Hige vs. Otaku

Not a regular series for me, having been left quite cold from the bland first season, but I really enjoyed this particular story thread in the manga and wanted to see how it was handled in the anime. Much in the same way I view the xxxHOLiC anime, Bee Train’s take on Tsubasa acts more than a visual companion rather than a show I loyally watch each week. My opinions from the first season haven’t changed much from watching this – it still lacks even half the personality and fun of the manga and the pacing is still pretty dire – but both the music and visuals are quite beautiful and provided much of what I wanted superficially.

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Summary

Kakashi continues to explain his plans for Naruto. He describes the creation of an ULTIMATE NINJUTSU that will give young Nar the edge. Uncharacteristically, Naruto has foresight and points out the issue of time, and their lack of it. Kakashi craftily implies he’s come up with a solution, but before he can explain Team 10 crash into room and disrupt things. A tense moment follows as Shikamaru and co. notice Sai, whose previous introduction to both he and Chouji was strained at best. A change of scene and we see Tsunade dismissing a subordinate. Shizune describes the current Akatsuki movements, exclaiming they could show up on the boarders of Konoha at any moment. Tsunade admits to the trouble this could cause, but also acknowledges the advantage of being able to confront them. We come back to Kakashi’s room and in the meantime Sai has explained away the previous misunderstanding, utilising that winning smile and friend-making jutsu. Ino sees her chance to sink her talons into a Sasuke look-alike and Sakura has a quick bitch in her ear, explaining he’s nothing special. Asuma dismisses the six kids, offering a treat of Yakiniku-q while he has a word with Kakashi. Naruto complains about not getting all the information from Kakashi, who explains they’ll talk later. Team 10 and 7 (minus a Shikamaru, who strangely excused himself from the post-mission chill out) chow down. Ino explains that she and Chouji should introduce themselves and as this happens, Sai anxiously deliberates over nicknames for the two. The F-word almost slips out before a sharp-witted Naruto gags him and strongly warns against it. Taking a more tactically generalised approach with Ino, Sai names her ‘Gorgeous’, much to Sakura’s dismay. We cut away to an unknown Kumogakure nin being pursued by two Akatsuki members. The two introduce themselves as Hidan, something of a pimp with a large weapon (heh) and Kazuku, who describes their target as the ‘two-tales’, (which the scanslation notes has the ability to summon the undead), warning him to keep up his guard.

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Bigger, better sites have already reported this, but I just want to join in the collective yay at Love Manga returning. Welcome back, Mr. Taylor!

The episode opens with Donov and his multiple selves giving Iggy a lecture on his bond to Real. They emphasise his reason for existing (I refuse to use that phrase yet again) is to serve her, and without that he has none. This, as well as the episode in general, helps differentiate between autorave and Entourage and their respective relationships to humans. Plus, more importantly, Iggy finally gets his dues. The consequences being tragic as they may be.

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Summary

Sai sits in Konoha library reading up on how to interact with others,
learning about honourfics and pet-names in the hopes he can become
closer to his new teammates. Sakura arrives and notices his reading
material, surprised at his interest in such things. She invites Sai to
join herself and Naruto in visiting Kakashi, who is still bed-ridden in
the infirmary. They go to meet a reflective Naruto, who continues to
ponder over his encounter with The Princess. Sakura explains that she
and Sai were at the library and Naruto dismisses such activity as
pointless. Sakura takes her cue to launch a fullfrontal lecture in the
time-honoured fashion and Sai interrupts, awkwardly asking if he could
be apart of the conversation. He explains that the books he’s read
instructed that pet names are an effective way of gaining familiarity
with those important to you and he admits he’s finding it a struggle.
Naruto shrugs it off as unimportant and Sakura is once again impressed
by the consideration Sai is taking, and how different he seems from the
first time they met. Then Sai reveals his petname for Sakura (the
different translations came up with ‘hag’ or ‘ugly’ – you get the idea.
I would’ve gone with the classic ‘forehead’ myself). Cut to Kohoha
hospital. Kakashi enquires about the new teammate as both Sai and
Naruto rub their sore faces and Sakura smiles brightly. He pulls Sakura
to the side and quietly asks if the two boys have been fighting and
Sakura quickly dismisses such thought, reassuring him of the general
peachy-keenness in the group. The conversation quickly moves on to more
pressing matters – those, of course, relating to young Sasuke-hime.
Naruo and Sakura explain Sasuke’s massive power spike and how Tsunada
predicts that forbidden jutsu or some kind of drug may have been used
to give him a boost. Kakashi explains that the only theasable way to
capture Sasuke is to become exponentially stronger. Both Sakura and
Naruto are at a loss at how to do this, and Kakashi explains he has
been strategising while bedridden. It is simply a matter of Naruto
becoming stronger; perhaps to the point where he would even surpass
Kakashi (cue dramatic ending).

