything character-building for him to say? Not that I don’t enjoy listening to Todd Haberkorn growl...I recognize his voice from anime.

I noticed recently that Durarara!! series 2 starts in January, so it would be great if series 1 reaired. I think [as] lost rights to Durarara!! back in 2013, though. And I still haven't gotten around to watching Seirei no Moribito, so I'd welcome its return. I've been hearing how great it is for years.

This episode was so unsubtly written, it made me cringe. “Don’t get discouraged. You’re a valuable member of the team” and “you can learn something from [your enemies]” were said out loud, for crissakes. And the air kids’ ‘I couldn’t have done it without you’ scene at the end? Le sigh. Le eyeroll. But, I still enjoyed it for the most part, because I’m a sucker for flying squirrels and Meelo’s apostrophe-brows. (I could’ve lived without seeing Pokey lick his own vomit, though.) Toph’s “It was hot, I was on a blimp, and I think a giant turtle showed up” killed me. It seems odd that the Dark Avatar imagery has been dropped. The show has made it clear (in words) that Korra has been fighting her own fear, but the image was more powerful and unsettling.

Yes, thank you for reminding me that bending is an extension of the will.

Agreed. I laughed so hard at Mako’s expression. This episode was so much fun! (You know, except for the warring ideologies and sense of impending…war.) I thought it was interesting that Bolin seemed the more open-minded of the two when Mako and Bolin were arguing their viewpoints. I do hope that Bolin isn’t separated from the main POV like he was during the Nuktuk storyline, though, which would make his arc repetitive as you suggest, Steelyis. Maybe Wu will end up in one of Kuvira’s prison camps—sans Orange Julius, of course—and that’s how the concept will be explored. That would be awesome, but I’m expecting something like Avatar vine-bending more. Maybe because the word “vine” is just too prevalent so far, and it feels like the season is emphasizing the body/nature and positioning it against spirit/technology. Is the metal poison making Korra the bender that she’d be if she weren’t the Avatar? Meaning, would she not even be a champion athlete? Just wondering.

AFAICT, every Toonami show is available online, most in HD. I finally weened myself off the cable teat this summer, because I couldn't take the bullshit prices anymore. It's been liberating. There was a withdrawal period, of course, but otherwise the only difference is that I have to look up what aired on what date sometimes, so I know which episodes to catch up on for PTV. Viva la Cord-Cutting!

For the second episode in a row, I was underwhelmed. "Korra Alone" was certainly a good episode with impressive psychological depth, but my attention drifted multiple times, and I kept thinking about "Zuko Alone" instead. Both episodes about searching for identity, both episodes permeated by a sense of loneliness…but I feel like "Zuko Alone" was more nuanced. Korra just doesn’t seem to have any desires besides her…Avatar-ness. This was a/the point, I’m sure, since Korra’s self-identity as the Avatar has been so all-encompassing since an early age. I just always felt like I knew where "Korra Alone" was going, though. Even Toph’s appearance felt mundane, because I’d been expecting her arrival ever since Season 3 focused on her daughters. I did appreciate that Korra tried to apply what she’s learned over the years (seasons) by visiting the Spirit World, etc. And it was a nice parallel/contrast to "Welcome to Republic City", too: Korra traveled alone on her own initiative both times, and lied to do so. It’s also interesting how this storyline directly addresses the complaint about the Season 1 finale, that Korra losing her bending was too easily resolved there. (Remember the Korra-was-sad-for-10-minutes-and-then-she-magically-got-everything-she-wanted complaint about the rushed storytelling? I do.) They’ve taken it to the opposite extreme here—years later and Korra still isn’t well. It’s great that they’re not rushing it now. For perspective: "The Storm", which I’ve seen listed as the best episode of A:TLA multiple times, isn’t one of my favorites either.

Recent articles about Yoko Kanno’s Terror in Resonance soundtrack inspired me to look up her filmography and pick one I hadn’t watched before. I picked Wolf’s Rain. Wolf's Rain is stunning. I am stunned by how good it is. It’s insanely beautiful, with an instantly fascinating story, and son of a bitch, the music is amazing! The soundtrack is more important to the storytelling than Cowboy Bebop’s I think, since Wolf’s Rain is more of a visual tone poem. I love how moody and atmospheric both the music and show are, of course. The storytelling is the best kind of puzzle, too. On the surface, it’s a post-apocalyptic fairytale about wolves traveling on a quest, with aspects of The Odyssey, Alice in Wonderland and Watership Down folded in. (It also reminded me a lot of Castle in the Sky. But for adults.) But the story is also a complex philosophical allegory and creation myth. (That’s a good thing!) You don’t have to realize any of this, though—that the ending is Buddhist, for example—in order to be engaged by the story. The symbolism just adds another level of meaning to almost everything—it’s like Haibane Renmei in that way. The story is a puzzle as I said, but the clues are steadily revealed in most episodes, so even if the beginning is too mysterious for you, details fill in quickly. (Apparently knowing about Shinto animal symbolism also helps.) I also really enjoyed how the story shuffles characters, letting different characters from different subplots intersect in unexpected ways. I shouldn’t have been surprised by how good Wolf’s Rain is, really—its staff is amazingly talented. It was created and written by Keiko Nobumoto of Cowboy Bebop fame (and now Space Dandy) and directed and storyboarded by Tensai Okamura, who created/directed Darker than Black! (Perhaps you’ve read me rhapsodize about it?) Wolf’s Rain’s direction and visual storytelling is impeccable, btw. There are elements that could be improved, of course: several main characters are less-developed, and while this makes them suitably mysterious and epic, it also relegates them to being Prophecy’s pawns at times. (Or Fate’s bitch, to use a Wonderfalls reference.) There was definitely more story and backstory introduced than the show could effectively explore. Also, one of the villains is crazy-evil because…a guy rejected her. Really? All that philosophical nuance and that’s the reason they went with? Ugggghhhhhhhh. OK, so Jaguara's failure to overcome rejection is actually important because it represents lack of enlightenment, but it still comes off as sexist and lazy writing. Oh, and hopefully everyone knows this already since Wolf’s Rain came out in 2003, but SKIP THE 4 RECAP EPISODES!! (Eps. 15-18.) Even fast-forwarding through them as I did is a waste of time, and they kill the storytelling momentum. I’m off now to re-listen to the Wolf’s Rain soundtracks for, like, the 5th time. And then I’m going to dig up Joni Mitchell’s Hejira, because I finally realized that’s what the soundtrack reminds me of.