Archive for the 'anime' Category

Your name, 君の名は

Published on November 14, 2016 in anime and Review by taro. Closed

Got a chance to see this anime film the the HIFF tonight, it was their closing film. This is currently a huge blockbuster in Japan. It’s been sitting at #1 at Japan theaters since it opened over 2 months ago, only briefly being knocked down the other week but back at #1. Last I looked it sits at #7 of all time grossing film at Japan theaters, foreign or domestic. And no, it’s not a Miyazaki film, who holds the #1 spot with Spirited Away, it’s a Maokoto Shinkai film. The man who started in video games and many of his works were one man shows, producer/director/animator/voice and done on his Mac. I’ve seen most of his other anime. Visually stunning, he’s king of deeply saturated atmospheric visuals.

It’s late and I’m tired, so for know lets say I give it 4 out 4 separation anxiety monkeys. It’s got its flaws, but its a gorgeous engaging film if you’re not looking for a action splitting kind of thing. I’ll write more later, it was worth the price of admission.

Orepan!

Published on February 27, 2014 in anime, Culture, Manga and Travel by risu. Closed

They need to animate this!  俺のぱんつが狙われていた。(Ore no Pantsu ga Nerawareteita)

Kaze tachinu

Published on February 22, 2014 in anime, Culture and Review by taro. 2 Comments Tags: .

Just got back from Ward theater where they are screening Studio Ghibli’s Kaze Tachinu, The Wind Rises. I am so happy to report that it was in original language, which you won’t know until a good five minutes into it. I take exception to some of the subtitle translations, but for the most it was good.
This is supposedly Hayao Miyazaki’s swan song, he’s announced he’s retiring after this. There’s even a line of dialogue in the film stating that engineers and artists have 10 good years in them. Everyone says, yeah right, Miyazaki Sensei! But if he does stay true to that, this is a good note to go out on. The story is about the Japanese engineer who created the Zero, so Miyazaki has free reign with the airplanes he obviously loves. And while this is a Japanese story set in Japan, he also gets to put in the European and Italian flavor which he also has an affinity to. Continue reading ‘Kaze tachinu’

Mandarake

Published on November 20, 2013 in anime, Culture, Manga, rant, Review and Travel by risu. Closed

Found the relocated Sapporo Mandarake.  They’re in the Norbessa building with the big ferris wheel on top.  The new shop space is much larger, but it didn’t seem like there was a whole lot more content.  Surprisingly, I didn’t find any unusual figures or arcane DVD’s or manga to add to my collection. Figure-wise, there seemed to be a lot more of the second-tier game prize figures than before.  There were a disturbing number of very graphic, uncensored dakimakura covers.  …Oh, and someone bought the 1:1 scale Kokonoe Rin figure.

2013 Fall Season Anime

Published on September 29, 2013 in anime, Culture and Review by risu. Closed

Here we go again into the fray.  I’ve been neglecting my anime watching for a couple of weekends, so I decided to catch up with some summer shows that were winding down and maybe see some new ones.  There are several that haven’t started yet, but here’s the first: Continue reading ‘2013 Fall Season Anime’

More 2013 Spring Anime

Published on August 27, 2013 in anime, Culture, rant and Review by risu. Closed

More current season anime!

Watashi ga Motenai no wa dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui! “WataMote” (No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular!) – this one is about a “mojou” or unpopular girl. In addition to being a fujyoshi otaku girl, she is completely socially dysfunctional, delusional, and creepy. There’s nothing remotely cute or moe about her. I can’t say I like the artwork. The backgrounds are middle-of-the-road with a lot of pentagonal/hexagonal lighting accents that look like American animation backgrounds. The character animation is fairly well executed. The whole story is just so sad and disturbing. It would seem that she actually needs some professional mental health attention, so it’s difficult to enjoy something that is making jokes at the expense of a character suffering from a psychological condition. I’m not saying that from a political correctness standpoint: I just find it unfunny. That being said, I guess this is the “train wreck” property this season, where I don’t really like it, but since I can’t obviously see where the story will wind up, I’ll keep watching to the end.  C

root – Its rather painful to watch, unfunny psychosis. I guess it’s suppose to take insecurities that everyperson experiences at some time and taken to extremes. Any chuckles that come are rather uneasy. I think the only thing I really like is that the opening theme music is angry, not that often heard in anime themes. C Continue reading ‘More 2013 Spring Anime’

2013 Summer Anime

Published on August 20, 2013 in anime, rant and Review by risu. Closed

It’s been over several weeks since the start of the new anime season in Japan, so a lot of the shows are pretty far along.  It’s a little late, but here are some reviews of current properties if you haven’t started watching yet and need a helping hand trying to pick what to watch.  They’re not in any specific order:

Kiniro no Mosaic – when it was first announced, I was somewhat interested in this title, but after watching the first episode, the inevitable end was fairly obvious. The Japanese character being heavily Westernized and the foreign character being well-versed in Japanese culture schtick has been done numerous times before, but usually as an aside, not as a core interaction device. I’m sure we won’t see anything new this time around. The character design is cute and the character animation is above average. The backgrounds are very good. By nature of two of the characters being from England, the English language is naturally going to be encountered. They got reasonably close grammatically, though it is still a little “Speed Racer” awkward. The thing that ruins it is the accenting of words within the sentences is all off. At least it will probably be a somewhat entertaining ride.  B-

Root – I have top  say I was pretty let down, I was looking forward to this, but it fell pretty flat for me. It isn’t terrible, it looks nice and can be entertaining, but the gags and humor are a little weak. Yes, the English is bad, although correct. But that’s something I’m used to and expect, although there has been a rare case of native English voices, but the script they read from is filled with odd english. It just occurred to me, they really should be speaking the Queens English. Wonder what that would sound like! C+

Continue reading ‘2013 Summer Anime’

The Cards Have It

Published on August 7, 2013 in anime, rant and Review by risu. Closed

As in previous years, there’s a common theme in some of the anime properties this season. This year it’s magical girls and cards. The three I’m thinking of are Fantasista Doll, Day Break Illusion, and Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya. In Fantasista Doll, the middle-school protagonist comes into possession of a smartphone that allows her to call forth five combat “dolls” that she can variously equip with a card app on said phone. In Day Break Illusion the high-school protagonist has inherited the power to transform and use the power of tarot cards to engage in battle with dark forces. In Prisma Illya, the elementary-school protagonist becomes the unexpected heroine through happenstance and has to use her newfound powers to stop the transdimentional manifestations of cards and collect them. All three have different intents, but all share high quality artwork, both in the character animation and background art. Continue reading ‘The Cards Have It’

2013 August Moon is Now!

Published on August 2, 2013 in anime, Culture, Food and SUAR by risu-mobile. Closed

At August Moon at the Honolulu Museum of Art! Party time!

(0)

Anime Briefs – You’re kidding more, more ’13 Spring anime?!

Published on May 12, 2013 in anime, Culture and Review by taro. Closed

What, do I have no life that I actually watch all this?! No comment….

Streaming over on Funimation’s site is a few more not bad shows. We talked about Railgun S already and Date A Live. Continue reading ‘Anime Briefs – You’re kidding more, more ’13 Spring anime?!’