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With episode eleven we get Existential As Fuck, as it were. After
having something a spirit journey of his own Vincent finally accepts
his inner-Proxy and is free to finally find the truth about himself
(because obviously be a god-like being of destruction just ain’t
enough). The way this resemblances Evangelion’s final two TV episodes
is uncanny. The way Vincent addresses his internal fears and
confusion by speaking to familar people mirrors Shinji’s quest for
personal understanding as Instrumentality occurs. Is this a good thing
you ask? Personally I really enjoyed Eva’s TV endings, and Ergo
Proxy doesn’t have a diminishing budget to worry about – if anything it
seems to have enough to throw away on fairly rubbish CG sequences
involving books – so things turn out rather well this time. And hot
damn, we get a few answers along the way! But only in the traditional
tit-for-tat Ergo Proxy way.

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"Tony Takitani (played by the great stage actor Issey Ogata, last seen on film in Edward Yang’s A One and a Two) is a commercial illustrator, specialising in mechanical drawings. An only child, half-estranged from his father, he isn’t conscious of his own loneliness until it’s unexpectedly filled by a wife, Eiko (Rie Miyazawa). Life hovers on the brink of fulfilment – except that Eiko buys an alarming number of clothes. And when she dies in a road accident, Tony Takitani is left with a roomful of near-new designer outfits…" – lff.org.uk

Haruki Murakami offers some of the most compelling, addictive modern fiction available today. Quite apart from his Japanese nationality, and our love for such activity, the man is just a brilliant author.  Norwegian Wood acted as my entry-point; Dance Dance Dance became an all time favourite; The Wind-up Bird Chronicle presented a challenge only matched by Ulysses. Throw in his newest, Kafka on the Shore (which is beneath a whole buggerload of school reading, sadly) and many other short stories and novels and you have a robust and consistent set of excellent literature.

With Tony Takitani we get a very concentrated, brief visual representation of what Murakami is about. The underlying sense of melancholy and loneliness – both of which the protagonist is unaware of until another party changes their outlook – are present in spades and embodied beautifully. This is a very sad film. It doesn’t take any cheap shots or pander to the audience. It has no sex, violence or swearing but it still holds a great deal of emotional weight and maturity.

The narrative voice (detached from any of the characters, perhaps suggesting a Murakami-like figure) playfully interweaves with the dialogue and characters often finish off its sentences in ‘real time’. This demonstrates the film’s gentle sense of humour as well as giving a good nod to Murakami’s comedic style.

Cinematically the film is shot in quite a broad, set-piece manner, with each scene panning into the next with a single fluid movement. The sense of whimsy Murakami creates with his realistic settings is one of his signature points, and Tony Takitani captures this ethereal feel perfectly. The cast also acts brilliantly with restraint and subtly. I haven’t heard of any of the actors here, but after this film I’m going to make an effort to investigate their work.

