Major Post 15 – Kimetsu No Yaiba / Demon Slayer

Posted on by Thang Tsz Ching, Janelle

Our class mainly focused animation from before but can we also appreciate how animation/anime from Japan has become now?

I think the best anime made recently is Kimetsu No Yaiba/Demon Slayer. In a world full of Oni or demons, bloodthirsty monsters that looked somewhat like a human with supernatural power, a family is attacked by demons and only two members survive, Tanjiro and his sister Nezuko, who is turning into a demon slowly. Tanjiro sets out to become a demon slayer to avenge his family and hopefully to find a cure for his sister. Not only the story plot is extremely exciting, the animation in this anime is very smooth and the amount of effects and element animations are insanely good.

Animating water is a very complex. In 3D animation production, water or liquid is always a challenge towards the studio even to professionals.

Tanjiro is a demon slayer so he will get quests for him to complete, slaying demons. He met Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira during quests and they became a team and friends. One time they have to go into the mountains to fight one of the strongest 12 demons under Muzan’s lead. Zenitsu and Inosuke were wounded and couldn’t battle anymore, left with Tanjiro and Nezuko to finish their job and save them from danger. All the episodes of the anime are well-made but that final fight scene in the mountain was jawing, all the camera angle, the actions and elements

animation.

This is my favourite part.

Major Post 14 – True meaning of Spirited away?

Posted on by Thang Tsz Ching, Janelle

Spirited Away is another Ghibli Studio film directed by Hayao Miyazaki once again that I like.
The story is about the girl Chihiro followed her parents to move to a new home but strayed into another world by accident. Both parents became pigs because of greed, eating the food from restaurants that are not opened yet. Chihiro has to experience various tests and dangers, with the help of Bailong to survive in this dimension of Yaokai and rescue her parents.

I thought I understood the film but I might be not. I read an article about the hidden meanings and symbols about Spirited Away, I was blew away from what I have read.

The movie is about a girl wandered into an unknown fantasy world, she has to find a way to escape. However the article said, it wasn’t the girl wandered into the unknown world, she was sent into this weird fantasy place by her parents. The hot spring hotel was actually depicting a hooker house. The young girl was sold away by her parents to be a young female hooker. This is why the parents became pigs, not only because of greed to “free products” but greed to money, abandoning their children, sending her to an “unknown fantasy world”.

In the film, most of the workers of the hot spring hotel are female and the customers came to the hotel are creatures wearing wealthy, royal uniforms or they could be called “gods”. This is a depiction of the old times of Japan when war happened, a lot of peasants were extremely poor, selling their children away to work, war or services was a common thing to do.

One of the most shocking part to me is when the scene, a river god was polluted by garbage so Chihiro had to clean him up, that was her first job to do in the hotel too. I thought it was talking about pollution we did to river but instead…that part was talking about a young hooker’s first service to her first customer…I won’t say in details, if you understand what that means then you understand, if you don’t, it is ok, you don’t have to, really.

I cannot unseen what I have read from that article, no matter if it is true or coincidence. I can’t watch this film Spirited Away with a pure soul anymore.

Major Post 13 – Princess Mononoke

Posted on by Thang Tsz Ching, Janelle

During the class talking about Japanese animation, Princess Mononoke was mentioned. I am very happy Professor Jake loves the movie as I do. When I was young, I love animals and monsters so watching the film as a kid, I fell deeply in love with it but my main focus was just the creatures : White wolves, boars, the boar king, especially the Great Forest God which looks like a Kirin.

When I grew older, I started to understand what the plot is about, I love it even more. I could re-watch it multiple times without getting bored. However, now, I still love the movie but finds it very depressing.

The meaning behind the movie can be known as Mankind against the Nature. What is greed and pride of mankind? The film shows it loud and clear. Human used to live with the Nature, we use whatever the Nature provides and keep the balance. In the movie, people that worship or respect the gods of Nature is the symbol of the action. And then there are those who built and developed stronger military to fight against other human which involved destruction of forests. The surface of the story may seems to be an anger of gods, seek revenge towards mankind but the deeper meaning is that yes, we are destroying the Nature, Nature will “take revenge” upon us, global warming & climate changes etc that would affect us, but what’s up with these anyways? Mankind still lives through and move on. The head of the Great Forest God has been returned, it still got killed in the end. Mankind still won the war. This is a little hopeless thoughts from Hayao Miyazaki.

Major Post 12 – One Piece

Posted on by Thang Tsz Ching, Janelle

An old classic both comic and anime series that I love and still going on for over 10 years now, One Piece, created by Eiichiro Oda. The plot is very simple and straight. It is about an new era of pirates started by the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, claimed that his ultimate treasure, One Piece is hidden somewhere in the ocean before his execution in the public. People around the globe wanted that unlimited gold and precious treasures to become rich forever so they went towards the sea and become pirates, population of pirates sharply rises.
The story is talking about Luffy, a young man set sails to become pirate in this golden era, compete to get the treasure One Piece. During his adventure, he met a lot of friends and enemies. He met Roronoa Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Vinsmoke Sanji, Tony Tony Chopper, Nico Robin, Franky, Brook and Jimbei to become a pirate crew that shook the world and gained the most awareness in most of the time.

