Tuesday 07th February 2012
Know Your Anime is pretty in pink
Click on the image to see it full size. Visit the Know Your Anime website for the whole archives.
 Sunday 05th February 2012
Hugh David on replicating manga moods in Gantz 2
Gantz: Perfect Answer picks up from where the first Gantz film left off, with the survivors still working as a team to gain enough points for Kei (Kazunari Ninomiya) to resurrect Masaru (Kenichi Matsuyama). Both the investigator looking into related incidents (Takayuki Yamada) and the audience have witnessed Masaru back already, which serves as the main clue that not all is as is it seems with either the aliens they hunt or Gantz itself. New players join the team, new aliens gather and clash with them, and all while Gantz itself seems to be glitching badly....
Perfect Answer builds on the tonal shift of the last five minutes of the first movie to create an original sequel that echoes the manga without adapting it directly. The positive team spirit revealed in those five minutes of the Gantz players who survived the giant Buddha fight carries them through enough off-screen battles for Kei to be verging on 100 points fairly soon into the film, but the on-screen narrative prefers instead to provide emotional depth and character development that was considered by some reviewers to be somewhat lacking in the first film. This proves very useful in upping the stakes for the ensuing carnage, with the influx of new characters provided with thumbnail backgrounds that imply much more once their connections to Gantz are revealed.
Where Perfect Answer is however a “perfect partner” for the first film is in the action stakes. Once the character development is out of the way, the film kicks into high gear with a blistering subway sequence. Not only are the new aliens human in form, but they have absolutely no compunction when it comes to collateral damage. Guns, swords, fists and feet are all used while the subway train careers out of control. This is where the film begins to not only match its predecessor tonally, but also revives the mood of the manga. That upbeat mood of co-operation that the first film ended on is torn asunder by the machinations of Gantz and the escalating battles with the aliens, while the question of individual character survival is completely up for grabs. The film darkens and stays that way to the end, and that is as fans of the manga would expect. 
This century has been very much the era of comic books done justice in cinematic adaptations around the world - Marvel Studios’ releases in the US, the Asterix series and the two Largo Winch releases in France, Spielberg and Jackson’s Tintin. For all those commentators who regard the Death Note films as the height of the Japanese competition, the textual fidelity of Gantz and the thematic consistency of Gantz: Perfect Answer suggest that, when taken together, these just may be actually the most successful theatrical live-action adaptations of manga yet.
Gantz and Gantz: Perfect Answer are out now on UK DVD from Manga Entertainment. Thursday 02nd February 2012
Producer Katsuhiro Harada on all things Tekken
Matt Kamen: Let’s talk about the genesis of Tekken: Blood Vengeance – how did the film come about, and why now?
Katsuhiro Harada: Well, back maybe thirteen years ago when we were doing Tekken 3, the game was well received by the fans for the CG character endings. They really enjoyed that, and asked for more, more! They asked for longer versions but we couldn’t do anything longer at the time  because the cost at the time was intensive, and there was no place to outsource. We’d really wanted to make a movie for quite a while now, but we just weren’t able to. Then Tekken 5 came around and we worked with Digital Frontier on the endings and it was at that time we felt that it might be possible to create a full length movie.
You’ve asked viewers to “please forget the Hollywood movie”. Why do you think American adaptations of video games, especially beat ‘em up video games, are so universally terrible?
When you look at games and movies in general, first games were influenced by film, and also comics. But after games became more mainstream and game characters became popular, the games in turn influenced movies and comic books. They have this cycle where they both influence each other. When you have the game characters they’re CG so they’re each unique within the game but then when you try to return them to live-action, such as a movie setting, they don’t translate very well and that can be said of a lot of fighting games.
There is of course the example of the X-Men or Marvel characters who have been adapted to film well, but that is because they were comic book characters to begin with. The focus in comics is more on the story and the characters, their conversations and actions are more similar to a movie than game might be. Whereas for us it’s all about the gameplay, how they control and move. Even the visual effects are symbols to the player about what’s going on. All this stuff is focused on making the game enjoyable and to improve the controls of the characters. Taking that into a movie just doesn’t lend itself very well. Since everything we do as far as the voicing or how the character looks is geared towards the fighting game aspect of the game, when you take that and put it into a movie you have to have them speak certain lines or portray the character’s depth that you wouldn’t do in a game. When you try to do that and it’s something that isn’t done in the source material, fans feel it’s a little off when you do it. However this time, it’s all in CG computer graphics like it is with the game opening and character endings so hopefully the fans won’t feel it’s a little off like they do.