Conclusion
Tony Takitani is a quiet film with a slow pace and not a lot of visceral satisfaction . . . but this is exactly why it’s so charming. Watching one scene drift dreamily to the next is compelling in a completely different way. It doesn’t grab your attention as much as lull it gently, and this is one of the better ways to explain how Murakami’s writing works. Strangely, Tony Takitani doesn’t immediately represent what I envisioned Murakami’s work to look like, but I’m at a loss to criticise it in that respect. A definite recommendation to those who enjoy subtly and beauty in their films, and Murakami fans will be more than satisfied. Lovely stuff.

Director: Jun Ichikawa
Links: Official site, Rotten Tomatoes page, indiewire review

Basilisk Vol. 1

The first of Delrey’s mature output and a very swanky debut it is. Certainly worthy of the $14 price tag; they’ve really done themselves proud with the presentation. And Delrey already does a pretty damn good job with their stuff as it is. The manga itself is quite a little surprise, too. After the setup of the two warring ninja clans, ten verse ten etc. I was ready to expect quite an obvious, by-the-numbers action manga. Rather craftily, Basilisk subverts this and offers a lot of cool surprises. The sense of foreboding as the Iga clan operate behind the unsuspecting Oboro (new leader of the Iga clan) and her fiancé Gennosuke (new leader of the Kouga clan) is fun and brutal, and the countless special moves of the each ninja creates an exciting unpredictability in each fight. Of course, taking a more critical tone, this could also be labeled as laziness on Segawa’s part, but the energy and creativity with which they’re rendered is worthy of better. The artwork is where I’m unsure. It’s not terrible by any means, but the use of photography as backgrounds really bothers me and there’s something kind of grotesque about all the characters – even the ‘normal’ ones. This is more stylistic than technically bad, so I’m going to give it a chance to grow on me. Definitely an interesting start, at least. 

Nana Vol. 3

Urgh, the more I read Nana the more I become addicted. It’s inevitable, silly of me to think otherwise. Paradise Kiss disappointed me quite a bit, especially after enjoying the scanslation of Kagen no Tsuki (Last Quarter) so much, but Nana has rebuilt my faith in Ai Yawaza and then some. As a dude, I can’t pinpoint what it is. As a big gay, it’s somewhat easier. But I wouldn’t say it’s that obvious. In many ways I still don’t like the art style, with character necks and fingers still giving me the creeps, but the self-awareness and the strange honesty with the characters is so disarming and entertaining to read. The advent of an actual Sachiko character had me lol’ing in a rather grand way. The translation is also starting to grow on me, though I still worry about the heavy use of vernacular dating it badly. Ah well, I guess Nana is always going to be a product of its time with the fashion and stuff anyway.

xxxHOLiC Vol. 7

The artwork in this volume stuck out as especially gorgeous for some reason. Perhaps after the busy, (intentionally) repulsive interiors of Basilisk, xxxHOLiC’s clean, eloquent layout seemed all the more beautiful. My attitudes toward CLAMP artwork have always been incredibly mixed, but both this and Tsubasa have really sold me on their versatility. Story-wise, volume seven is decent, though not comparable to the previous volume (which was a big fav of mine). We still haven’t got a solid recurring plotline developing, but Domeki and Watanuki get some great character development this time around and it sustains the book nicely. Wakanuki’s blindness mirrors Tsubasa’s Syaoran/Fujitaka quite interestingly, but I’m unsure of how direct it is beyond the visual simularities. Part of me hopes that the crossover between the two titles explodes into something more vital and exciting, but bigger part of me wants xxxHOLiC to be its own manga and continue to be fantastic without Tsubasa’s ever-looming shadow.

