Video Backlog: “Isao Takahata and His Tale of the Princess Kaguya”

Publisher: StudioCanal (UK)
Format: Region 2 DVD, PAL, Japanese Dialogue with English Subtitles
Length: 86 minutes
Production Date: 2013
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

About a month or so ago, Madman Entertainment rereleased the entire back catalogue of Studio Ghibli films to cinemas. There was a lot of interesting stuff, all of which I had on DVD or blu-ray and I really couldn’t be arsed watching any of them again for $20 a pop in the cinema. I mean, essentially it’s just a digital projection of a blu-ray. Why would I bother? One title caught my eye however; “Isao Takahata and His Tale of the Princess Kaguya”, a documentary on his 2013 film, most likely his last. I looked around to see if it was available on home video. Luckily it had been released as a standalone DVD in the UK, sourced from the US release where it was only available as an extra to the film. This documentary serves as companion piece to Mami Sunada’s “The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness”, which was made at the same time and documented the making of Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Wind Rises”.

Isao Takahata is essentially the other half of Studio Ghibli. Often ignored, even by fans of the studio, over the last 50 years he has directed some truly interesting works, the TV series “3000 Leagues in Search of Mother” and his brilliant theatrical debut “Horus: Prince of the Sun” being my two favourites in his filmography. He’s been no slouch at Ghibli either directing “Grave of the Fireflies”, “Only Yesterday”, “Pom Poko” and “My Neighbours the Yamadas”. Unfortunately many have just broke even or were box office bombs, most notably “Yamadas”. He’s almost the antithesis of Hayao Miyazaki in regards to his films. Takahata’s films are generally more down to earth and realistic, while Miyazaki’s are flights of fancy.

The film strangely begins mid production with an off camera interviewer asking an exhausted Takahata what his film is about. He responds that no director knows what their film is about and seems despondent. We then back track to 2011 where Takahata and his long suffering producer, Yoshiaki Nishimura, are at a table read for the film with voice actors Aki Asakura, Kengo Kora, Nobuko Miyamoto and Takeo Chii. Unusual for a Japanese animated film, the voice acting will be recorded first, then the animators will animate to the performances, much like western animation. However Takeo Chii is having trouble getting into character and does his lines numerous times before Takahata is satisfied. It must be noted that production on the film takes so long that Chii tragically dies nearly a year and half before the film is released to theatres.

In an interview with Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki, he confirms Miyazaki’s claim in “The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness” that due to the production of ‎“My Neighbours the Yamadas” in 1999, the studio was in utter chaos, mainly because that film wasn’t a traditional cel animated film and a large chunk of the staff didn’t have any work to do. A new studio, Ghibli 7 Studio, was created in order to create Takahata’s movie. Takahata explains he no longer wanted to cel based animation and “Yamadas”, done in a water colour style using computer and drawn animation, was in response to that. Later the film crew follow Yoshiaki Nishimura who tells the documentary makers he took almost seven years to convince Takahata to make another film. From his description it sounded like seven years of non-stop polite badgering.

But things are going quite badly on the production front. The animators are finding rather difficult to envision Takahata’s world for the film as it requires a light touch with sketchy, almost undefined lines. Takahata himself is extremely fastidious literally adjusting the colour setting on every single cut in the film, over 1,400 of them. We also learn that amusingly Takahata can’t draw. He gets his ideas through to people by writing and explaining them in detail. While both his film and Miyazaki’s are due for a simultaneous release in summer 2013, it becomes obvious to all that Takahata is not going to make it. In a late 2012 press conference, Toshio Suzuki announces the delay. Before the end of the year with not much progress made and more worryingly the storyboards remaining unfinished, Nishimura decides the production can no longer go on. He dismisses the staff over the Christmas and New Year’s period and practically forces Takahata and his storyboard artist to finish up. If he doesn’t, the animators cannot finish their work.

The third year of production begins and there is still a quarter of the film which hasn’t even been animated yet. Regardless Takahata begins to think about music and hires long time Ghibli collaborator Joe Hisaishi to work on the score. Things go mostly smoothly until the climax of the film. With only a couple of months before the release date, Takahata decides to completely reanimate a flying sequence, causing just about everyone to tear their hair out, if they haven’t done so already.

This documentary was originally a two part special called “Isao Takahata and His Tale of The Princess Kaguya ~Ghibli 7 Studio, Legend of 933 Days~”, which aired on the pay satellite TV station WOWOW in late 2013. It was later released on home video by Walt Disney Japan, however in a reedited and expanded format of just over 200 minutes, which honestly seems like overkill. The two directors, Akira Miki and Hidekazu Satou, haven’t done much of note in their careers as far as I can tell. However for the most part it’s a reasonably well done documentary, though not up to the standard of Mami Sunada’s “The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness”.

While Takahata is conspicuous in his absence in that film, in this documentary one scene actually shows him going to Miyazaki’s studio where he asks him how production on “The Wind Rises” is going. Miyazaki then casually asks him for advice on a cut showing a record player. A second scene has himself, Miyazaki and Suzuki in Miyazaki’s office casually chatting. It’s hilarious to think there are more shots of Miyazaki in this documentary than there is of Takahata in “Kingdom”. I think Mami Sunada really downplayed Takahata’s presence in the production of “The Wind Rises”, and portrayed him as a problem for the studio. Watching this doco, it seems that perhaps that depiction of him was overblown. Later in the film as Miyazaki announces his retirement at a press conference, Takahata quips that directors shouldn’t announce their retirement. He seems truly perplexed why Miyazaki would do such a thing and even refused to attend the press conference, even though he was invited.

While I think the documentary does a pretty decent job of chronicling the ups and downs of the production of the film, there are some really frustrating parts to it. For example there are two sequences where director Akira Miki interviews Takahata while he is riding a bike and the camera is placed in strange angles, including in the bike’s basket. A third interview is conducted while walking in the rain with the camera almost held upward to the sky. I understand that this doco was probably done on the cheap, however I thought that these scenes could have been intercut with other footage to make it look more professional not amateurish. About mid-way through the second part of the documentary, things start to get a bit dull, which is a shame. The one thing which stands out loud and clear is Takahata is absolute perfectionist, but possibly at the detriment of his own films.