My dad and I once discussed on how did One Piece came so far and still not ending yet. We concluded that because Oda chose the best theme to talk with, the ocean. It seems to be nothing and a common theme but if you think more about it, even in the modern days, we have only discovered a few percent of the sea( both surface and undersea ) and over 70% of the earth is covered by the ocean. We have such limited knowledge about the ocean so Oda chose the theme ocean. Anything could happen on and in the ocean, we never know so we imagine what would the ocean be like after more discoveries, that’s what Oda did. This is why until One Piece is found, the story could go on forever if Oda wanted to, with his creative imagination and huge settings for this manga.

Major Post 09 – Beastars

Posted on by Thang Tsz Ching, Janelle

Last month in October, an new anime series released in Japan called Beastars. I haven’t watched the newest episodes yet and I don’t want to spoil myself too much but basically the story is about a wolf in school life.

The settings of the story : Animals replaced humans. Animals walked on two legs and behave like humans. The beginning of the series is happened at school so the students are all kinds of animals from giraffes to mice, lions to foxes, wearing in uniforms. The world has a strict rule of no hunting. The world has developed new food for carnivores so they won’t starve. Even though there is a rule, in between predators and preys, bias still stands.

At the beginning of series, an accident happened, a herbivore got killed by a carnivore. Preys are all afraid and have arguments with the other predator students. The student who got killed was a member of drama club. They are going to perform live at school very soon. They continued to practice under this pressured atmosphere.

I do not want to spoil myself so this is where I stopped and what I knew so far. The series is still going on, it is a pretty interesting story plot.
Its opening is made with a very unique style that is not seen very much in other anime openings : stop-motion.
I am pretty sure this is stop-motion but there were parts of liquid flowing down, it looked very smooth. I wonder if it is made with resin or some sorts of transparent glue? Or was this not a stop-motion at all, or traditional stop-motion mixed with CGI.
( The video ended with a sharp twist, I think Professor Jake, you will like it xD. )

Major Blog Post 15 – Japanese animation “Naruto”

Posted on by Wendy Kong

As I mentioned before, Naruto is my favourite Japanese animation ever. I watched it when I was 14, it is the first time that I watched an anime. I fell in love with the story and characters of Naruto right away.

Naruto is a Japanese manga series illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto which published in 1997. It presents the story of Uzumaki Naruto, a teenage ninja dreaming to be the leader of his village, Hokage one day. He has a pretty sad childhood because he grew up without his parent and everyone in his village is avoid him there is a monster insider his body. It is also the reason why he want to be Hokage, he longs for friends and recognition from his people. No matter how many obstacles he had faced, he never gives up. At last, his hard work paid off. At the same time, Naruto’s best friend who is also his opponent, Uchiha Sasuke has a bad childhood memory as well because his beloved older brother killed every people in his family including their parents. He tried so hard to become stronger so he can have his revenge on his older brother. Naruto and Sasuke shared the same sadness, but they picked a different path. Even though Sasuke followed the villain because he is blinded by hatred, Naruto never give up on him.

The story of Naruto is exciting as there are lots of fighting scenes. It also reflects the Japanese culture of Ninja. It is positive because it shows how people work hard on their dreams and never give up. It is touching and heart-melted as it shows how people values their relationships or bonding with each others. It had a huge influence on me when I was a teenager. I think it helps me to be a better person because I learned so many valuable lessons from Naruto. To be honest, some of the story plots of Naruto are just so touching that I used to cry at nights when I was watching. I introduced it to my roommates whose bed was next to me. At night, we just watch Naruto separately (as we were in different episode) but we cried at the same time…I love every single characters in Naruto including the villains. In Naruto, most of the villains had been through their own pain and sorrow which I feel sad for them too.

I really recommend everyone to watch Naruto if you haven’t watch it. It is the No.1 anime in my heart for all time.❤️❤️(I watched the 700 episodes for 5 time plus the manga series🙈🙈)

naruto memes - Never Pause Wote Wat Naruto
ireland - I Don'T Always Die, But Wheni Do \ I Don'T qurkmeme.com

Wendy Kong

Major Post 14: Old japanimation

Posted on by Sammy Liu

First Generation of Animators in Japan
Which includes Seitaro Kitayama, Oten Shinokawa, and Jun’ichi Kouchi.
They mostly worked with cut-out, silhouettes due to limited budget and had to work efficiently if they wanted to gain profit. Noburo Ofuji, Jun’ichi’s apprentice was also an influential animator, similarly primarily working with cut-outs.

