tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90779293488181461742024-02-08T10:47:09.561+00:00Review of Anime CharactersAnalysing the great characters in anime :-DHelenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188024506323641962noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-83451061407528360682010-02-09T21:31:00.000+00:002010-02-09T21:34:09.153+00:00Ghibli Sidekick: Dola<p align="center"><img style="WIDTH: 336px; HEIGHT: 210px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/laputa_castle_in_the_sky_img01.jpg" width="400" height="226" /></p><p align="left"><br /></p><strong></strong><p align="left"><strong>Film:</strong> Laputa: Castle in the Sky (English title)<br />Tenku-no Shiro Rapyuta (Japanese title)<br /><br /><strong>Voices:</strong> Cloris Leachman (English Disney dub)<br />Rachel Vanowen (Streamline English dub)<br />Kotoe Hatsui (Japanese)<br /><br /><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">The Character</span></strong><br /><br />Despite its cliched elements and 1980s style, Laputa is in fact quite a clever film, in particular in comparison to other films, especially other Ghibli films. This mainly comes from two major characters; Mushka and Dola (and her pirate gang). In the beginning, with Mushka, we think that he is protecting Sheeta and as time goes on, he graduates to pure villian. There is nothing complex about his actions: he wants Laputa purely for his powers and he is manipulative about it.<br /><br />When it comes to Dola (and her gang), they never change their tactics and yet in the view of the audience, they turn from villain to sidekick and become perhaps the best characters in the film. They are pirates through and through. They want the treasure of Laputa and they are willing to risk their lives to get the crystal which will lead them to the crystal. I have seen many films featuring pirates and what I find interesting in the film is that the pirates are very honest. Despite the fact they are basically thieves, they are not manipulative, unlike Mushka who does not care how and what he does to get what he wants.<br /><br />What is interesting about Dola is that she is the only female of the pirate crew and yet she rules the roost with an iron fist. Three of the pirates on board are her children and she in particularly has control over them.<br /><br />Even though she is elderly, she has a fiery soul. She has a hot temper and is boisterous as well. She is bossy and her crew are quick to obey her. She is a smart lass as well. It is she who makes Pazu realise that Sheeta was trying to protect him from the army after she dismissed him from the fortress they had been taken to. Although she will deny it, there is softness inside her. It is true that when Pazu and Sheeta are brought onto the pirate ship, they are put to work immediately. However, she does get maternal with them. During the storm, she is protective of Sheeta for being in the kite with Pazu but Sheeta is just as defiant as Dola. When Dola states that Sheeta cannot do it because she is a girl, Sheeta is quick to retaliate that Dola is as well.<br /><br />All I can say is that I would love to be a member of her crew.<br /><br /><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">The voices behind the character</span></strong><br /><br />I actually like Kotoe Hatsui. In fact compared to Cloris Leachman, she sounds more “granny-like” but her voice carries the feistiness of the character. What else can I say?<br /><br />Okay, now onto Rachel Vanowen. I don't think I'll go into this one as I have mentioned before that the Streamline dub is awful. Vanowen is no different. Yes, she gives Dola the Granny touch but her voice is too scratchy that it is almost unbearable to hear; it reminds me of the feeling you get when someone scrapes against a blackboard. She is unnatural and there is no soul to her performance.<br /><br />As for the Disney dub....well, as I have mentioned before, there is justification as to why the overall Disney dub has mixed reviews. Some are just off and some are just perfect. Cloris Leachman is perfect. Out of all the English Ghibli dubs for FEMALE characters, she ranks as one of the best, if not THE best! She, along with Mark Hamill as Mushka IS the reason why this dub is definitely worth a listen to. Not only is her voice spot on but she is absolutely funny, her comic timing is perfect. Anyone who has seen a certain film called “Beverley Hillbillies” (well most of us may have seen it but blanked it from our minds with good reason) will know that Leachman was perfect as the feisty Granny and she pulls of the same attitude in this film. It’s just a shame her performance in “Ponyo” is not up to the same standard but that is for a completely different entry.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-39972050226495874982010-02-07T21:15:00.005+00:002010-02-09T17:33:49.057+00:00Honorary Princess/Villain: Nyu/Lucy<strong><img style="WIDTH: 405px; HEIGHT: 171px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/lucynyu.jpg" width="468" height="199" /></strong><br /><br /><strong>TV series:</strong> Elfen Lied (English title)<br />Erufen Rīto (Japanese title)<br /><br /><strong>Voices:</strong> Sanae Kobayashi (Japanese dub)<br />Kira Vincent Davis (English dub)<br /><br />There is a reason why this character is placed into two different characters. The next entry will not be a Villain but a Sidekick and this will happen if anymore joint Princess/Villain entry should appear. In the case of Prince/Villain entries, it will be written in place of a Prince entry, then there will be a Princess entry and then jump to a Sidekick entry before the process starts again.<br /><br /><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">The Character</span></strong><br /><br />Lucy is perhaps one of the most complex female characters in anime. Her complexity comes from the fact that despite being stereotypical of anime, she breaks stereotypes of female anime characters. In fact, it is being a stereotypical character that makes her break the rules of anime.<br /><br />In the first few minutes, Lucy‘s action results in some of the most graphic openings of any anime. She is basically a Diclonius (aged around eighteen) which is a human with two cat-ear-like horns with a telekinetic ability called 'vectors'. With these vectors, she can grasp and impact things as if they are solid, but also become insubstantial and pass through objects. These can slice objects as well, which is how Diclonius kill their victims. With these vectors, she has no hesitation in killing anyone who gets in her way. She has four vectors with a limited range of two meters, which is the shortest vector range out of the three main female Diclonius in the series. Also, these vectors can also pass on the virus, particularly to male humans which can result in, if they mate with a female who in turn gives birth, that child will be a Diclonius.<br /><br />Lucy is a cruel, cold-blooded killer that wouldn't even hesitate to kill anyone, not even a human child. She does, however, like animals and will not harm them. Like the typical Diclonius, Lucy hates humans and seems to lack empathy and kicks sadistically without much concern for anyone else. Despite this she cannot and does not harm Kohta.<br /><br />Nyu appears early in the episode soon after she is escaped. In fact, Nyu is her split personality brought on when a bullet strikes her head and she loses conscience. Throughout most of the series, we see her change from Lucy to Nyu and then back again. In the manga, there is a third personality and is based entirely on Diclonius instincts and who takes over when there is doubt in Lucy (who is prominently more dominant than Nyu), not fully awakening until near the end of the manga. This third personality is not mentioned or brought up at all in the anime: it merely focus on Lucy and Nyu.<br /><br />These two personalities and looks could not be any different. Nyu looks more like the stereotypical anime female. She has big pink wide eyes and due to the bullet to her head, she can only say “Nyu” which is what prompts Kohta and Yuuka to name her “Nyu”. She is very sweet and naïve, has a childlike personality and infantile knowledge of the world. Nyu is innocent and incapable of violent acts, a complete constrast to the normally cold and sadistic Lucy. She is loveable, always trying to make others happy. Whilst Nyu’s hair does not cover her face, exposing her features, when she becomes Lucy, her fringe covers one eye. Her eyes are not as wide and more menacing. Their voices are different as well: Nyu is more high-pitched, almost to the point of irritation whilst Lucy is darker in her tone.<br /><br />When Nyu is attacked violently (or hit on the head), she regresses into Lucy; likewise, when Lucy is treated with love and kindness, or wants to hide herself from Kohta, she will uncontrollably switch back into Nyu.<br /><br />It is halfway through the series when we learn about Lucy’s past that this split personality enters a new level of complexity. First of all, it is important to note that Lucy is the original Diclonius and further Diclonius started when she passed on the virus to males via her vectors. She is known as the “Queen”. Born from humans, she can reproduce in a natural way with humans.<br /><br />Despite being a Diclonius, she did not hate humans when she was a child. She was bullied as a child but she was relatively shy if not a bit sullen. The start of her descent into darkness and hate comes from when the people who bullied her killed a puppy that she adored simply to see her cry. She retaliated by using her vectors to kill those who bullied her.<br /><br />Later, she encountered Kohta as a child and they became friends. However, when Kohta had to cancel a meeting to see his cousin, he lied to Lucy and said that his cousin was not female (he was meeting Yuuka for a fair). When Lucy follows him and discovers the deception, she feels betrayed which leads her to kill his sister and father in front of her (due to the traumatic experience, this becomes a repressed memory so when he meets Lucy/Nyu, he does not recognise her (as a child, he saw Lucy’s horns).<br /><br />Once one knows her past, it can be interpreted that Nyu is not just a split personality but could be what Lucy could be if she had not become a killer. Nyu could be the manifestation of her “good side”. While Nyu exists due to head trauma, it is believed (and confirmed by Lucy in the manga) that Lucy encourages Nyu to appear due to her guilt towards Kohta and to prevent herself from harming him.<br /><br />Her friendship/relationship with Kohta is important in her past and her present. By the end, she shows her true side and we see a side of Lucy that could have been if they had remained friends for she is guilty of killing his family. For the first time, we see Lucy being completely honest, her cold barrier broken. She admits to Nana that she feels she cannot do what Nana can do and that is love. To Kohta, she believes that their few days together as a child were the happiest she has known in what she describes as a hellish life. Despite the murders she has done, we the audience are not supposed to sympathise and want her to live but when one learns her past, one can only feel pity and we want her to live and succeed and have happiness with Kohta and the others. Despite what she did, she had transformed from a villain into a princess that needs to be rescued and maybe Kohta could be the one to do that, even though he admits he cannot forgive her for killing his family.<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/lucynyu1.jpg" width="277" height="222" /></p><br />The ending is also important. In the anime, during the final battle, she loses one horn via an attack from Mariko’s vectors and after Mariko is defeated, she says her farewells to Kohta and the last we see of her is her second horn being blasted off and the next day, Kohta and the others see a shadowy figure by the house gate waiting for entrance and we can imply it is Lucy. In the manga, the third personality has taken over and kills numerous guards and intends to take as many people down with her, including Kohta. Due to the intervention of Lucy and Nyu's consciousnesses, Kohta and the others remain barely unscathed, as Lucy reminds Kohta of the promise he made to kill her if she ever killed a lot of people. Kohta grabs a gun from one of the dead soldiers but backs down at the last moment, unwilling to kill them. However, the third personality, possibly moved by Kohta's actions, ceases all attacks with a lone vector picking up the gun for Kohta to shoot her, which he finally does. Moved by Kohta's actions, she ceases all attacks with a lone vector picking up the gun for Kohta to shoot her, which he finally does.<br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">The voices behind the character</span></strong><br /><br />It is hard for me to decipher which one is the more superior for they are both brilliant as Lucy/Nyu. They both sound very similar as Nyu; very high-pitched and child-like. Both with both of them, their strength come from how they make Lucy sound. You would not think that the same actress was voicing both characters. They are both equally cold in the beginning although Kobayashi is softer in her voice than Vincent Davis is (the latter is particularly chilling as Lucy).<br /><br />Towards the end, although they are both, they are both softer in their voice, implying sadness. However, Kobayashi sounds sadder and is stronger with the emotion than Vincent Davis is.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-13826266548948835782010-02-07T17:21:00.001+00:002010-02-07T17:28:30.041+00:00Ghibli Prince: Haku<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/Spirited_Away_Haku.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="226" /></p><br /><strong>Film:</strong> Spirited Away (English title)<br /> Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Japanese title)<br /><br /><strong>Voices:</strong> Miyu Irino (Japanese dub)<br /> Jason Masden (English Disney dub)<br /><br /><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Character</span></strong><br /><br />Haku is quite a complex character, more due to the fact that he keeps switching from sides. In the beginning, we see him helping Chihiro escape from the spirit world but when she fails to escape (added to the fact her parents are now pigs), he helps her again by feeding her spirit world so at least she cannot disappear. He gives her advice on Yubaba and how to get a job in the bath house so at least she can remain there until she can figure out how to get her parents back. But then once she has done all that and they encounter each other again, he is extremely cold to her. Then the next day, Haku takes Chihiro to see her parents and gives her advice that she has to remember them, advice that comes in handy later in the film. Also, he gives her a card that was in her pocket that states her real name and advises her that if she forgets her name, she will never be able to get home.<br /><br /><img class="alignnone" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/haku.jpg" alt="" width="459" height="187" /><br /><br />The mystery behind Haku is enhanced when Lin tells Chihiro (now known as Sen) that Haku is one of Yubaba’s henchmen that carried out some of her wicked orders and that he cannot be trusted. Although this is true, it is not the whole truth. We learn that he is a young teenage boy who is really a dragon and while he carries out Yubaba’s orders, there is a reason behind this which we learn especially when we learn his real name and where he really came from.<br /><br />Haku’s backstory is more of a tragic story. Haku was originally named, Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, the spirit of the Kohaku River and although he has forgotten his real name, he remembers meeting Chihiro, saving her from drowing when she fell into the river years before. The river was destroyed and filled in with apartments leaving Haku without a home and so he went to the spirit world seeking to learn magic from Yubaba. As a result, she stole his real name (leaving him with the name “Haku”) and he became her obedient servant, following her every command.<br /><p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/haku2.jpg" alt="" width="378" height="200" /></p><br />He has a relationship with two characters in the film: the first is Yubaba who forces him to work for her. The second is with Chihiro and theirs tends to fall into the love department although it is not declared. The closest we get to this revelation is that it is mentioned to Lin by Kamijii. The closest the pair get to is when the spell is broken and they are falling in the sky. They get close enough to kiss but despite nothing developing, the love is there and the moment is one of the most beautiful in a Ghibli film.<br /><p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/SPIRITEDAWAYUS-1324.jpg" alt="" width="376" height="211" /></p><br />In the end, it is Chihiro that breaks the hold that Yubaba has over Haku. By remembering when he saved her from the river and mentioning his real name, she frees him from her forced service. However, despite that, he does not follow her out of the spirit world. It is implied he stays at the bath house.<br /><br /><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The voices behind the character</span></strong><br /><br />Both Miyu Irino and Jason Mardsen are brilliant as Haku. They both give both the cold and caring side of Haku effectively although Irino is more cold and stern (compared to Irino, Mardsen is more stern than cold). In some of the more caring, Irino is less harsh and more softer in his tone of voice than Mardsen. However, this does not mean Mardsen is bad. In fact, in my opinion, he is one of the best of the Ghibli English male dubs but then when push comes to shove, “Spirited Away” has one of the best (if not the best) English dubs of any of the Ghibli films.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-62045891819352215792010-01-28T19:59:00.007+00:002010-01-28T21:05:50.672+00:00Honorary Sidekick: Kanoe<img style="WIDTH: 414px; HEIGHT: 187px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/kanoefinal1.jpg" width="464" height="208" /><br /><br /><strong>Film:</strong> X (or X/1999) (English title)<br />Ekkusu (Japanese title)<br /><br /><strong>Voices:</strong> Atsuko Takahata (Japanese) (Feature film)<br />Denica Fairman (English) (Feature film)<br />Kaho Kouda (Japanese) (TV series)<br />Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (English) (TV series)<br /><br /><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">The Character</span></strong><br /><br />Kanoe is Princess Hinoto’s younger sister (and her only blood relative), although I find it slightly bizarre that Hinoto is referred to as a Princess whilst Kanoe is now. These two sisters could not be any different from each other, in looks and in personality.<br /><br />While Hinoto supports the Dragons of Heaven, Kanoe supports the Dragons of Earth, although her motive for doing so changes in each format of “X”. In the film and manga, her motivations seem to be out of love for Hinoto, wishing to free from her “prison” as a dreamseer. This truth is more prominent in the film for this confession is said by Kanoe as she lays wounded before dying in Hinoto’s arms. In the film, despite them being on opposite sides, there seems to be no bitterness between them. The TV series shows a far different side to Kanoe: she admits to despising Hinoto whow as always treated better than her for having strong dreamseer powers (whilst Kanoe is also a dreamseer, her powers are limited). Throughout the TV series, Hinoto is tortured by the fact that she has dreamt that the Dragons of the Earth and the “Earth” Kamui will destroy the Dragons of Heaven and the “Heaven” Kamui, bringing the end to humanity. As Hinoto’s predictions have always been correct, Hinoto knows she cannot change it and this sadness tortures her. Kanoe has seen Hinoto’s dreams and plans to make it a reality by bringing the Dragons of Earth together and helping them in order to make her big sister suffer.<br /><br />Her ability is to enter and leave dreams like Hinoto and Kakyõ but she cannot dream about the future. However, in the film, Kanoe is a complete dreamseer, an equal to her sister Hinoto in powers and abilities.<br /><br />She works as a secretary in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building although this is not revealed in the film.<br /><br />Whilst Kanoe looks like a china doll, to be honest, Kanoe looks and is more promiscuous. In the film, she is dressed in a long robe that shows off her well-endowed chest. She wears stockings that reach up to her thighs. In the TV series, her outfit is toned to that of a business suit.<br /><br />Her behaviour reflects this as well. In the TV series and manga, she is in a sexual relationship with Yūto but she also flirts with Satsuki and Fūma. It is noticeable that even though she is in a sexual relationship with Yūto, she senses in the TV series that he is going to be late for her tea gathering and shows no emotion when Yūto dies. She is slightly more emotional when Satsuki dies.<br /><br />It is her sexual manner that could be responsible for Fūma to be with the Dragons of Earth in the film. In the TV series, Fūma has no contact with Kanoe until he becomes the other Kamui. In the film, she attempts to seduce Fūma into her way of thinking.<br /><br />Her fate differs in each format as well. In the manga and film, she dies but in the TV series, she lives. Her death varies in each format. In the film, she is killed by Fūma just before the Final Battle. As he lies dying in Hinoto’s arms, she explains her reasons for bringing the Dragons of the Earth together.