StudioCanal’s DVD is really bare bones. All the English subtitles and titles are matted onto the video; there’s no “soft subs” at all. I suspect this doco sourced from whatever materials GKIDS in the US released. It seems to be a clean copy (i.e. free of Japanese text and titles) with all the translation laid over top. They could have been clever here and edited it so it was one program rather than two. For some bizarre reason they have chosen not to and credits appear half way through the DVD as part one ends. The video itself has a number of glaring NTSC to PAL conversion issues, which you’d think would be non-existent in modern video production. The menu is pretty bare bones with only a "play feature" function and scene selection. There are no extras whatsoever.

Overall this is a pretty good documentary and a really nice companion piece to “The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness”. However it’s certainly not as well produced or as well made as that film. It's also not worthy of a theatrical release in my opinion (as Madman did). Regardless it’s an interesting look into the other director at Studio Ghibli whom many fans unfairly overlook. 6.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: Eight TV series, four OVAs and three movies. In addition I am also waiting for additional parts of four TV series and two movies to be released before viewing them.

Roaming Around Japan: Robot Restaurant

English language pamphlet

I’ve previously talked about Shinjuku, one of my favourite places to stay when I go to Tokyo because the fact it’s so central and also due to the amount electrical, music and department chain stores. The other unavoidable part of Shinjuku is the area’s notorious red light district; Kabukicho. While English speaking Youtubers seem to paint the area as the dodgiest place on the planet, in truth it is probably the most benign red light district in the world. I suspect the red light districts in the countries of origin of those Youtubers are from are far, far more dangerous than Kabukicho at its worst. I still find it bizarre that touts will immediately leave you alone if you tell them “No thank you” to their Engrishy “Japanese girl? Sex?”. They don’t put up any fight at all. I mean, you probably should proceed with caution if venturing to any of the bars in the area (you’ll have a more satisfying experience at Golden Gai, only short walk down the road if you’re interested in a decent bar) but generally it’s a safe area.

In recent years there has been a push to make the area safe and even family friendly. The Hotel Gracery and Toho Cinema which features a life sized Godzilla head and claw sticking out of the building began operation in 2015, which brought in crowds not necessarily there for the adult entertainment. Prior to that, the infamous Robot Restaurant began trading in July 2012. While some of the reviews on holiday sites from some western patrons bizarrely focus on the restaurant aspect of the establishment, it’s patiently obvious the main (and only) drawcard is the utterly absurd and over the top cabaret show with robots, showgirls and a neon light covered tank.

A lot of the early western commentary on the Robot Restaurant speculated that was run by local Yakuza or it was set up as money laundering outfit due to the alleged exorbitant start-up cost of ¥10 billion yen (about $100 million). Even now there is scant information written in English about the origins and owner of the place. But a cursory search brings up the real owner of the Robot Restaurant; Keiichi Morishita, who owns the relatively unknown company (in the west at least), Shinjuku Soft. Morishita made his fortune from two very Japanese sex industry niches; first, Telephone Clubs where customers would come in to a private room in the club where they would receive a call from a woman and proceed to have phone sex or arrange a liaison at a local love motel, and secondly Koshitsu Video stores. Meaning “private room video”, these are places where you can rent a porn video, go into a private room and, ahem, do your business. They can be found everywhere in urban Japan and are easy to spot (in fact one of Shinjuku Soft’s Koshitsu Video stores is right next to the Robot Restaurant).

Things have changed a lot with the Robot Restaurant over the last five years, including the show itself, but I’ll be giving you my experience of the show when I went to it in March 2013. Back then you either had to get a ticket from the box office in Kabukicho or ring up and book. I stupidly rang up. I knew little in the way of Japanese and winged it. Somehow I managed to book a session in the early evening which cost me ¥4,000 (currently ¥8,000 plus an additional ¥1,000 for a meal). They ring you about an hour before the show starts to make sure you’re coming and lay down the ground rules; no sunglasses, no tattoos, no wigs and no cosplay (essentially they didn’t want people to hide their identity for some reason).

Once you arrive, a dinosaur and two robots great you at the front as well as a chatty English speaking spruiker who’s used to tourists. The doorman looks like a freaking yakuza, but seemed friendly enough. You are ushered to the payment area and pay up where they also have lockers for your belongings.

As you can see, the waiting room is really tastefully done and understated with an overabundance of chrome, LEDs, neon and video screens covering all the walls, the floor and ceiling assaulting your senses. You are given a choice of menu set A or B convenience store-like bento boxes and a bottle of green tea. Alcohol is extra. After about half an hour wait you are guided down a set of stairs crammed with LEDs and into the performance area.

In the performance area, seating is either side with LEDs, neon and large banks of TV screens behind the audience’s seats.  On either side of the stage is a large lantern with dragons, peacoks and snake characters, similar to ones you’d see at a tanabata festival, as well as a couple of the “fembots”. These large rideable robots with controllable facial expressions and breasts (yes, the breasts move) are controlled by two of the dancers. They’ll make a prominent appearance later. They’re also used as promotional items and can often been seen on a flatbed truck roaming around Shinjuku advertising the Robot Restaurant. Though it is currently considered as a gaudy entertainment for foreign tourists, when I went the audience was mostly Japanese; a few salary men, some who looked quite bored, a group of elderly men who sat in front of me and loved every minute of it, and numerous couples or small groups of people. Including myself, three western tourists were there; some guy who came with a Japanese friend and a woman in her twenties who came by herself.

The entertainment opens with the Josen Drum and Dance segment. From what I understand Josen are a dance group specially formed for the restaurant. I think Josen means “woman warrior” or words to that effect, and that theme is pretty prevalent throughout the night. Compared with the following segments, this section is pretty tame with lots of dancing and banging on wadaiko (traditional Japanese drums). At one point there’s a flag waved about with “Woman Warrior” written on it. That flag makes several appearances and the concept is a prominent feature during the evening. Who knew women warriors wore such skimpy clothing?