Naruto Vols. 30 – 32 (Japanese)

My first experience with importing tankobon. It turned out to be totally painless and not especially costly using amazon.co.jp. I think it worked out to about £5 per volume including P&P, and that’s technically £2 less than the standard cost of translated manga here. Obviously they’re in Japanese, but the abundance of translated Naruto on the Internet is almost silly. I actually had choice over which translator to use.
Physically speaking, they’re really nicely made. Each has a slipcover with colour artwork and then the actual book underneath has a red-ink variation. I was a wee bit disappointed to find no colour pages inside, but considering the pittance they actually cost it’s to be expected. Having Kishimoto’s modern line work as a hardcopy in my hands was worth it alone. Size-wise they’re probably a centimeter smaller on each dimension than the American standard, and the print quality is as good, if not better than most American versions. There’s lots of nifty Shonen Jump inserts for you to leaf through, too, which adds to the ‘genuine’ experience. If you’ve got the spare cash and the inclination, I’d recommend it. Apparently Yesasia is a good place to buy from as well as Amazon Japan, but I can’t personally vouch for the former.

Still reading: Monster Vol. 3 (savouring it, expect proper review soon), Tsubasa Vols 8 & 9 (finally catching up with the release schedule) and Lone Wolf and Cub (my reading of which will be eternal and I love it).

Okay, so no Naruto chapter summary/review this week. Lupus has done a decent job over at Everything and Nothing, and the transitional nature of 310 doesn’t warrant any additional gash from me. Plus, I received some of my exam results this week and I didn’t do as well as I’d wanted, so I’ve been a wee bit bummed about that. I’d only end up brutalising poor Naruto and regretting it later, such as is the way with the ones you love. Still, I’ll be back on track for blogging once I relearn how to the deal with the world at large and sort out this abject laziness. Cheer up emo, I know, but I really messed up this semester. The prospect of re-sitting some of those exams is pretty terrifying.

As far as site stuff goes, it’s all pretty good. I needneedneed to learn to abbreviate my posts about anime, though. I impose a 500-word limit on manga stuff and it’s worked out well thus far, but I always have something more to say about anime. I suppose the big, moving, pretty pictures have that effect on me. Or I just need to be more concise. Regardless, I might actually knock out more posts if I trimmed the flab off of what I publish. More space-filling screencaps also seem to be the way forward . . .

The spring season anime selection hasn’t really tickled my fancy beyond Ergo Proxy. Both Nana and xxxHOLiC have fairly pleasant anime variations, but I still enjoy the manga much more and this undermines the anime somewhat. Plus due to limited bandwidth I have to be fussy with what I bittorrent, so I’m finding myself reading episode synopses and downloading the episodes with my favourite scenes (a tentative SQUEE~~~ etc. awaits the animated pipe-fox spirit in xxxHOLiC).

Still, the summer season promises a new series of the ubiquitous Honey & Clover – apparently the funniest thing my flatmate has ever seen. The boy is prone to hyperbole, granted, but H&C is consistently better than most things and he usually snubs anime, so it’s an especially worthwhile endorsement. I’m happy it’s going to be a twelve-episode run. I’m with most people in saying that H&C hit a bit of a plot/character no-man’s-land towards the end of the first series. Still pretty brilliant, just slightly repetitive. I can’t even begin to predict where they’ll take things with the new series, though. Was everything in the manga covered? I dread to think of the backlash if it fails to meet people’s expectations. The OP just better not be shit. Big shoes to fill, imho. I hope and pray they do something creative with the opening animation, too. So disappointed when they ditched the claymation/foodmation; it never failed to make me laugh when others saw the soiled panties and had a bit of a ‘WTF’ Fight Club moment. Happy days.

This is a recommended watch. A film by Brendan Jamieson, Evangelion fandom elite, it documents (or mockuments, if you will) the trails of an anime fan and his girlfriend. Funny in tragic, urgh-I-see-parts-of-myself-in-him (and her, incidentally) sort of way. Hey, at least his favourite anime is FLCL. Too bad about the hentai, eh perv!

Signed,
Hige

P.S. HVO has a new layout, sorta. It’s rather orangé. :x