Do you see Blood Vengeance as a one-off, or are you hoping for further stand-alone movies?
Other games come to mind that might make good CG movies, such as Soul Calibur. With Tekken there is a setting, but it is a lower priority than the actual gameplay itself. Soul Calibur as source material would lend itself to that. Another game we’d like see as a CG movie is Ace Combat. As for games that are not our IP’s, maybe Kojima-san and his Metal Gear series, if he had a chance to do something similar he could produce something really high quality.
Do you think there’s more of a drive for games developers to take control and make their own movies?
I’m not really sure. As a game director I’m more interested in focusing on the gameplay mechanics rather than the story, setting, characters and such. But for other developers maybe it’s because they want better control over their characters, setting and story, or there’s creators out there who can’t fully portray what they want to in their games and a movie may be a more adequate route for them.
Has the development of Blood Vengeance had any impact on the games? Will there be any crossover effect?
The movie itself is set between Tekken 5 and Tekken 6. We consider it a side continuity – it has its own story with the characters that Tekken fans know but people who have not played the games can enjoy the movie too. However, we really loved the character models and designs for the movie, so we took them and entered them in the Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Prologue. This was an update for Blood Vengeance; we have the animation and the movie character models in the game now.
You’re also working on the Tekken X Street Fighter game, crossing over with Capcom’s franchise. Has Blood Vengeance eaten into development time on that at all?
No, not at all. Obviously there’s Tekken Tag 2, there’s a movie, there’s other things up our sleeves we haven’t announced yet in our franchise, but it isn’t that resources are being taken up by the movie. The art director on the Tekken series is the same on the movie but it’s not like the artists are involved in rendering the film; our programmers working on it. Our resources are mainly going towards finishing the arcade version of Tekken Tag 2 at the moment but rather than resources being taken up by a particular project, the influence of the earthquakes in Japan has been a big effect.
It sounds like there are a lot of other Tekken projects coming up – do you ever worry you might be spreading yourself too thin?
You’re right, we have a lot of things Tekken going on at the moment and maybe there might be some concerns by the fans that this might occur. We are taking on extra staff to cover that, but that being said we’re not where we want to be so we are spread a little thin. If someone were out there that would help us out on that, that would be great!
Tekken: Blood Vengeance is released on UK DVD from Manga Entertainment on 6th February. Monday 30th January 2012
 There's more than just ninja in the life of Yuhki Kamatani, original creator of this week's DVD box release Nabari no Ou. Kamatani, whose name in Japanese means "Sickle Valley", keeps a sketchbook of beautiful, romantic images of everyday life and flights of fancy, some of which can be found on her website Crow Wings.
Ms Kamatani also can't seem to stay away from Twitter, where she discusses art materials with her Japanese fans,and ponders the need to get waterproof pens and paper, just in case inspiration strikes while she's in the bath.
Nabari no Ou, the Complete Box Set, is out now on UK DVD from Manga Entertainment. Monday 30th January 2012
Unexpected anime connections to the notorious TV show
 Starz's Spartacus: Vengeance hits the UK tonight, just three days behind its US premiere. The Japanese have to wait a little longer to see the new show, but then again, that’s because they have to dub it all. As so often happens with foreign TV shows in Japan, the actors have been pulled from a roster heavy with familiar voices from the world of anime.
