Cormier Perfect Blue

So this week, we watched Perfect Blue and I have to say that it's up there with Akira. Even though it was really confusing at times, it was really enjoyable even with outrageous comments and laughter in the background. I have to say that one of the most interesting characters to me was Me-Mania. First of all, his appearance is just atrocious and if I ever saw someone like that in a dark alley I'd be GONE. His dead-looking eye and his chipped teeth just make him look beyond creepy. In a way he's like the perfect stalker. His obsession with Mima's pop idol image leads him to believe that he is her and he makes the diary webpage where he claims to be her. This, in addition to Rumi's murders and imitations of pop idol Mima, drives Mima crazy and leads her to question what's real and what isn't. He kind of despises Mima's new image as an actress and goes out of his way to destroy it to get "revenge" for pop idol Mima. If that makes any sense. Though we didn't touch on it in class, was I the only one who thought that Me-Mania's voice was also really creepy?

SO GROSS!! 

Another really horrible aspect of the anime was the rape scene. It's hard to watch something like that and keep a straight face, but sometimes the rape scenes, violence, and gore really contribute to the film as a whole because it just shows the seriousness behind what the characters are going through as the plot develops. Especially in this case because right after the rape scene, Mima really starts to lose her sense of self and her innocence. I haven't seen all of Black Swan except for the 20 minutes we saw in class (I really want to finish watching it though), but from what I know about the movie, Nina starts to lose her innocence with her portrayal of the Black Swan right? The similarities between Nina and Mima such as their professions in the arts, names, and loss of innocence are really interesting. Black Swan may be like an updated version of Perfect Blue!

Perfect Blue/Black Swan movie poster!

Cormier Botchan and Student Days

So between Botchan and Student Days, I wasn't too fond of either of them. But they both have interesting elements that incorporate the Japanese school system. In Student Days, it's clear that education is everything to the Japanese. The students spend hours studying and even stress themselves out for college entrance exams. However, to me, it also seems that some of the students lose morale after studying for exams, only to fail them and be denied admission, such as Kenkichi's friends, who eventually give up or just leave the examination. Even worse is Kenkichi's eventual suicide due to his failure of the exams and Sumiko's rejection.

About Sumiko, she was just horrible. The way she led Kenkichi on and on then went for Kenji! I swear, if the setting for Student Days was in America it would've ended totally different! Kenji would've been hospitalized and Sumiko would've been slapped at the very least. This kind of makes me feel like Kenkichi was a weakling, but the Japanese have different morals regarding personal behavior. But anyway, her eventual "dumping" of him makes me wonder what it takes for a girl to like a guy in Japan. Because it seemed like Sumiko just ran with the winning team. In this case, Kenji.

Botchan and Student Days DVD cover

 However, in Botchan the hierarchies amongst teachers are obvious. Red Shirt and Buffoon clearly the two at the top of the hierarchy, with teachers like Hotta (Porcupine) in the middle, and others like Botchan and Koga (Weakling) at the bottom. And to keep everyone in their place, Red Shirt and Buffoon make sure that no one "overthrows" them even though they're the most corrupt characters in the anime. Because they're higher up in the hierarchy, they feel that rules and standards don't apply to them. Which "allows" Red Shirt to see the geisha and to revoke her engagement to Koga. I've experienced similar things in my high school where AP's (assistant principals) have a level of authority over teachers and even reprimand them for not following certain "procedures." It's really ridiculous to me because it seems like the second someone gets even a shred of power, they abuse it. But I guess that's just life :/

Cormier Ninja Scroll

In Ninja Scroll, the main character, Juubei, is a skilled and wandering swordsman. Even though certain parts of the anime were kind of unnecessary to me, I feel that Juubei's sense of morality is noteworthy and even applaudable compared to the other characters in the anime. Such as when he chooses not to sleep with Kagero, he shows a sense of selflessness. Even though he's dying from the poison, he doesn't use Kagero's body for his own personal gain or advantage because he feels that it isn't right and that he'd be using her. I don't know why, but I kind of find this to be very "gentlemanly." The word chivalrous doesn't really fit Juubei!


