FunBlog

The Economist examines the question of why Japanese pagodas don’t fall down during earthquakes. The answer is a bit surprising.

Pete quotes my whimsical description of Umi Monogatari and adds:

Sounds like Simoun. The question is, if it’s any good as an anime.

Let me set the record straight. Umi Monogatari is nothing like Simoun. Simoun is (or tries to be) a tragic-but-beautiful story about ill-fated warriors. Umi, unless the writers intend a nasty surprise, is a lighthearted adventure story with magical girls.

Both have yuri overtones, but so do about half the anime series being broadcast now. That’s not much of a basis for comparison.

The Hurt Locker is a riveting film, thoughtful and realistic. It is a slice-of-life (and death) story about a bomb squad stationed in Baghdad in 2004, about the time that the insurgency was really starting to ratchet up.

The movie centers on Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner), who is more than a little crazy. He’s extremely capable; he’s defused an incredible number of bombs and the brass adore him. However he takes unnecessary risks and sometimes puts his teammates in danger. Basically he’s an adrenaline junkie–and I’m using that term literally, since the movie seems be be making the explicit point that adrenaline is an addictive drug.

The film is shot using hand-held cameras, giving it the gritty immediacy of a documentary. It is refreshingly free of any political message; though it does take the point of view that people who plant bombs to blow up random victims are scum.

This may be the weakest season ever (or rather, since I started paying attention to such things.) The recession is probably a factor. Fewer anime series are being produced (though still an amazing number by American standards.) Also the studios seem less willing to take a chance on crazy new ideas, preferring to stick with tried and true formulas which are inherently less interesting but probably have a guaranteed audience.

Nevertheless there are a few shows that may be worth a look:

Likely Winners

Bakemonogatari (Ghostory). Probably the best of the lot, distinguished by the arty animation expected from Shaft. Stories of the supernatural, more amusing than scary, enlivened by extensive though mostly tasteful fan service and a sharp-tongued tsundere armed with a stapler.
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth movie in the series, and I actually liked it more than the previous two. It is dark, stylish and witty. Like the early movies in the series it tries to impress us with the richness of its imagination, as opposed to just overwhelming us with pyrotechnic special effects.

Unlike most of the audience I have not read any of the Harry Potter books except the first, so my opinion of the movie is based solely on the movie itself. I can recommend it highly, but with one big caveat: if you have neither read the books nor seen the earlier movies in the series you are going to be pretty lost. No real attempt is made to fill in the backstory, and a lot depends on us already knowing the characters and what they have been through previously.

The ending leaves a number of questions unanswered. Rather than being a complete story in itself, this seems more like the beginning of a grand closing arc that will be completed in the final two movies.

The movie delivers the usual spectacular scenery and state-of-the-art special effects, but it also has subtler pleasures. I particularly like how the characters are gradually maturing. For a 17-year-old boy surrounded by adults who expect the world of him, but won’t give him a straight answer, Harry seems commendably self-possessed. He’s less angsty than he was in the last film and he seems well on the way to becoming an adult hero.

About a year ago, when Rumiko Takahashi finally ended the Inuyasha manga, I speculated about whether they would ever do a new anime series to finish up the story. I was dubious. It seemed to me that if anyone wanted to do that, the sensible thing would have been to start it before the manga ended, while the fans were still interested.

Well, it turns out that there will be a new anime series starting this Fall (which probably means they have been working on it for at least six months.) It will feature the original cast and is intended to complete the story. (It will probably take at least 2 years to cover the remaining 21 volumes of the manga–unless, unlike the first series, they do a lot of cuts.)

The big question is, does anybody care? The manga ran for so long that even many of its most dedicated fans gave up on it.

Nevertheless I’m going to give the new series a chance. I thought that the original series was very good in many ways. The problem was that it ran on too long and failed to provide a satisfactory ending.