The face of Spartacus might change in Vengeance, but his voice in Japanese remains the same, supplied by Rikiya Koyama. Koyama had his anime debut as Doctor Doc in Pokemon, before finding meatier roles as Coyote Stark in Bleach, Tenshiro in Rideback, and Hideo Kuze in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Individual Eleven
The GITS connection continues with his nemesis Lucretia, whose Japanese voice is provided by Atsuko Tanaka, better known to English ears as leading lady Motoko Kusanagi. Meanwhile, the scheming Roman leader Glaber is voiced in Japanese by Jin Yamanoi, heard by anime fans most recently playing Lucio in Darker than Black. And Spartacus’s fellow revolutionaries, Oenomaus and Crixus, are played in Japanese by Kenji Nomura (Yami Llargo from Bleach), and Shunsuke Sakuya (Ryo Utagawa from Bleach, and Sakon/Ukon from Naruto).
Spartacus: Vengeance starts tonight on Sky1 in the UK. Friday 27th January 2012
Matt Kamen on why the Shogun must go on….
 In the world we know, the Tokugawa Shogunate lost power in 1868, at which point the capital changed name from Edo to Tokyo. In the world of Akira Suzuki's Samurai Girls, the course of Japan’s history took a significantly different path. The shogunate still exists into the present day, and the nation of Great Japan is still largely isolated from foreign nations. Instead of developing technologically, samurai still rule the day, right down to the school level.
At a school where the children of military families train in the way of the sword, the council mercilessly oppresses the student body. Muneakira Yagyu is one such student, tired of the bullying power plays of the upperclassmen and accidental founder of a rebellion that will have repurcussions far outside of the school’s walls. Luckily, he has the ability to ‘upgrade’ any female into a Master Samurai with a mere kiss, bequeathing them near-superhuman abilities in the process. With a rapidly expanding army of super-powered babes, the movement might just stand a chance!
While real history was markedly different, Samurai Girls takes a lot of inspiration from the actual figures in the 15th-16th centuries, when the Tokugawa Shogunate rose to power. Muneakira himself is based on Munenori Yagyu, who brought the Yagyu New Shadow School of swordsmanship to Edo. Though the school trained many in the style Munenori’s father Muneyoshi had mastered, it’s generally not believed kissing the teacher had any beneficial effect.
Muneakira’s first recruit to the cause is the similarly named but unrelated Jubei Yagyu. In the series, she switches from a gentle, childish innocent to a furious, almost demonic warrior when powered up by a kiss from Muneakira. The name Jubei Yagyu should be familiar to long-time anime fans, as the original samurai has been the inspiration for the likes of Ninja Scroll, Ninja Resurrection and even a light-hearted parody, Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl. The real world Jubei was the son of Munenori, and though actual records of his life are few and far between, he is popularly regarded as something of a Robin Hood figure, rebellious and protecting the common man from the excesses of a corrupt upper class.
Muneakira’s second Master Samurai is Yukimura Sanada, a 15-year-old who favours giant battle fans that she uses as both a shield and a tool to manipulate the wind. When powered up, her powers rage out of control but, unlike Jubei, can transform on her own accord. Her historical  namesake was the opposite of her unrestrained nature, known as a keen tactician who led small armies to victory over much larger forces. At one point known as the greatest warrior in Japan, Sanada would die in combat during the Siege of Osaka in 1615, beheaded following a brutal battle.
Many other characters in Samurai Girls take their origins from other pivotal figures of the period – lightning-powered Sen Tokugawa is named for an actual Tokugawa princess, while her retainer Hattori Hanzo shares a name with another lauded warrior. So while the series may well indulge in fanservice to a fair degree, there’s nothing to stop you getting a history lesson out of it at the same time!
Samurai Girls is out on UK DVD from Manga Entertainment. Wednesday 25th January 2012
Definitely don't try this at home
Click on the image to see it full size. Visit the Know Your Anime website for the whole archives.
Monday 23rd January 2012
Andrew Osmond visits the Suginami Anime Museum
 The chances are that many anime fans who visit Tokyo – even those who know their way round every maid café and dojinshi dive – may have overlooked the Suginami Anime Museum. It’s certainly a modest establishment, far smaller than some of Tokyo’s anime and manga megastores, and it doesn’t have the cachet of, say, the Ghibli Museum. Nonetheless, it’s well worth a visit and its location on the same JR line as the Ghibli establishment (just a few stops down the track), means you could easily take in both in a one-day double-bill. And if that doesn’t encourage you, then the Suginami Museum is free!
