Archives For Japanese

Most often than not, there’s a lack of foreign films in the Animated Feature (and in any other) field~ So how many times must we pass over great animation (not only for kids) to open our eyes? I started out with a qucik search for 2006 released animation (because I was discussing that year with a friend), but that didn’t do anything except make me skim through an article stating that “2006 was a great year for animation” – NOT! That there were 2 or 3 animated (3d CG) films each months totaling more than a dozen films of pretty much crappy quality… and if they were lucky they were worth a straight-to-dvd release is NOT a great year for animation. That just makes it a great year for movie business…

2006 was the year I began hating 3d animation, because everyone seemed to be releasing their 3d films JUST to cash in.

I ended up at the Academy Awards site to search all animated films nominated since the category began in 2001 with Shrek (the original not sequels) won. I also ended up on IMDb and their ‘Power Search’ tool to search for animated films with feature releases from the year.

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Esta es la traducción de inglés -> español del artículo que escribí para YAM 003 titulado “Too Foreign for your Own Good. Please Sing in English” en el que hablo de los más recientes lanzamientos de artistas de no habla inglesa estrenando material en el idioma para entrar en el mercado.

Como el artículo es un poco largo, pueden leerlo después del break.

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Yu’s site says her new film, Ike-chan to Boku, will be released this June 20 in theaters in Japan. Yes, I still haven’t seen TOKYO!, One Million Yen Girl is still NOT subbed, Osen is NOT on DVD, and Camouflage is still not done subbing either… BUT Yu’s got more new work on the way.

Synopsis sounds SAD! Check this over at Nippon Cinema~

For as long as he can remember, Yoshio (Arashi Fukazawa) has had a mysterious blob-like companion named Ike-chan (Aoi) watching over him. When Ike-chan is happy, she multiples; when she’s troubled, she shrinks; and when he becomes friendly with girls she turns red and starts getting angry. Throughout their time together Ike-chan sticks up for Yoshio when he’s bullied, and the two of them fight when she becomes too smothering for his liking. Then one day when Yoshio is older and has experienced his first love, Ike-chan vanishes from his sight.

T.T reminds me of Winnieh the Pooh. Anyway, Nippon Cinema’s got a teaser, the one-sheet and a little more info on the book it’s based on.

Also~~ Yu’s voice is only feature, and she’s a blob. LOL’ Not sure about the blob on the movie, but illustration looks super cute. Anyway, Yu has proven she’s good voice acting, though this role feels like its very soft unlike her voice acting in Tekkon~~ just saying. xP

Here’s the Japanese website… and the trailer with subs~~ weird subs, but subs. Any Yu Aoi subs are appreciated~~

[iframe width=”480″ height=”390″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/WWoIEtqYAGM?rel=0″]

I loved watching Departures. I thought it was quite poetic in its handling of oposing themes as life and death~~ good and bad… and a great balance between it’s light comedy and its drama. Plus, Kimiko Yo appears… she cracks me up sometimes *points at fried chicken* xD And Ryoko Hirosue also appears… both of them appear with Yu. I love playing 6 Degrees of Separation in the Japanese entertainment industry… xD

Why is this tagged as ‘oscar history’? Well, this is the first Japanese film to officially win Best Foreign Film since it was first given away~~~

[iframe width=”560″ height=”349″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/MtdENmR6jKw?rel=0″]

I just posted YAM 003 over at my portfolio~~

There’s a lot of international flavor in it… all by chance actually. It really wasn’t planned, it all just came together like that. There’s a couple of rant articles on movies and music, loads of reviews including complete non-fanatical reviews of Ao Akua, Utada Hikaru, DBSK, Hathaways, U2, Madeleine Peyroux, and Michel Gondry/Bong Joon-ho’s Yu Aoi’s Tokyo!

ALSO! A special on the Peruvian film winning the Berlinale’s Golden Bear top prize~~ The Milk of Sorrow, and some of the discussion regarding the original name “La Teta Asustada”.

YAM - Issue 3

Head over there now!

Yu Aoi - FanMade Video - KenKen - YesterdayI almost never (almost sure) post fanvideos… especially if they just center on a real person, you know? I’m pretty sure I’ve never posted one… usually they make me eye-roll. It’s a whole other thing with shipping (not real people)~~ I can get a little nutz over shipping videos… though many suffer from what I’m about to describe below.

This video, however, I thought it was pretty good… like not Windows Movie Maker related. The music too, kinda reminded me a little of Kobukuro. xD

I’m pretty sure it’s all software/plugin related… and it’s really just a cool slide presentation, but still… like this screencap – looks good. Those bits at the beginning, very simple… very clean, and not showing Yu’s face. Mystery! xD

I really wish more fanmade stuff were like this, as 90% of everything out there is just put together with crappy-ripped/cam videos or widescreen footage stretch out like it’s fullscreen. Keep the aspect ratio, people!!! And then there are the ‘slides fanmade videos’ that just show photos one fading after the other… Come on, this video certainly could’ve gone the corny way~~~ being the video with a shot of Yu’s cute face next to the name on Comic Sans. O.O COMIC SANS!!! [why exactly designers hate comic sans] [7 examples of inappropriate use of comic sans] –

So here you  go… follow this link to watch the video.

… though a couple have been demoted half a star. LOL’

Let’s see~~ From nearly 2000 rated films on my Flixster on Facebook application, this are at the top by rating… in no particular order…

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Otoko-tachi no Yamato is a 2005 Japanese war film telling the story of Kamio, a teenage boy who ended up fighting in World War II on board of the biggest Japanese battleship, and its crew who ultimately met its death in battle.

Genre: War, Drama
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyoka Suzuki, Sosuke Ikematsu, Kenichi Matsuyama, Shido Nakamura,Yu Aoi
Appearances by: Kimiko Yo, Kayoko Shiraishi, Takahata Atsuko
Duration: +2hrs

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Continuing the trend on pricey stuff – yes, beacuse we love the economy xD –

*ironically* Thank you, Lainey… if it wasn’t for you mentioning Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love,  I wouldn’t have gone through all the Criterion catalogue and pretended to get a debt buying Criterion… because OH HOW I WISH I could buy more of those… especially since lately, so-called double-disc “special” DVDs have been SHIT.

Yes, I’m talking to you The Dark Knight 2-Disc “SPECIAL” Edition~~~

So… you know, just in case – gonna put this out there.

But you know… any Kurosawa Criterion would be nice as well or Wes Anderson. Or you can be daring and buy this Twenty-four Eyes film (the 1954 film version of the made-for-tv film Yu did a cameo for…) or… you know something recent like Benjamin Button.

So this totally slipped my mind! I got the re-issue of Breathe!!! The Lily Chou Chou album from the Lily film by Shunji Iwai. The first time you see the film is so SO difficult~~ it’s such a hard theme, and characters you just want to slap around. I was a kid not long ago, and I felt so disconnected from THAT reality… yet, the film. You go back to it, and absorb it. The visuals, the music… it’s heartbreak.

Salyu, her voice~~ I fell in love with the soundtrack. The album is an experience all on its own… perhaps more than Salyu’s other albums. It’s the film, it’s because the album is strongly connected to that reality that it works so well… perhaps, a bit poetic. It’s THAT magical. At least to me, and to all the people that had bought the first issue of the album~~~ and maybe the reason WHY it was re-released.

I just want to know, from the people that bought the first run of copies… is it the same as the re-issue? Or has something changed? Hence, the re-issue credits in the album (including a re-design credit) ~ your thoughts?

Lily Chou Chou - Salyu - Kokyu