MetaFilter posts tagged with anime and film

Gauche the Cellist, a Japanese short story and animated movie

filthy light thief — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 09:12:36 -0800

Gauche the Cellist [Google video, 63 minutes] is based on a story [Japanese; English translation #1, #2] by Kenji Miyazawa, one of the most-loved poet/storytellers in Japan (Miyazaki and Takahata love his works, and have been influenced by him). The movie was made as an independent project by a Japanese animation studio, OH Production (wiki), and took 6 years to complete. It is rather difficult to make a Kenji story into a movie because there are many Japanese just waiting to rip you apart if you screw up, but Gauche has been highly acclaimed, and is considered one of the best Miyazawa movies (IMDb). The story is about a cellist, Gauche, who becomes a better cellist by interacting with animals who visit his home every night. *

Akira adaptation courts white actors

Harald74 — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 05:21:24 -0800

Beloved anime classic Akira (previously) is in the process of getting a live-action adaption courtesy of Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. In fact, they're currently trying to assemble a cast. Oddly enough, despite keeping the leading characters' names Kaneda and Tetsuo, all the actors approached are white. This hasn't gone unnoticed, and Racebending.com is preparing a campaign to protest. Just last year M. Night Shyamalan's adaption of The Last Airbender (previously) drew massive criticism for having an all-white cast in an Asian setting. See also this earlier thread on the documentary Yellow Face.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: (Hideaki Anno) Reborn Again (and Again)

filthy light thief — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:50:22 -0800

Neon Genesis Evangelion was an anime series created by Hideaki Anno, a rather mysterious and reclusive director who has declined most interviews and has been likened to Alan Moore in his attempt to up-end a major genre. Where Moore doesn't want to work on anything Watchmen-related, Anno has returned to NGE in a very major way with Rebuild of Evangelion, a tetralogy of films to re-tell the original story and present a new ending (again). Though the original goal was a television series, the character designer for the series-to-be, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, released the first "stages" of the related manga in December of 1994. The idea was that the manga would create support for the TV show, which was made into a 26-episode series that ran from October 4, 1995 to March 27, 1996. By the end of the series, the manga was not yet done with the original storyline. The manga mirrors the series, with it's own tangents and deviations from the TV series (SPOILERS), and it's still going, due to gaps of years between the release of some volumes. Volume 12 was released in Japan at the end of March, 2010, with the 13th and final volume to come out in the near future, approaching the 15 year anniversary of end of the series first televised run. As for the TV series, Anno was unhappy with way the series ended due to finances and censorship, and he had episodes 21-26 re-worked for commercial release. Each episode was remastered and cuts were reincorporated into the episodes. But the revisions don't end there. A series of three movies provided a new summary of the series, as well as alternative endings. There were further edits, with director Masayuki tweaking the summary movie (titled Death) for three different releases. And there is even a possible draft ending that wasn't filmed. All this resulted in ongoing debates about which is the real ending (SPOILERS). Even before the movies, there was a lot of commotion around the vague ending of the series, and Anno's comments toward otaku, those who obsessed over specific interests (most commonly anime and manga). A supposed "anime industry dropout" posted a text-only document that claimed to expose various behind-the-scenes secrets surrounding the Evangelion TV airing, Director Anno, Okada Toshio (Gainax founding member), and other Gainax/Neon Genesis Evangelion topics that were only rumors to this point. The document was in Japanese, and some fans translated the non-ranty parts, which provide an interesting look back at the world around Anno, Gainax and Evangelion. Hideaki Anno took a break from animation, which had been his professional world since 1982. He directed an unusual dramatic film called Love & Pop (1998), filmed almost entirely on hand-held digital cameras from various vintage points (in a bowl of soup, on a pair of chopsticks and attached to a model train). (See: on YouTube in parts [playlist], with English subs and a squished aspect ratio.) A couple years later, he directed a live action version of Cutey Honey in film form. In 1999, the reclusive Hideaki Anno agreed to return to his hometown and teach school children about animation. The 38 minute video shows a reluctant Anno get excited about animation again (YT playlist). Even if you don't know (or particularly care about) the world of NGE or anime in general, it's a personal look at a rather private (yet publicly known) individual, including a visit with his parents and former class-mates. Anno didn't stay away from anime forever, returning in 1999 as the series writer for Kareshi Kanojo no Jijō (His and Her Circumstances in English), which was originally a manga series. Then he was the supervising director for Petite Princess Yucie in 2002-2003. Then on February 17, 2007, Hideaki Anno released a statement about Evangelion returning to film. September 1st of that same year, Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone (SPOILERS) was released in Japan. As with previous NGE material, the movie was re-released as Evangelion 1.01 "with 266 enhancements", on DVD and back into theaters, and later remastered and re-released as version 1.11. The second of four films was released on June 27, 2009 in Japan, and elsewhere in the world in the following months. Again, the video release was re-numbered to version 2.22, digitally remastered and with additional "readjustments." The final two films have no proposed release dates as of yet. If the whole Neon Genesis Evangelion complex seems too complex, 303 Magazine has a good summary and review through 2.0. If you want more, try out the following fansites: NERV Archives, the extensive Eva Geeks wiki, general ephemera and translated material at The Evangelion Otaku Page, and detailed notes, cross-references and analysis of the first four episodes on Eva Commentary. Of course, with details you'll get spoilers. And in the "maybe, sometime" file: a few words and visuals from the Live Action NGE project that stalled out in 2003. Video tidbits: opening, full series, Death and Rebirth, The End of Evangelion; Classic AMVs: Rammstein's "Engel" by Kevin Caldwell, and Evangelion Opus (Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody (Live)", edited by Shonen Productions); New AMVs (featuring footage of the new films): Shadox Our Future (Celldweller - The Wings of Icarus, Digital summer - Morphine AMV), Jagdmeister (Rammstein's "Waidmanns Heil," edited by Cenit)