<br /><br />Her death is very different in the manga (Volume 19 Chapter 3 pages 13-17). She enters Hinoto's dreams when she hears Hinoto crying for help (by this point, Dark Hinoto has taken over). Unfortunately, Kanoe discovers that her older sister is trapped in the dreamscape and becomes confused when Hinoto's dark side appears and directly confronts her. Soon afterwards, Kamui senses Kanoe's death. However, it has become a debate on who actually killed her; whether it was Hinoto, Dark Hinoto or even Fuma for he is seen holding up her body (Page 17)<br /><br />She survives in the TV series and we can imply that she survives the Final Battle between Kamui and Fuma because her last appearance in the series is in “Betrayal” (episode 22). It is here we find out her motives and her hatred for her sister. However, when Hinoto commits suicide, Kanoe cries for her sister and this is the last we see of her.<br /><br />This final scene is open to interpretation. On first glance, Kanoe looks as if she is grieving for her sister and that maybe, deep down, she did love Hinoto, despite their sibling rivalry. However, Kanoe’s goal throughout the series is to do whatever she could to make her sister suffer and she has never once shown a hint of remorse or sympathy towards her older sister. Now that Hinoto is dead and is no longer in pain, Kanoe cannot see Hinoto’s reaction to the Dragons of Earth winning so in that way, Kanoe has failed and her work has been in vain. Her role is finished for she is one of the few main characters where we do not know her destiny or fate after the Final Battle.<br /><br /><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">The voices behind the character</span></strong><br /><br />In the film, I love Takahata’s Kanoe; she is so dark and seductive and I love her chuckle when she has captured Kotori. She is less wooden than her English counterpart, Denica Fairman.<br /><br />As with most fans, I think for the most part, the English dub for the feature film is awful....not the worst but awful. Most of the voices sound wooden but I personally feel as with the Japanese dub that Fairman was the only one to come close to perfection. She captures the dark seductive tone of Kaneoe perfectly, almost to the standard of Takahata.<br /><br />When it comes to the TV series, whilst Kouda is almost the same as Takahata, Kouda does not have the seductive voice as Takahata has and her assertiveness/bitterness is more at the surface, especially when it comes to Kanoe’s confrontations with Hinoto.<br /><br />They could not have chosen someone so different from Fairman. Whilst McGlynn has the darkness and bitterness is her tone and she is less wooden than Fairman, the seductive tone is completely lost, except for a few scenes. Seriously, even though I am supposed to prefer McGlynn, when it comes to the English, I think Fairman is more perfect as Kanoe.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-19616626153701769122009-11-30T16:50:00.005+00:002010-01-28T20:32:01.457+00:00Honorary Villain: Rumi Hidaka<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/rumi.jpg" width="304" height="239" /></p><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><strong>Film:</strong> Perfect Blue (English title)<br />Pāfekuto Burū (Japanese title)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><strong>Voices:</strong> Rica Matsumoto (Japanese)<br />Wendee Lee (English)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">The character, Rumi is probably as mysterious as Me-Mania but in many ways, she is much more. Me-Mania does come across as the villain at first. After all, he is obsessed with Mima but when you come to the end, you realise that he has been used as a pawn for a much higher power and it is her who is the main villain. Of course, how many of us were shocked when we discovered that the main villain, the one posting the TRAITOR fax, killing Mima's fish, sending the bombed letter and killing the photographer and agent was Rumi? This was kinda of a let down, more to the fact that Mima is showing symptoms of DID and in the end, it is Rumi who is suffering from the disorder. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here. I'll start at the beginning. Rumi is Mima's agent but she is more than that. She communicates more with Rumi more than her own mother and in a way Rumi is a mother figure. She is against Mima's choices to be an actress, especially when she has to do a rape scene but as it is Mima's choice, Rumi is powerless and can only give advice. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">We learn that Rumi was once a pop star, just like Mima and you have to wonder if Rumi's main concern is to protect Mima and have a long-standing career, something that Rumi may have desired but never got the chance to. She could be compared to a mother who is pushing her child to live her dreams. The concern comes in as she watches Mima act out the rape scene; she cries and flees and it is at this point, we can speculate that she went to Mima's room and killed her fish. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">It could be this longing to be like Mima that the DID developed and that she thought she was Mima. Not just Mima; the <em>real</em> Mima and she sees Mima as the fake Mima out to destroy the real Mima. Of course, instead of getting her hands dirty, she gets Me-Mania to do some of the dirty work. In the climax, as we see Rumi as Mima, we see the floating Mima in real life and Rumi only in mirror reflections. This is significant for this signifies that the Mima persona of Rumi has surfaced and Rumi has been pushed into the background. It should be noted that some of the symptoms of DID include blackouts so it could be that Rumi is unaware of her Mima persona which would make her just a victim of her own mind as Me-Mania and Mima are. </span><br /><br /><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/rumi1.jpg" width="468" height="183" /><br /><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the character</strong></span></span></p><p lang="en-GB"> </p><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Wendee Lee is pretty good as Rumi. She’s really convincing as Rumi and she makes the twist so much more fun and heightens up the theory that Rumi has no idea that she has problems and is actually the one trying to hurt Mima. She gives off the impression of Rumi as a concerned mother rather than a pushy agent. And the fact that she makes Rumi sound almost robotic in the climax works in her favour for we know then that Rumi isn’t conscious of what she is doing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Rica Matsumoto is softer in her tones than Lee is. She is less abrasive and angry in her confrontations although the assertive is still there. In the final climax, she is less robotic than Lee but is more girlish almost matching Junko Iwao’s Mima perfectly.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-60079836207839648772009-11-26T17:00:00.001+00:002009-11-26T17:16:21.064+00:00Honorary Princess(es): Gunslinger Girls<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/gunslingergirl1.jpg" width="260" height="314" /></p><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><strong>TV Series:</strong> Gunslinger Girl (English title)<br />Gansuringā Gāru (Japanese title)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><strong>Gunslinger Girls</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Henrietta</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Rico</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Triela</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Angelica</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Claes </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Elsa</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Beatrice</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Petrushka (manga only)</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Silvia (manga only)</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Chiara (manga only)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">To make it clear, I know that for this entry and all for Guslinger Girl character entries, I will be basically focusing on the characters featured in the anime series, not the manga so for the entries, the list is Henrietta, Rico, Triela, Angelica, Claes, Elsa and Beatrice. The latter two are not featured in the picture above as they are minor characters in comparison to the other five. If there are any more anime series/films that feature more Gunslinger Girls as main characters, they will be included in the blog. </span><br /><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character(s)</strong></span></span></p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><em>"The girl has a mechanical body. However, she is still an adolescent child."</em></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">The title and tagline says it all about the main characters in this anime/manga. Basically, these girls are child assassins. Set in Italy, the show revolves around the Social Welfare Agency which is a charitable institution sponsored by the Italian government. The aim of the SWA is to aid the rehabilitation of the physically injured. Or, to be precise, that is what it wants the government and public to think they are doing, In reality, it is a military organisation that specialising in counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism. The Gunslinger Girls are a part of Section 2 which employs young girls as agents to assassinate terrorists, gangsters and other undesirable elements of society. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Doesn't sound realistic, does it? The truth is that it is based on a true fact of life. In some countries, South America and Mexico for example, children (especially pre-teens) are used as assassins. In truth, children are seen as perfect as assassins due to the overall perception that all children are innocent. Also, in most countries, minors are not jailed. Also, minors are very naive and can easier to control than adults are so they are more obedient overall. The perfect weapon. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">The tragedy is not just about these girls being child assassins. That is merely the tip of the iceberg. These girls started off as patients brought into the SWA for several reasons, whether it'd be assault or illness. They have suffered at least one traumatic experience in their early lives and it is this that has brought them to the SWA. Once there, they are brainwashed into forgetting their pasts and they are fitted with cybernetic implants. </span>The implants consist of synthesised muscles which result in heightened strength within the girls, improves their reflexes and give him a high resilience to physical damage and pain. As well as that, these girls are conditioned to use weapons and obey their Handlers.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Each girl is assigned to her own Handler (which, strangely enough are all male) who either have a military, police or intelligence background and therefore capable enough to provide the girl in his care with training as well as act as mentor. They are referred to as a fratello, which is Italian for "brother". Because of this authority and care, he is free to choose how to train her and how much his girl is conditioned (otherwise known as brainwashing).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">The relationship between each girl and their handlers are different and range from the indifferent to an almost romantic aspect. How each girl feels towards her handler and how he treats her is an important element of the plot. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Although all the girls do not complain about their life in the SWA (one even states her life is happier), it should never be forgotten that these girls have been brainwashed and it is hard to know whether part of this love is from the brainwashing or whether they are truly happy. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">The ultimate tragedy of this anime/manga is the outcome of these girls. They all experienced a traumatic experience before they were brought in the SWA and were turned into cyborg killers, conditioned to obey their handlers (and maybe even conditioned to love them to some degree). However, it is implied in the manga and anime that the cyborg program is a relatively new one and was only developed to use them as assassins when their first cyborg was quick in her reflexes during a fight between two older men. The SWA knows that the brainwashing process alone limits her life span and the more intense the conditioning, the shorter her life span but the cyborg process is not perfect as is shown through their first cyborg, Angelica and later through the second cyborg, Triela. Regardless of their swiftness and coldness when on the job, it is easy to forget that they are mortal and as seen in the manga and anime, does not last as long as the SWA would like. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">They are seen as Princesses because a feeling comes that anyone with a heart would want to take these girls from this life and try to let them have a normal life. Sadly, one gets a feeling that even if this did happen and the conditioning was reversed, they are doomed girls anyway. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-82457827770805443252009-11-26T12:24:00.003+00:002009-11-26T12:49:31.371+00:00Ghibli Prince: Porco Rosso<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/prsc155.jpg" width="193" height="274" /></p><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> Porco Rosso (English title)<br />Kurenai no Buta (Japanese title)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voices:</strong> Shuichiro Moriyama (Japanese)<br />Michael Keaton (English)<br />Jean Reno (French)</span></span><br /><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">If there is one thing that every true Hayao Miyazaki fan knows is that in almost of all his Ghibli films, there are two aspects: pigs and flying. In most of his films, there is flight and in a few, there are pigs (in <em>Laputa: Castle in the Sky</em>, you see pigs for a brief second and in <em>Spirited Away</em>, the main character's parents are turned into pigs). With <em>Porco Rosso</em>, you get a flying pig!!!</span> </p><p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">He is like a prince from a fairy tale. When you peel away many of the elements, you find a story that resembles <em>Beauty and the Beast</em> or <em>The Frog Prince</em>, in the sense that Porco is a man cursed to look like a pig. However, what makes this story interesting that although the origin and nature of the curse is not revealed in the film, there is a strong opinion that the curse is self-inflicting.</span> </p><p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Before he was cursed, he was Marco Pagot who was an ace pilot of the Italian Air Force during World War I. Now, in 1929, 11 years since the War ended, he works as a bounty hunter tracking down "air pirates" and he lives alone on an island. Between the Great War and 1929, he has quit the IFA due to the rise of fascism, become disillusioned with humanity and has "quitted" being a human. He seems to hate his human form for there is only one picture of him as a human that hangs on the wall of Gina's restaurant and he has crossed out his face on the picture, much to Gina's dismay. </span><br /></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" lang="en-GB"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/prsc030.jpg" width="385" height="199" /></span></span></p><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">It is not just that he looks like a pig either. He is also crude and lazy. He can be blunt and carries some sexist attitudes towards women, particularly 17 year old Fio. He cannot believe that she can be an excellent architect and he is not too comfortable about her tagging along for the ride when he tests the new place she created. In this case with his attitude and sexist ways, he is a "pig". Whether these attitudes were there before he turned into a pig or not is debatable as it is not mentioned in the film. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">However, he has got heart. His sexist attitude towards Fio, in particular changes to concern when she is crowded by air pirates and then when Donald Curtis proposes to her. Although, he has sexist attitudes, he dims them down a lot when he is talking to Gina. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Of course, every Prince has his Princess. Not this guy: he's got <em>two</em>!! Yes, Fio and Gina love him so much and yet he cannot see it. In fact, Gina has loved him for years. It is implied that she could have been the first man she fell in love with but due to unexplained actions, she ends up marrying his best friend, who later dies whilst fighting alongside Marco/Porco. In fact, as Marco flies, he sees his best friend fly up to join the flying line of deceased pilots. Marco screams that he has to take care of Gina which shows he genuinely cares for her. It could be the realisation of his friend's death that sent him down on his path to self-hatred. It could be that he suffers from post traumatic syndrome and feels guilty that he lived whilst his best friend dies which would make Gina sad. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">He also has a rival in the form of Donald Curtis. He falls in love with every girl he meets, Gina and Fio included and in a possible quest for pride and ego, he constantly attacks Porco. However, at the end, even Curtis brings Porco to realisation. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">In the end, it is these three people that bring Porco down to having faith in humanity. Gina loves him unconditionally and when Fio and Porco are alone in the island, Fio sees a glimpse of Porco/Marco and later, he hugs him. The conversation between Porco and Fio at the camp set up the "kiss the frog prince" theory and she even hugs and pecks him on the cheek. </span><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/prsc126.jpg" width="392" height="217" /></span></p><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">During the battle, Donald makes Porco realise that Gina loves him to which Porco is shocked and the final act is when Fio hugs his bruised body and kisses his cheek. It is implied that his features became changed because Donald demands a look at his face as if he is seeing things. However, this is not confirmed or whether the transformation (if any) was possible. The ending is left open if Gina and Porco eventually got together but we are left with the feeling that he did and that he overcame his self-loathing and, like all good Princes, lived happily ever after. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the character</strong></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Shuichiro Moriyama has a gravelly voice that does show bitterness which is perfect for Porco. Once you know about the character, it is so easy to understand why he was chosen. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">When it comes to the English dub, Michael Keaton is an interesting choice. He does have this dark almost gravelly voice of Porco but there is something lacking. He sounds like he's straining when all other dubs mentioned in this entry are way more natural. He can be a big too loud like he's in a theatre and trying to make the audience at the back hear him. Not the best dub ever BUT he's not the worst Ghibli dub, not by a long shot. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">There is one version that outstrips even the Japanese version. It's true that the Japanese ones are very strong when it comes to anime but there is one non-Japanese version that is considered to be the strongest of all the dubs possible for this film, or any Ghibli film. That dub is the French dub. The cast is incredibly strong throughout but there is one actor that was not only good as his character but was downright perfect. That person is Jean Reno. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Yes, Jean Reno as in <em>Leon: The Professional</em> and <em>The Da Vinci Code</em> amongst others. Anyone who has seen any of Reno's films, English or otherwise can understand that his gravely voice was perfect for this kind of role. I see Porco as a bitter and apathetic character, traits that Reno brings out beautifully in his voice, particularly in <em>Leon</em>. He is even more gravelly than Moriyama which is a strength in Reno's favour. However, he can also show the emotion needed when possible, particularly when he shows concern for Gina. I just cannot find any reasoning as to why this guy is so perfect. It's one of those "watch it to believe me" kind of scenarios. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-57862274593175761022009-11-21T19:47:00.004+00:002009-11-21T20:08:41.010+00:00Honorary Sidekick: Princess Hinoto<img style="WIDTH: 389px; HEIGHT: 261px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/Hinoto.jpg" width="474" height="346" /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><strong>Film:</strong> X (or X/1999) (English title)<br />Ekkusu (Japanese title)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><strong>Voices:</strong> Yuko Minaguchi (Japanese) (Feature film)<br />Stacey Jefferson (English) (Feature film)<br />Aya Hisakawa (Japanese) (TV series)<br />Bridget Hoffman (English) (TV series)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">* I know I have mentioned this many times in this article but I want to make my point clear: the manga is INCOMPLETE. It was put on hold due to a dispute and finishes at Volume 19 Chapter 5.