Iwa ni Hana

[Announcement] Kon Satoshi's new anime 'Yume-miru Kikai (夢みる機械)'

So the word is out that Kon Satoshi's new anime is entitled Yume-miru Kikai, or 'Dreaming Machine'. The details on this are scant but it is said that the anime is to be a 'future folklore story for children'. 

The artstyle, like that of Yuasa Masaaki's upcoming Kaiba, seems to be Tezuka-inspired. This retro artstyle would seem to be a curious choice if the anime were truly aimed at young children of today - my guess is that it is probably aimed at nostalgic adults as well. In fact, the whole description of 'future folklore story for children' is something of a paradox. A folklore by definition is a traditional, archetypal story that is part of the collective memory of a people. How can there be a 'future folklore' before the future is here? It seems to be an ambitious endeavour on the part of Master Kon to write the history of the future.

Rewatching Kon Satoshi's 'Millennium Actress': An Analysis

I rewatched Millennium Actress over the weekend (see my previous post from over a year ago here), and was amazed all over again at how great an animated film it is. Certainly it is a film one gets more out of with every viewing, and here is what I got out of it this time:

[Massive spoilers ahead]

1) The thing about this movie is that you are never sure what you see is:

i) A real movie Chiyoko has starred in;
ii) A subjective fantasy Chiyoko experienced;
iii) The historical/objective reality Chiyoko experienced

For example, the scene where she chases after the painter. We know that it was something that veritably happened in Chiyoko's real life. But we also learn that the same scenario later appears in a movie she starred in.

This is fair enough, as movie plots may well be some sort of recycling bin of real-life cliches. But as you follow her in those surreal footages, you realize that there seems to be some sort of wish-fulfillment, fears, premonitions and forebodings that must have welled up from within her mind. For example:

Kon Satoshi at JAM 2007: 'Internationalization destroys anime culture'

I wrote earlier that Kon Satoshi was to make a speech at JAM 2007 on the future of anime as he perceives it as an animator. Sure enough, he is quoted in the press. Below is my translation of a quote from him that appeared in this news article:

We do not have to aim for internationalization like Hollywood. If we produce standardized average works that anybody likes, we would be destroying anime culture with our own hands.
(ハリウッドのように世界展開を目指す必要はない。誰でもおいしく食べられるように作品を平均化するとアニメ文化を自分の手で壊すことになる)

Of course this quote may have been taken out of context. What I had trouble translating was sekai tenkai (世界展開). Taken at its literal meaning, it means 'global development,' but I think 'internationalization' is a suitable synonym.

Which begs the question: If Director Kon is merely unhappy with making anime that is liked by 'anybody,' wouldn't the right word be 'popularization'? Does he really mean by 'internationalization' that catering to the overseas market marks the downfall of anime? That anime should somehow retain its uniqueness by being of Japanese, by Japanese, for Japanese? If so, it seems odd that it is Kon Satoshi making this statement. If anything, he is one of the most 'internationalized' directors out there.

I know he may have referred to 'internationalization like Hollywood' as an example, but the title of the news story does read 'internationalization destroys anime culture' - so skeptical as I am as to the news story's faithfulness, he may have in fact said much more to that effect.

I may be reading too much into this, but this seems to be a typical way of expressing criticism of an internal problem in Japan if you don't want to make enemies: you soften the tone by laying the blame chiefly on outsiders (read: foreigners).

I wish I could find a full transcript of his speech somewhere online for clarification.

Two bits of news related to Kon Satoshi and Ikeda Riyoko

I came by the news that Director Kon Satoshi is to speak about the past, present and future of anime from the point-of-view of an anime creator at JAM 2007. I came by this news at a Chinese anime portal, actually. I had a quick look at the official website JAM 2007 but did not find any related info:

ttp://www.jam-anime.jp/top.html

At the same Chinese anime portal, I also came by the news that manga artist Ikeda Riyoko is to adapt a Korean period drama called Taiousijinki 太王四神記 into manga:

ttp://www.nifty.com/taiousijinki/

To be precise, it is going to be a type of manga called gekiga 劇画. Basically, gekiga is just serious manga with characters that are drawn realistically.

Perhaps I have been living under a stone but I thought Ikeda-sensei has retired for many years already... On the whole, I can't say that K-drama appeals to me, and I am not really getting my hopes up on Ikeda-sense's gekiga...

More on the films of Kon Satoshi: 'Millennium Key'

Someone has done an even better job at dissecting Kon Satoshi's Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers. You can watch it on Youtube here:

Millennium Key (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

Be sure to check out the discussion of mystical level, the magical level and the mundane level in the structure of Millennium Actress in Part 5.

'Millennium Actress (千年女優)' by Kon Satoshi (今敏)

I rewatched Director Kon Satoshi's 今敏 Millennium Actress 千年女優 over the new year. If you have not seen it, many a review on the internet would do a better job of introducing this animated film to you. As usual, I will just go about commenting on it in my desultory way:

First of all, the idea that anticipation of or longing for something is better than its realization or fullfillment is wonderfully captured in the following dialogue between the Man with the Key 鍵の君 and Chiyoko (the heroine):

「満月。」
「満月は明日だな。でも僕はこの時のつきが一番好きだ。満月なら、次の日からかけってしまう。１４日の月には、まだ明日がある、明日という希望が。」
('The full moon.'
'The full moon comes tomorrow. But I like the moon at this time best. The full moon begins the wane from the next day, but there is a tomorrow to the moon on the fourteenth. The hope that is tomorrow.)