Next was a brass band routine with the dancers wearing skimpy clothing (bit of a theme during the evening) with the entire routine an obvious nod to Alex Gaudino’s 2007 music video “Destination Calabria”;

Of note is the Robot Restaurant’s use of Kuroko during routine changes. These are stagehands which are normally seen in in traditional Japanese theatre, who dress all in black with a face covering. They really amused a couple sitting next to me. Unfortunately as the stage was really dark I could not get a really good photo of any of the Kuroko. During set ups for following routines, video will occasionally play on the video screens. One video segment included some of the dancers out on an expensive looking cruiser soaking up the sun out on Tokyo bay. Next was the insanity laden robot battle, which began with a dinosaur breaking through a wooden gate. This instantly evolved (or devolved) into a fight with a robot;

Then a Kung Fu Panda-esqe guy in a panda suit came to do battle with the robots;

Next up, why not a sort of female Captain America (apparently called Cutey Honey according the accompanying graphic on the video screens) with a shield, hammer and flail?;

And another robot joins in and finally two cave girls on a dinosaur enter;

The cave girls are finally declared winners by the emcee. Unfortunately the robot dinosaur conked out as it left the arena and was unceremoniously pushed and dragged offstage much to the amusement of the audience. That segment was probably the most insane thing I have ever witnessed. Next up are the fembots, operated by a dancer, with a second dancer on top revving the audience up;

In total four roamed the performance space. Mid way through, audience members were invited to climb aboard and control the fembots. The following sequence saw scientists bring on large chrome robots which begin to dance. Later smaller robots come on and a few female dancers. Eventually they preform to Psy’s “Gangnam Style”;

Then it was time for the finale with a written pre-warning for the three westerners in the audience;

This utterly insane finale had scantily clad girls riding around on a circuit above the audience's heads (whom you could high five as they went past), a neon covered bomber and tank, bikes, lasers, smoke and bubble machines. With all of this insanity set to the sounds of the 1990's video game franchise “Sakura Wars” theme song "Attack! Imperial Floral Assault Team";

Admittedly I thought a lot of the women were pretty cute, and they even smiled and waived while I was filming on my camera. Yes, I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. After the performance, we were ushered upstairs and outside. Personally I think it was really worth the ¥4,000 I paid. It’s utterly nuts and really fun and kitschy. It has been suggested that it was intentionally made for foreigners in mind and deliberately plays up the orientalism aspect. In other words it’s deliberately weird in a way that plays up the misconceptions westerners have about Japan; it’s strange, full of technological marvels etc. To a degree this is true and most likely what they were aiming for. There’s also the unavoidable theme of nationalism, specifically militaristic nationalism, which was especially prevalent throughout the finale, which could turn people off. However you just can’t deny that it’s over an hour of well-done entertainment, even if it is utterly over the top and doesn’t make an iota of sense.

Over the years the segments have evolved or changed completely, with a de-emphasis on the scantily clad showgirls. Parents can even bring their children along which seems utterly bizarre. I just can't imagine parents saying; "Hey kids, let’s go to the red light district and see some scantily clad women dancers and robots!". When this establishment first opened, there was little in the way of English speaking staff. Now they seem to cater almost exclusively to the western tourist market with discount tickets being sold at major hotels and even a shuttle bus from those same hotels to the venue. I’m not too sure if changes over the years or the new segments have improved the Robot Restaurant or if it has sanitised it. I know having ladies in skimpy outfits may put off some western tourists who find it sexist, but it's in Kabukicho for god's sake. Despite the efforts over the years to make Kabukicho family friendly, it's still rather seedy. It also now costs an astronomical ¥8,000 (plus ¥1,000 for the meal, which admittedly looks a bit better than the old bento boxes they previously had). Whether or not it’s now worth it, I’m not too sure. I really don’t think I could justify spending that amount to see it again.

Next time I’ll be heading off to Asakusa and Kappabashi Street.

Anime DVDs You May Have Missed: “Midori”

Japanese Title: Shojo Tsubaki (The Camellia Girl)
Publisher: Ciné Malta (France)
Format: Region 2 DVD, PAL, Japanese Dialogue with optional English, French, Spanish, Italian and German Subtitles
Length: 49 minutes
Production Date: 1992
English Version Release Date: 18 May 2006
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Note: Originally published on the Anime Archivist blog February 2014.

There has been a number of really strange anime releases over the years, but none more so than this DVD release of “Chika Gento Gekiga: Shojo Tsubaki”, or “Underground Projected Dramatic Pictures: Camellia Girl”. This isn’t your typical anime. In fact I’d say that there is nothing else like it on the market. Unsurprisingly practically no English language anime video review or news site mentioned the title when it released on DVD. It’s not exactly something that most anime fans would be inclined to hunt down. Personally, I discovered the existence of this DVD by accident. Based upon Suehiro Maruo’s “ero guro” manga which was released  as “Mr Arashi’s Amazing Freak Show” in the US in the early 1990’s (out of print and usually sold second hand for US$90 upwards), it is truly a bizarre piece of work and is truly only recommended for those who like “esoteric” works. There’s really not much else to do but to plunge into the synopsis of the show. I will say now that if you are the tiniest bit squeamish, you might want to skip the next two paragraphs

In early 1920’s Tokyo, a young girl named Midori is forced to sell flowers in order to survive. Her mother is deathly ill and her father has run off. Her world comes tumbling down when she returns home to find her mother dead and being eaten by rats. Midori is befriended by a middle aged man who says he will take care of her. However he betrays her and forces her to work in his travelling freak show.  Not only does she have to perform on stage in an act where she bites the heads off chickens, she is routinely physically and sexually abused by the other performers. Her only escape is watching the trains go by and feeding a litter of abandoned puppies near a Shinto shrine. However the troupe’s fire eater, Kanabun, discovers what Midori is up to and viciously kills the puppies and cooks them in a stew for the other performers to eat. Coupled with her performances and the constant chores and abuse from her fellow performers, she seems to be slowly losing her mind.