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">* I know I mentioned Hinoto in the manga and I would love to put up pages from the manga to prove my point. However, Clamp have stated that fans do not upload or post images from the manga. I will respect their wishes but when I mention specific points, I will type in the volume number, chapter number and page number. There are many pages where you view/download the manga for free. Just go onto Google have have fun!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">The thing that first struck me when I first saw "X" (the film...I did not see the TV series for the first time until about 7 months later) was that Princess Hinoto reminded me of a china doll. After seeing the film and TV series, I still feel the same. She is a dreamseer who is employed by the Japanese government whose dreams have never failed to come true which makes her a perfect asset to running the government. </span><br /><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">She has long white hair and red eyes. She is blind, deaf, mute and crippled; the only way she can communicate with anyone is telepathically. She is assisted constantly by two female servants (Sōhi and Hien) as well as Seiichirō Aoki's nephew, Daisuke Saiki who is besotted by her. </span></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Her powers as a dreamseers are her biggest strength in the battle between the Dragons of Heaven and Earth as well as the advent of Kamui. However, it is also her biggest weakness and although all her dreams have always come true, some of her dreams can be vague and open to interpretation. For example, she cannot determine whether the true Kamui will become a Dragon of Heaven or a Dragon of the Earth. </span></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">In the film, there is little to know of her except she has a younger sister, Kanoe. Also, she assists the Dragons of Heaven in any way she can, even teleporting Kamui away from near death by Fuma. She later holds her drying sister in her arms and then teleports Kamui to the final battle ground before she dies. </span></p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">In the manga and anime, she is far more complex for several reasons. Because of the fact that her dreams have never been wrong, she conceals several facts from the Dragons of Heaven. This is not out of spite but purely to protect them. The first of these is revealed after Kotori is killed by Fuma. Hinoto reveals that she knew that the Kamui of Earth would kill Kotori, regardless whether Kamui (Kotori's love interest) or Fuma (Kotori's brother) would do the deed. Hinoto found that revealing this beforehand not only would have not affected Kotori's death but that it would have been too painful for Kamu to take. She only conceals the fact that she has foreseen that the Dragons of Heaven will lose the final battle. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">In the anime, episode 22 ("Betrayal") could be seen as Hinoto's crowning moment. At the start, we see Hinoto crying over what has happened and what is going to happen. She is tortured by the fact that her dreams are coming true and it does not help that she is tormented by her sister, Kanoe who is helping the Dragons of Earth purely to spite and torture Hinoto. This episode is important for we also see a side to Hinoto not mentioned in the film but appears in both the anime and manga: Dark Hinoto. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Dark Hinoto is literally her dark half, mostly played in Hinoto's own consciousness. In the episode, "Betrayal", it is revealed that it is Hinoto who is behind several attacks on Kamui by using charms called shikigami (most of them happening within the first half of the series, with the last intervention being in episode 20 ("Ripple") when she stopped Kamui and Sorata from helping Arashi and Yuzuriha from Fuma by telling them that the Dragons of Earth will appear in two different places. However, after a spell sheet is left behind, Kamui is able to figure out that there are two sides to Hinoto: one that is fragile, like air or water but the other, a sense that comes from the spell sheets, is dark, passionate and evil. In the manga, Kamui suspects her of foul play and relays this to Sorata who, in turn, confronts Hinoto (Volume 19 ,chapter 5, pages 12-14). There is no outcome to this confrontation as it is at the end of that chapter that the manga comes to a halt. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">In the manga, Dark Hinoto uses shikigami more often in particular to prevent the Dragons of Heaven from aiding each other but she has also committed acts not mentioned in the anime or film. Byt he end, she has taken Lady Arashi into her dreams, stating that when Arashi woke up, she will become a Dragon of Earth. (Volume 19 ,chapter 5, pages 6-8). When Kanoe steps into Hinoto's dream, she is killed (Volume 19 Chapter 3 pages 13-17). However, it has become a debate on who actually killed her; whether it was Hinoto, Dark Hinoto or even Fuma for he is seen holding up her body (Page 17)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">While her evil persona is controlling Hinoto's body, the good persona is trapped in the dreamscape. This is true in both the manga and anime. However, there is closure for Hinoto in both the film and anime. In the film, she dies when a building crashes on her. She is the penultimate person to die. In the anime, her good side is trapped in the dreamscape and kills herself. thus taking her own life in the waking world as well so as to end her possession and save Kamui. With her death, the protection around the Sacred Sword becomes nothing and this leads onto the Final Battle played out in the last two episodes of the series. .</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">In the manga, her dark side has taken over and her last scene is when she is confronted by Sorata about her actions, claiming she is not the Princess and demanding to know where Arashi is. Of course, as the manga was put on hold due to a dispute with the publishers, we fans can only hope what happened next and pray that the manga will be complete. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the character</strong></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">In the feature film, Yuko Minaguchi brings a softness to Hinoto and brings out a gentle vulnerability in her. There seems to be genuine sadness in her voice towards the end of the film as I personally feel they should be. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Stacey Jefferson, on the other hand is deeper and louder. She sounds more authoritative and assertive in her voice. Towards the end, with some phrases, she sounds robotic and slightly unconvincing in comparison to the better performance of Minaguchi</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">In terms of the Japanese voices that have portrayed Hinoto, Hisakawa is overall better but then again, the film does not show many sides to Hinoto. In the film, she is more straightforward whilst in the anime, she is complex which meant a diversity of ways to do the voice. She sounds more fragile compared to Minaguchi. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Bridget Hoffman is calmer than Hisakawa overall and is definitely less authoritative than Stacey Jefferson achieved. She definitely sounds more fragile and is more natural in how she says the lines. When it comes to the revelation about Kotori's destiny to die, she shows more sadness than Hisakawa but the Japanese TV Hinoto is more genuine with her words. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">For both Hoffman and Hisakawa, their strength seem to be when they portray Dark Hinoto. Hisakawa brings out a beautiful contrast between the good and bad Hinoto. It is really hard to tell that both are voiced by the same actress unless one really listens. She is dark, yet soft, almost as seductive as Kanoe in the film. And of course, who can forget the beautiful OTT performance of Dark Hinoto's last performance? The laugh....the OTT speech....need I say more? :-)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Whilst there is a difference in both characters when it comes to Hoffman, it is not as great as the Japanese version. Hoffman tries to be more Kanoe-like, laying on the seductive voice very thick. Hisakawa also does this as well but it is done without gaining any resemblance to that of Kanoe. The final moments of Dark Hinoto seem to be more OOT than that of the Japanese version but bizarrely, it works. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-62191098290794760442009-11-18T20:06:00.005+00:002009-11-18T20:17:43.521+00:00Ghibli Villain: Witch of the Waste<p align="center"><img style="WIDTH: 361px; HEIGHT: 150px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/witch.jpg" width="467" height="254" /></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> Howl’s Moving Castle (English title)<br />Hauru no Ogoku Shiro (Japanese title) </span></span></p><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voices:</strong> Lauren Bacall (English Disney dub)<br />Akihiro Miwa (Japanese)</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"></span></strong></span></span></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">The Character</span></strong></span></span></p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">There is always a major problem when bringing a book (especially a popular one) to the screen. In some adaptations, some characters remain faithful, some are tweaked but some are changed so completely on screen, they become a shadow on of what readers have known them to be. The Witch of the Waste arguably comes dangerously close into belonging into the third category. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">In the book by Diana Wynne Jones, she is the central villain and in the book, Howl is called upon by the King of Ingary to kill her. In the book, whilst her first appearance in the film is similar to her first main scene in the book, her story quickly changes and although some traits remain, she quickly changes from main villain into a character of very little importance. This also includes the change in her personality and how she is viewed. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">As mentioned before, her first scene is almost identical to that of the film. She becomes offended by the main character Sophie and turns into an old crone, stating that she can't tell anyone about the curse. Fair enough but there is a main difference: the reason as to why she cursed Sophie. In the film, it is because she found out about Howl and Sophie's encounter and becomes extremely jealous. In the book, it is far more complex. It is because the Witch mistakes Sophie for her sister, Lettie and believed Sophie had some information she needed about Howl as well as the fact that Sophie inadvertently offends by unknowingly working magic on hats.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">After this moment, the Witch changes from the book. In her next scene, after "being humiliated" by struggling to walk upstairs, she has her powers removed by Madam Suliman and instantly becomes as old as (if not older than) Sophie. After this, she becomes a character who smokes and seems to talk nonsense whilst clinging to Suliman's dog, Heen. There are some references that she fell in love with Howl and was rejected by him. This indeed happened in the book and in the book, this becomes the reason why Howl was cursed so that upon falling in love he would have to return to the Witch. In the book, what is also interested is that due to the Witch's involvement with her own fire demon is the reason why Howl and Calcifer are desperate to break theirs in the first place (a fact that is never brought up in the film as well the Witch's fire demon).</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">She becomes the reason and cause of most events in the book (such as the disappearance of Prince Justin) and is far more sadistic in her plans. It's a shame that Ghibli could not see just how much they could have done with the character because with the change of the main villain, it meant a almost complete change of the story and it sorta lacks the Wynne Jones magic. Also, considering how powerful and evil this character is meant to be, her punishment in the film seems rather light and she seems to regain redemption without doing much (well, except after taking the heart, eventually gives it to Sophie who uses it to break the contract). This last action by her is symbolic for while it is never speculated on whether the Witch still loves Howl in the book, it is very clear in the film that she does. She clings onto his heart with dear life like a child until she realises that Sophie and Howl love each other. By giving the heart to Sophie, it means she has let him go, something emphasised by the fact that minutes later, she flirted with Prince Justin. </span></span><br /><br /><p lang="en-GB" align="center"><img style="WIDTH: 363px; HEIGHT: 235px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/witch1.jpg" width="471" height="283" /></p><p lang="en-GB" align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">So it is important that for all fans of this anime film, when it comes to the book, changes of opinion of this character are expected. </span></span></p><p lang="en-GB" align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the character</strong></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">I think I'll start with Akihiro Miwa who is an interesting choice for the Japanese voice. It's a well-know fact that in some cases in anime, particularly with portraying voices of pre-adolescent boys, women tend to be used. This is the first time I have ever known for a female character in anime to be voiced by a man. Yes, in case you did not know, Akihiro Miwa is a male drag queen (his real name is Akihiro Maruyama but he goes by his stage name: Akihiro Miwa). Not only that but this is not the first time he has portrayed a female character in anime. Another notable role is that of Moro, the female wolf in </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em>Princess Mononoke</em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> (don't believe me? Google/Wikipedia it or go onto imdb.com)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">What can I say? Miwa was perfect as the Witch, both young and old. As the young Witch, there is a dark voice to the Witch and is very effeminate although you can detect a hint of masculinity in her tone. As the old Witch, Miwa is far more convincing. Maybe his voice is a little scratchy in some places but that gives off the impression that the Witch is indeed a cackling old witch and the voice is completely female. It becomes </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">really hard to believe a man is doing the voice. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Lauren Bacall was also spot-on. As the young witch, her voice is very low, posh and dark as if she is trying to mimic Miwa's performance. She makes the old Witch weaker and more empty as if to reflect her powers and beauty being drained away from her. The darkness has gone from her voice and there is more emotion to her. </span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-66786286948778421892009-11-01T21:48:00.002+00:002009-11-02T12:15:45.400+00:00Honorary Princess: Mima Kirigoe<img style="WIDTH: 409px; HEIGHT: 259px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/PB05.jpg" width="475" height="306" /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> Perfect Blue(English title)<br />Pāfekuto Burū (Japanese title)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voices:</strong> Ruby Marlowe (English)<br />Junko Iwao (Japanese)</span></span><br /><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span></span></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Mima Kirigoe is one of the most realistic characters portrayed in anime. In fact, <em>Perfect Blue</em> is realistic in the way it tackles the celebrity world. It is real because we have all seen a Mima at least once in our lifetime, where a singer will try to attempt making a success in acting and actors will try to make a success in singing. Sometimes, it is a success but most of the time, it is a failure. And of course, in the case of some celebs, they will stoop to any level for a slice of success. </span></span></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Mima is one of these celebs. At the start of <em>Perfect Blue</em>, she is the member of a J Pop and called Cham. Despite having a strong fan base, the band has never reached the charts and it could be this lack of fulfilment/satisfaction that makes her want to try her hand in the acting. </span></span></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">You would think that taking this life-changing path would mean she is a confident woman, knowing what she wants. This could not be more off the mark. She is humble, cautious and timid. In one of her scenes, we see her bubbly and confident as she sings but then seconds later, when she announces her departure from the band, one of her band members is the one who eventually starts the announcement after the fight between some yobs and Me-Mania breaks out. </span></span></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Also, whilst we see her singing on stage, we get glimpses of her in an office as her friend (and business agent), Rumi and her talent agency manager, Mr. Tadokoro discuss Mima's upcoming part in <em>Double Bind</em>. Rumi challenges Mr. Tadokoro by asking, "What about how Mima feels?" but the irony is that neither ask Mima what she wants and she sits quietly like an obedient child as two adults argue over her. Later, as criticisms mount about the lack of screen time she has, she refuses to challenge or rationalise this. </span></span></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">She lives alone and doesn't socialise when she is not working. She has no boyfriend or any love interests. She seems to prefer her own company. The film suggests that her only friendship resides in Rumi where during a scene where Rumi teaches her about the internet, it is almost a mother-daughter relationship. We see or hear nothing relating to her family or nothing about her past.. When she and her ex-band members are in the same room, it is a case of little acknowledgement. Whilst Cham celebrate their first single to enter in the charts, Mima checks any incoming mail for her. She does not socialise with her band members. </span></span></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Her most significant scene involves when her character in <em>Double Bind </em>is gang-raped. For her, this starts when Rumi challenges this change of events. This is the only time where Mima openly speaks out and ironically, we find out later (after the rape scene is filmed) that she never wanted to do it in the first place. It seems that her acceptance to do the rape was secretly reluctant and that she is willing to go with the flow of others for two reasons: </span></span><br /></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">a) to please others</span></span><br /></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">b) she believes that others know best for her</span></span><br /></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">At this moment, we see her losing her soul (as well as her sanity) especially when she poses for some provocative pictures for a magazine. At this point, she is surrendering her identity for fame which does not help by the fact that she is losing sense of the real world (as well as seeing the doppelgänger Mima). Now as I mentioned in my analysis of <em>Perfect Blue</em>, Mima could be suffering from DID.</span></span><br /></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">However, the ending suggests otherwise and it is only after encountering Me-Mania as well as the real killer in the film, she is able to set her self free. It is also ironic that all this occurs the night that <em>Double Bind</em> has finished filming. It is as if to say that Mima loses her identity and sanity whilst filming the TV series and now that has finished, she confronts the enemy and able to take back her life. </span></span><br /></p><p lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">In her ending shot, it is important to notice that her hair is noticeably longer than it was at the climax which suggests at least several months have passed. She is more confident in herself and smiles at the fact that even though her schedule is not as busy as imagined, she is happy to have her identity back. It could be even suggested that she has turned her back on the celebrity and is no happily normal. </span></span></p><p lang="en-GB"><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the character</strong></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Junko Iwao is beautifully vulnerable and girl-like , aspects one would expect for a vulnerable creature like Mima. Her screaming is also spot-on, not to OTT that is expected from most Japanese anime. Ruby Marlowe is Mima-worthy but there is the loss of girlish charm and vulnerabiliy that Junko Iwao displays beautifully (and Iwao's screaming is far more precise for someone who is running for their life) although she does it well for the doppelgänger Mima.