Film Review - Ponyo is one of Miyazaki's best

"Ponyo" is by far the best anime film of 2009, with incredibly creative hand-drawn animation and visuals.

The latest anime film from Hayao Miyazaki focuses on a little goldfish with a human face, named Ponyo. It begins with Ponyo sneaking her way through a submarine window. A boy named Sosuke finds the little fish and decides to keep it as a pet.

Sosuke has no idea that Ponyo is more than just an ordinary goldfish. She has a human face, and she even speaks Sosuke's named aloud. Ponyo is the daughter of an underwater magician named Fujimoto, who says that the natural order of the ocean will become out of balance if Ponyo lives in the human world.

The film gradually grows more wildly creative. Miyazaki's use of hand-drawn animation is perfect for the character of Ponyo, whose actual body undertakes some magnificent metamorphosis from a simple red goldfish.

The true spotlight of the film is on director Hayao Miyazaki's visuals. Miyazaki has always been known for creating a wonderful variety of characters, from the chaotic demons in "Princess Mononoke" to the cute creatures of "My Neighbor Totoro." However, Ponyo may trump them all as being the cutest, but possibly the most powerful of all the characters. Ponyo has the ability to shift the oceans and cause floods and tsunamis.

In fact, her loving relationship with Sosuke is the only thing that keeps her powers in check. Although the romance between the two is kept to a minimum, Ponyo's voice is adorably cute. To the very end of the film, the beauty of "Ponyo" lies in the power of love to withhold the Earth's obliteration.

Director Miyazaki has created another masterpiece which ranks among his best. His palette of colors is filled with beautiful blues, greens and purples. His drawings are pushed to the limit, with smoothly animated creatures and humans. He even squeezed in a lovable song at the end all about Ponyo.

The English voice actors also hold the film together marvelously. There are a few lines that don't translate too well, some of which involve an innocent conversation about a mother's milk in the second half of the film. But for most of the film, the voice actors' lines don't sound awkward at all. Even Frankie Jonas is believable as the simple boy, Sosuke.

Hands down, "Ponyo" is one of Miyazaki's best films ever made. Don't be surprised if "Ponyo" wins an Academy Award for best animated film.

Images courtesy of wdsfilmpr.com

Looking back: Blood+

I'm getting pissed at Sony's strategy for selling "Blood+". Sony's release of part one of the series is premature. Their box set, priced at a whopping $90-$100, is $40 more expensive than all four of the single DVDs.

That, and that "Blood: The Last Vampire" movie looked disappointing.

With all that said though, part two of the series is (finally) coming out in October 2009. The big question is whether people will actually buy it, knowing that the big box is a complete rip-off.

Despite all these problems, and the terrible scheduling of the TV broadcast, I'm looking forward to watching the end of "Blood+". It was the big series that quenched my thirst for bloody, but beautiful action anime. And Saya is still the coolest female vampire hunter in anime history.

Look forward to seeing a review of part two of "Code Geass." The series is reaching its dramatic peak. Sorry if I couldn't finish a review sooner--I had to wait a long time for the DVDs to arrive, due to high demand for the series.

DVD Review: The Claymore Battle Royale

From the first volume, "Claymore" hit the ground running with intense monster battles. Volume two heats up with flashy superhuman Dragonball Z-style sword battles.

Episode 6 opens with Claire actually speaking out her heart to Teresa, pleading to stay with her. There's even a scene where Claire strips off her clothes to show that Teresa means everything as her only mother. It's a saddening sight to watch Teresa leave Claire for her Claymore duties. However, when a band of thieves burns the town down, Teresa has no choice but to kill them.

A Claymore isn't allowed to kill humans, though. However, Teresa refuses to die this easily, slaying the Claymores who planned to execute her. But her Claymore buddies don't plan on letting her leave. The organization sends four of the top-ranked Claymores to fight her, leading to some ferocious, incredibly fast battles.

It's an understatement to say that "Claymore" is one of the craziest action anime series ever made. Each of the Claymores has a unique special power, and some of the Claymore powers are visual astounding. For example, Irene's quick sword technique cuts so quickly that no one can even see her arms. She can move her arms faster than the speed of light. This leads to an amazing sequence in which Teresa arm is speedily blocking Irene's sword slashes at the speed of a Dragonball Z fight.

The fight turns to a fatal end in episode 8, with one of the Claymores, Priscilla, growing amazingly powerful as she slowly uses more and more of her Yoma powers. Many Claymores die in this volume, leaving the remaining survivor devastated. This tearjerking episode will tear viewers' hearts out with emotion.

Volume two sets the tone for Claymore as a godlike superhuman action anime. Although it is limited in its rather formulaic Dragonball Z-style plot, the true draw of the series is the visuals. The dark colors and fierce fighting make for one of the most sinister, violent anime ever seen. However, this is a wonderful anime for its expression of raw female power.

To say the least, the battles are stunning. There's nothing more astounding than watching Claymore jump to incredible heights, swinging their swords in a rapid-fire machine gun fashion and healing their wounds extremely quickly. Like any typical action series, it tends to rely too much on the same formulaic tearjerking action sequence, with one character dying off and another seeking revenge.

However, this series is even more earth-shattering for its horrific displays of violence, with characters getting their limbs and their heads chopped off. This series is definitely not for kids--the violence is very intense. However, it's a beautiful series which shows the power of women, even when one of them is getting attacked by disturbing tentacle monsters in episode 10.

