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larryhammerQuote of the day: "As with all Japanese popular culture, it appears to delve deeply into and grapple profoundly with the eternal existential-philosophical question, What the Fucking Fuck Was That?" —Bill Walsh on The Tragedy of Belladonna, as quoted by TvTropes.
Also seen on TvTropes: "Wodehouse was ... a master of farce, constructing farce, and pushing farce to the point where it curves around some nebulous point out in the dada hinterlands of space, wraps around the universe, and actually makes sense." Where by "making sense" the writer meant the plots are tightly constructed. The trope of Chekhov's Armoury (in which not just one gun is set over the mantlepiece) seems to be created for his books.
But speaking of Japanese popular culture, recently watched:
5 Centimeters Per Second - The most recent anime feature by the writer/director of Voices of a Distant Star, and like it is about growing apart and missed connections. As is should be, given the title refers to the terminal velocity of falling cherry petals. Gorgeous animation, stunning visuals, and deeply atmospheric. However, comma, it not only doesn't nail the ending but fumbles it -- the final act needed about two beats more of story arc, and the gratuitous closing pop song completely trashed the mood. Just jumping straight from the moment the song started to the final scene would have improved things, actually. Worth watching for the first two acts, though.
Love*Com: The Movie - Live-action adaptation of a popular, award-winning rom-com manga. There's something about the timing in live Japanese comedy that feels off-kilter to me. It didn't help that, of the main cast, only the female lead appeared to be her nominal age. The script, at least, did a decent job of compressing the first half of the series into 90 minutes. Made me want all the more to see an official translation of the anime. (Hey, if they'll license Ouran ... )
Cross Game - As in, I'm keeping up with the fansubs, which are coming out in English the day of Japanese broadcast. It's as good as the manga, at least so far. Given the show's scheduled for 51 episodes, I suspect the manga will be ending about the same time, next spring, which is good as structurally, there's only two more games to play on-stage.
Aria the Natural - The second season of the anime adaptation of the manga. Actually, I'm savoring this one slowly, and haven't even gotten halfway through -- it's not one to rush as it's very much a journey rather than destination sort of series. This season, with a full 26 episodes, they had the space to more "naturally" develop things left out of the first season, which means yay Cait Sith and other magic realist incidents. But even without that, Akari's confused "Ehhh?!" to Aika's "sappy lines prohibited!" line never gets old. Ahhhh.
Has anyone seen anything good lately?
---L.
Also seen on TvTropes: "Wodehouse was ... a master of farce, constructing farce, and pushing farce to the point where it curves around some nebulous point out in the dada hinterlands of space, wraps around the universe, and actually makes sense." Where by "making sense" the writer meant the plots are tightly constructed. The trope of Chekhov's Armoury (in which not just one gun is set over the mantlepiece) seems to be created for his books.
But speaking of Japanese popular culture, recently watched:
5 Centimeters Per Second - The most recent anime feature by the writer/director of Voices of a Distant Star, and like it is about growing apart and missed connections. As is should be, given the title refers to the terminal velocity of falling cherry petals. Gorgeous animation, stunning visuals, and deeply atmospheric. However, comma, it not only doesn't nail the ending but fumbles it -- the final act needed about two beats more of story arc, and the gratuitous closing pop song completely trashed the mood. Just jumping straight from the moment the song started to the final scene would have improved things, actually. Worth watching for the first two acts, though.
Love*Com: The Movie - Live-action adaptation of a popular, award-winning rom-com manga. There's something about the timing in live Japanese comedy that feels off-kilter to me. It didn't help that, of the main cast, only the female lead appeared to be her nominal age. The script, at least, did a decent job of compressing the first half of the series into 90 minutes. Made me want all the more to see an official translation of the anime. (Hey, if they'll license Ouran ... )
Cross Game - As in, I'm keeping up with the fansubs, which are coming out in English the day of Japanese broadcast. It's as good as the manga, at least so far. Given the show's scheduled for 51 episodes, I suspect the manga will be ending about the same time, next spring, which is good as structurally, there's only two more games to play on-stage.
Aria the Natural - The second season of the anime adaptation of the manga. Actually, I'm savoring this one slowly, and haven't even gotten halfway through -- it's not one to rush as it's very much a journey rather than destination sort of series. This season, with a full 26 episodes, they had the space to more "naturally" develop things left out of the first season, which means yay Cait Sith and other magic realist incidents. But even without that, Akari's confused "Ehhh?!" to Aika's "sappy lines prohibited!" line never gets old. Ahhhh.
Has anyone seen anything good lately?
---L.
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no subject
Date: 27 May 2009 09:26 pm (UTC)Now reading Njal's saga.
no subject
Date: 27 May 2009 09:40 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 28 May 2009 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 May 2009 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 May 2009 04:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 27 May 2009 09:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 May 2009 12:38 am (UTC)---L.
no subject
Date: 28 May 2009 02:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 May 2009 04:15 am (UTC)That and Cross Game are pretty much the only thing of interest, this season.
---L.