Firebreather

zarq — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 10:56:37 -0800

Peter Chung, the animator who gave us Aeon Flux, The Maxx, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, The Animatrix: Matriculated and Reign: The Conquerer, has a new comic-to-film adaptation aimed at more mainstream audiences premiering Wednesday on Cartoon Network (US): Firebreather. Official Site. Trailer. (Caution: Some links in this post autoplay video) Wired: "Based on Phil Hester and Andy Kuhn's short-lived comic of the same name, Firebreather's teen protagonist, Duncan, is the offspring of a mild-mannered human mother, Margaret, and the beastly Belloc, a 60,000-pound dragon better known to a shocked and awed Earth as the King of Monsters."
Review. 2003 Onion AV Club interview with Chung.

You know, that thing where...

Artw — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:05:12 -0800

The secret origin of TV Tropes (Previously)

The art of Akira

shakespeherian — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:15:19 -0800

Announcing: The Art of Akira Exhibit Its stunningly fluid and detailed animation often required as many as nine separate cel layers. The 125 minute feature was comprised of over 160,000 cels and almost as many backgrounds, each one completely hand–drawn and hand-painted. Purists recognize Akira as the last completely hand-created animated feature.

Joe the Peacock, in collaboration with Toonseum, presents a project to 'expose as many people as possible to the brilliance' of Akira.

Akira previously: 1 2 3

Le Roi et L’oiseau

sourbrew — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 14:57:46 -0800

Le Roi et L’oiseau - is an old school “anime” by Paul Grimault, the script and score were contributed to by Jacques Prévert. If those two names are not good enough for you then I also submit for your approval that the style in this film has been referenced as a source of inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki. Although the wikipedia article doesn't back it up, so ill link to another site that does. At any rate watching this movie will leave you wondering just how many people have ripped it off over the years.

Parent's Guide to Anime

mediareport — Mon, 21 Mar 2005 16:19:25 -0800

A Parent's Guide to Anime includes a few hundred informative and opinionated reviews, organized by rating. Found via this thread at the Christian discussion site Arts & Faith, whose users included Waking Life, Bad Lieutenant, Life of Brian and Fight Club in their list of the Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films.

Matrix and Ghost in the Shell comparison

disgruntled — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 13:02:30 -0800

A scene by scene comparison between the Matrix and Ghost in the Shell, a critically acclaimed japanese anime that was released four years before the Matrix.

Steamboy

freakystyley — Sat, 24 Apr 2004 12:50:22 -0800

Steamboy is a steam punk anime adventure by Katsuhiro Otomo (of Akira fame). Here's the synopsis. Here's the trailer. Looks hella-impressive. Kinda makes my pants shrink. Anybody else know more info on this?

Script-O-Rama!

crunchland — Fri, 18 Jul 2003 08:43:55 -0800

Script-O-Rama! Hundreds and hundreds of film scripts, film transcripts, tv show scripts, and anime scripts.

Anime weekend.

skallas — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 15:20:57 -0800

Anime weekend. Two anime movies are hitting the big screen this weekend in a handful of locations (luckily for me both are coming to Chicago). I'm not the biggest anime fan but I'm dying to see this stuff on the big screen. I don't know if this is the sign of things to come, but I really missed out when Princess Mononoke quietly snuck into town.