The troupe is deep in the red, but a salvation appears with the arrival of a new act; a dwarf magician named Wonder Masamitsu, whose signature trick is getting himself inside and out of a glass jar. He takes an instant liking to Midori and the feelings are mutual. Midori becomes Masamitsu’s assistant on stage and quickly becomes the troupe’s draw card. The other performers become jealous and begin to terrorise Midori again. However Masamitsu uses his magic to subdue them and even manages to get them to do Midori’s chores. But Uchisute, the performing armless man of the troupe, decides that he wants to be Midori’s lover and attempts to woo her away from him. Masamitsu discovers what is going on and kills him in a fit of rage. Midori witnesses the murder and becomes frightened of him, but he persuades her not to tell the rest of the performers. Masamitsu’s dominance over Midori reaches its limit when he angrily tells off a talent scout wishing to cast her in a film. Midori is furious at him. He retaliates by placing her inside his glass jar. Later that night at the troupe’s performance Masamitsu is heckled by the crowd. In a rage using his magic, he temporarily transforms the entire audience’s bodies into grotesque shapes, which cause some to burst and their internal organs to spill out. The dwarf has had enough and leaves the company with Midori in tow. Unfortunately for the troupe, the freak show’s manager runs off with their money.

Yep, so this show isn’t exactly something you’d plonk in your DVD player and relax to. For many people it’s quite a challenging piece of work. The grotesque elements, the sexual violence and horror would quite rightly lead you to think that this film is nothing more than an exploitation piece. However the origins and the actual preferred presentation of the movie makes it something completely different.  The origins of the original manga actually come from kamishibai story telling, where a story is told by a narrator using illustrated storyboards inserted into a stage-like frame. The storyboards are removed revealing the next picture in the story. Originally a tool Buddhist monks used to convey morals to an audience, the art form was revived and popularised in the early 1920’s before falling out of favour by the end of the 1950’s. During that time, the “Camellia Girl” was a common character that regularly featured in such stories. Her story in kamishibai was pretty much the same as presented in the film; a young girl from a dirt poor family goes from selling camellias on the street to an even worse situation of being sold and forced to perform in a revue type show.

The film itself is not just a retelling of Suehiro Maruo’s manga. Director Hiroshi Harada decided not to just create the film and distribute it in cinemas as you would with normal film. Instead the film became part of a larger performance piece. I suspect this wasn’t the original intent. Harada could not find any one to fund the film, and with the subject matter a proper theatrical distribution deal would be pretty much impossible. The premiere of the film in May 1992 was held inside a giant red tent inside the grounds of the Mitake Jinja Shinto shrine in Tokyo. Inside the elaborately decorated tent, underground theatre group Aka Neko Za (Red Cat Theatre) performed stage acts similar to the freaks in the film. Fire eaters and other acts also performed. Later screenings/performances became secretive affairs with deliberately confusing flyers, cryptic signs pointing to were the performance was being held, and patrons had to enter through dark labyrinths before getting to the actual venue. During the actual screenings of the film (performances by the theatre group were either side of it), the Aka Neko Za members would throw objects (as they were thrown onscreen in the animation) into the audience and even do live sound effects. When the film toured overseas film festivals (sans elaborate live performance pieces), promotional material had director Hiroshi Harada under the pseudonym “Hisaaki Ezu”, who was “currently missing”.

The film itself had a long and drawn out production process. After being unable to secure any funding for the project, Harada, a story boarder for animation studios by trade, animated and funded the project himself in 1987. Amazingly Harada drew nearly all the 5,000 sheets of animation that make up the film himself. The project was finally completed in 1992 with the help of various people in the underground art scene including composer J. A. Seazer, whom most anime fans would be familiar with due to his distinctive work on the soundtrack for the “Revolutionary Girl Utena” TV series and movie. Due to the grotesque imagery and sexual violence in the film, 26 cuts were required by Eirin, the Japanese censorship board. Despite that, the original print of the film was later confiscated and destroyed by Japanese Customs at Narita airport after it had returned from an overseas screening.

Despite the fact that the director to a large degree deliberately made the film incredibly difficult to view, somehow French video distributor Ciné Malta managed to obtain the rights to release it on DVD in 2006. Luckily it includes English subtitles, as well as French, Spanish, Italian and German. Either Harada or Ciné Malta wanted to make this film accessible to as many people possible. This release flies the face of the fact that Harada has for more than a decade flat out refused to release the film on video before, especially in Japan. The DVD comes with a number of features including an insightful interview with Harada, a very comprehensive look at the Japanese performances pieces which involved the film, and a 16 page booklet, in both French and English. The easiest way to get the film is from Amazon.fr. However occasionally stock can be hard to come by.

Again, this is another title I have chosen to highlight that is extremely difficult to recommend to others. In fact it is on the very extreme scale of that; I don’t think any other title I have ever written about in the past or will so in the future is as difficult and challenging for viewers as this one. The first problem the film looks like a straight up low budget exploitation piece, even if you know the origins of the story. Most people wouldn’t want to sit through 49 minutes of a prepubescent girl being physically and sexually abused by a bunch of carnie freaks, animal cruelty and death, and exploding bodies amongst the other horrors it portrays, and all of it animated in a very limited and somewhat scrappy looking style. The film in this format is also divorced from the larger performance piece which I think is a problem as it was never really designed to be seen outside of that (despite the fact it has toured many film festivals). It’s also a film that I think requires a little bit of knowledge in regards to kamishibai story telling to full appreciate it. The supplementary material on the DVD does not provide much in terms of educating the viewer about this either. Overall perhaps this film really isn’t a title you can recommend to fans of anime. It most certainly has never played to an “anime crowd” and it certainly wasn’t the intent of the director. However if you are interested in alternative animation (and this film is definitely on the fringe of that) then this is a title that may interest you.