</span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-47765736342434542742009-10-25T14:32:00.005+00:002009-10-25T14:46:09.727+00:00Ghibli Prince: Asbel<img style="WIDTH: 405px; HEIGHT: 227px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/asbel1.jpg" width="473" height="244" /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong></strong></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (English title)<br />Kaze No Tano No Naushika (Japanese title)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voices:</strong> Shia LeBouf (English)<br />Yoji Matsuda (Japanese) </span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">In this humble fan's opinion, Asbel is not the strongest Prince in the anime world. He is clearly overshadowed by Nausicaä. In fact, in his first proper scene, he has to be rescued by Nausicaä from the bottom of the Sea of Corruption. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">However, he is not weak. He is in fact a very good pilot and mechanic. He can be forgiven for having the same views as Kushana and Torumekians for, just like them, he feels it's the right thing to do. It is only when the pair reach Pejite that he finally stands up for Nausicaä's beliefs. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Action-wise, he doesn't get much of it. He doesn't necessarily move the story along. You could call him a sidekick for he seems to follow Nausicaä. Due to their similar ages, Asbel would have made a potential love interest for Nausicaä and in a typical film, there would probably be a chance for a little bit of romance. But Nausicaä is not interested in romance; she has more pressing things on her mind until the battle and hate is over. I can see that Asbel and Nausicaä getting together but for the film and manga, they are mere acquaintances which could develop into something much much more....</span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the character</strong></span></span></span></p><br /><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">I like <span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Yoji Matsuda's voice in this. He brings passion and gentleness to Asbel's voice. Although the poor guy doesn't have many lines, he does it well. Same goes for Shia LeBouf except I feel that he tries too hard. I really don't know what to say about the voice actors behind Asbel as he doesn't get much screen time. I think this is one for the audience to decide. </span></span></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-40140394873327624192009-10-22T21:03:00.005+01:002009-10-22T21:41:22.447+01:00The Reality and Delusions Behind "Perfect Blue"<span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Year:</strong> 1997<br /><strong>Director:</strong> Satoshi Kon<br /><strong>Screenplay:</strong> Sadayuki Murai<br /><strong>Based on the Novel by:</strong> Yoshikazu Takeuchi<br /><strong>Producers:</strong> Hiroaki Inoue and Masao Maruyama<br /><strong>Production Company:</strong> Mad House/Oniro </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">This entry is being written for one single purpose. I have been trying to write about Mima and Rumi for character entries but from watching the film so many times, I find that if I tried to write one of those characters on here, I will probably end up delving into psychology which is similar to what I wrote when it came to analysing Chiro and Toto. Maybe I will end up repeating myself in those entries but with all my thoughts being here, I can make little references there and not having to fill the character entries with psychology. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">The most interesting thing I have found about this film is that critics have slammed the fact that it was made as an anime; that it would have worked as a live-action film. The irony of it is that it was initially adopted to be a live-action project back in late 1993. Production was delayed during early 1994 due to the Kobe earthquake and the decision to animate the film was made. The fact that it works as anime is basically down to the production team that was tackling issues and subjects never before addressed before in the anime world. To do this, the team worked hard so that the film did not fall prey to the constraints of traditional animation. It was felt that anime had not adopted the eclectic nature of manga and was in danger of confining itself to the same characters and subject matter.</span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Perfect Blue</span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> is different from most animes and I believe it is mostly thanks to the director, Satoshi Kon. This is his directorial debut and it gave him a promising start. He would later go on to direct films like </span></span><em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Millennium Actress</span></span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> (2001), </span></span><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Tokyo Godfathers</span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> (2003) and </span></span><em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Paprika</span></span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> (2006), the latter involves delusions and reality in a similar manner to </span></span><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Perfect Blue</span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">To understand why it works as anime, I will start by giving you the plot. Perfect Blue is the story of a J-Pop singer, Mima Kirigoe. She is the lead singer with girl band </span></span><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Cham. </span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">However, despite having a loyal fan base, none of the band's singles or albums have entered the charts and possibly motivated by a lack of fulfilment, she now </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">harbours aspirations of becoming an actress. Despite what her fans think, she quits the band after being offered a part in the psychological TV programme, </span></span><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Double Bind</span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">In the entertainment, crossing over is a risky move and sadly, for Mima, it does not seem to be worth the risk for the part is a minor, her first appearance being two lines. After some persuasion from her office manager, <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Tadokoro, the screenwriter does expand her part by giving her a rape scene and making her character much darker. It is at this point that Mima's reality starts to decline and she is brought into the dark abyss of madness. And she is not the only one. The audience is too. </span></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">During the rape scene, Mima's world becomes a haze and her mind and body relaxes as she is "raped" for the camera. The filming of the rape scene is arguably one of the most disturbing moments of </span></span><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Perfect Blue</span></span></em><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></em><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">and although it is not an actual scene (it's an acted scene for the camera and nothing sexual happens), the way it is portrayed in front of us, the audience, could make it one of the most disturbing rape scenes in any film for it can be hard to forget that it is a fake scene, unlike that in </span></span></span></em><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">The Accused</span></span></em><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">. </span></span></span></em></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">It is at this point, Mima appears in a nude magazine layout to sustain her career. It does not help that after leaving Cham, her band members have started on the road to success after appearing on the charts for the first time (not at a reasonably high position but it is enough for the band members to celebrate). </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Also, she is being stalked by an obsessive and seriously disturbed fan known as Me-Mania. And to add to her problems, </span>she <span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">is disturbed to find every detail of her life is being reported as a faked diary on an Internet website. Not only that but she finds herself confronted by a floating doppelganger that taunts her with what her life could have been if she had not chosen this path. The final icing on the cake is that </span>the plot of the soap opera and the course of Mima's life start to parallel each other in the most terrifying way, making us wonder what we are seeing is real or not.</span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">The idea of reality and mental illness is not a new theme. It has been covered in many films such as </span></span><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">eXistenz</span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> and </span></span><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Secret Window</span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> but Satoshi Kon brings a fresh look on the subject. With the typical Western film, when it comes to films showing off murder and a fantastic twist on who the killer, the trick used is never show the killer up close until the final twist. For example, we may see a silhouette or the killer is masked/covered by a hood so we never see who is doing it. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Perfect Blue </span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">goes one better. We see the photographer being killed at first by an unknown person in a cap. Suddenly the cap flies off and then we see Mima doing the killing. This is the cornerstone shot for Perfect Blue and has the honour of being placed on many of the film posters as well as many of the DVD covers. </span></span></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/PB10.jpg" width="303" height="396" /></p><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Before this point in the movie, there is doubt over what is going on but we are led to believe that there is something dangerously wrong with Mima. It is even brought up in the film through </span></span><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Double Bind</span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> when dissociative identity disorder is mentioned when it comes to the TV doctor analysing Mima's character. The classic symptoms of DID are the distortion or loss of time, depersonalization, flashbacks and hallucinations, all of which are exhibited by Mima at numerous points. The appearance of these symptoms are exaggerated by the director through the heavy use of </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">jump cuts, fantastical elements such as the ghostly floating doppelganger of Mima, and by the foreshadowing or revisiting of numerous plot points through scenes filmed for </span></span><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Double Bind</span></span></em></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">It can be argued that </span></span><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Double Bind</span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> itself is a hallucination as the scenes filmed (particularly after the rape scene) seem to reflect what is going on in Mima's life at the time, in particular when she is on set filming a scene where she murders someone as part of the storyline and later when her character is being interrogated by the TV doctor. If it really a hallucination, then it could have been created by and incorporating past experiences from the dissociative personality responsible for creating and controlling the reality of the film's world. It could be then stated that the doppelganger is her real self emerging through and that the TV show is a projection of the repressed memories of an abusive childhood.</span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">It should be noted that the film follows a reasonably simple linear plot until Mima films the rape scene. After that, her fish are killed and she starts to have hallucinations and weird episodes happen around her and it can be interpreted that the following events could be created as a coping mechanism by Mima. Or it could be that Rumi could be having the mental illness and she sets out to destroy or kill off the various personalities within her identity state when one defied her control. This interpretation is reinforced by the role of Rumi within the film, wherein she acts primarily as an increasingly marginalized observer (a role characteristic of the depersonalization a dissociative patient typically exhibits) in conjunction with the amnesia, time distortion and the transposing of traumatic real events into the fictionalized narrative of </span></span><em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Double Bind</span></span></em><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> by Mima.</span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Some critics have complained that with with this beautiful confusion hanging onto the plot, the ending completely turns this idea around where the doppelganger and assassinations are mundanely revealed to be the mere machinations of one of the heroine’s friends. But is it really so simple? It can be argued that when it came to the murder scene where we think Mima is committing the crime, it is in fact the real killer believing themselves to be Mima and this works beautifully in an anime. However, in relation to DID, what we saw as the ending is Mima "killing off" the final personality that is trying to control her mind. True, the killer is incarcerated but this could be one final hallucination brought on by Mima as a way of setting herself free from all that have tried to control her. </span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-52607534596629008632009-10-22T17:37:00.013+01:002009-10-22T19:21:06.405+01:00Honorary Sidekick: Dragons of Earth/Dragons of Heaven<a href="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/dragons.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 364px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 226px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/dragons.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film/TV:</strong> X (aka X/1999) (English title)<br />Ekkusu (Japanese title)</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:small;"><strong>Dragons of the Heavens</strong><br /><br />Kamui Shirō<br />Sorata Arisugawa<br />Arashi Kishū<br />Subaru Sumeragi<br />Seiichirō Aoki<br />Karen Kasumi<br />Yuzuriha Nekoi<br />Princess Hinoto </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:small;"><strong>Dragons of the Earth</strong></span><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:small;">Fūma Monou<br />Yūto Kigai<br />Satsuki Yatōji<br />Seishirō Sakurazuka<br />Nataku<br />Kakyō Kuzuki<br />Kusanagi Shiyū<br />Kanoe</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">When writing this entry, there were different ways I could have written it. I thought I could do one whole entry involving every character. However, after reading about the TV series, I found this to be impossible as the TV series characters are far more detailed than they are made out in the film (which is what I watched first and how I got into "X" in the first place. In the end, now after watching the TV series, each character in accordance with the Dragons of Heaven/Earth will be given their own separate entry. This entry is purely to describe each faction in terms of their beliefs, their complexities and their accordance in life and relationships. This entry deals with the characters as a whole and will not be comparing the voices behind the characters. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Also, I know that technically, Kamui and Fuma are mainly hero and villain respectively and therefore should not be in the sidekick section. I also know Princess Hinoto and Kanoe are not Dragoens but rather seen as helpers. However, they played a key part in the factions and as they both have chosen a side, I believe they should be mentioned. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Characters</strong></span></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">The main belief behind each faction is every simple. The Dragons of Heaven and the Dragons of Earth are two groups consisting of seven individuals each that are fated to stand against each other on the Promised Day to determine the fate of the world and humanity. The Dragons of the Earth (that's the group in blue in the picture above) represent the belief that humanity must be destroyed so that the nature of the Earth can be reborn. The Dragons of the Heaven (that's the group in red) believe that humanity should be saved because that humans are no less precious than the Earth and that humans can learn to protect the Earth itself. The fate of the Earth and humanity rests on this: if the Dragons of the Earth win the final battle, humanity is destroyed and the Earth can go through what the characters call a "revolution". If the Dragons of the Heavens win, everything stays exactly the way it was before the final battle begins. Nothing changes. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Sounds simple and straightforward, right? If this was a typical American film/TV series, the Earth Dragons would be written in such a way that you would easily root for the Heaven Dragons because they are the ones wanting to protecting humanity. But this is anime which is known for its complexities. The characters of the Earth Dragons are written in such a way that, despite their basic overall amoral characteristics, they are also intelligent. They bring up excellent points and question the rationality of the Heaven Dragons. So even though they are destroying humanity, in a way, you find yourself believing them and (secretly) rooting for them. That's good writing!</span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">I have been trying to find an American Western format to compare this line of thinking too and I have thought of one: </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em>Air Force One</em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">. This film depicts the President (Harrison Ford) is on a journey home from Moscow when Russian hijackers reveal themselves and take over the entire plane. They want the President to ring Moscow and release an imprisoned General. The problem is that if the General is released, it could lead to slaughter in Russia. In this film, we are meant to root for the President to gain control of the plane and rescue his family. However, the head terrorist (Gary Oldman) brings home some very good points and the film brings forward the message that a killer in someone's eyes can be a hero in another's eyes and that who we are meant to be perceived as a hero could be a villain in another's eyes. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">The same can be said for the Dragons. Neither side is completely right or wrong. The Heaven Dragons believe that humans can be seen the error of their ways when it comes to preserving the Earth and maybe the Earth Dragons could have had this view too if they were not cynical and doubtful about this fact. If they were not so biased, then it could be said that both factions could in fact work together. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Neither side are hypocrites. They are following their destiny and they say what they believe. The Earth Dragons believe that the Earth can only survive if humanity was gone; it is not that they are doing it for power. In fact, at several points, an Earth Dragon mentions that the Earth is screaming in pain. On the other hand, the Heaven Dragons are being selfless and will die for the ones they love. It is possibly for this reason that that the Heaven Dragons of Heaven can create </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em>kekkai</em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> (barrier fields), an ability the Earth Dragons lack. This barrier fields are meant to preserve the battle field by placing the surroundings in another plane of reality and the effects will only show in the real world if the creator of the kekkai dies during the battle. Because the Earth Dragons wants all the buildings that human create will be gone if they win the war anyway, it doesn't matter to them what ir who is destroyed during a battle as it all helps for the Earth's revolution. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">What makes the Earth Dragons different from the Heaven Dragons is the manner that they go about it. They tend to start the fights they are in whilst the Heaven Dragons are in defence. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">On the whole, unlike the Heaven Dragons, the Earth Dragons seem to have no common rationality for their acceptance of their roles as the destroyers of humanity. One in particular openly admits that he is not too thrilled with the fact that he is an Earth Dragon. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">The Heaven Dragons are more in tune with their emotions. They show a strong bond for each other and if another Heaven Dragon is in trouble, chances are another will come to their aid, even die to protect the Heaven Dragon in trouble. The relationship factor with the Heaven Dragons is stronger for at most times during the series (manga, film and TV), the Heaven Dragons tend to be in pairs at least. With the Earth Dragons, they tend to work alone although at some points, they are seen in pairs in communication. In fact, whilst the Heaven Dragons are seen as one unit at several times, the Earth Dragons are only seen only together in the entire manga (in the film, that is not the case and in the TV series, they are seen together only once in episode 14: "The Gathering"). The Earth Dragons are encouraged by Fūma to simply go their own ways. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Also, the Earth Dragons tend to be more avoidant when it comes to socialisation and they either lack the ability or desire to form meaningful bonds with other humans, or tend to form unhealthy relationships amongst each other.</span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">I know what you're thinking, "That's it! That proves that the Earth Dragons are villains!". No! This view on them is a general outlook. The concept and actions behind the Dragons are not as black and white as that. I'll tell you why:</span></span> </p><ul><li><div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">There are at least two romantic relationships between both Dragons. One Heaven Dragon falls in love with an Earth Dragon who in turns risks his/her life to protect them. The other is far more complex and when one of the Dragon halls to kill their love, it sends them into catatonia.</span></span></div></li><li><div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">There is switching an betrayal on both sides. At least one Heaven Dragon joins the Earth Dragons. One Earth Dragon (who can be considered to be the least violent) actually helps the Heaven Dragons through dreams. One Earth Dragon will risk his life to protect a Heaven Dragon.</span></span></div></li><li><div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">One Earth Dragon is "civil" to the Heaven Dragons when not in battle. In fact, in battle, if something intervenes with the fighting, he will be happy to call the battle a "draw" although this could be more for his own safety. In fact, in one episode, he interacts with one Heaven Dragon, even praising their powers, although whether this is patronising or not is another matter.</span></span></div></li><li><div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">One Heaven Dragon has more interaction with the Earth Dragons than any other. He actually agrees with them on points when it comes to their beliefs.</span></span></div></li><li><div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">One Earth Dragon actually wants to believe in humanity. </span></span></div></li></ul><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">(Sorry but I'm not naming anyone. I don't want to spoil it completely for you lol)</span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Both Dragon factions are surperb characters and sidekicks. They are what make "X" so powerful and something every true anime fan should watch (although I would advise any new "X" fan not to watch the film first). </span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-59370311108164308582009-09-29T21:17:00.003+01:002009-09-29T21:35:51.397+01:00Ghibli Villain: The Cat King<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 342px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 176px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/CatsReturn_036.jpg" /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> The Cat Returns (English title)<br />Neko no Ongaeshi (Japanese title)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voices:</strong> Tim Curry (English Disney dub)<br />Tetsurō Tamba (Japanese)</span></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">When it comes to this character, I have often wondered if he can be truly be considered as a villain. He is crazy but his motives seem to be justified when it comes to the Ghibli Princess, Haru. However, my justifications in calling The Cat King a villain comes from </span></span></span><span style="color:#000080;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><a href="http://www.dbmagazine.com.au/361/dv-TheCatReturns.shtml"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">here</span></span></span></a></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">. The Ghibli studio (and in many cases, most anime studios) sets itself apart from Western animation studios, such as Disney and Pixar in how they portray the 'bad guys'. Without the exception of a certain few (such as Mushka from </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Laputa</span></em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">), anime villains cannot be seen as pure evil and heartless. In most of the Ghibli films, the villains are those who produce obstacle for the protagonist or disrupt their lives in a bad way. With </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Princess Mononoke</span></em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">, if it had not been for Lady Eboshi's greed, Prince Ashitaka would not have been cursed and the war between humans and beasts would not have become an issue in the film. However, she is destroying the forest in the place to provide a home and work for the people that civilisation rejects, such as lepers. </span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">So it can be justified that from this point of view, the Cat King is the bad guy in </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The Cat Returns</span></em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">. The film is bizarre all the way through but he is the character that brings the surreality. The other characters seem to be straight. They have their complexities but they can be worked out pretty quickly. I wish I could say the same for the Cat King. When I first saw this film, I immediately thought of the film Labyrinth and there are similarities between these two films. Like Toby in </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Labyrinth</span></em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">, Haru must return to her own world before a specific time for she will be a cat forever. She is forced away to this beautifully bizarre world. And both films involve a very deceptive labyrinth which leads to a location in which the main character can go back home. </span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">And in my eyes, the Cat King has a lot of qualities of Jareth (played by David Bowie in </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Labyrinth</span></em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">). The king's fur resembles the wildness of Jareth's hair but the interesting thing is their relationship with the main character. It has been analysed and debated on what Jareth wants from Sarah in </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Labyrinth</span></em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> and the same can be said about what the Cat King wants from Haru in </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The Cat Returns</span></em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">. In the end, they both wants the main female character for themselves; for Sarah, Jareth wanted her as his own all along. On the other hand, Haru is kidnapped purely because he wants her to marry Prince Lune and everything he does after that is to keep her happy and show gratitude for saving his son in the first place. It is only when she asserts herself that she does want Prince Lune (and the Prince says he has fallen for palace servant, Yuki) that the King offers himself to Haru. This could lead back to his first lines in the film when he calls Haru 'babe'. It could be interpreted that the Cat King secretly wanted Haru for herself but maybe he could not marry her so the closest he could be to her was for her to be his daughter-in-law. </span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /> </div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 459px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 228px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/catking.jpg" /> <span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The Cat King seems to have a dual personality. When he thinks things are going smoothly, he is calm. However, when something upsets the balance, such as Haru being unhappy at the ball, the Baron coming to get her and the King's plan to get her back are thwarted, he becomes almost insane. His actions become clearly over-the-top which adds to the overall bizarre feel of the film. This can be said for his motives in keeping Haru in the Cat Kingdom. However, to be fair, there is only one act he does that could put her life in danger; when he instructs for the tower to be blown up, bring it lower and thereby changing the top of the tower into Haru's world. When he tells this to the Baron, he laughs manically.</span></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/catking1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 440px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 101px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/catking1.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">However, unlike many villains, he does admit defeat in the end. When he is humiliated by the Baron in the short sword fight and Haru finally gets back to her world, he contemplates retiring from the throne, leaving Prince Line to rule. </span></span></span><br /><div><br /><a href="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/CatsReturn_151.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 315px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 162px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/CatsReturn_151.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">He is definitely not the most evil person in the Ghibli world but overall, he is definitely the craziest. </span></span></span><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong></strong></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong></strong></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the character</strong></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"></span></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">When I say that I see the Cat king as crazy, I think this is more to do with Tim Curry's voice. There is a slightly over-the-top tone whilst Tetsurō Tamba seems to be genuinely emotional and seems to think he is doing right. Tim Curry's Cat King sounds and acts like he needs to be in a straitjacket asap. </span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-92049276158762182312009-09-28T22:23:00.005+01:002009-09-28T22:46:59.956+01:00Ghibli Princess: Sheeta<a href="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/laputa_castle_in_the_sky_img28.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 226px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/laputa_castle_in_the_sky_img28.jpg" /></a><br /><div><strong>Film:</strong> Laputa: Castle in the Sky (English title)<br />Tenku-no Shiro Rapyuta (Japanese title)<br /><br /><strong>Voices:</strong> Anna Paquin (English Disney dub)<br />Lara Cody (Streamline English dub)<br />Yokozawa Keiko (Japanese)<br /><br /><br /><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span><br /><br />This may sound like a bizarre thing to say but when it comes to think about this character and writing down points about her, I found it really hard to express myself. In the end, I realised that one of the reasons is the way she is shown in the film. I have seen most of the Ghibli films out there (except for <em>Ocean Waves</em> and <em>My Neighbours the Yamadas</em>) and I think that in all the Ghibli films, the story is not centered on a particular person. There is always one or two main characters but they do not become the focus of the attention all the time. With <em>Nausicaä </em>of the Valley of the Wind, although the title character is the main character, she is not the main focus. There is a story going on around her and how she saves the day. With <em>Princess Mononoke</em>, the focus is not completely on San or the main Prince, Ashitaka. It’s about a war between Gods, beasts, demons and humans. San and Ashitaka have a hand in bringing things to a norm. But like Nausicaä, the film is not completely fixated on the title character and getting deep in her. Not everyone is chasing after her.<br /><br />And yet, in <em>Laputa: Castle in the Sky</em>, it seems like every faction is after Sheeta. In the beginning, there is the Army and Mushka and then it’s Dola’s pirate gang. Then Pazu becomes fixated on her. Through the film until the battle at the castle, it seems like the focus is completely on this one character rather than a journey. To me, it has a Mary-Sue aroma around her.<br /><br />Also, Sheeta has an inner complexity. Okay, most of the Ghibli characters has a complexity but nothing on Sheeta’s level. It seems like everyone in a Ghibli film has a purpose or a category to fall into. Not Sheeta. She doesn’t fall into one particular category.<br /><br />Please let me assure readers I do not say this as a bad thing but let me explain. Sheeta is brave. She has got guts!! In the beginning, she whacks Mushka on the head and then to get away from Dola, gets out of the window and proceeds to walk along a narrow ledge on the ship to escape, regardless of the danger factor. And despite falling, later she will risk her life again climbing up a ship to get to Pazu, knowing she could slip and fall to the ground again.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/sheeta2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 429px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 107px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/sheeta2.jpg" /></a><br />Despite that, she is not totally brave. She is kidnapped three times by Mushka (although technically the third time, she charges at Mushka to stop him from shooting Pazu). To be fair, she is only rescued once. The crystal saves her the first time when she falls and Dola saves her the second time. She saves herself the third time by putting her own life on the line by saying the final spell.<br /><br />She also seems to wear her emotions on the sleeves and seems more succumbed to them more than other Ghibli Princesses. Despite not knowing him very long, she develops a bond with the lead, Pazu and would only give into Mushka’s demands when Pazu’s life is put in danger. I believe this could be that her only family was dead before the film starts. It is unknown how long she has been living in the mountains alone but it could have been long enough for her to understand loneliness and that she craved any sort of companionship.<br /><br />Despite being seen as ‘weak’ for most of the film, she is anything but. One of my favourite moments is when she is put on kitchen duty on the pirate ship. After getting over the initial shock over the mess in the kitchen, she determinedly rolls up her sleeves to get to work and she does it in style.<br /><br /><a href="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/sheeta3.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 435px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 108px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/sheeta3.jpg" /></a><br />Later, during the storm, she insists on being with Pazu in the kite, despite what Dola says and shows her quickness and smarts by calling Dola on the phone before Dola has even finished talking. In the words of Louise, “She is good.”<br /><br />Like Nausicaä, she seems to be in touch with nature, most likely due to her upbringing in the mountains. This possibly explains her speech with Mushka when she is in the throne room. She understands Laputa more than Mushka ever could, especially why the city was left abandoned in the sky.<br /><br />The throne room scene shows another significance in Sheeta’s development in the film. There are three stages to Sheeta when she encounters Mushka. In the first on the ship, she is a mute and eventually attacks him from behind. The second time shows him bowing to him in the room of the robot purely to save Pazu. The third is in the throne room where she stands her ground, stating he will never get the crystal and that they both die together. Shortly afterwards, Mushka shoots off her pigtails as if to scare her but there is some symbolism to this new “haircut”. Pigtails are associated with little girls and now they are cut off, it represents her journey into young womanhood and maturity.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/sheeta1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 433px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 125px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/sheeta1.jpg" /></a> </div><div><br /><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the character</strong></span><br /><br />I think what makes it hard to express Sheeta is the voices that portray her and I mean all three of them!!! To be fair, Laputa is one of the most hotly debated dubs in terms of the English dub but I think when it comes to Sheeta, with all three dubs, she is probably the reason, along with Pazu on why the English dub is weak.<br /><br />However, all three dubs are weak when it comes to Sheeta. Yokozawa Keiko is pretty realistic when it comes to portraying Sheeta as a child except, like the Japanese dub, she is guilty of screaming a lot, particularly in the throne room but I will talk about that scene on its own. Cody tries to copy Keiko but instead, all we get is a whiny high pitched robot. Out fo the three dubs, she is by far the worst.<br /><br />Now, for Anna Paquin, I can honestly see why some fans would be against her. I think when it came to Pazu and Sheeta, actors were chosen deliberately so they sounded more like in their mid teens rather than their mid-teens and in a way, some of the characters’ innocence is lost in that. Lets face it, pigtails are not that convincing on a teenager. However, this symbolism could actually be in her favour for that, despite her teenage years and her bravery and maturity, the pigtails still show that she is still a vulnerable child and the departure shows she has finally grown up.<br /><br />Despite her maturity, Paquin brings a sweetness to Sheeta. However, she seems to switch accents, particularly to an over-the-top stereotypical British accent. However, she also shows vulnerability for the character as well as a strong head on her shoulders (and to be honest, she did a better job in that film than she did in Steamboy, a film I personally stopped watching after 30 minutes and have never gotten back to it because it is so atrocious).<br /><br />In my opinion, for all three, their crowning glory is the the throne room scene. Even though Lara Cody’s dub is the worst, this is her best moment, as well as Keiko and Paquin. However, Keiko and Paquin spoil the moment when Pazu enters. Keiko’s screaming at him to leave and Paquin doesn’t sound convincing enough to be desperate. Despite that, they rule over Cody anytime!</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-83300322682220099042009-09-24T22:40:00.007+01:002009-09-25T17:53:21.920+01:00Ghibli Prince: Howl<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong><img style="WIDTH: 406px; HEIGHT: 157px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/howlfinal.jpg" width="478" height="201" /></strong></span></span> <p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> Howl's Moving Castle (English title)<br />Hauru no Ogoku Shiro (Japanese title)</span></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voices:</strong> Christian Bale (English)<br />Takuya Kimura (Japanese)</span></span> </p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span></span><br /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Yes! Yes! I bet to many female anime/Studio Ghibli fans, Howl is the perfect Ghibli Prince. And rightly so too. First of all, he is handsome. There is a debate over whether he looks better as a blonde or as a raven head but he is gorgeous no matter what. Although if I have to chose, I would have to choose him with black hair. That is purely because after shedding the blonde hair through an accident by Sophie, he does mature. Through a flashback to his childhood, we lean that he was born with black hair. From my knowledge, I think he is the only one of two Ghibli Princes to show some skin. The other is Ashitaka who can seem baring his bare chest. Of course, Howl goes one better by running around just wearing a towel (ooo er!) </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Yes, in terms of looks, he is desirable (I still have to find a gal fan who is not attracted to Howl) and at the start of the film, he shows affection to Sophie. I mean, he protects her when she feels threatened by two soldiers and then later, to escape from some of the Witch of the Waste's minions, he takes her up in the air and they literally walk on the air before he gently places on the balcony of Cesari's. Sigh. What a guy.</span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Yeah. At first. That is until the small hair incident. We learn then that he is a spoilt brat. Despite being an adult and magical wizard, he throws a tantrum and then literally turns into goo after moaning that he cannot see a reason to live if he cannot be beautiful. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">However, after that incident, besides showing a wee bit of cowardice until near the end, he does mature slightly. As times goes on, he does showing that he cares for Sophie and even calls her beautiful. Now in the book, he learns on his own that she has been put under the spell. Whether he knows this in the film is questionable. Despite that, he shows a bond with Sophie and in the final moments before he flees to help in the war, he tells Sophie that he is willing to die for her. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">There is another important relationship in terms of Howl: Caclifer. The two are co-dependent on each other and despite that, Howl still commands his little fire demon around as if he was the superior. Of course, Calcifer obeys. And it is obvious that Howl shows some caring and dependence on Calcifer for after Sophie accidentally pours water on Calcifer, he keeps the fire alive and warns Sophie about that. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Of course, in the final twist, we learn just how dependent and important their relationship is. It also explains why Howl has a lot of childish tendencies. Ironically though, at the end of the film, there is a kinda Wizard of Oz feeling that he never need his heart in the first place for he learned to feel and love Sophie, regardless whether she was young or old. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the characters</strong></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">OMG! OMG! Usually I can honestly say which version I prefer but in this case, it is difficult for me to say which one is best. No, not because they are phenomenally bad but because they are both so brilliant!!! According to some trivia, after seeing </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Spirited Away</span></em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">, Christian Bale immediately agreed to play any role in this film. I find this really that he would have taken any role just to be part of the Miyazaki and Ghibli magic. </span></span></span></span><br /><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">I have little knowledge about Japanese actors so I cannot decipher whether </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Kimura was the best choice for Howl. As for Christian Bale in the English dub, I do not think anyone could do it as well as him. He is by far the best in the English dub, <a href="http://animecharactersreviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/ghibli-sidekick-calcifer.html">along with Billy Crystal as Calcifer</a>. The rest of the case is mediocre compared to these two. Christian Bale gives Howl a husky, seductive voice in his first scene. When he says "There you are, sweetheart", I literally melted, dissolving into a puddle when he says later on, "That's my girl." His tantrum is so funny and wonderfully whiny, perfect for a character that is still a child at heart. </span></span></span></span><br /><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Now before I get the purists bashing at me for my comment on Takuya Kimura, when I say that I cannot decipher whether Kimura was the best choice for Howl, I am not saying he was not perfect for the part. I just cannot compare him to other potential choices in the same way I can for Christian Bale. I must point out that I thought Kimura was beautiful as Howl. I admit I saw the English version first so I imagined Howl to have a soft, somewhat seductive voice and Kimura had me in his clutches. When, in his first way, he says "This way" in Japanese, I was giggling like a school girl and the rest of his lines for that scene up to "That's my girl" were beautiful and in some sense, said better than Christian Bale. </span></span></span></span><br /><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">However, to be fair, I think Bale was better at the big tantrum scene. Kimura was too calm and smooth whilst Bale really let rip which made it more convincing. </span></span></span></span><br /><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Either way, both were perfectly chosen and I urge people who have just seen the English dub to go and see the Japanese version even it's just to hear Takuya Kimura. </span></span></span></span><br /><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">N</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">ow I'm going to go and wipe of the drool I made from writing this entry</span></span></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-47772804035475779692009-09-23T20:30:00.005+01:002009-09-25T17:52:59.507+01:00Honorary Sidekicks: Chiro and Toto<p align="center"><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/sidekick9.jpg" width="345" height="270" /></p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> Little Norse Prince (English)<br />Taiyō no Ōji: Horusu no Daibōken (Japanese)<br />*English titles vary on the edition </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voices:</strong> Noriko Ohara (Japanese) (Chiro)<br />Hisashi Yokomori (Japanese) (Toto)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Some sources say that Chiro is a female and some say the character is a male. I'm not too sure because even though Chiro was voiced by a female, the character could be male for in some anime, some male characters are voiced by women. However, for the purpose of this entry, as Toto can be confirmed as a male, I will address Chiro as a female. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">I knew that as soon as I wrote about Hilda the other day that my next Sidekick entry would be about her sidekicks, Chiro and Toto. The interesting thing about sidekicks of the hero/heroine is that they may not always get on but they have the same goal and purpose and in the end, they will come together and help the hero/heroine. Chiro and Toto could not be any different from each other and unlike most sidekicks, they want Hilda to take down a different path. </span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The irony is that if <a href="http://ghiblicon.blogspot.com/2007/03/takahatas-objective-style-part-vii.html">this essay</a> is correct, Toei Doga (aka Toei Animation) wanted the latest in a long line of family-friendly animated cartoons influenced, of course by the growing Disney animation trend and insisted that several cartoon characters were put in the film to appeal to the younger audience. Isao Takahata and his team possibly didn't want that so to be sneaky, they brought in what Toei Animation wanted: cutesy characters. Of course, it is obvious that the studio didn't ask for specifics because they made Chiro and Toto (especially Toto) much more than what is expected if you're trying to create a Disney-style animation. </span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">I originally thought I could analyse Chiro and Toto separately but since then, I have realised that is not possible. When it comes down to it, they cannot exist as separate entities. They seem to have only goal in the film: to influence Hilda any way possible into following their way of thinking. When I see these two, I immediately think of the old cliched angel/demon on shoulder idea used in cartoons. This has been used on Pluto, Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin (from <span style="font-size:small;"><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Family Guy</span></em></span><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">) and even as recent as Kronk from </span></span><span style="font-size:small;"><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The Emperor's New Groove</span></em></span><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">). The angel/demon idea seems to pop up in cartoon when the character in question suffers a moral dilemma. </span></span></span></span></span><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><img style="WIDTH: 385px; HEIGHT: 96px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/sidekickfinal6.jpg" width="470" height="134" /><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">In the case of Hilda, Chiro is her angel. This cute little squirrel could not be any sweeter. She is very timid and represents everything that is good about Hilda. With Hilda going at a crossroad and having a huge conflict, you could say that Hilda's good side is manifested in Chiro and this is possibly what Hilda would be like if she destroyed Toto. However, I find it ironic that since Chiro wants Hilda to do what is right, she does not find her voice to others, such as Hols. In this sense, it can be said that Chiro has no personality except when conversing with Hilda. In fact, she doesn't talk to anyone except Hilda. </span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Also, I find it interesting that in the main conflict with Hols and Hilda, Toto runs his mouth telling Hols who Hilda is and attacking Hols when Hols tries to persuade Hilda to turn to good. Chiro doesn't say anything. We don't even </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">see</span></em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> her until the deed is done and then she shows off her emotions. The thing is before the deed, it could be said that Hilda has become succumbed (if only temporarily) by her dark side and Chiro was temporarily banished from Hilda psychologically. In my opinion, Chiro reappears again moments later because Hilda feels sad, remorseful and guilty which could reflect the good side of Hilda. </span></span></span><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><img style="WIDTH: 317px; HEIGHT: 174px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/sidekick27.jpg" width="464" height="247" /><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">On the other hand, Toto is Hilda's devil. He is arrogant, assertive menacing and a bully. Whenever someone tries to go against Hilda's evil side and try to bring her to the light (ie Chiro and Hols), Toto attacks him. In terms of Hols, he attacks the boy whilst in flight and with Chiro, he chases her and torments her (although what really happens is never shown on-screen). </span></span></span><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><img style="WIDTH: 333px; HEIGHT: 150px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/sidekick23.jpg" width="460" height="207" /><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Toto's involvement in the film is actually slightly more complex than Chiro. When it comes to Chiro, she is only seen when Hilda has a conflict. Toto has more lines and more screen time than Chiro. During an attack before Hols flees, Toto attacks Coro the bear to which Coro fight backs which indicates that they see each other. When Hilda is singing to the villagers, Toto stands next to Drago and makes a menacing line. Whether Drago hears this or not is questionable.</span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" align="center"><img style="WIDTH: 321px; HEIGHT: 160px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/sidekick10.jpg" width="471" height="203" /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">This is further questioned in two more scenes. Toto has a conversation with Grunwald in the underworld where we the viewer finds out that Hilda is Grunwald's sister. This means that Grunwald can see him but then this could be due to his magical abilities and demonic personality. The only other person that Toto addresses directly to is Hols. However, he is by Hilda's side at the time so maybe if he is around either Grunwald or Hilda, Chiro and Toto could become fully manifested in front of humans. </span></span></span><br /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The <a href="http://ghiblicon.blogspot.com/2007/03/takahatas-objective-style-part-vii.html">same site</a> I stated above also makes the assumption that Chiro is Hilda's Id and Toto is her Superego. In case you are not up on your psychology, then basically your brain has three levels: the Id, the Ego and the Superego. The Id is what your inner desires are. When you are born, your brain is consumed by your Id because that is all you know. Your Superego is a completely different. It strives to act in a socially appropriate manner. The Super-ego controls your sense of right and wrong and guilt. It helps you fit into society by getting you to act in socially acceptable ways. Basically, your Superego commands what you want. Your Id tells you what you want. You cannot escape your Id and the sneakiest it comes through when you're older is in your dreams. </span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">I can believe the case the site in question argues, in particular, the argument I put forward that </span></span></span><span style="color:#000080;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><a href="http://animecharactersreviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/honorary-princess-hilda.html"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Hilda is not in fact a demon but a human taken in by Grunwald after her village was destroyed</span></span></span></a></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">. I basically said that Hilda could have been given the choice to join Grunwald or die in a similar manner than Grunwald does to Hols in their first scene together. It could be said that when she chose to become his sister, Toto could have been created by Grunwald to push her and to make sure that she does do what Grunwald asks of her. Of course, that doesn't explain the origin of Chiro for she does not appear in any scenes with Grunwald. Maybe Chiro became manifested after Toto was brought in to influence Hilda to come back to the light and become human once more. </span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">It's weird that when Toei Daga asked the team to bring in more fluffy characters, the team probably didn't expect that these two characters would become two of the best sidekicks in animation (ever!) and would enhance the pyschology of one of the best female characters in animation. All I can say is respect for Takahata!!!!!</span></span></span> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the characters</strong></span></span></span> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">The actors Noriko Ohara (Chiro) and Hisashi Yokomori (Toto) were chosen perfectly. Yokomori's voice gives off the menacing, evil and dark tones that is demanded of Toto. Ohara is sweet but not sugary Disney-style sweet. She makes Chiro sound so cute and adorable that you cannot help but love the character. These two actors give the characters a lot of eprsoanlity to them, in spite of the fact that the characters are not meant to have much personality. Brilliant!!!!</span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-91825899196365789522009-09-22T20:21:00.006+01:002009-09-25T17:38:44.482+01:00Honorary Villain: Me-Mania<p align="center"><a href="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/me-mania.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 370px; HEIGHT: 230px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/me-mania.jpg" width="471" height="298" /></a></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> Perfect Blue (English)<br />Pāfekuto Burū (Japanese)</span></span> </p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voices:</strong> Bob Marx (English)<br />Masaaki Ōkura (Japanese)</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong></strong></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">The weird thing about this character is he is the character that we the viewer can rely on to be what he is. I'm telling you, </span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><em>Perfect Blue </em></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">is literally the most complex anime I have ever seen. What starts off as a simple thriller delves into a psychological nightmare, mainly thanks to the director's heavy of jump cuts, fantastical elements and the foreshadow or revisiting of numerous plot points. In fact, this is my favourite non-Ghibli anime and I have seen it so many times I know it off by heart. And yet, I still get confused and the two main characters, Mima and Rumi are so unpredictable because due to the heavy them</span>e of Dissociative Identity Disorder, it is hard to tell who is doing what when it comes to them two.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"></span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">In comparison, Me-Mania is a pretty straightforward character and somewhat typical. Basically, he is a stalker. Not just any stalker; he is a hardcore fan of Mima (the main protagonist and singer of the J-Pop band <em>Cham</em>). He is the typical stalker. When he is not watching her at places where she is filming <em>Double Bind</em> or filming/attending <em>Cham</em> gigs, following her whenever she is going out, he is at his computer, looking at the website, "Mima's Room" which he believes was created by the real Mima. </span></span><br /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">His first shot shows him not to be necessarily a bad guy. From the start at Mima's final gig with <em>Cham</em>, he is watching intently and when some delinquents disturb the show, he gets in there and takes a small beating simply because they disturbed Mima's performance. And despite gaining a bloody nose from the experience, he smiles at Mima, perhaps in an attempt to gain her attention. This shows him to be a loving if slightly obsessive fan but not dangerous. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB" align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><img style="WIDTH: 393px; HEIGHT: 86px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/me-maniafinal.jpg" width="482" height="126" /></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB" align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><img style="WIDTH: 397px; HEIGHT: 94px" class="alignnone" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/me-maniafinal1.jpg" width="479" height="121" /></span></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">This is how we see him through the most of the film, just a simple obsessive fan. In the film, we do see him and the way that he lives. His floor is cluttered with numerous magazines featuring Mima and he has pictures of her all over his wall, especially pictures of her posing nude. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB" align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><img style="WIDTH: 389px; HEIGHT: 111px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/me-maniafinal2.jpg" width="487" height="129" /></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">This scene is very significant as we learn just how delusional, naive and how easily he can be manipulated. He receives emails from who he believes is from Mima, stating that the Mima who is now a TV star is not the real Mima but rather an imposter and should be rid of. The fact that Me-Mania vows to protect Mima by getting rid of who he is led to believe is the "imposter" Mima (who is in fact the real Mima) shows that he has a caring side and is being manipulated. In that respect, you got to feel sorry for him. However, the fact that he imagines Mima beside him, even hugging him shows just how delusional he is. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB" align="center"><img style="WIDTH: 393px; HEIGHT: 135px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/me-maniafinal3.jpg" width="478" height="131" /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Of course, we do not know how far he goes to protect his Mima until his final scene where he attacks the real Mima (on the same set where she filmed her rape for <em>Double Bind</em>). It is therefore ironic that while he tries to kill her, he also tries to rape her. This is significant for him for this is the only scene where we actually hear him speak. He confesses to killing the screewriter and photographer who he was led to believe tarnished Mima's good name and he is about to kill the real Mima believing her to be the fake Mima who tarnished Mima's good clean image. It is here we learn that he has been a scapegoat for a higher power as it were and he was willing to go along with it for the love of Mima. Sadly it is his devotion that would lead to his downfall. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">The voice behind the character</span></strong></span></span><br /></p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"></span></span></span></span><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">I'm sorry but Masaaki Ōkura is way more superior to the role than Bob Marx. Ōkura sounds determined as if he knows what he's doing which adds to his delusional state. He sounds as if he is angry with Mima in his final scene. Marx sounds like he is not taking the role seriously. He is exaggerating his crazy tone to make Me-Mania sounds like more like a crazy cartoon character and you really cannot take him seriously. The scary thing about Me-Mania is that he truly believes everything he is told and like he believes that the real Mima is an imposter. That's all I can say: Ōkura rocks!!! As for Bob Marx, he could have done better. With the way he makes Me-Mania, why didn't they just get Bobcat Goldwaithe to play him?</span></span></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-31114403186207815922009-09-21T21:30:00.004+01:002009-09-25T15:53:31.268+01:00Honorary Princess: Hilda<p align="center"><img style="WIDTH: 409px; HEIGHT: 217px" class="alignnone" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/princess2.jpg" width="467" height="253" /></p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> Little Norse Prince (English)<br />Taiyō no Ōji: Horusu no Daibōken (Japanese)<br />*English titles vary on the edition</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voice:</strong> Etsuko Ichihara (Japanese)<br />*no official English dub as of September 2009</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Ah yes an early pre-Ghibli Princess created by the Ghibli people and you can tell. She is the original Miyazaki heroine and the blueprint for Miyazaki's future female characters. She is argued to be one of the most complex female characters in animation. There is so much to say about her because she has a strong good side and a strong evil side. Hilda is technically a psychology dream. Hell, she's got her own angel and demon who represent her good and evil side fighting as she comes to find herself and where she truly belongs. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">When we first see her, she looks angelic, apparently an orphan from a village destroyed by a monster . She has two companions: Toto and Chiro. She plays the harp and sings beautifully. Hols immediately feels for her because she seems to be as lonely as him and she is welcomed into the village. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Sounds simple enough? Wrong! It all changes when we the viewer learns that Hilda is in fact the sister of the main villain, Grunwald. As time goes on, we learn that the monster destroying man villages could be Hilda. We learn that this could be the case. When she sings and plays the harp, the men stop work and listen to her. She is like a Siren and it is through her that mistrust is brought onto the villagers which, if not stopped, would lead to Hols' demise and eventually the destruction of the village. We see her as evil after that and we know she is a the sister of a demon and therefore a demon herself. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">That is until the scene with Hilda and Mauni in the meadow. This is an important scene in terms of Hilda's character development for we learn a little more about her. We also see Toto and Chiro in what their purpose in the film is. Despite planning to destroy the village, she aims to spare little Mauni which shows that there is love in her heart. Chiro and Toto fight to put their point of view across which leads to frustration. One line intrigued me which is said after Mauni lies on her lap and asks her to sing:</span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em>"I can't really sing."</em></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Despite later Hilda saying that she's "a devil, a devil's sister", there is some points to wonder what does she mean by sister. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">The first clue comes in the taglines that surround Hilda's character in the official film trailer: </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em>"Am I demon...or a human being?....beautiful young Hilda's love is awakened"</em></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">After seeing this trailer on the DVD, I thought back to the part of the movie to when Hols first meets Grunwald and as Grunwald holds onto the rope that Hols is climbing, he says:</span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em>"I've heard you are a promising boy and I want you to be my little brother....... Your life is in my hands. Just as the whole world is. Can you resist me? Nobody can resist me."</em></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">It makes me wonder if Hilda is Grunwald's sister biologically or is she address as his sister symbolically? I wonder if Hilda was really human until her village was destroyed and as the sole survivor of the massacre, she was given a choice to join him or die and she chooses the former. A clue is the Medal life given to her by Grunwald to give her immortality. If she was an immortal demon, she would not need this. Also, she could have been given her musical talents by Grunwald in a way to make sure the humans turn against each other. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Or it could be she is the biological sister, born by a human. Maybe Grunwald was once a human and became warped whilst she stays pure. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">She is just as manipulated by Grunwald and Toto as much as she manipulates the villagers. I feel that Hilda is deep down vulnerable but she cannot be saved by Chiro or Hols. In the end, she has to save herself. </span></span></p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong></strong></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voice behind the character</strong></span></span></span><br /><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">If it is <span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Etsuko Ichihara singing, then she was perfect. It brings the viewer in like the villagers with her Siren-like singing voice and she makes Hilda sound girly, especially with that beautiful giggle. Sheer perfection. </span></span></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-53734634383022007592009-09-20T19:16:00.006+01:002009-09-25T15:50:34.997+01:00Ghibli Prince: Baron Humbert von Gikkingen<p align="center"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 249px" class="alignnone" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/cat_returns_8.jpg" width="466" height="274" /></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> Whisper of the Heart (English title)<br />Mimi wo Sumaseba (Japanese title)<br />The Cat Returns (English title)<br />Neko no Ongaeshi (Japanese title)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voice:</strong> Cary Elwes (English dub)<br />Shigeru Tsuyuguchi (Japanese) (Whisper of the Heart)<br />Yoshihiko Hakamada (Japanese) (The Cat Returns)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">The initial plan was to do Howl for my first official Ghibli Prince entry (with Hols being an Honorary Prince) but then again, that was when I had planned the Dragons of the Heavens/Dragons of the Earth to be my first Sidekick entry so I decided to do the Baron so two characters from the same film would not appear in two consecutive entries. </span></span><br /><br /></p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong></strong></span></span></span><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong></strong></span></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (otherwise known and will be known from now on in this entry as The Baron) is an unique character because he is only one of two characters to appear in more than one Ghibli film (the other character is Moon/Muta who, like the Baron also appears in </span><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Whisper of the Heart</span></em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> and </span></span><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The Cat Returns</span></em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">). </span></span></span></span><br /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The weird thing about the Baron is that in reality, he is a statue. The Baron that comes alive originates in the character Shizuku's mind as she writes the story: </span></span><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Whisper of the Heart</span></em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">. In the film, Shizuku writes the Baron more as a sidekick helping the lead character in her story find a gem. The film viewer is given shots into the story on how Shizuku writes so we do get to see and hear the Baron in how she envisions him. Although there is not much to say about him, he has all the makings of a Ghibli Prince. He is sophisticated complete with suit, top hat and cane. He talks about his lost love which shows him as a romantic and he shows intelligence. </span></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">However, it is not until The </span></span><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Cat Returns</span></em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> that we see the Baron in a fuller form where he graduates from minor Prince to major Prince. The vague characterisations that we see in </span></span><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Whisper of the Heart</span></em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> are still there but fuller. He still has his trademark suit, top hat and cane. He is very level-headed and is good at giving advice. He is a gentleman through and through. He likes his tea (with either lemon or milk) and angel food cake. He is very sophisticated and very caring. He is willing to help anyone who comes to the Cat Bureau. Also, when he fights, he keeps his hat on. What a cat! </span></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The most interesting thing about him is when Haru admits at the end that she had a crush on him and he doesn't bring this to notice. Therefore, we never truly know whether he had feelings for him. However, I doubt he is. True, he dances with her and at one point, picks her up in his arms and runs up the stairs. How chivalrous of him! Despite that, I do not think he felt for her in any way. </span></span></span></span><br /><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the character</strong></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">There is not much to say about <span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Shigeru Tsuyuguchi due to the few lines he has. Maybe, if he had been cast in </span></span></span><em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The Cat Returns</span></span></em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">, I could give a detail opinion. However, Tsuyuguchi has a refined voice which matches the Baron beautifully. Yoshihiko Hakamada is just as refined in </span></span></span><em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The Cat Returns</span></span></em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> although, when it comes to his speak, he is slightly sharp around the edges. Nevertheless, he makes a great Baron. </span></span></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Cary Elwes was cast as the Baron for both </span></span><em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Whisper of the Heart </span></span></em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">and </span></span><em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The Cat Returns</span></span></em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">. I can see why. No offence to Americans but I believe that when it comes to bringing refinery to a character like the Baron, a level of sophistication is needed and in the past, Elwes has done it with a natural flair. I mean when he is a pirate in </span></span><em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">The Princess Bride</span></span></em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">, he is basically the most sophisticated pirate on screen. I see the Baron as an Errol Flynn type character and Elwes is as close to Flynn as you are going to get in modern times. Unlike </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Hakamada, he is able to say his lines without any sharp corners which adds to the refinery. </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">After seeing the English dub of The Cat Returns, I knew exactly how Haru felt about the Baron because I had (and still have) a crush on him. If only he had been a human character....</span></span></span></span><br /><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-STYLE: normal; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Definitely one of the best English dubs in my opinion although it is a shame that earlier in his career, Elwes also did what I consider to be one of the worst English dubs for a Ghibli anime film (Donald in </span></span><em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Porco Rosso</span></span></em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> but that is for another entry)</span></span></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-61593570301997392852009-09-19T22:25:00.005+01:002009-09-25T15:46:10.546+01:00Ghibli Sidekick: Calcifer<p align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><img style="WIDTH: 385px; HEIGHT: 222px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/hmc1819.jpg" width="471" height="264" /></span></span></p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> Howl's Moving Castle (English title)<br />Hauru no Ogoku Shiro (Japanese title)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voices:</strong> Billy Crystal (English dub)<br />Tatsuya Gashuin (Japanese)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Tonight, I did plan on doing a combined entry of the Dragons of the Heavens/Dragons of the Earth from the film/manga/TV series, <em>X</em>. However, some much could be said; too much for one entry so I decided to leave it and work on my original choice for my first Sidekick entry: Calcifer.</span></span><br /><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">What can I say about Calcifer? He's the coolest fire demon ever! True, he is confined to being a flame that should never be extinguished but in the end, the characters of the story need him more than (is not just much as) he needs them. It seems that the characters take from Calcifer more than he from them but then again, in the end, when you find out what Clacifer truely is; he already has what he has wanted: life. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">He is the driving force behind the magic. It is through him that Howl has his magical powers. His powers is what gives Howl's castle its power; Calcifer is what makes it move, controls the heating and I suspect, why there are several portals to other parts of the country. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Like many demons in fiction, he is very mysterious and devious. Although more explicit in the book, he strikes a deal with the main female, Sophie that if she can break his hold on Howl, he can reverse her spell. However, he cannot tell her what the deal is but he does give her hints but doesn't say they are hints until they have been divulged in seemingly meaningless conversations (these scenes are in the book but they are important to hoe Calcifer works). </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong></strong></span></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices be</strong></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>hind the character</strong></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Usually, with dubs, there is usually a contrast between each voices but with <em>Howl's Moving Castle</em>, there is a very distinct difference. <span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Tatsuya Gashuin's Calcifer is particularly whiny in a high-pitched way which actually works well with the character, especially when the extra dub of fire crackling is added. </span></span></span></span></span><br /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Looking at it, I genuinely cannot see how they could cast Billy Crystal as Calcifer. My theory is that after the huge success of American comedian Phil Hartman's Jiji in </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Kiki's Delivery Service. </span></span></em></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Maybe the dub casters thought using another well-known comedian for Calcifer would be the way to go. </span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">In a way, Crystal should not work perfectly with this character but he does. You bet your life he does. In fact, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Crystal should be arrested for scene stealing. In most of the film, he is not in interaction with Christian Bale's Howl which is probably a good thing for Crystal would have upstaged him enormously. Although Crystal's Calcifer is not meant to be witty, his tone of voice makes a few of his more whiny lines wittier rather than annoying. </span></span></span></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-28695784636593420672009-09-14T23:21:00.006+01:002009-09-25T15:43:11.083+01:00Ghibli Villian: Mushka<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong><img style="WIDTH: 378px; HEIGHT: 247px" class="alignnone" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/mushka2.jpg" width="464" height="284" /></strong></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> Laputa:Castle in the Sky (English title)<br />Tenku-no Shiro Rapyuta (Japanese title)</span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voice:</strong> Mark Hamill (English Disney dub)<br />Jeff Winkless (Streamline English dub)<br />Minori Terada (Japanese)</span></span><br /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Ah yes, my favourite anime villain par none. Amongst most anime villains, particularly those created by Hayao Miyazaki, there is a sense of complexity about them, like they are not all bad or they are seen as good in some eyes and bad in others. In </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em>Princess Mononoke</em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">, it is Lady Eboshi. In </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em>Ponyo</em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">, it is Fujimoto. In the non-Ghibli anime film, </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em>X</em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">, it is the Dragons of the Earth (especially in this one as although we are meant to root for Dragons of the Heavens, the Dragons of the Earth make a strong argument and you want them to win). </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Mushka (or Muska) is not like that. Yes, he is complex and holds secrets but he has no heart at all. By the end, he cannot be seen as good from any point of view. He does what he does purely for power and for his own gain. He has his minions and when he finally gets what he wants, he is not hesitant to dispose of them. I swear, if this guy wasn't created by a Japanese anime genius, he could be mistaken for a stereotypical American villain. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">The wierd thing with most anime villains is that they tend to be bad at first and then show some good in the end. Take Lady Eboshi from <em>Princess Mononoke</em>. Yes, she is trying to destroy the forest to mine for iron and expand her city BUT she also takes in prostitutes and lepers from the streets and gives them jobs. In <em>Laputa</em>, there is the pirate gang. At the start, you think they are the villains and Mushka is the good guy trying to protect Sheeta. By the middle, you realise that the pirates aren't evil and they just want the city's treasure. However, they are not malicious or evil. They are honest and do not want to mainpulate. By the middle, their position changes from villain to sidekick and really good sidekicks. They are considered the best characters in the film. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Compare with Mushka. The viewers' view of him changes from bad to worse as the film progresses and what is interesting is that out of all the Ghibli villians (and I have seen all but two films), he is the only one of TWO villians to be punished for his demise. All the other villians either call a truce, change their character completely and gain some redemption. It seems the message in the Ghibli world is learn a lesson about being good and you will survive to the end of the film. Mushka doesn't and he pays for it dearly. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the character</strong></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Oh boy this is a good one to do because I have had the honour of watching all three main versions: the original Japanese dub, the 1980s English dub made hastily by Streamline and the more famous, underrated and mostly debated Disney dub. </span></span><br /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">First of, I'll start with the original Japanese version. I'm sorry to say but I actually saw this one after buying the DVD. The first version I saw was the Disney English dub so this may have affected my judgement on this version. <span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Minori Terada is hard but not dull at all. He plays Mushka as the emotionless person he is and he gives him an authoritative tone.</span></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Next is the Streamline dub. My God! I only got to see this thanks to You Tube and I wish I could clean my brain out. Seriously. Whoever says the Disney dubs are bad should definitely see this and call THIS the worst. I thought the cast from the film </span></span><em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">X</span></span></em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> was bad until I saw this. The whole cast was bad in this dub but the thing is that Mushka is meant to be bad and somewhat scary but Winkless does not do this. He sounds bored and well the dub overall was done in a rush so it is possible that the actors were told to do it in one take and left it at that, regardless the imperfection of it all. The thing is with Mushka is that when he finds the real treasure of Laputa and when he shows Sheeta the robot, he is meant to be emotional, something that Winkless does not do. And it has to be said. He says the worst line I have ever heard in a line: "Now say bye bye!" He is holding a gun at SHeeta and he says </span></span><em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">that</span></span></em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">!? Is he serious? The scriptwriter should hang his head in shame for that! Yes you laugh the first time you hear it but after that, it's just cringey. You can watch it to judge for yourself but be prepared to regret it. </span></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">The Disney English dub of <em>Laputa</em> is a hotly debated dub. Most of the Disney dubs are like Marmite: you either love them or you hate them. However, some may just have the most perfect voice casting possible that it justify the average casting for the rest of the film? In <em>The Cat Returns</em>, it is Carey Elwes as the Baron (although he was awful in <em>Porco Rosso</em>). In <em>Howl's Moving Castle</em>, it was Billy Crystal as Calcifer and Christian Bale as Howl. In <em>Laputa</em>, there are two: Cloris Leachman and Mark Hamill. Regardless of the mixed views on the rest of the cast, there seemed to be an overall, almost unanimous opinion on <em>Laputa</em>: Leachman and Hamill are superb. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Out of all the versions, Hamill is definitely the best Mushka. Hamill has become famous for two thing: <em>Star Wars</em> and voiceovers, the latter which he is brilliant at. He is famous for doing some of the best voiceovers in animation, in particular his villians. His most famous are the Joker (<em>Batman: The Animated Series</em>) and the Hobgoblin (the 1990s <em>Spiderman</em> TV series).</span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Whilst <span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Terada is authoritative and Winkless is just not worthy enough to mention, Hamill gives Mushka a level above Terada. As well as being authoritative, he makes Mushka slimy, oozing with seduction. For example, he tells Sheeta to stay down or she'll be hurt. In the Japanese version, he is not that caring. In the Streamline dub, he is even less caring but Hamill's Mushka is caring and this is the first sign that you think he's the good guy which makes the realisation he's a baddie more shocking. In his next major scene with Sheeta and the robot, he has you totally convinced that he wants to stop Laputa's power from going into the wrong hands when in fact, it is </span></span><em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">he</span></span></em><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> that should be prevented from gaining the city's power. Sheeta is lured into his power like a snake to Adam and Eve. When he finds Laputa's power, he was so emotional and almost crazed and of course, the laugh. He definitely has the best laugh which is very chilling and all I can do is point and say "The Joker!"</span></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">One line that always get to me is when Sheeta is running away from him and he is telling her to be reasonable, you get a hint of Luke Skywalker. He was trying to be calm and seductive again. He is brilliant all the way through!</span></span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">What can I say, Hamill was perfect to me. He is by far the best in the dub, alongside Cloris Leachman and out of all the English Disney dubs, he was one of the best, if not </span><em>the</em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"> best all the English Ghibli dubs!</span></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-69857540176930298992009-09-13T21:36:00.000+01:002009-09-25T15:13:06.513+01:00Ghibli Princess: Nausicaä<p align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong><img alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/nausicaa4.jpg" width="470" height="277" /></strong></span></span></p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Film:</strong> Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (English title)<br />Kaze No Tano No Naushika (Japanese title)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><strong>Voice:</strong> Alison Lohman (English Disney dub)<br />Sumi Shimamoto (Japanese)</span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The Character</strong></span></span></span> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">After last night, I felt in the mood to analyse another character and in my heart, I felt there was only one I could write about; the Ghibli Princess that started off the studio's success. Yes, I'm talking about </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Nausicaä. There has been some debate over whether she counts as part of the Studo Ghibli family. This is because Studio Ghibli did not exist as a formal company when </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em>Nausicaä</em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> was made, However, in recent DVD releases, it has the Ghibli logo on the cover and on the trailer of the Studio Ghibli film collection (a collection of quick trailers which I know appear on the UK releases), </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><em>Nausicaä</em></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"> is a part of it. The film was also directed by Hayao Miyazaki. So, for argument's sake, I am counting her as a Ghibli Princess and not a Honorary Princess. To learn a bit more about the debate, </span></span></span><span style="color:#000080;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><a href="http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/Nausicaä_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_(FAQ)#Q:_Is_Nausica.C3.A4_a_Studio_Ghibli_film.3F"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">go here</span></span></span></a></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">.</span></span></span><br /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Although <em>Nausicaä</em> is my third favourite Ghibli film (and in particular my third favourite Miyazaki film), the character <span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">Nausicaä is my favourite "Princess". The thing that gets me about Disney Princess is that they are mainly weak, rely purely on emotion and in some cases, although all the gals do fall in love, a good number fall in love at first sight. Of course, that never happens properly in real life and you can't help but wonder that after the likes of Cinderella and Snow White were married, you'd know they'd be divorced uickly for they got married before knowing nothing about each other.</span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">Nausicaä is a woman in her own right and is only one of three Studio Ghibli females to actually be called a Princess (the other two are San from Princess Mononoke and Sheeta from Laputa but them two are for another entry). She takes charge of her own life and for msot of the film, her mind is clear and focused. She is truely one of the best examples of an empowered female. </span></span></span><br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">She is a quick and agile fighter, unafraid to take on several male Tolmekia soldiers (and even killing them) solo when her father is killed. She is feisty and adventorous, always finding an excuse to go into the deadly toxic jungle. She is unafraid to take risks either. </span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">Nausicaä's relationship with the male characters is an interesting one; she sees some as friends and two as father figures (Lord Yupa and her father, King/Lord Jihl). Even the only character that can be seen as a potential love interest (Prince Asbel) only comes as close as mere acquaintance. In fact, it is </span><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">Nausicaä who saves Asbel when they first meet, rather than the other way round. In the case of all the male of the villagers, THEY look up to HER rather than the other way round. </span></span></span><br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">However, although she represents traits of masculinity, she is not a butch female. She does girly things, such as naming her new fox-squirrel, Teto. She is giggly and unlike many other independent women, she is not one to hide her feelings under a cold, hard feelings. She says what she thinks and keeps her emotions under her sleeves. She is very emotional, thoughtful of others and most of all, she is a pacifist. She fights and does things in accordance by what is best for her village.</span></span><br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">She also has an amazing gift. She is able to calm the ohmu and other beasts when they are enraged. She is also clever and is able, to learn via scientific experiments important secrets about the toxic jungle which leads her to be a middle-woman so to speak. She wants to protect her village and yet she wants to protect the beasts of the toxic jungle too. And who cannot love her Mehve (that's the thing she flies on!) The funniest line is when she states that her father thinks she has a lot to learn......how many of us viewers disagreed with that? I wonder if that was put in so she could be seen to have a flaw and not seen as a complete Little Miss Perfect?</span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">What I find interesting about </span><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">Nausicaä is that she is not looked in the typical female manner, in which no-one </span><em>looks </em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">at her. When it comes to many female characters in her status, she has to look good or she has to stimulate the male gaze. She is not made like that in which her body is always covered by even a large coat and beggy trosuers or a long sleepsuit. Her only show for typical femininity is that she wears earrings. </span></span></span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Speaking of clothes, there is a debate over whether she wears a short dress and no underwear. I myself have made the mistake. Basically, in earlier releases of the film, the colours were fainter and rather than showing she wears a blue coat and yellow trousers, it does look like she is nude under a short blue dress. The latter is not the case as stated </span></span><span style="color:#000080;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><a href="http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/Nausicaä_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_(FAQ)#Q:_I_heard_that_cuts_were_made_in_.22Warriors_of_the_Wind.22_to_cover_Nausica.C3.A4.27s_bare_bottom._Is_it_true.3F"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">here</span></span></a></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">. </span></span><br /></p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"></span><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" align="center"><img style="WIDTH: 387px; HEIGHT: 237px" class="alignnone" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/nausicaa_0224.jpg" width="477" height="301" /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong>The voices behind the character</strong></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Technically there are THREE versions of this film, one original Japanese and two English dubs. The first English dub was called "Warriors of the Wind" and if reviews and sources are correct, should NOT be watched by anyone who is a true fan. I have never seen it so cannot make a judgement but from <a href="http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/Nausicaä_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_(FAQ)#Q:_What_is_wrong_with_.22Warriors_of_the_Wind.22.3F">what has been said</a>, it should be sliced up and burnt! I mean, there is always a debate over the English dubs over Japanese originals but jeez, when one is universally disliked by everyone, you got a problem!</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">In my opinion with <span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Alison Lohman and Sumi Shimamoto, it's kinda hard to choose which one is better, although to be fair, Lohman does sound a bit robotic at the beginning. She does however become much more natural after that, especially when she has to show emotion. Sumi Shimamoto is brilliant although when it came to the crying scenes, I felt like she was a wee bit over the top. Despite that, they each give </span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">Nausicaä a girlish charm that adds to her feminity (and shows everyone that she is not a cold hard-ass feminist Miranda Priestly style bitch!) </span></span></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">What can I say, they're both perfect in my heart. Can I just leave it at that? :-)</span></span></span></span></p><br /></span></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-36225038742434971742009-09-12T22:18:00.000+01:002009-09-25T15:13:38.189+01:00Honorary Prince: Hols<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" align="center"><img style="WIDTH: 365px; HEIGHT: 233px" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/wiccanotwicked/anime%20blog/prince15.jpg" width="527" height="272" /><strong></strong><br /><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Film:</strong> Little Norse Prince (English)<br />Taiyō no Ōji: Horusu no Daibōken (Japanese)<br />*English titles vary on the edition<br /><br /><strong>Voice:</strong> Hisako Ôkata (Japanese)<br />*no official English dub as of September 2009<br /><br /><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">The Character</span></strong><br /></span><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><a name="globalWrapper"></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:small;">I know what you lot are thinking: if the original site and Facebook groups were influenced by Studio Ghibli, WHY have I started off this blog with a character that is a Honorary character? Well, I've been a bit sneaky because I have started that way but then again I haven't. This film was produced and released by Toei Animation in 1968 <em>sixteen years </em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">before</span><em> </em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">Studio Ghibli's first film </span><em>Nausicaä. </em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">However, the film was directed by Isao Takahata who would become a huge part of Ghibli and it was animated by future greats such as Yōichi Kotabe and Hayao Miyazaki (Yes, the same Hayao Miyazaki who would become the backbone of Studio Ghibli, directing such classics as </span><em>Princess Mononoke</em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">, the Oscar winning </span><em>Spiriting Away</em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"> and the Oscar-nominated </span><em>Howl's Moving Castle</em><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal">). </span>So when you look at it deeply, you will find that the film was created and animated by the geniuses who would eventually become Studio Ghibli. </span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:small;">When I first saw this film, I had no idea about who made it/directed it and not even the year it was released. My first preconceptions were that it was a small 1980s film created by Studio Ghibli and that it seemed too stereotypical for these geniuses. So imagine my shock when I found out that this film was released in 1968!!! When you learn that, only then can you understand the significance of the film.</span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:small;">Anyway, back to Hols. Looking at him, he is pretty much stereotypical. After all, he kills a monster pike, a feat that even adults much older than him cannot do. His first scene is when he tackles on wolves with only an axe to help him. He is technically the sole hero of the film and his presence brings (unintentional) negative impressions and positive impressions on the villagers he encounters. He has the sole task of destroying the demon. He is the 1960s Japanese anime version of Harry Potter (only he carries a sword instead of a wand). In a way, he could pass of as a Disney Prince. </span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:small;">However, in many other ways, he breaks all traditions. He is a very young man, possibly about 14 and is very adventurous. He is brave and stands up for his beliefs. He also has incredible strength and has a lot of love in his heart, especially towards the main female character, Hilda, although it is not implied whether he loves her as a friend or whether his feelings are deeper than that. </span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:small;">Even though his father dies early on in the film, he does not turn into an emo kid. Instead, he fulfils his father’s last wish to find the village where he was born. He is also one of the few voices of reason and is very persistent. I mean, he is killed and sent to the Endless Wood and the first thing he does when he returns back from the Wood is that he tries to reason with his killer to see good in their heart. You would have thought that being murdered by this person would have made Hols hate her forever. This means he sees the light in everyone (well almost everyone!). </span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:small;">It can be said that he is the prototype for Pazu, in terms of his bravery, love towards the heroine and his adventurous streak. </span><br /><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family:arial;">A prince in his own right and due to the fact that he was created by animators who would start Studio Ghibli, his is a true Studio Ghibli Prince although I guess he will always be the </span><a href="http://nausicaa.net/wiki/Prince_of_the_Sun:_The_Great_Adventure_of_Hols"><span style="font-family:arial;">Prince Toei want to forget about</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">!</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">The voice behind the character</span></strong><br /><br />As of today, there is only one official version, the original Japanese version (although the title has varied depending on the edition and country it is released. The subtitles has also given a variation on the characters' names, in particular Hols and Hilda). So, despite no English dub to compare it to, what can I say about Hisako Ôkata who voices Hols? Hmmm , I liked his voice as Hols. He is actually quite convincing and yes the guy does scream but only when the script calls for it. I would imagine Hols to be in his teens and Okata gives Hols a powerful voice for a teen.<br /><br />I decided to look up on Okata and find out that he was in his late 20's when he was the voice of Hols. That is a shock! I seriously never expected that!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077929348818146174.post-11535586979347912422009-09-12T03:52:00.000+01:002009-09-25T14:33:47.547+01:00Hiya peepsHiya<br /><br />After being inspired of seeing my Facebook friend, Jon write reviews on Studio Ghibli films, I thought using a blog would be a good idea to review anime characters for my website. I own four Facebook groups (which were my ideas) which are dedicated to heroes, heroines, villians and sidekicks in the anime world. They originally were meant for characters from Studio Ghibli anime films but when I started watching other anime films, I felt they should get a mention too. The four Facebook groups can be found here:<br /><br /><strong>ANIME PRINCE</strong><br /><br />http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42780271231<br /><br /><strong>ANIME PRINCESS</strong><br /><br />http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42436487044<br /><br /><strong>ANIME VILLIAN</strong><br /><br />http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=63349861928<br /><br /><strong>ANIME SIDEKICK</strong><br /><br />http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17267454966<br /><br />The original main site can be found here:<br /><br />http://www.geocities.com/ecco1983/studioghibli/<br /><br />However, Geocities is going down and although I now have a new host and link, I am still transferring my data. On the old site though, there is a section why I analyse each character as to why they deserve to be mentioned. Trying to write them all for a site seemed a daunting site so thanks to Jon's influence, I thought I'd take each character one at a time and write my thoughts down on this blog and then transfer the data onto the new site.<br /><br />Basically, what I will mention for each new character is:<br /><br />a) Name (duh)<br />b) Film and Year (both English and Japanese titles)<br />c) Voices (as many actors will be mentioned as possible but mainly the Japanese and English dubs will be mentioned)<br />d) A review of the character in general<br />e) Comparision to as many dubs as possible<br /><br />Although the name of the sites have changed, for now, I will be stating whether they are a Ghibli character or an Honorary character<br /><br />* An <strong>OFFICIAL</strong> Studio Ghibli Prince is a male character which is featured in a Studio Ghibli film.<br />* An <strong>HONORARY</strong> Studio Ghibli Prince is one that doesn't come from the Studio Ghibli World but is part of anime and was suggested by a fan..<br /><br />Each character will be chosen <strong>COMPLETELY AT RANDOM</strong> and no section or film will be done in consecutive blogs. For example, if I was to write about a Princess from "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" in one entry, no Princess or any character from "Laputa" will <strong>NOT</strong> be mentioned in the next entry. Otherwise, I will just write whoever I feel comfortable about writing/analysing about at the time. There will not be any favouritism at all and I will make the entries varied.<br /><br />So hope you enjoy reading them and do not be afraid to post your thoughts on any entries. Sadly, I will have to approve all comments first but hopefully, people can post anonymously (ie if you do not have a Blogspot account)<br /><br />Blessed Be!<br /><br />Helen<br />xxxxxUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0