Mimi Wo Sumaseba

During the weekend I was able to get hold of a copy of another movie from Ghibli Studios. The animation movies from Hayao Miyazaki’s studio are always worth watching, visually they are stunning and their stories interesting – it effectively leads the viewer to unconventional and pleasantly surprising twist and turn.

The latest Ghibli movie I was able to watch was Mimi Wo Sumaseba (1995) or Whisper of the Heart (1995). Its not the latest Ghibli movie but it is refreshing. This particular Ghibli tale was adapted from a shojo manga by Aoi Hiragi, it was adapted for anime by Hayao Miyazaki (who wrote the screenplay) and directed by Yoshifumi Kondo.

The tale centres on the young girl, who goes by the name of Shizuku (Tsukishima Shizuku). At the onset of the story Shizuku is in the middle of taking a series of entrance exams for high school (?). However, unlike her friends, who are busy cramming, Shizuku is occupying her time reading as much books as possible and translating a popular country song. Roads for a school presentation. The bookworm Shizuku notices that the books she has borrowed from the local library has also been borrowed by someone named Seiji (Amasawa Seiji). This realization and subsequent serendipitous events propels Shizuku into an adventure of self-discovery and love.

Fans of Shojo manga would be familiar with the plot. And it seems somewhat predictable, but its not. The developments of the characters are interesting and will hold one tantalized to story, begging the question what next?

The film shows that Ghibli can produce an anime based in the reality of Japanese life and at the same time maintain the dulcet tone of its stories. Not to mention it was effective in co-opting a popular song and make it one in spirit with the anime.

For Ghibli fans look out for oblique references to other Ghibli animes. Clue: the town itself points to another Ghibli movie, look at the landscape.

For an anime ninety-nine percent devoid of fantastic creatures this is an interesting and touching tale. Not a tearjerker, not even a feel good anime but it is guaranteed to make you sigh and remember the journey of self-discovery, self-realization and love we all went through.

Mimi wo sumaseba (Whisper of the Heart)1995
Directed by Yoshifumi Kondo; Based on the shojo manga of Aoi Hiragi; Screenplay written by Hayao Miyazaki. Cast: Youko Honna, Kazuo Takahashi et al

Mazin Go!

Last Wednesday I spent the day with my nephews. My sister had to work and their yaya had the day off. So I volunteered my services, I had around eight days of vacation leaves left and decided to use one for that day.

The morning activity was easily done a quick trip to the grocery to buy the day’s repast. A couple of pizza bread, tomato sauce and quick melt cheese and we were in business.

After lunch, the three of us settled down to watch a few of the episodes of Mazinger Z. This was the first time I was able to watch Mazinger Z after Marcos banned it along with the other Japanese robot shows, like Voltes V and Daimos. The animation was a little bit outdated (It is an old cartoon) and the dubbing seemed less than perfect. Yet, the cartoon was still entertaining. The opening theme song is still nice to the ear. It is the type of song that enters your head and despite understanding only five percent of the words it gets imprinted in your memory. I think its one of those mecha stories that had a good opening and ending theme.

What surprised me is that nephews loved it. Why do the kids like it? Is it because the story line is more linear than your usual robo anime? No twists and no family entanglements present in Voltes V. Is it because of the fight between Manzinger Z and the robots of Dr Hell? (I pity the Japanese city where the fight occurs, after the 3rd episode it should be reduced to rubbles) Is it because they can identify with the brashness of the hero Koji Kabuto? Is there anything as cool as being Koji Kabuto, a Mazinger pilot. Or can they sense similarities of the characters with those surrounding them – I hope I am not identified as Baron Ashler or Baron Ashura. Maybe it’s the peppering of quirky characters around the series.

Whatever it is they like the show. Maybe for the same reasons I always liked the show. Voltes V was great but there were times when it was a little bit overdramatic and let us no go Daimos, which suffered from an overdose of sentimentality. Mazinger Z had its moments but everything was fluid on more than one occasion there were really funny moments. The series was not above ridiculing its heroes, heroines and villains.