 The museum “starts” on the third floor of a larger building – as anyone who’s been to Tokyo knows, one building will typically house umpteen different establishments. The first level features a delightful “timeline” display of anime history, featuring a succession of four TV sets showing anime clips, with both the TVs and anime getting newer with time. Festooned with vintage merchandise, the display gives you a snapshot history of how Japanese viewers experienced anime, as it evolved from a cute kids’ diversion into a multi-stranded medium.
 A wall displays the signatures of dozens of anime luminaries, and there are antique animation toys for anyone wanting a spin of the Praxinoscope. There’s also a series of displays showing “How to Produce Animation.” This is a simple but useful walkthrough of the anime production process (English translations provided), including notes on anime’s changing tools, such as the introduction of paperless drawing tablets. It’s further enlivened by a video-screen guide to animation principles hosted by Astro Boy; a booth where visitors can try dubbing an anime scene for themselves; and mock-ups of workspaces of anime legends such as Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino.
 At present, though, the museum is focusing on the decade-old film Jin-Roh, a dark alternate-world drama released by Production IG. This is a temporary exhibit; the museum has three or four each year, based around themes, characters or creators. Jin-Roh is topical because its director, Hiroyuki Okiura, has just completed a new, very different, film. Letter to Momo has already started rolling out at film festivals such as October’s Scotland Loves Anime, and it comes to Japan in April.
There isn’t much on Momo in the museum , unfortunately – just a poster and a few character designs. However, there’s plenty on Jin-Roh as you climb to the second level: background art, key frames, character sheets, and an oversized model trooper. The oddest tribute to Okiura’s film, though, is on the top floor, where you find a very cute exhibit of Red Riding Hood pictures, drawn by child visitors to the museum – Jin-Roh revolved round a much grimmer version of the fairy tale. The Jin-Roh film itself is sometimes screened in the museum’s own compact theatre, with a 150-inch screen.
But the real heart of the Sugnami museum is its library, opposite the cinema on the middle floor. If you can read Japanese, then there are anime books galore, and even if you’re not, there are one or two in English if you look hard. And there are also DVDs, gazillions of them that you can watch on site, drawn from the whole spectrum of anime history. Not just anime but world animation, from Czechoslovakia to Aardman. Whether you want to watch Speed Grapher or Heidi, Gatchaman or Princess Knight, they’re all here. True, they’re mostly unsubbed, but it’s hard to imagine a pleasanter environment in which to browse vintage anime, exploring the decades in the country where the medium was born.
The Suginami Animation Museum is near Ogikubo station on the JR Chuo Line (the station is also on the Marunochi subway line).
Friday 20th January 2012
Ryosuke Takahashi on the golden age of anime...
 “Osamu Tezuka was… well, 99% of the time he was a nice guy. At Mushi Production he’d say to us: ‘ You’re creatives! Go and create, draw your hearts' desire.’ So we’d draw whatever we wanted and we’d be nearly finished, and then he’d say: ‘ No! Do it again!’
“We worked so hard. There would be times when we wouldn’t even go home. But we all had footrests under our desks, and you could put your coat on it and use it as a pillow. There was one time when I crawled under my table, just to get a little nap. I opened my eyes, and saw that Tezuka was sleeping under the next desk.
“Tezuka was the life and soul of Mushi. Mushi without Tezuka was like North Korea without Kim Jong-il. It fell apart.
“The Sunrise studio was founded by people who had been middle managers at Mushi, who’d seen what went wrong. At Mushi Pro, the animators were on a salary; in a sense, it didn’t matter if they worked or not and many abused that system. A lot of them had no sense of loyalty; they’d be freelancing for Toei under the desks, and at Toei, they’d be freelancing for Mushi! At Sunrise, everyone got paid for what they did.
“You ask me what the difference was between Mushi and Sunrise. Largely, it was that Tezuka wasn’t there. He had a real faith in artists and animators. The trouble with artists and animators, is that they often don’t like to work! Artists weren’t salaried at Sunrise. They had to produce work in order to get paid, and that made a big difference. All the companies in the 1970s were set up, to some extent, in reaction to the failure of Mushi, but it was only Sunrise that perfected it.
