Satoshi Kon, the director of such celebrated anime movies as
Perfect Blue,
Millennium Actress, and
Paprika, has died (reportedly of cancer) at the age of 47.
Kon's movies dealt with the slipperiness of the boundaries between performance and reality, truth and illusion. His death leaves the status of his next movie,
The Dream Machine (Yume miru kikai), in doubt. As outsourcing and a long recession have taken their toll on Japan's increasingly insular anime industry, David Cabrera notes,
I cannot think of a single person alive in the Japanese animation industry who would have been a greater loss than Mr. Kon.
posted by Jeanne
on Aug 24, 2010 -
99 comments
"Nisan didn’t mean to fall in love with Nemutan. Their first encounter -- at a comic-book convention that Nisan’s gaming friends dragged him to in Tokyo -- was serendipitous. Nisan was wandering aimlessly around the crowded exhibition hall when he suddenly found himself staring into Nemutan’s bright blue eyes... 'I’ve experienced so many amazing things because of her,' Nisan told me, rubbing Nemutan’s leg warmly. 'She has really changed my life.'
Nemutan doesn’t really have a leg. She’s a stuffed pillowcase — a 2-D depiction of a character, Nemu, from an X-rated version of a PC video game called Da Capo." The New York Times' Lisa Katayama on "2-D lovers" in Japan, the latest outgrowth of
otaku subculture.
posted by digaman
on Jul 23, 2009 -
166 comments
Anime Music Videos. Yet another
remixing web subculture, they're usually a source of amateurishly produced angst. From the
competitive perfectionists, though, come
well lipsynched,
action packed,
meta-mashuped, and occasionally just
filthy stuff for cartoon nerds. Besides the usual metal, ballads, and pop rock, there's some
Daft Punk,
club,
and downtempo accompaniment. Or you can just go to
hell. Wear headphones and no-one will know.
posted by anthill
on May 28, 2007 -
22 comments