A quick check on the web showed the popularity of Mazinger Z and a quick browse through Wikepedia showed the influence of Mazinger Z in the present day set of mecha heroes. It would seem that Mazinger Z provided the template for most of the mecha stories we are seeing today – Mecha created to protect mankind: an orphaned hero; a superpowerful robot empowered with advance technology or enhanced with a secret element created by a father or a father figure who disappears at the beginningof the series; the evil mad scientist aiming to rule the world with his army of mechas; his equally evil yet bumbling assistant; and a cast of comical and noble characters supporting the hero.

This is one of Go Nagai’s greatest works. Mazin Go!

Is as useful as cupping a corpse

I have never outgrown my interest in animation. If I can I try to watch all cartoon films shown. The only cartoons I stay away from are the uber-saccharin ones. They have never been my cup of tea. No Care Bears and no Care Bear Stares for me, no thank you.

Last night, I found myself queuing to get a ticket for Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride. The film ticket cost me around ninety-nine pesos, a sign that the movie houses will not extend the film’s commercial run. It would be probably lucky if it goes beyond Sunday.

Tim Burton is one director fond of using stop motion animation. I believe his best work in this field of animation was his film A Nightmare Before Christmas.

The present movie does not stray away from the previous work animation of Burton. The setting is still Gothic with a thin overlay of the operatic. Actually it reminds me of a set from any of the films from Hammer, except that this was in cartoon version. The hero of this movie is a rake thin groom who got himself in a pickle by accidentally marrying the corpse bride. Most of Tim Burton’s heroes are rake thin anti-heroes cut from the mold of most characters by Vincent Price, although with a less than sinister bent. Burton did use Price in his movie Edward Scissorhands as the creator of Edward, who was played by Johnny Depp (the stellar star of what is increasingly becoming the Tim Burton’s acting troupe, which include Helena Bonham Carter and Christopher Lee). Depp was in Edward Scissor Hands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, and played Willy Wonka in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.

Burton likes his horror icons, you have to give credit to the guy. If Tarantino is well-versed in Asian films and films from the 1970s Burton is probably the lore-master of horror movies from the 1930s to the present. He has in a way treated gently and well maybe venerated a lot of the old actors from Roger Corman’s and Hammer Films production. People like Vincent Price and Christopher Lee. If Peter Lorre and Peter Cushing were alive he probably would have made films with them as well.

I like nearly all of Tim Burton’s movie, with the exception of his take on the Charlton Heston classic Planet of the Apes.

Unfortunately, the movie does pales before Burton’s other similar-veined enterprise, the film A Nightmare Before Christmas. The story of the Corpse Bride was predictable; one could see where the story would go ten minutes into the film and the film’s music was weak; it tended to be repetitive, established no character and ultimately boring – clearly the touch of Danny Elfman was needed in this picture. There were nice moments in the film, I personally like the use of a Peter Lorre voice for the worm character and the use of Christopher Lee’s stentorian voice to that of the Preacher/Priest in the story, the role reversal for Lee, who is known for playing Count Dracula in the Hammer Horror films, was an utter delight. And visually of course it was flawless. Plus, the homage with the Harryhausen piano was nice. Ultimately though, the film’s lack of panache and theatrics did it in and became as animated as the first word in its title.

It is a technically competent made film handicapped with an ultra-mundane storyline and plot. An interesting look-see for animation fans but not much for anyone else.

Full Cast and Crew for
Corpse Bride (2005)

Directed by
Tim Burton
Mike Johnson

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
John August, Pamela Pettler & Caroline Thompson

Cast(Voice):

Johnny Depp …. Victor Van Dort
Helena Bonham Carter …. Corpse Bride
Emily Watson …. Victoria Everglot
Tracey Ullman …. Nell Van Dort/Hildegarde
Paul Whitehouse …. William Van Dort/Mayhew/Paul The Head Waiter
Joanna Lumley …. Maudeline Everglot
Albert Finney …. Finnis Everglot
Richard E. Grant …. Barkis Bittern
Christopher Lee …. Pastor Galswells
Michael Gough …. Elder Gutknecht
Jane Horrocks …. Black Widow Spider/Mrs. Plum
Enn Reitel …. Maggot/Town Crier
Deep Roy …. General Bonesapart
Danny Elfman …. Bonejangles
Stephen Ballantyne …. Emil
Lisa Kay …. Solemn Village Boy