This is the idea that runs throughout the whole animated film, and I am sure that idea has a long pedigree in traditional Japanese aesthetics. Before I return to this point, I would like to mention in passing the ubiquitous crane in the film:

i) It is on the blue screen of Chiyoko's living room.

ii) It is also on the other wall in the same living room.

iii) There is is again in an old photo of Chiyoko as a baby.

iv) And in a photo of her as a child.

v) In a scene from one of Chiyoko's 'films'.

vi) And again -

vii) And again -

The crane, as we know, is Japan's national bird. It is also a fitting symbol in the context of the plot in that:

i) In fables, it is said that a crane has the lifespan of a thousand years, which refers to the 'millennium' 千年 part of the title.

ii) It is a symbol of fidelity as cranes are said to have only one mate in their lives.

iii) It is a popular symbol of peace in the post-war period.

Anyway, so what is Chiyoko's soul journey about? The Chiyoko in real life chases after a man whose name she does not know and whose face she has gradually come to forget as she ages. The only thing she knows about him is that he is a painter wanted by the secret police. In their all-too-brief time together, he gives her a key to a suitcase which is said to hold something that is most important. She asks him to wait till tomorrow (ie. the full moon) to tell her what that thing is. But of course, before they get a chance to meet again, he already has to run off because the police has managed to traced his whereabouts. Chiyoko never sees him again. But in the course of her life, she comes to understand that that 'important thing' is.

The Chiyoko in films is likewise always chasing after a man. I would like to call that man her animus. He is like a spearhead that stirs her to activitiy - a spirit that gives her direction and passion in her art. Whoever the Man with the Key may have been, over the years he has become more of a soul-image rather than a real person in Chiyoko's psyche. Her art blossoms because of that soul-image. As for that 'important thing' - I believe it isn't love per se, but the idea that it is better to long for something than possessing what you long for. As Chiyoko says at the end of the film:

だって、あたし、あの人を追いかけるのがあたしは好きなんだもん。
After all, it is the chasing after him that I really love.

Kudos to Director Kon for expressing this aesthetic concept (extremely dear to me) through such an engaging and magnificently directed animated film.

'Tokyo Godfathers (東京ゴッドファーザーズ)' by Kon Satoshi (今敏)

I re-watched Tokyo Godfathers over the Christmas holidays (a most suitable fare it was). I watched it for the first time about two years ago and here are a few things I didn't notice in the first go:

1) Much pain has obviously taken with posters or else public signs in this animated movie. If you look carefully at the opening sequence, you will even see two posters of Director Kon Satoshi's previous works, Perfect Blue パーフェクト・ブルー and Millennium Actress 千年女優:

And then you just have to marvel at the subtle jokes embedded in certain posters in certain scenes. Take the scene below, for example. The poster in the background is a cram school ad which says:

まわりとハッキリ差がつく
英才予備校
入学者随時募集中
('To stand out from the crowd
Elite Preparatory School
Now accepting new pupils')

As you can see, our three homeless protagonists stand out from the crowd in the sense that they are not absorbed in staring at their mobile phones (which they don't have) or reading materials such as books or newspapers (which they never bother with). On top of being a subtle joke, it also serves to emphasize how the trio is disconnected from Society as it is known in Japan at large (世間体).

Then there are the election posters at the scene where the trio encounters a gang boss. It is more or less an understood fact that political parties and crime syndicates are bed fellows in Japan. And there we have a gang boss stuck under the weight of his car being helped by three homeless bums. I could hardly think it is an accident that election posters are chosen as background decoration for this scene.

On a related note - in constrast with posters in public space, there is never a lack of personal photos in the interior of private space. Even at the very beginning of the film, we have a fleeting glimpse a photo of Hana and her (or should we say 'his') ex-boyfriend in the background (there is never a superfluous detail in a Kon Satoshi anime).

And then here again at the home of a Spanish-speaking woman who is likewise an outsider to Society:

And at the drag queen club, likewise populated by those on the margins of society:

The reason why I bring this up is because at the end, Hana and the baby 'Kiyoko' is saved by hanging onto a banner (as well as a timely breeze which makes a parachute of the banner).  I have not been able to make out every word on the three banners hanging on that building, but I am pretty sure that they are New Year greetings.   

The public  posters (tiresome though their messages may sometimes be) are messages from all corners of society that invite response. The posters are symbolic of an invisible  network between individuals in a society and their interdependence on each other. In saving a child, the trio 'return' to that network from which they have been disassociated (they are invited to be godfathers of 'Kiyoko' and are reunited with their respective families), and it is a fitting metaphor that Hana should be saved by a banner.

2) I like the haiku poems Hana recites. I believe they are original poetry:

 

Hana gives me the impression of being almost a wandering minstrel (吟遊楽人) when she (or 'he') recites those poems, which are occasional poems - in other words poems that come forth spontaneously at the call of an occasion, which is just what I believe poetry should be (as opposed to, say, locking yourself up in your room to angst over something entirely imaginary).

3) And then there are the amazingly life-like graphics that almost fool you as being photography:

4) If I haven't said it before, I will say it again - Tokyo Godfathers has my unreserved recommendation. Even the script with its seamless symmetry is a masterpiece in itself. One could go on and on about all its Biblical references of the Three Magi and the Annunciation and so forth (perhaps this is something I will eventually get around to discuss at some point).

And by way of wrapping this up - the great Kon Satoshi has released a new anime called Paprika. You can read more about it here.