Anime On the Big Screen: “Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion”

Venue: Dendy Cinemas, Level 2, North Quarter, Canberra Centre, 148 Bunda Street, Canberra City, ACT
Date: Saturday 1 February 2014
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Format: Digital Projection, Japanese dialogue with English subtitles
Length: 115 minutes
Production Date: 2013
Currently on Home Video in English (as of writing): No (Released on Blu-ray by Aniplex of America, July 2014)

Note: Originally published on the Anime Archivist blog February 2014.

Like the first two films, “Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion” played all around the country (covering all the main capitals) in one-off screenings on a single day. Amazingly the Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne screenings were all sold out at least two days in advance. Personally I’m not a huge fan of the franchise, but as I saw the first two in the cinema I decided I might as well part with another $20 to see the concluding film. This was despite the fact the temperature was due to hit 38°C the day of the screening. I went up to the counter to exchange by printed off ticket I ordered online for the real deal, turned around and saw a table at the theatre entrance with a cosplayer dressed as Madoka hovering around. “Oh dear god…” I thought. Though I am most definitely a fan of anime, a lot of the fandom stuff I do find cringeworthy. I quickly exited Dendy to do a bit of shopping in the mall for an hour or so before the film started. Along the way I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt telling the world they partly funded “Kick-Heart” and another dude wearing a “Another” t-shirt. Then emerging from some fashion shop, a girl with coloured wig with some guy, who was wearing a samurai-like yukata type outfit with two katana strapped to his back. Amazingly no one in the mall seemed to take any notice of this spectacle.

I was aware that the bonuses Madman was giving out at cinemas (a reproduction mini autograph board and poster – see above for poster) were limited, so I went back to the cinema some 40 minutes before the screening and asked the lady at the table what the deal was. I was informed that there were only 100 mini autograph boards and posters to be given out. I knew that at least 260 tickets had been sold (more than triple the amount of the people who came to the screening of the first two films), so with around 50 people already lined up, I reluctantly got in line. Standing right next to me was a cosplayer dressed as Madoka. Yes, there were two Madokas in the cinema. As other people walked up to watch “12 Years A Slave”, “The Book Thief” or “The Wolf of Wall Street” or whatever other “normal” films were screening, most had bemused looks on their faces when confronted with the sight of a long line of weirdos. Some asked the attendant what the hell was going on.

Strangely we were let in about 30 minutes early (delays are the usual order of the day at Dendy). I got my Aniplex freebie crap and headed in. I should have realised what the deal was the with the cosplayers and the table outside. Unfortunately as with the screening of the first two films, Madman gave the job of giving out freebies and prizes to a local cosplay group who I think is associated with the ANU Anime and Gaming Society and some convention happening in May called Gammacon. Totally unannounced and a complete surprise to anyone not in their little group, they announced the winners of a scavenger hunt. Yes, because apparently the only people who wanted to go to this film were the local anime club and the jokers running the cosplay group. Why bother telling anyone else of the scavenger hunt? Yeah, “outsiders” wouldn’t want to take part, would they? It really gave me the shits. Nothing was mentioned on Madman’s Reel Anime website nor on Dendy’s. Even looking at the club’s website, their never updated twitter account or the con’s website, you’d have no warning that this stuff was happening. Of course before you’d even think of looking there you’d have to make the link that the club was giving prizes out in the first place. They did update the con’s website and Facebook page, but on the fucking morning of the screening. Yeah sorry kids, my ESP wasn’t working that day.

After that, the annoying MC decided he’d go and interview (i.e. harass) people in the audience. I think the look on my face read “fuck off or I’ll jam that microphone up your arse”, so funnily enough he didn’t bother with me. We were then subjected to 15 minutes of a cosplay competition which was just as cringe inducing as what had come before. Quite a few of the costumes were well done and a poor Mami Tomoe cosplayer fell flat on her face trying to get up on stage. Some dreadfully lame cosplay that looked liked it was thrown together in 10 minutes won. It was from some game/anime/whatever that I couldn’t identify. I really don’t get the subculture of cosplay. I really don’t. To top it all off, our clueless MC had no idea what prizes he was giving out. Is it that difficult to figure out what a movie programme is?

Finally the hired twats got off stage and the feature was about to start. However before the film there was a little pre-recorded message for overseas fans from the cast members. It was the usual stuff with the seemingly helium filled female seiyu being as saccharine and non-threatening as humanly possible.  Kaori Mizuhashi, the voice of Mami Tomoe, looked like she would literally sell her soul to be anywhere else than recording the message.

The film begins as if the events of previous two films never happened. Madoka, Homura, Sayaka, Sakura and Mami are fighting creatures called “Nightmares” which are apparently formed out of people’s negative emotions. Strangely Kyubey is mute and more animal like, but the real surprise is that Charlotte the Dessert Witch now accompanies Mami, but is referred to as Bebe by the girls. The girls have no memory of what has happened before. However Homura feels that something is amiss. During Homura’s investigations, Homura and Sayaka discover that they are unable to leave the city. Homura realises that they must be trapped in an alternate world inside a witch’s barrier. However the odd thing is that the witch obviously has no intention of harming them. Remembering details of her past, Homura concludes the suspect behind this is Bebe. However after battling Sayaka and Mami due to her rash actions, she discovers that the truth is a lot more complex and horrifying.

I can’t really write anymore about the film as I’d be spoiling the hell out of it. Right from the start, I’m going to have to say this film really has a number of problems. The first is that it’s really hard to digest it in one sitting. It’s a film that requires at least a couple of viewings. There is a lot of plot to wade through and unfortunately most of the material is conveyed to the audience in an info dump of dialogue around the 45 minute mark. The other problem I had was the fact the film doesn’t really get to the plot until the 30 minute mark. Up until that point where are treated to an amazing visual feast of the magical girls battling a “Nightmare”. There’s also what seems to be a rehash of elements of the first TV episode which shows that Madoka’s life has returned to normal. It almost looks like the same animation has been reused. I felt that a lot of this material was pretty pointless and could have been cut. All that the film need was to show that everything had mysteriously returned to “normal” to set up what was to come next. The magical girl battle against the “Nightmare” does feel rather over long and even tedious towards the end.

