FunBlog

Steven Den Beste comments on the logical problems raised by the fuuzetsu (”time-stop seals”) in Shakugan no Shana. When time stops inside the seal, does it also stop outside? Either way seems to create impossible paradoxes. Either way no one should be able to enter or leave the sealed area.

Of course these problems also occur with any of the other anime and manga series that use a variation of this concept. It’s a convenient notion. Seal off an area where the good guys and bad guys can fight it out, then clean up the mess before anyone notices. The idea dates back at least to X, and also appears in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Pretear, Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora, and who knows how many others. They all are subject to similar critiques.

However I think that in the case of Shakugan no Shana all of the paradoxes can be resolved rather simply by applying the rules of that fantasy universe. Entering full-geek mode, I will attempt to do so. NOTE: This is going to require some spoilers, so those who haven’t seen the series should read no further.
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The worst thing about this series is trying to explain what it is about without sounding ridiculous. A story about a boy who plays with dolls? A story about dolls that fight each other to win the chance to become the perfect girl? A commentary on the emotional pathologies of Japanese adolescents?

Nevertheless it is a fascinating and charming story with a positive ending and some very nice artwork.
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I can’t believe we’re paying to see something we could watch for free on TV. Everyone in this theater is a sucker! Especially YOU!
–Homer Simpson

Regrettably it has been an awfully long time since an American movie studio released a 2-D animated feature. The last one I can remember was Waking Life in 2001, and that was a very obscure art-house picture. So The Simpsons Movie is notable on that basis alone.

If you are familiar with the TV show (and who isn’t?) then you pretty much know what to expect: sharp, funny writing, good voice acting and grotesque character designs. The animation quality is somewhat better than on TV, but not so much that you will really notice the difference.

The plot is fairly standard: Homer adopts a pig and as a result ends up triggering an environmental catastrophe. He has to flee town before an angry mob, but in the end he manages to more-or-less redeem himself.

The main reason that I am giving it a high rating is that it is the funniest thing I have seen so far this year by a substantial margin.

My daughter and I just got back from the Black Ships Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the opening of Japan by Commodore Perry’s “black ships.”

Photos below the fold.
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I’m probably not representative of the target audience for this movie. I only read the first book in the Harry Potter series, though I have seen and enjoyed all of the earlier movies. I suspect that most of the audience went into the movie having already read (and perhaps memorized) the book it is based on.

Thus I have no way of knowing whether flaws in the move are due to flaws in the book, or are the fault of the director. Part of the problem may be due to the fact that it is a very thick book. The movie feels like too much material has been crammed into too little time. Plot points are checked off rather than developed and key events rush by almost unnoticed.
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Some people are fanatically devoted to this series. A few strongly dislike it. I fall somewhere in between. It’s not the greatest anime ever made, but I think it is pretty good; indeed the best example of its genre.

(The genre in question is “Seinen or Shounen Comedies about High School Girls Based on 4-koma Manga.” This is a larger category than you might expect.)
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ANI-NOUTO has some comments on Figure 17. Some of them are fair but I am going to take issue with the following:

if Hikaru is made out of liquid metal, a-la T-1000, why does she eat, and how does she digest the food?

The answer, I think, is that she isn’t made of liquid metal. The alien technology is much more advanced than that, crossing into Clarke’s Law territory. A Ribers can assume multiple forms; when she is in human form she is indistinguishable from a flesh-and-blood human.

(Conversely, when they merge Tsubasa is no longer flesh and blood. That’s the main reason why she finds the process so frightening.)

Given that Pixar’s latest movie was written and directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles) and tells the tale of a rat who doesn’t want to eat garbage and dreams of becoming a Parisian chef, I went in expecting it to be hilarious. Actually it’s more cute than laugh-out-loud funny. Not kawaii-cute, but cute in a grotesque way.

If you are very squeamish about watching streaming hordes of rats you may have a real problem with this film. On the other hand, if you think that a rat can be sort of appealing in a sort of ugly way then you will probably like it.

I don’t think the movie is really trying to be hilarious. It seems more interested in being heartwarming. Unfortunately “heartwarming” and “rat” don’t go too well together, at least when the rats are rendered in 3-D with Pixar’s usual skill. Whatever the movie is aiming at, I don’t think it quite achieves it.

Nevertheless, even though this isn’t a great movie it is fun to watch. Kids will enjoy it and adults (at least those who are not rat-phobic) will not feel that they have wasted their time.