All posts filed under: anime

Film Review – Your Name (2016)

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Originally posted on Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys):
Mitsuha wakes to find herself crying Your Name (Kimi no na wa) Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai (5 Centimetres Per Second) Voice acting by Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi Review by Jordan “Once in a while when I wake up. I find myself crying.” If movie magic is the transformative ability to create a world other than this one, filled with life and beauty to capture the imagination in ways only dreams could create, then Your Name is the most magical movie of all time. Emotionally satisfying, as it surveys the landscape of love and longing by way of teen romance, comedy and celestial drama before scaling the heights of fate, Makoto Shinkai’s latest film uses its delicately drawn characters to introduce us to strangers who switch places in their sleep, setting rules for what they’re able to do and keeping a diary of the day they’ve steered. Mitsuha lives with her younger sister and grandma at a temple in the rural town of Itomori, weighed down by the expectations of being…

Oscars 2016, Movie Review: When Marnie Was There

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Originally posted on Ice the Burn:
Studio Ghibli. Enough said. While I want to focus this review mostly on the film, it’s difficult to do so without also addressing Studio Ghibli, one of the greatest animation studios, and its current hiatus situation when it comes to the film’s impact and importance of being nominated at the Academy Awards. In any case, I’ll start with the review first. And to point out: I watched this movie in Japanese with English subtitles. I don’t know how voters watched this film when voting for it to be nominated (and voting for the winning film), but I’m sure the difference in voice acting and adaptation of lines and interpretation will certainly have some impact on the experience. It’s a little strange to tackle this film when seeing only one version – especially the Japanese version, but I’m going for it anyway. Check it out: Anna Sasaki, a tomboyish preteen, lives with foster parents in Sapporo, Japan. She is distant from them mostly, and after having an asthma attack at…

I am an Anime Anarchist

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Originally posted on A Pinoy Millennial:
No, it does not mean I’m a guy who uses anime to push a particular brand of politics/philosophy. By this, I’m simply a guy who sticks to what he likes and people who want to be mean to me about it can just eat their hats. Sure, that’s closer to a hedonist than what your average philosopher would call an anarchist. But apparently, it’s anarchy enough when you don’t care about the sacred rules held by so-called standard bearers of otaku taste. Besides, I don’t simply just hold to what I like. I tend to go out of my way to set the snobby hipsters straight. Sure, there might be some things that are just crass. But if all you do is take every opportunity to whine about this or that anime being so bad, so stupid, or so mainstream, I really have just one thing to say: Feel free to jump off. Sometimes when there’s talk of anime in my FB circle, I feel like I’m the only…

Mahouka: Ideas, Ideals, and Light Novel culture

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Originally posted on A Pinoy Millennial:
Welp, I’ve been binge watching the show for a while now. And after covering over half of the total episodes, I conclude that Mahouka embodies plenty of what I like and dislike about recent anime culture surrounding Light Novels. I’ll get straight to the point, while I like the bit of social commentary about equality I’m not sure I’m fond of just how overtly technical-techy this anime is. It’s supposed to be a world where magic meets science. And yet while the visuals can make an impressive half, the other half just feels too much like science fiction instead of an actually balanced blend. That’s a magic gun? I thought it was Apple’s next product. I mean at least Wizard Barristers presented magic in a way that was a lot more straightforward. In the world of Mahouka, spells are reduced to mere computer coding. Good God, shit like this is the reason why I dumped Computer Science back in college. Give me a good, old-fashioned mix of imagination, fear-inducing…