When the film finally gets to the actual plot, the over the top visuals and seemingly pointless symbolism do seem to drown it out. And as I said before, the explanation of what is going on is just dumped in the audience’s laps mostly via a long conversation between Kyubey and Homura. Don’t get me wrong, the story is pretty damn good. I think it is a rather excellent way to continue the story. The problem I had was the way in which it was told, and to a large degree the pacing of it. Too much time is spent producing a spectacle and the core plot comes off as a poor second, most of it being told in rushed manner in the latter half of the film. You cannot deny that visually it is a gorgeous piece of work. Shaft really got their money’s worth from Gekidan INU Curry. But the film would have been far better if some of those elements were toned down and the plot was allowed to breath a bit more. The visuals do not compensate for the confusing way the story is told. The much hyped new character, Nagisa Momoe, adds practically nothing to film, other than being yet another revenue source for the production committee in the form of overpriced character goods for otaku.

After the credits, a coda appears. The final seconds of this coda confuse things a bit further but also leave the story wide open for sequels. Will Shaft make a fourth film to fleece the fans again? If I was a betting man, I’d probably put money on it. Audience reaction was rather muted after the lights came up. A lot of people seem rather confused. Initially I was rather annoyed at the film, but after a couple of days, I realised this film does warrant more than one viewing. I will probably watch it at least one more time in an effort to follow the plot a little closer. I could be a cynic here and suggest that the confusing nature of the film was a deliberate attempt to get otaku back into the cinema to watch the film again. Aniplex have certainly milked the Madoka Magica cow almost dry. Over the course of 12 weeks, they gave out special bonuses 7 times which could only be obtained by buying another ticket to see the film. The film ran for over 19 weeks and made more than 2 billion yen in Japan alone. It’s the highest grossing film to be based on a late night anime. Madman must have thought the screenings here were successful, as they’ve announced an encore screening for Saturday 8 February right across the country.

I still don’t quite understand the popularity of this franchise. Personally I thought it was a rather clever take on the genre, but not best thing ever made. I know I am definitely out of touch with modern day fandom. However I can’t fathom how a film like this would be able to bring new fans into anime. I feel that the franchise is rather insular and not something outsiders can really get into, sort of like fandom as whole. At this stage, I still don’t quite know what to make of this film, so unlike the other theatrical anime I’ve looked at, I won’t give a score. I’m going to reserve my final judgement until I’ve seen it a couple more times.

Forgotten Anime: “Grey: Digital Target”

Distributor: Viz Video/Orion Pictures (USA)
Original Year of Release: 1986
English Video Release: 1997, NTSC VHS, Japanese Dialogue with English subtitles (also English Dubbed, NTSC VHS and 1994 UK PAL VHS, Japanese Dialogue with English subtitles release)
Japanese Title: Grey: Digital Target
Runtime: 75 mins

Note: Originally posted on the "Lost World of Anime" website in 2006. Revised version published on the "Anime Archivist" blog in January 2013.

Quite a number of anime and manga have slipped out of the collective anime fandom’s memory. I suppose this is not surprising at all. Most modern day fans only have an interest in titles released in the last five or so years. What surprises me however is that a number of these titles which were quite popular in Japan have just about vanished from fandom there as well. Take manga artist Yoshihisa Tagami and one of his popular titles, “Grey”. In 1986, his manga was turned into an anime film. As always, first a rundown of what the film is about;

In the year 2588, a worldwide war rages on. Towns are pitted against each other, and it seems there to be no end in sight to the fighting. There are three classes of humans in this world; “People”, who destined to live in poverty in the slums, “Troopers” who go into battle for money and credits in hope of reaching the third class of humans; “Citizens”. The so called “Citizens” live in the “City”, away from the war, poverty and disease of the Towns. To reach “Citizen” level, a Trooper must advance through levels “F” to “A” by killing Troopers from other Towns in battles planed out by the Town’s mother computer, “Little Mama”. Trooper Squad 16422 of Town 303 has arrived back after another battle. The squad is none too pleased to hear that a single man named Grey will be joining their squad as replacement for recently killed members.

Grey is better known to all in the Town as “Grey Death”. Often Grey will be the only person in his squad to return alive from a battle. Squad 16422 are sent out on a new mission and take an instant disliking to Grey. They don’t like the fact that he refuses to obey orders or that he selfishly uses his own tactics to get the desired results to the determent of other Troopers. After taking on a platoon of armoured vehicles, the squad is reduced to half their number. Grey’s plan is to ambush the remaining enemy, but in the process only he and a female Trooper, Nova, survive. Though she finds him cold and distant at first, the two eventually become lovers. The relationship reminds Grey of his previous relationship with a woman named Lips. She became a Trooper to get out of the poverty of the slums, but eventually her number came up. Because of this, Grey decided to become a Trooper and attempts to avoid death at all costs to become a Citizen.

In between battles, Grey is told that his old commander, Red, has been captured by the Resistance in Africa. Since Red helped Grey become the solider he is now as well as saving him on many occasions, he feels obliged to save him. With the unwilling help of Nova, the pair of them steal a fighter plane and head towards Africa. But upon arrival they are seemingly shot down by the Resistance. They come across Red’s destroyed carrier, but cannot find any trace of him. Searching for him, they eventually come a Shinto shrine, where a battle with highly advanced war machines they have never seen before is taking place. After the battle they meet a Resistance fighter named Lee. He tells them that Red willingly went to join the Resistance in their floating base Nagoshi. Along with two remaining Resistance fighters, Lee, Grey and Nova head off to Nagoshi, but a missile is fired at them killing Lee and the two fighters. Dazed and confused at the recent events, Nova and Grey begin to scavenge around the local battlefields in order to live. In the ruins of a battle scared town they meet a “Half”; a cyborg with no legs. His name is Robert, and in exchange for saving him and taking him to his battle tank, he gives them food and water. Robert also tells them about the Little Mamas, the war and more importantly where the City is and where Red can be found, Nagoshi. However if Grey and Nova decide to seek out the truth, their world may crumble before their eyes.