“Toy tie-ins were important to them. They had Yoshiyuki Tomino working on Gundam. If Tomino is a star, then I’m… well, I guess I’m just a street lamp! They said to me: ‘ Gundam has done well for us; we want something like Gundam, but different. We don’t much care what it’s about, just make sure there are robots in it!’
 “ Gundam had robots fighting, but they were in space. They didn’t really have to touch the ground. My earlier Fang of the Sun Dougram had robots fighting on the ground, but they were big, stompy, slow machines. For Armored Trooper Votoms, I wanted something faster. I made them smaller. I put skates on their feet. That wasn’t about budget; that was so they could really zip around. Then one of my animators suggested that we could get them to slalom, like they were skiing… and we were off!
Of course, toys became even more important. In the 1990s, a lot of the founders of Sunrise were approaching retirement. In order to protect their staff, they sold their interests in the company to one of their clients: Bandai. It kept everyone out of trouble.
“The ‘Japanese’ animation business today sustains maybe seven thousand employees in Japan, but maybe another fourteen thousand outside it, in Vietnam, Taiwan, China and other places. I teach three days a week, at the Osaka University of Arts. I teach the students how to make entertainment animation. By which I mean commercial stuff. Not art-house cartoons, but animation that they can actually make a living on: anime that can actually help them survive! I don’t have time to write a book. I am 68 years old and professors retire at 70. Maybe then I’ll write down my experiences in the industry. Maybe…
“I’ve got a place in the countryside. It’s a little house out in the middle of nature. What do I do there? Absolutely nothing! Drink a little whisky, walk around dressed like a British gentleman… Play golf. I look out in the garden, and I think it could do with a little statuette of a nature spirit. A Moomin or something like that. Yes, I worked on the Moomins, too.
"Why did I do it? I did it to survive!" (laughs)
Ryosuke Takahashi was talking to Jonathan Clements at the Scotland Loves Anime film festival. Wednesday 18th January 2012
Daniel Robson plays Studio Ghibli’s new PS3 game
The first time Studio Ghibli boss Hayao Miyazaki allowed a developer to make a game based on one of his films, the gently haunting Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, Technopolis Soft turned it into a shooter. That was also the last time Studio Ghibli boss Hayao Miyazaki allowed a developer to make a game based on one of his films.
Ni no Kuni, however, is different. Level5, fast becoming Japan’s most important games company, understands anime – its Inazuma Eleven game series has spawned a huge anime, which in turn sent the game’s profile into the stratosphere, and the forthcoming Youkai Watch will follow a similar strategy.
But more importantly, Level5 knows what younger kids want (its other franchises include Professor Layton and Little Battlers), and it can certainly handle a high-profile RPG ( Dragon Quest VIII and IX). So with Level5 president Akihiro Hino ready to write a brand new adventure game for Nintendo DS and PlayStation 3, no wonder the bigwigs at Ghibli (if not Miyazaki himself) felt encouraged to dip their toe back into the corrupting world of videogames.
Ni no Kuni tells the story of Oliver, a young orphan in the fictional American town of Hotroit. Distraught at the death of his mother, he clings tightly to a doll she had made for him and weeps – and his tears transform the doll into Shizuku, a fast-talking, gruff little pixie with a lantern hanging from his nose. Shizuku whisks Oliver away to Ni no Kuni, or the Second Land, on a magical mission to defeat evil sorcerer Jabo and bring Oliver’s mum back to life.
 The references are everywhere. Surreal creatures straight out of Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke inhabit this world as friends and foes, with the half-cat citizens of kingdom of Goronel recalling those in The Cat Returns. The idealised European architecture of Kiki’s Delivery Service informs that kingdom, too, while other artwork brings to life locations similar to those in My Neighbour Totoro and Porco Rosso. Ghibli’s star composer Joe Hisaishi provides a stirring orchestral soundtrack.
The voice acting, too, is of top standard, with excellent vocal work courtesy of such big names as Mikako Tabe, Arata Furuta and Masami Nagasawa.
