Adventures in anime
After spending the day doing housecleaning and running errands, I spent the evening watching two anime films that have been on my "get around to watching" list for some time.
Together, it turns out they pretty much embody the extremes of anime. Princess Mononoke is a wonderful, thought-provoking film about the interaction between mankind and the environment in a fantasy feudal-Japan type setting. Ninja Scroll is the embodiment of anime's dark side: a slickly animated but meaningless exercise in excessive gore and the degredation of women. The former I highly recommend if you're interested in seeing what anime can be when it's well-thought-out and beautifully implemented; the latter owes me 94 minutes of my life back in recompense for my sitting through the entire thing.
So yeah, I really liked Princess Mononoke. And I didn't realize until it was over and the credits were rolling that it features the voices of Gillian Anderson, Minnie Driver, and Billy Bob Thornton--that was a fun surprise. I also found it to be a good bit more accessible than most anime. Recommended.
Three posts in one day--can you tell I don't know what to do with my life when the wonderful, beautiful Michele isn't around?
Comments
I waited for years and years to see Princess Mononoke. I had just never gotten around to it (what, with great flicks like Legally Blonde to see, har har).
Not having ever seen much anime (Ghost in the Shell is the only other one I've seen), it took me a bit to fall into the rhythm of the picture. Once I got past the jerky feeling of the pace (and the tree-hugger aspect of the plot), it turns out the picture itself is beautiful. It was about as engrossing as any other film I've seen with well-developed characters and a story one can care about (assuming one can keep up).
Interesting note: Princess Mononoke is one of Roger Ebert's favorite movies of all time.
Posted by: pcg | December 28, 2002 11:32 PM