This film is quite an interesting adaptation of Yoshihisa Tagami’s “Grey” manga. It was directed by Satoshi Dezaki, the late Osamu Dezaki’s older brother no less, though Satoshi’s style of direction is a world apart from his younger sibling. The movie was originally released in cinemas in a double bill with the “Guyver” movie. Like the manga, the film is set up in “chapters”, with a title card indicating a new scene transition. Up until Grey and Nova’s meeting of the Resistance, the movie follows the manga quite faithfully. One of the major changes was the reference to the non-Troopers and Citizens as “People”, something which isn’t mentioned in Viz’s manga adaptation. Also of note are Nova’s comments about the Troopers lifestyle and her shock at discovering that Grey still lived in the slums with the “People”. One of the male Troopers in Grey’s doomed squad makes a less than subtle pass at him (a somewhat homophobic scene in retrospect) and the Resistance also make an early cameo appearance. Neither of these short scenes are not in the manga version either. With the aftermath of the surviving Resistance member’s attempts to get to Nagoshi, a major section dealing with one of the characters has been drastically changed. I’m not sure why the director decided to do this, as it was pretty unnecessary. But looking at other anime films of the time, I’m really not surprised. Other than these mostly cosmetic changes, the story of “Grey” hasn’t really been altered that much.

What I really like with this adaptation is that for the most part it keeps its nihilistic tone. It’s a very dark and somewhat depressing film, which is pretty unusual when you look at other anime films of the period. The animation has certainly aged somewhat in the thirty years on after its release, as have the character designs and mecha (all of which isn't all that surprising). However the soundtrack is not all that bad. It’s synth heavy and very 1980’s, but it’s quite dark and brooding and matches the images and story well. There are some problems with the film, and if you read the manga you can see why. Due to the story and the world the characters live in, as you can imagine character development is pretty much impossible in this film. Just about everyone dies within a few minutes of their screen time with the exception of Grey and Red a couple of others. We’re not told too much about Red, and Grey can be arguably seen as an unpleasant person who could potentially be hated by audiences. Luckily he redeems himself by the end of the film. Satoshi Dezaki tries to make the deaths of Lee and the two Resistance members emotional for the audience by adding some extra dialogue with them and Nova, as well as showing a quick montage of them in happier times. But it comes off as rather cheesy and destroys the emotional impact their deaths had in the first place. Another pointless scene involved gratuitous breast shots of Nova before Grey and her make love. It just seemed rather pointless and unnecessary. Dezaki has also turned Nova into a bit of a “girly-girl” at times instead of the hardened solider she’s portrayed as in the manga.

“Grey: Digital Target” is one of those rare anime that got a UK release from long gone video company Western Connection about three and a half years before the US. I was very fortunate not to get this version as like the majority of their titles, I imagine the subtitles were quite poorly timed (I’ll be doing a series on that company and their releases in the near future). I haven’t watched Viz’s dubbed version, but their subtitled release is excellent. Overall I think this film won’t appeal to many anime fans now days. It’s rather dark, somewhat weaker than the manga and visually very 1980’s. The main problem with it is that Dezaki seems to be at times trying to make the material a bit lighter and friendlier to a general audience, and it just comes off as cheesy at times. Despite the fact I think the manga is far superior, I quite like this film. It’s not a classic and has aged quite a bit especially in terms of the animation, but it’s a really solid piece of entertainment in a slightly trashy B-movie kind of way. I have to admit that I was rather disappointed with the film the first time I watched it, but with later viewings I really warmed to it. If you’re into dark dystopian sci-fi films and 1980’s anime, this is probably something you’ll love. For whatever reason the film barely gets a mention, if at all, when people discuss 1980’s anime. It seems to have slipped into the cracks and been bypassed by a lot of fans. Why this is a bit of a mystery as it’s actually not bad at all. In fact it’s much more mature, cleverly plotted and visually pleasing than a lot of sci-fi anime that came out of that decade.

While Viz seem to still have the manga in print in the US, it seems to be not the case in Japan. A cursory search failed to bring up anything in print, manga or home video, in regards to “Grey”. In fact I couldn’t find anything related to Yoshihisa Tagami in print (mysteriously most of his manga was republished around 2006 and 2007, but has since been deleted). Of course there’s no BD or DVD version the film released in Japan. Some second hand copies of VHS or LDs of the film can be found online. French video company Kaze did release a DVD of the film in 2001, but this disc is long out of print as well. According to a reader who commented on my old blog, the French DVD is missing the film’s epilogue (if you decide to get this film, don’t switch it off until the closing credits have finished). It seems that everyone has forgotten this film and its author which is such a shame. If you have an interest in 1980’s sci-fi anime, you really owe it to yourself to hunt down this film.

Video Backlog: “Tokyo Marble Chocolate”

Publisher: All the Anime (Anime Limited, UK)
Format: Region B Blu-ray, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles. Region 2 DVD, PAL, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 2 Episodes x 27 minutes
Production Date: 2007
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Yuudai is a young man in his 20’s. After a series of failed relationships, he is currently seeing Chizuru. However their relationship is at a tipping point. Yuudai finds it incredibly difficult to tell his significant other that he loves her. Apart from his clumsiness, his fear in telling someone that he loves them has ended pretty much all of his previous relationships. But Yuudai plans to end all of that. Two days before Christmas, he sets up a date in order to confess his love to Chizuru, bringing a present along, a pet rabbit. Before he can get to his confession, he is interrupted by a phone call. It’s the pet store explaining that they have accidently given him a mini donkey instead of a rabbit. Upon hearing that the creatures can be aggressive and bite, he rushes back into the café only to find the table overturned and both the donkey and Chizuru gone.