Although I had my misgivings for the series when it began, "Claymore" is a definite keeper for anime fans. However, be prepared to get shocked with this second DVD.

Image courtesy of amazon.com and their wallpaper downloads.

Moving at the speed of...a turtle

Sorry about the delay in posting reviews. I had to cut out lots of time this week studying for a crucial midterm in my Roman History class. Things are looking up. I will soon be a CSULB alum, if I keep performing well on my tests.

Anyhow, look forward to reading a review of "Claymore" in the near future. Unfortunately, Bamboo Dong's Shelf Life blog stated that "Claymore" ends abruptly, with very little thought in the storyline. This is just too bad, because the series looks absolutely incredible.

Peace out. And, uh, keep the peace.

DVD Review: Killing people while eating potato chips

I've held back on reviewing "Deathnote" for about a year, because all the characters look so stereotypically emo. L looks especially goth and emo, and I really hate the entire goth community for being so emotionally pissed off.

Now then, where was I? Oh yes, the review.

Anyhow, "Deathnote" is an excellent shonen anime, with a gripping plot about a boy who can kill people by writing their name in a notebook. This review covers volumes 1-3.

This boy, Light Yagami, was a goody two-shoes law student, until a shinigami spirit drops a "Deathnote" book. If anyone writes a person's name in the book, the person with that name will die of a heart attack.

Light thinks this is a joke at first, but he soon discovers the ruthless power of the book. He starts killing prisoners left and right, hell bent on removing all the evil people from the Earth to create an ideal world. Light pronounces himself to the world as a god, simply known as Kira.

Fortunately, the Tokyo police have implemented every effort they could to defeat Kira. They hire L, the most famous detective in the world, who has never lost a case. L is so elusive that hardly anyone knows his real name. Thus, Light and L engage in a battle of wits, each hoping to outsmart the other to reveal his true identity.

This is one of the more violent anime series. Just from what I've seen in the first three volumes. Numerous people die of heart attacks or gunshots in the series. Although there isn't anything that resembles the grotesque gore in "Fullmetal Alchemist," this series features so much killing that one has to wonder whether Light has even a shred of humanity in him.

Thankfully, the series isn't completely composed of gloom and doom. Light has an especially humorous photo-opportunity moments, in which he epicly pronounces in the middle of one of his killing sprees that he's going to take a potato chip and eat it. And for some reason, Light's shinigami friend Ryuk, who gave him the Death Note, spends most of his time eating up apples. L and Light even engage in a tennis match, in which each characters is plotting their next move while they are playing their game.

While the series gets really overdramatic and over-the-top, "Death Note" is intriguing for the deep mind games which the heroes and villains play against each other. For example, L spends plenty of time predicting how Light will react, so that he can calculate the odds that Light really is the mysterious Kira. L even uses Light's deducing skills to his advantage, so that he can brainstorm what to do next.

And even if the characters yakkity-yak a little too long while standing still, they are very smart at predicting each other's next move.

Although "Death Note" is an overdramatic action anime, the characters still manage to pull off brilliant voice acting. Shonen anime fans may want to pick up "Death Note" just to see how cerebral the series gets.

Images courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.net

The most depressingly beautiful airplane anime

Director Mamoru Oshii has pushed the envelope once again with his newest film, "The Sky Crawlers."

The movie is a complex, but stunning film about teenagers trapped in a world of aerial combat.

The movie opens up at a snail's pace, with isolated, depressed male pilots known as Kildren, with no other amusement other than eating at the meat pie diner and having sex in the mansion with other women.

In their planes, they fight enemy planes from a country known only as the Loutan. However, most of their existence is a boring world, in which they never grow old. All they know is that they are children, who could never possibly gain access into the adult world. The only threat to their existence is the unknown airplane above the clouds, known only as “The Teacher.”

Perhaps it’s a somewhat excessive visual representation of the life of Japanese otaku, young men who trap themselves in their home, fearful of the criticism from the adults in the faceless corporate world. The characters have the most depressing and nonchalant dialogue ever heard in an anime. However, director Mamoru Oshii makes it all work.

The film is a deadpan “Catch-22”-styled story, in which the main character, Yuichi, is trying to figure out exactly who he is. He's only heard rumors that his love interest, Suito Kusanagi, shot her previous boyfriend in the head. Although Yuichi has hardly any memory of his past, he offers his girlfriend a new hope for change in their depressing life as Kildren.

Admittedly, the aerial dogfight in the end of the film is an impossibly excessive and violent end. However, given that the concept of the film is out of this world in the first place, it all works beautifully. Although some anime fans might find the film boring at first, “The Sky Crawlers” has plenty of earth-shaking emotional sequences, in which Kusanagi desperately plays with a gun in her hand on a particularly depressing night out.

This is one of the best anime films I have ever seen, filled with some spectacular dogfights with surreal imagery. But although there is plenty of action, the dogfights pale in comparison to the heartbreaking emotions throughout the film. While American audiences may be easily turned off, this is a true masterpiece by Mamoru Oshii.

Image courtesy of larcho.files.wordpress.com

Advertising time

I've held back on this newest change to my anime blog for a long time, but now that I graduated, I could use some money. Thus, I added advertising to my blog.

I was afraid that the ads would dominate my page, but thankfully blogspot has been friendly enough to post only reasonably-sized ads.

Anyhow, as the Violent Femmes once sang, you gotta "ad" it up. Get it? Ad?

Oh, that's such a bad pun...