During the war around 1930s, propaganda films were often featured. Animation was a tool for political controversy, to educate and to spread news about the war. in Momotaro (1918) by Seitaro Kitayama showcased a “war hero” character to encourage and build people’s hope. It was also a first to be shown on TV abroad.

After the war around the 1940s, another rising animator, Kenzo Masaoka, who explored cel-animation production founded Nihon Douga, which is now known as Toei Douga. He made Kumo to Chulip (1943), which was delightful to watch. It had sweet old japanese nursery songs that kept it engaging, and a simple story plot.

Major Post 14 – Satoshi Kon

Posted on by Julia Reymundo

Another great influence to Japanese animation is Satoshi Kon. He was born on October 12, 1963 in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. He was a Japanese film director, animator. screenwriter and manga artist. He was a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA). He graduated from Musashino Art University with a degree in Graphic Design. Sadly, he passed away on August 24, 2010, at the age of 46, because of pancreatic cancer. Which robbbed cinema of one of the greatest thought-provoking artist. He was also mentioned on the Fond Farewells portion in TIMEs People of The Year 2010. He has made iconic films like Tokyo Godfathers (2003) and Paprika (2006). I will talk about the other films that were not mentioned in the powerpoint.

Satoshi owes the success of Akira (1988) for the start of his career. He first started out as a manga illustrator, but transferred mediums as he wanted to create animated films. Madhouse studios was the main studio that produced his films. His first film was released in 1998, called Perfect Blue. This was a suspense story about a pop idol dealing with a stalker, and the hardships of being an Idol.

Millenium Actress was released on 2001 and it centers around a former actress. With a movie studio being torn down, a TV interviewer and his cameraman meet a former actress and travel through her memories and career.

Satoshi Kon’s films have a universal theme, Distorted Love. In Perfect Blue, the obvious sign of this was from the stalker fan who wanted to cause harm to Mima, the main character, from all the “distress” her career caused him. Another less obvious one, comes from the feelings of the Mima’s agent, Rumi. Rumi was obsessed with the image of Mima the idol that she takes it upon herself to actually become Mima, referring to herself as “The Real Mima.” Millenial Actress’ distorted love is chasing after a lover long gone. Tokyo Godfathers distorted love focuses on a mother who had lost her child, so she desires any child to lover her as a mother.

It is interesting to what was in the mind of Satoshi Kon and how he depicted and explored social stigmas and the human psyche, which showed how complex life is. His work has been gritty and intense and he does not stay away from mature subject matters. His work will always be the middle ground between ‘cartoons’ and reality.

Julia Reymundo

Major Blog Post 12- Japanese Animation and Hunter x Hunter

Posted on by Wendy Kong

Japanese anime dominates the animation in Asia. I grew up with Doraemon, Keroro, they gave me a lot of laughter after school every day. I remember I was sad when one of the cast pasts away, I felt like it is never going to be the same, I never watched it since then. When I got older, I started watching a few anime including Naruto, One piece, Dragon Ball and Hunter x Hunter..etc. My favourite anime is Naruto for sure but I would like to talk about Hunter x Hunter because it is a good show but less people may saw it.

Hunter x Hunter started as a manga series and produced in animation form in 2011. In fact, many Japanese animation is created based on a manga. It is very inspiring that it’s about a kid, Gon chases his father, who abandoned Gon to his friend’s household and pursued his own dream. While he was going after his father, he met some friends who have great impact to his life. At the same time, the anime talks about their friendships a lot, including conflicts, respect, the one I liked most is “friends always get your back”. I felt like all them can relate to myself in reality, they also let me know how to be a better friend. My favorite character is Killua, he is super cool but he was messed up because of his family. I liked the part that he tries to overcome the adversity for keeping the friendship with Gon. The part I like most was Killua rescued his brother, who is also messed up because of the family. This anime is highly recommended!

Image result for hunter x hunter
Image result for naruto good

Wendy Kong

Major Post 14: Tadahito Mochiaga

Posted on by LeAnn Schmitt

 

Today in class we discussed Japanese animation. However, between the discussion of the amazing 2d animation of Hayao Miyazaki and Tezuka Osamu Professor Zhang mentioned one man that I had never heard of before. That man was Tadahito Mochiaga. It found him very interesting since in my preliminary research for this post I found that he holds the unique pleasure of being one of the only artists to have worked in both the Chinese and Japanese animation industry.

Tadahito Mochiaga  pioneered Japanese stop motion animation and is best known for working with MOM Productions. This Japan based studio was regularly outsourced by American directors, like Arthur Rankin Jr., to do the animations for their various films and commercials. He was an animation supervision on one of my favorite holiday stop motion movies “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” as well as a very interesting film called Mad Monster Party?. I will link the trailer below. The animation in it seems much more seamless and life like compared to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.

LeAnn Schmitt