He runs around the area in a panic looking for her, but can find no sign of her. He rings her mobile phone only to have another man answer. The man informs him he had found the phone on the ground. Yuudai tells him to wait there so he can retrieve the phone, however by the time he arrives at the agreed meeting place the man is gone. Thinking that Chizuru has probably gone home, he goes to her flat, only to overhear her criticising him to what seems like another man. Yuudai believes that Chizuru has dumped him for someone else. Going back home dejected, Yuudai discovers his ex-girlfriend, Miki, waiting outside. She explains that she has had a fight and has nowhere to stay. Despite him saying no, she ends up staying the night, though both don’t have any sexual interest in each other and nothing happens overnight.

In the morning, Chizuru arrives with the mini donkey. Yuudai panics and asks Miki to hide out of sight; however she pokes her head around the corner. Shocked, Chizuru questions Yuudai as to who this woman is. Instead of rationally explaining the situation, Yuudai accuses Chizuru of seeing another man. An argument ensues and Chizuru tearfully leaves. To add insult to injury Miki bids him farewell after a phone call, saying she and her boyfriend have got back together. Yuudai is yet again left dejected and alone. It’s yet another failed relationship. However the mini donkey has other plans. Spotting something on Tokyo Tower, he takes off like a rocket with a confused Yuudai chasing after him. At Tokyo Tower something miraculously occurs which will turn Yuudai’s life around.

This two part OVA was a co-production between Production I.G and the Japanese division of music label BMG (which was eventually folded into Sony Music Japan a few years later), to celebrate both companies 20th year anniversary. The anime seems to be based on a josei manga by Fumiko Tanikawa, who writes a lot of short works for young women. She seems relatively unknown in the west with none of her works being published in English. The single “Tokyo Marble Chocolate” manga tankobon was oddly published four months after the OVA was released. I suspect the manga and OVA were created together as one project, however I can’t find any evidence to confirm this. The manga was serialised (two chapters) in josei manga anthology Kiss. The title is an odd one. Certainly there isn't a single mention of chocolate in the show, but the Marble part seems to be derived from the café which Chizuru and Yuudai go to.

This OVA is the debut directorial work for Naoyoshi Shiotani who would late go on to helm “Blood-C: The Last Dark” and more famously the two “Psycho-Pass” TV series as well as the theatrical feature. While both of those projects are quite dark and violent, the OVA clearly shows he’s more than capable of depicting the bright and colourful josei manga world that Chizuru and Yuudai inhabit. As this OVA was a co-production with record company BMG Japan, it should come as no surprise that two of the label’s artists feature pretty heavily. Rapper SEAMO appears as Chizuru’s boss and Takuya Ohashi and Shintaro Tokita of rock group Sukima Switch, have a cameo as the staff of the pet shop. Naturally both artists’ music appears during the end credits for each OVA.

As for the OVA itself, interestingly the two parts depict the story first from Yuudai’s viewpoint, then through Chizuru’s eyes in the second part. In a romantic comedy like this, of course there’s going to be lots of miscommunication and misunderstandings. The second part of the series fills in a lot of the missing information from the first. It also shows that Chizuru is just as unsure of herself and lacking as much confidence in relationships as Yuudai. It also clearly explains why Chizuru forgave Yuudai so quickly. The first OVA makes Chizuru look incredibly forgiving considering how Yuudai treated her. The catalyst that makes this series work is the bizarre looking mini donkey. Apparently this was creation of Naoyoshi Shiotan and doesn’t appear in the manga. This weird almost patchwork looking creature pretty much brings the pair together and provides a lot of the humour in the OVA. Though a few reviewers despise its presence, I found the mini donkey adds a much needed lightened mood to the OVA which can get a bit dark and overly emotional at times.

Of note is the use of two of Tokyo’s most visible landmarks; Tokyo Skytree, where Chizuru works in a café, and Tokyo Tower, close to Yuudai’s apartment. I suppose to a degree this symbolises the gulf between them and how different the pair are, but I’m not entirely sure it works. Strangely this OVA was released half a year before construction of Tokyo Skytree even began. As a result the sequences showing the interior don’t really resemble the finished building. There’s also the lack of believability of Chizuru being able to see Yuudai’s apartment in Minato from Skytree in Asakusa through a pair of coin operated binoculars on one of the viewing platforms. Apart from a couple of visual techniques which I thought were out of place, the other thing I really couldn’t reconcile with was the fact the free spirited, sexually confident Miki was previously Yuudai’s girlfriend. They just seem so horrendously mismatched and I just can’t imagine them actually meeting in real life.

This is the first and only English language release of this OVA in the world. I’m sort of surprised it got any kind of release given that a decade has passed since it was first released in Japan (and fandom hasn't exactly been chomping at the bit for it to be released), let alone the deluxe treatment All the Anime has given it. The DVD and blu-ray come in a digipak with Tanikawa’s artwork of Chizuru and Yuudai. The digipak comes in small chipboard box with artwork depicting Chizuru’s fantasy sequence from the second OVA. The discs contain music videos for SEAMO and Sukima Switch (culled from footage from the anime) and All the Anime’s trailer as extras. The box also comes with a 40 page full colour booklet with character designs, and a lengthy profile and interview with Naoyoshi Shiotan. Interestingly this disc does not contain any French language options unlike many other All the Anime releases which do not contain English dubs. This means this project is a UK only release. Considering how niche it is, the fact it's sub only and won't sell that many copies and the effort gone into the packaging, that astounds me.

Overall this is pretty good short OVA series. It’s colourful, well animated and quite fun. It does get a bit schmaltzy at times and some of it can feel a bit unrealistic (as long as you can suspend disbelief over the mini donkey). But in the end it’s just meant to be a bit of fun and not something really profound. It gets 7 out of 10 from me.

Remaining Backlog: 10 TV series, 5 OVAs and 7 movies. In addition I am also waiting for additional parts of 6 TV series to be released before viewing them.