Mononoke (no princess involved)
I kinda can't believe I've actually dropped Orlando at DDD. I mean, the only difference it's really going to make at this point is that I'll stop going "Oh, I should have Orlando tag there later," and feeling guilty when I don't. But playing him was a very important experience for me, it's sad to let it go. I know I'll never have something quite like it again, you know?
But that's not what I really want to talk about, I just figured I should conserve posting space.
What I really want to do is thank magicnoire for pointing me towards what I am sure is going to hold up as one of my favorite shows after repeated viewings.
A few years ago a series called Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror (the U.S. release is calling it Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales) was released. I was vaguely interested, for the folkloric/traditional aspects that it might present, and so I eventually downloaded what I thought was the first episode, couldn't stand it, and dismissed the series as a whole.
Upon investigating it now, it turns out what I had seen was actually episode 5. Ayakashi consists of three arcs, two 4 episode arcs and and final 3 episode one, each an entirely different story and each done in a different style. I stand by my distaste for the second arc (ruthless bandits in pastels? umm, no), but the first one may definitely bear checking out at a later date (Amano character design and a Chiaki J. Konaka script). But in any case, from looking at the first halves of episodes 1 and 5 yesterday, they're well produced but nothing out of the ordinary.
No one can accuse the third arc of being nothing out of the ordinary.
I confess, with a few exceptions (Homicide, for instance) I usually don't pay much if any attention to direction in t.v. shows. Movies, yes, but not t.v. I'm not really sure why, but it's true. It holds true for anime as well.
But the "Bakeneko" ("Demon Cat") arc of Ayakashi is wonderfully directed. The stylized manner of the visuals serves the story beautifully, and a variety of types of "camerawork" are used to the best possible effect. It has slow motion, fast motion, blurred motion, and the animated equivalent of jump cuts. Not to mention the very careful and excellent sound direction that is also stylized and serves the story greatly? And it's just terrifically written.
All this stuff carries over into the 12 episode series that was spun off of these 3 episodes, Mononoke. This is simply one of the most marvelously put together shows I've seen, anime or not.
I'm not really a horror person (at least not of the kind that enjoys going around screaming at movies), so when I do come across horror I usually judge less by how frightened I am and more by how well made it is and/or by how it makes me think* (...which is really just how I judge most things.). Mononoke excels at the latter too. It's the kind of show where if you go back and really think about a specific detail, you can end up very disturbed and deep in thought for a long time.
Part of that ability rests on my favorite aspect of the writing, the unreliability of most witnesses. Witnesses lie, lie by omission, have convinced themselves of the lie they've been telling, or have blocked things out. Like real people. (Of course, the Japanese have a history of addressing this fact in excellent fiction.)
Thoughts on individual arcs are likely after a re-watch. I think I'll try to take it more slowly this time around.
...I feel I did not appropriately emphasize how awesome this show looks. Think maybe...Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei with strong elements of Gankutsuou mixed in.
Anyway, highly recommended.
...Though the opening and ending themes can kind of make you go "what the hell? how is this appropriate?"
*I date this back to when I was 8 or 9 and first saw The Haunting (the 1963, there is no other movie. say it with me now, there is no other movie). It freaked me the hell out. The next day I sat down and watched it two more times in order to figure out how it had scared me so much. Ever since then I've paid attention mostly to the "how it's trying to do [x]" right off the bat. That was the first time I tried to analyze a film. ...By the way, The Haunting is an incredible piece of work, I can't recall how many times I've seen it and I appreciate it more each time.
But that's not what I really want to talk about, I just figured I should conserve posting space.
What I really want to do is thank magicnoire for pointing me towards what I am sure is going to hold up as one of my favorite shows after repeated viewings.
A few years ago a series called Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror (the U.S. release is calling it Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales) was released. I was vaguely interested, for the folkloric/traditional aspects that it might present, and so I eventually downloaded what I thought was the first episode, couldn't stand it, and dismissed the series as a whole.
Upon investigating it now, it turns out what I had seen was actually episode 5. Ayakashi consists of three arcs, two 4 episode arcs and and final 3 episode one, each an entirely different story and each done in a different style. I stand by my distaste for the second arc (ruthless bandits in pastels? umm, no), but the first one may definitely bear checking out at a later date (Amano character design and a Chiaki J. Konaka script). But in any case, from looking at the first halves of episodes 1 and 5 yesterday, they're well produced but nothing out of the ordinary.
No one can accuse the third arc of being nothing out of the ordinary.
I confess, with a few exceptions (Homicide, for instance) I usually don't pay much if any attention to direction in t.v. shows. Movies, yes, but not t.v. I'm not really sure why, but it's true. It holds true for anime as well.
But the "Bakeneko" ("Demon Cat") arc of Ayakashi is wonderfully directed. The stylized manner of the visuals serves the story beautifully, and a variety of types of "camerawork" are used to the best possible effect. It has slow motion, fast motion, blurred motion, and the animated equivalent of jump cuts. Not to mention the very careful and excellent sound direction that is also stylized and serves the story greatly? And it's just terrifically written.
All this stuff carries over into the 12 episode series that was spun off of these 3 episodes, Mononoke. This is simply one of the most marvelously put together shows I've seen, anime or not.
I'm not really a horror person (at least not of the kind that enjoys going around screaming at movies), so when I do come across horror I usually judge less by how frightened I am and more by how well made it is and/or by how it makes me think* (...which is really just how I judge most things.). Mononoke excels at the latter too. It's the kind of show where if you go back and really think about a specific detail, you can end up very disturbed and deep in thought for a long time.
Part of that ability rests on my favorite aspect of the writing, the unreliability of most witnesses. Witnesses lie, lie by omission, have convinced themselves of the lie they've been telling, or have blocked things out. Like real people. (Of course, the Japanese have a history of addressing this fact in excellent fiction.)
Thoughts on individual arcs are likely after a re-watch. I think I'll try to take it more slowly this time around.
...I feel I did not appropriately emphasize how awesome this show looks. Think maybe...Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei with strong elements of Gankutsuou mixed in.
Anyway, highly recommended.
...Though the opening and ending themes can kind of make you go "what the hell? how is this appropriate?"
*I date this back to when I was 8 or 9 and first saw The Haunting (the 1963, there is no other movie. say it with me now, there is no other movie). It freaked me the hell out. The next day I sat down and watched it two more times in order to figure out how it had scared me so much. Ever since then I've paid attention mostly to the "how it's trying to do [x]" right off the bat. That was the first time I tried to analyze a film. ...By the way, The Haunting is an incredible piece of work, I can't recall how many times I've seen it and I appreciate it more each time.