Ever wonder why the Knights Sabre are all women? It’s all in the subtext. Sylia apparently likes to surround herself with women (though Nene must be just barely not jailbait.) Or maybe Sylia’s hard-suit design just works better with women?

I wonder what a slayer could do in one?

And how many episodes constitutes a marathon? All of them (24) ? Or just a DVD or 2 (4 episodes/DVD) ?

Long past midnight at this point. Only 2 episodes (of 26) to go. Could have been shorter. At least 2 episodes worth of boring exposition.

The ending never made much sense. So I think I’ll watch something a bit different as an antidote.

Najica: Blitz Tactics – A spy whose cover is a perfumer (designs perfume). Her signature is a rose left at the scene. Only twelve episodes. And lots of fan service (Yes, one of THOSE animes), though it would still be a decent spy story without that – more or less. Not something to watch if such things as fan service upset you. I’m sure I’ve commented on it before. Her first mission? Dressed in an extremely short skirt, she fights off a couple dozen maids also dressed in extremely short skirts to rescue some girl (who then follows her around like a puppy, also dressed in a short skirt, for the next 11 episodes.)

Okay, only made it thru 3 episodes of Najica before the fan service got too annoying. Now what?

It’s an indirect sequel to Whisper of the Heart , based on the story that Shizuku, the main character in “Whisper of the Heart”, wrote – and several seconds of which appeared in that movie. The Wiki entry goes into detail of how that worked.

It’s a funny story. And well done. And a light hearted fantasy – mostly. The animation isn’t up to Miyazaki standards (but then, most modern animation isn’t). It is closer to general anime in quality. But that’s okay. And it is still a good movie. Even if it is only 75 minutes long.

(Note: Anne Hathaway voices Haru, Cary Elwes voices the Baron, and Peter Boyle is Muta in the Disney/English translation.)

So, out of 17 Studio Ghibli films, how many have I watched so far? 10. I still have one Miyazaki film to watch (Porco Rosso) and all four of Isao Takahata‘s films plus a couple other films by other directors.

]]> http://neocows.net/blog/2010/05/08/another-ghibli-film/feed/ 0 http://neocows.net/blog/2010/04/18/once-more-with-ghibli/ http://neocows.net/blog/2010/04/18/once-more-with-ghibli/#comments Sun, 18 Apr 2010 06:59:42 +0000 jacs http://neocows.net/blog/?p=1736 Tonight? Two Studio Ghibli films.

My Neighbor Totoro – another Miyazaki film. Two girls (Satsuki (10?) and Mei (4) and their father move out into the country (in Japan, of course) while the girl’s mother is in a hospital (a 3 hour walk away).

A “cute” enjoyable movie. A mild Miyazaki. The girls are the central characters but just barely. And none of them are particularly strong natured characters. I could see elements of characters in other Miyazaki films in the two girls. Satsuki ‘reads’ like a younger Kiki but she moves around like Chihiro from Spirited Away. Mei reminds me of Ponyo except not as manic.

Whisper of the Heart – written by Miyazaki, based on a manga, but he didn’t direct it.

A very crowded movie. Unlike a Miyazaki film where actions centers around the characters, this one has a lot of things happening in it around the characters. The main character, Shizuku, wants to do something with her life. The only problem being, when she finally becomes inspired it happens when she should be studying for her high school admittance tests.

A good movie, if you’re into that sort of thing. In fan fiction it would be categorized as ‘pre-ship’. And lets not forget the Japanese version of “Country Roads” at the end. The song is part of the plot.

]]> http://neocows.net/blog/2010/04/18/once-more-with-ghibli/feed/ 0 http://neocows.net/blog/2010/03/06/a-miyazaki-marathon/ http://neocows.net/blog/2010/03/06/a-miyazaki-marathon/#comments Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:28:23 +0000 jacs http://neocows.net/blog/?p=1649 Instead of watching the Oscars… I thought I would watch something else. And what does one watch on “Oscar Weekend” ? How about a Hayao Miyazaki film marathon this weekend? I have seven of his movies on DVD. Not sure of the order I’ll watch them in. Or if I’ll watch them dubbed or subbed.

Watched/watching: Kiki’s Delivery Service (subbed)

Kiki was only thirteen. Isn’t that a bit young to be thrown out of the house and sent to figure out life?

Things she delivers (not at all inclusive)

• A birdcage with a stuffed cat (that looks like JiJi, her black cat) in it.
• A heavy box.
• Herring and pumpkin pie? Uh… yum?

Princess Mononoke (dubbed)

Hadn’t watched this one in a long time. I’d forgotten how gory it is. And how much I don’t like Billy Bob Thorton’s voice. But otherwise the movie was mostly good though Ashitaka was annoyingly naive I think.

Spirited Away (dubbed) (The T and I actually saw this one for the first time in a movie theater in Hanover, NH back when it first came out.)

Poor Chihiro (she’s ten.). She has to rescue her parents.

[Day 2]

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (dubbed)(1984? It doesn’t feel that old.”)

Post-environmental apocalypse tale. With Nausicaä, another female main character. And huge insects.

Howl’s Moving Castle (dubbed)

Another Miyazaki female protagonist, Sophie is cursed. (Based on a novel by Diana Wynne Jones. The wiki entry details the differences. And the entry on the book includes info on the sequels.)

Poor Sophie. She meets the Wizard Howl and then attracts the attention of an evil witch, who turns her into an old crone so she won’t be competition for Howl. It’s a Miyazaki film… so we know she’ll have a happy ending. Eventually.

Hmm… we never really find out how the spell on Sophie was broken (It seems to be one of those spells where she’s herself if she’s the only person in the room but as soon as she thinks she isn’t alone — zap — old crone-ish. But by the end she’s back to herself — but with grey hair.

Castle in the Sky (dubbed)

In Search of Laputa, an island in the sky. We have pirates! And they’re not really the bad guys. And then there are robots.

Sheeta is the main female protagonist. One of the weaker such in the Miyazaki movies I’ve watched so far. She’s mostly just along for the ride IMHO. Pazu (the boy whose arms she falls into (literally))  is more the main character even as they travel together.

Ponyo (dubbed)

The story of a Magical Fish girl (Ponyo) and her boy (Sōsuke (he’s 5)). Her father, a magician who lives in the sea, doesn’t take it well.

Not the best movie he’s made but definitely good, if a bit more Disney-ish than I like at the beginning.

The Castle of Cagliostro – a pre-Studio Ghibli Lupin III movie (I’m not really a Lupin III fan.)

Poco Rosso – Not sure about this one.

My Neighbor Totoro – that actually sounds interesting.

Maybe Totoro and a couple other non-Miyazaki Ghibli films?

• The “Thomas Crown Affair” remake (Pierce Brosnan/Renee Russo) has at least three scenes that work for me like that — the two robbery scenes and the sailboat and glider scenes. Unfortunately, there are too many scenes that don’t work at that level. The tango scene (very blah compared to the one in “Mr and Mrs Smith”) and the gratuitous sex scene are prime examples. (I’ve never watched the original Steve McQueen version all the way through so I can’t compare it.) Music by Bill Conti.
• The opening scene for “The Replacement Killers” is another.
• There are a couple scenes in “The Avengers” movie that are all mood.
• Almost any Hayao Miyazaki film has a lot of mood pieces (I just/finally watched his “Nausica… of the Valley of Wind” tonight — which got me on this mood kick.)
• Another film I watched tonight “My Name is Nobody” is a very music/mood driven film (Not surprisingly, it was written by Sergio Leone)

If it wasn’t so late… I would add more…