While it is always possible that the second series will be a disaster, it is also possible that the two series together will amount to a great story, flawed by excessive length. A partial win, in other words. And heck, if I’ve already invested the time to watch 167 episodes, I suppose I might as well give them a chance.

At this time of year the theaters are filled with action movies based on comic books. Public Enemies has a similar style even though it is actually based on a non-fiction book by journalist Bryan Burrough.

If you don’t already know the story of John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson, you are likely to find the first part of the movie pretty confusing. There’s a large number of men in suits and they spend a lot of time shooting at each other with submachine guns. It’s hard to be sure which ones are the cops and which ones are the robbers.

Eventually the story takes shape as a contest between two larger-than-life characters. John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) had a lot of the characteristics of a comic book or pulp fiction hero. He is depicted as wily, handsome and charming, given to wisecracks and heroic pronouncements. He takes pleasure in outwitting his foes, escaping from tight spots through resourcefulness and physical courage. He is sort of like Zorro, except that instead of succoring the oppressed he robs banks for a living and kills without remorse.

Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), the FBI agent charged with tracking Dillinger down, is a man so straight-laced that when he gives marching orders to his men they look at him dumbfounded, as if they can’t believe that this guy is for real. Efficient and cold-blooded, Purvis kills bank robbers without showing any emotion. He also doesn’t display any particular concern for the innocent bystanders who might be endangered by all the machine gun fire.

In addition to bank robbers, Purvis has to deal with his boss J. Edgar Hoover, who is portrayed by Billy Crudup as a pompous, publicity-hungry weasel.
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Part of the appeal of Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya as it was originally broadcast was in the uniquely confusing way that it was presented. It created a sort of meta-story in which the original story was further illuminated by the viewer’s own reaction to the way it was presented. The viewers didn’t mind that the show was messing with their heads because the whole thing was so wonderfully entertaining.

Now with the second season Kyoto Animation seems to be trying for the same kind of “mess with the viewers’ heads” effect, but the original inspiration is no longer there. Instead of applauding, the fans are up in arms. Particularly infuriating is the “Endless Eight” storyline which has so far repeated the same episode 4 times with minor variations. This isn’t fun; it’s just annoying.

Probably any possible sequel would have been a disappointment, but it appears that KyoAni may have destroyed the value of the franchise. Furious fans are already vowing not to buy the DVDs.

It seems that the supposed third season of Shana will actually be an OVA, probably with just one short story.

Which actually makes me feel more optimistic about the project. With a short OVA there will be much less temptation to reset and rehash due to a lack of new material. And even if they do mess it up totally, a bad OVA is much easier to ignore than a bad television season.

Away We Go is an offbeat take on the road movie genre. Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) are a 30-something couple expected their first child. They suddenly realize that they don’t know how they want to raise a child, or indeed what kind of a life they want for themselves. So they set out on a journey to visit an assortment of friends and relatives, hoping to find an appropriate role model.

The movie is comprised of a series of visits with various families. Some of these people are horrible. (These sequences are very funny.) Some of them are nice people. (These sequences are sad.) Eventually of course Burt and Verona decide to stop looking for a perfect couple to imitate and look for a way to create a life that is appropriate for themselves.

One thing that surprised me is that Maya Rudolph doesn’t get to do anything funny. She plays straight man to the other characters’ comic bits, and otherwise treats this as a straight dramatic role. Perhaps this is why her character strikes me as rather unsympathetic.

Clannad is the third in a series of shows from Kyoto Animation adapted from visual novels from Key/Visual Art’s. (The other two were Air and Kanon (2006).)

Kanon is my favorite of the three. It has the most likable hero and the bravest heroine. I admire Air but it’s a bit too grim for my taste.

Clannad is a bit different. It is split into two seasons, the first of which can stand by itself as a gentle, upbeat and very funny harem comedy, though with a rather sad backstory. I’m going to focus on the first season in this review since it can be enjoyed by itself.

UPDATE: my review of the second season is here.

As with most KyoAni shows, the character designs are cute and the animation quality is outstanding.
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