Mind Game

Nishi is a failed manga writer, and he meets up with his one true love, Myon, who has marriage on her mind (but with another guy). What starts off as an innocent meeting between old friends quickly turns into a psychedelic extravaganza, filled with violence, sex, love, redemption, and so much more. Mind Game is a wild ride, and one that takes unexpected detours both in the storyline - a good part of the film sees the characters trapped inside a giant whale - and with the animated techniques used in the film. As is often the case, it was based on a manga of the same name, by Robin Nishi (suggesting that the manga and film might be in part autobiographical, as unlikely as that would seem).

The film - from Studio 4°C (Katsuhiro Otomo's Memories, Spriggan) and directed by Masaaki Yuasa - is quick to hit you over the head with its manic pace. We're immediately propelled into an accelerated history of interactions between most of the major characters who will be introduced later on. If a bit disorienting, it does prepare us for what is yet to come: a wild and wacky ride, with run-ins that include a multitude of weirdos, all trying to out-strange one another. Although violent, it's filled with black humor, sharing the same dark yet comical vibe of films like Katsuhito Ishii's Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl. A near-death experience is followed by an intense chase that brings the characters to the unexpected stay inside the belly of a whale. There, the pace slows down a bit, with Nishi and company spending time discovering themselves in what can only be described as a dream-like setting. Never boring, the film keeps taking us to places that we just couldn't imagine seeing.

It also manages to keep us in a constant state of restlessness with its innovative use of animation. Beautifully animated for the most part - with a slightly crude look, if that makes any sense - there are selected moments that veer from the standard look of the film. We sometimes get short glimpses of the actors voicing the characters (where we recognize the popular Tomohiro Yamaguchi of the DonDokoDon comedy duo). If a bit unsettling at first, it does make sense in the context of the scene, happening during extreme sequences to help illustrate what is going on. It's nice to see a film taking chances like this, and although it might not have broken any box office records during its theatrical release last summer, it did get some critical attention - it recently won the Nobuo Ofuji award at the prestigious annual Mainichi Film Concours. Well worth a look.

It would be easy to dismiss Fullmetal Alchemist as your average shonen (young boy) animated series, which you might do if you based your opinion solely on the show's cartoony look and its popularity with the younger set. In fact the show, which is based on a manga of the same name by Hiromu Arakawa, features a dark setting that sees two boys learning the hard facts about the people they interact with in their adventures. It tells the story of two young brothers, Alphonse and Edward, living in a world where alchemy is a reality. After the death of their mother the boys learn about the downsides and dangers of this practice the hard way - trying to bring their mother back to life, Edward loses an arm and a leg, and Alphonse his entire body. Edward manages to put the soul of Alphonse in a giant suit of armor, and once equipped with some prosthetic limbs (mechanical at that) they head out on a quest to try to rectify things.

Some of the scenes and confrontations are rather graphic, which serves as an interesting contrast to the typical silliness of the day-to-day events they also experience. Depicting life's hard lessons in a frank manner, it's not what you'd expect from most popular adventure series - Eiichiro Oda's One Piece comes to mind. Fullmetal Alchemist is composed of 51 episodes (it came to an end late last year), which are getting released on DVD both here and in America (where it's also airing on the Cartoon Network).

It seems that no column is complete without mentioning Samurai Champloo. Making its long-awaited return to BS Fuji a couple of weeks ago with a very strong episode, it looks like the hiatus has done nothing to slow down the momentum of the series. It's interesting to note that the show is heading more and more into the realm of satire, with its obvious allusions to modern aspects of Japanese society to help illustrate certain obstacles that the characters must face as they move along on their journey. Episode 18 saw dueling graffiti gangs go at it in the midst of a Harajuku-like section of the city (Ura-Edo), at which point they were approached by a certain Warholian lover of art. In the world of French comics, the late Rene Goscinny was a true master of this kind of storytelling with his Asterix & Obelix, as well as Lucky Luke, series, and it's nice to see it done again, this time in anime.

With all of the success garnered by Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (an American theatrical release has been set for June 10), it shouldn't come as a surprise that Studio Ghibli is already preparing a sequel to the film. Big Circus Show is actually going to be just what its name indicates, some sort of circus that will be presented as an exhibition at Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art. Set to start in late April and run for 100 days, the show will see the characters of the film turned into puppets in the midst of a gigantic recreation of Howl's city. Sounds like an interesting experiment by the folks at Ghibli, almost guaranteed to be something special, if the very popular Ghibli Museum is anything to go by.

And speaking of the Ghibli Museum, work has begun on three new shorts to be shown there, with the storyboards all done by Miyazaki himself. Whether he will end up directing them or not is still up in the air.

Gonzo Studios (Last Exile, Samurai 7) have launched a website to promote their next big project. Referred to as Solty, there is still no info on what the series will be about, but the site promises an update in March. The promotional image they have up suggests some sort of Victorian setting, with sci-fi undertones.