Juubei with his cool hat and awesome samurai sword!

 I feel as if morality plays a huge part in Ninja Scroll. Not only with Juubei but with other characters such as Dakuan. Dakuan, in a way, is the opposite of Juubei. His overall intentions may be good, such as defeating the 8 demons and stopping the Shogun of the Dark, but his means of achieving success are not always the best ways. Dakuan himself is very greedy (as seen when he reveals the piece of gold he had stolen) and even tells Juubei to forget about Kagero after she is kidnapped. His methods of achieving in the end are kind of underhanded to me.

The addition of the demons in the anime was also pretty interesting to me. From the really creepy oni who deserved his unfortunate end to the explosion woman, the demons just made the film. I really didn't enjoy snake woman though. I'm phobic. I didn't even watch her scenes because they were just disturbing. I also found the hornet man to be pretty disgusting. Just imaging a hornet's nest on someone's back makes me itchy. It looked like something you would see on snopes.com. However, Zakuro, or explosion woman, was really cool. It was interesting to see how she was so determined to gain Yurimaru, the bishonen's, affection when it was clear that he wasn't interested in her or any other woman. And in her revenge, she was the reason for his death. I guess love kills. Like someone in class mentioned, she also had a REALLY cool outfit.

Best female character, Zakuro!

Cormier Akira

So Akira is the first anime I've seen in YEARS. Haha. So overall, I'm happy that I enjoyed it. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. Akira, out of all the characters in the anime, I think is the hardest to describe. To me, Akira seemed to be a human boy that was creation itself. I think it's possible that he was the cause of the nuclear explosed that happened in 1988 and in a way, Tetsuo became the new Akira. If that makes any sense.

There were a lot of thematic elements in Akira including adolescence and rebellion. Like we mentioned in class, the bicycle gangs are something that the teenagers identify themeselves through. In a place like Neo Tokyo where there doesn't seem to be many freedoms or even a sense of love between people, it's understandable that teenagers, especially, would come together to form some kind of compansionship to escape from loneliness or hardship. Tetsuo himself is like the weakling of his gang and both before and after his powers develop, he continuously tries to prove himself and his strength. Such as when he and his gang are pursing the Clowns, Tetsuo continues to chase after them even when Kaneda and the others have stopped. His action of "heroism" actually results in his kidnapping. Also, the government has censored the media and reacts violently against protestors, most of them adolescents.

Kaneda from Akira wielding a weapon

The government's use of genetic engineering has also stripped people of their freedoms including the three mutant children and Tetsuo. Though the General in the anime states that maybe it was wrong of the government to disturb or change nature, he still doesn't regret his decisions of using science to his advantage because he feels that it is necessary. This is kind of reminiscent of certain governments in the past and even today that have passed certain laws or permitted certain things to go on in their countries that may negatively impact groups of people but are still needed for the "greater good" of everyone.

Cormier Introduction

So, my name is Hillary. Honestly, I haven't really been into anime since my freshman year of high school. I've always been a fan of Fruits Basket, but not too many other series. I'm more into the art style than the actual animes themselves, so forgive me if I don't really know anything anime related. The only thing I've seen recently is Evangelion (I really don't know when it was released or what number in the series it was). To make up for that in some way, I'm a huge fan of J-Pop :) I've been in love with Ayumi Hamasaki, BoA, and Namie Amuro since the 8th grade and really like the rap duos like Bennie K and Heartsdales. I also draw in anime style, though I've been trying to deviate from it a little. I adore the character designs of Final Fantasy (all of em) and thank God that Capcom brought the awesomeness that is Phoenix Wright to the U.S. Aside from that, I also like Korean music, Wonder Woman, Lupe Fiasco, and the color pink. I feel like that's everything moderately relevant to this blog that's okay to type here. So...Happy Blogging to you all.