Hello, this is Liberty.
First of all, of the 3 films we saw the only one I had not seen before was Grave of the Fireflies. So I have opinions on the other 2 films that are not really first impressions.
I will also lightly touch the two short films that we saw, I had not seen either previously.
I apologize for not posting sooner but I have been thinking long and hard about what I want to say.
Mononoke-hime:
Princess Mononoke is actually my favorite animated film of all time. I think what appeals to me most is the use of very strong female characters in conjunction with our strong male lead. Often times people will bring up that something has a strong female or an anti-hero male lead, but I really find that I love a story more when there is a balance between the two (Which most often means, actually, two main characters). * Although I feel like San comes out on top more because Ashitaka is struggling with his curse and she's a fair match against Lady Eboshi.
Also. Can we talk about how on point San's fashion is for literally living in the woods with wolves?
Another thing that I like about it is the diving into the traditional Japanese culture of spirits and monsters, mixed in with the transition to modern Japan. The fact that the story takes place inbetween worlds pushes along the storyline of a multi-faced war. It's not just humans vs. nature because Ashitaka is caught in both realms, it's not plain Good vs. Evil. It's also not directly about preserving nature or trying to be more environmentally sound, but does work to provoke thought about it.*
Lastly, it's just a beautiful masterpiece of a film.
God-tier animation, the use of scenery and the attention to detail in every second of it. Just.
BUT HOW DOES HER MAKEUP STAY INTACT THE WHOLE TIME???
(is it makeup??? I really admire her)
Grave of the Fireflies:
(it just so happens that they're all black and white and anime)
Grave of the Fireflies to me seemed like it would be like The Wind Rises, which I really enjoyed even though it also had a sad ending.
I enjoyed it as much as anyone could. I think it's a pretty accurate depiction of some of the things that happened to the Japanese citizens during WWII. While some might call it the Japanese victimizing themselves*, it's important to know that while they believed in their country they were in fact harmed by the very leaders they put their trust in. Just like The Wind Rises, I feel like some in depth knowledge of the war and its affects on Japan were needed to understand more?
Some might say that it was Seita's fault that Setsuko died, a lot of young adult Japanese don't feel the need to rely on an adult, and often live alone or with a sibling. Even if they live in the home with the parents, parents are often absent when the oldest child comes to adolescence because at that point they need to start taking care of themselves. Seita saw that it was his sole responsibility to take care of Setsuko even though he had no source of income because that what his culture taught him. Even thought he may not necessarily be at fault, we do see how some inner conflict may also influence as decision to stay alone at dire times. We may even see it in ourselves that sometimes we try to rise to the occasion rather than seeking out help like we should, whether of pride or of fear of humiliation.* Of course, it's just my opinion that he's not to blame. I wouldn't blame him.
The movie itself made us fall in love with these two neglected children through the minimal fun times that they had together. We knew from the beginning that it wasn't going to end well for Seita but making us fall in love with Setsuko made it all the much harder to watch the end. Purposeful obviously, meant to bring light upon the hardships during that time.
There's not a lot to say. It's hard to love a film that ends in such major tragedy even though it was so beautiful. I suppose I would say I appreciate it the way I appreciate America's sad WWII stories, and The Wind Rises.
Akira:
How to explain this. I've seen it before. Somehow I am even more confused.
Akira... how to put it. One of the most iconic anime movies of all time is the weirdest movie I have ever seen.
While it is stylistically beautiful, with a great arrangement of characters, themes and action sequences, I can't really bring myself to love it. Despite this being the second time I've watched it I don't feel like I understand it any better.
As someone else on here said, sometimes you just have to enjoy the ride, and I did enjoy watching it. Thinking about it was a pain.
Some of the themes of a lost childhood and a struggle with adolescence* are very apparent and the competitive friendship is important in driving the story. Tetsuo is a representation of the times in Japan when most young men were feeling inadequately masculine. Other than that, the way Tetsuo often feels like he's in Kaneda's shadow is something that we all feel from time to time, inferior and uneeded.*
There's not much to say besides that. Except for, obviously, the major impact that Akira has had on a lot of futuristic sci-fi genre type films, shows and books (as someone else mentioned and had examples of). Especially since I am a huge fan of the genre, I can definitely see all the parallels from this movie and all the stories(specifically a lot of books) I've encountered.
Keep on ridin' Kaneda.
Dojoji Temple and Jumping:
First of all I love the genre of Japanese storytelling called Yamishibai, which means ghost stories. I love the fact that the one we watched was the story of the woman who seeks revenge on the man who denied her. It's a pretty common storyline, for a Yamishibai, a lot of ghosts or demons are portayed as women, I think because of the whole possession aspect of the feminine characters (Mononoke). I really appreciate the fact that this particular film was done with puppetry, especially the style of Japanese puppets and masks adds to the scare factor of the story.
Jumping was enjoyable as an exploratory piece. I think even though it's really short and doesn't have a real storyline, I think the arc (haha) of the journey across the world, and down into hell, is a really interesting way to bring a story feel into it. I really admire Osamu's work.
There is my bit on all of these wonderful anime :3
*Parts where I'm fairly certain Napier touched upon similar themes in her book
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