Level5 brings to the table a deep and involving RPG structure, with a complex turn-based battle system to delight the hardcore gamers and enough side quests to keep you going for dozens of extra hours. But on top of that, it also invokes the spirit of Professor Layton, with gentle but fiendish family-friendly puzzles scattered throughout the game. Oliver must complete various trials on his journey through Ni no Kuni that tax his mind as well as his muscles.
 When the game begins, Shizuku teaches Oliver some basic magic tricks that the player can implement either in battle or on the field – the first being a warp from Hotroit to Ni no Kuni. As the game progresses, so do Oliver’s magic skills – various characters you encounter will teach new spells that help attack, heal, unlock and solve. The game comes with a hardcover Magic Master book (no word yet whether this will be translated for overseas, as you also get a digital version in the game) that beautifully illustrates these incantations, and sometimes you need to leaf through its pages to solve a puzzle. It’s like Harry Potter without the teenage angst.
Sunday 15th January 2012
Rayna Denison gets lost in the Studio Ghibli Museum
“Let’s Get Lost Together!” said the first brochures for the Studio Ghibli Art Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. Fans were invited to wander the halls of the purpose-built, Miyazaki-designed spaces. Indeed, only the entrance into the Museum follows a defined pathway, where your pre-purchased ticket is exchanged for a new ticket made of framed cels from a Ghibli movie. But once you’ve walked down the curving staircase to the main foyer, you are free to explore any way you like (though you probably won’t actually get lost).
 Going to the Art Museum is fundamentally like watching a Ghibli film – full of unexpected cul-de-sacs, intricately rendered details and beautiful imagery married to obvious commercialism. The Museum offers a good mix of exhibits that should please fans of all ages: there’s a permanent, children-only, giant fluffy Catbus (from My Neighbour Totoro) on the way to a roof-top garden featuring a large Laputa robot; there’s a cinema showing exclusive short films by Ghibli (these tend to have little dialogue, but come with no subtitles at all) and, being a Museum, there are also permanent and temporary exhibitions.
Make no mistake, this is not a theme park. Yes, the short films are perhaps more child-oriented than Ghibli’s feature films and, yes, the food is child-friendly. But, this is an Art Museum. It even has a book shop. Such a status is most obvious in the History of Animation exhibit, where you can see Ghibli-fied versions of the zoetrope and can watch Ghibli film reels on animated movement or human evolution whirring through old-fashioned machinery. There is also a permanent, and hugely romantic (the less charitable might say unrealistic), homage to the animator’s process, featuring cluttered workspaces and sketches from Ghibli’s most famous films.  There are occasional moments that wouldn’t make it past a Disneyland designer – like the wall murals showing the all-male key animation staff, separated from their all-female supporting colourist counterparts. This aside, the details displayed are gorgeous, from popular characters depicted in stained glass, to specially designed tiles in the bathrooms, to the Mama Aiuto ( Laputa again) shop.
While children have been playing on the Catbus since the Museum opened in 2001, now, for the first time ever, grown-ups can sit themselves inside their own life-sized Catbus in the Museum’s current special exhibition, “The View from the Catbus.” The special exhibitions change regularly, and often centre around Ghibli’s latest films or companies with whom Ghibli has important relationships, like Pixar. This current exhibition is all about Ghibli’s background art, which is brought to life, literally, in dioramas, making it possible to sprawl inside a Catbus, to pretend to eat noodles like Chihiro’s parents in Spirited Away, or to imagine yourself making hats like Sophie in Howl’s Moving Castle.
Foreign fans get preferential treatment before they reach the Ghibli Museum. Japanese tickets (from the Lawson convenience stores) are time-limited, whereas we can buy tickets from MyBus London that allow us to stay all day if we want. However, a morning or afternoon should do the trick for most. If you want food at the Museum, the lunchtime queues are long at the Straw Hat Café, so try to dine off-peak. And though there is little actual danger of getting lost while ambling along the well-signed (and Totoro adorned) 15-minute route from Mitaka train station, a lot of visitors take the yellow bus from a special stand in front of the station, which costs an additional 200yen (one way) on top of the 1000yen (roughly £10) adult entry fee.
The Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Japan is open 10:00-18:00, and is closed every Tuesday. |
|
