The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami February 7, 2010
Posted by ayasawada in Books.Tags: Books, Murakami
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I just found this post languishing in the bottom of my drafts folder. Goodness knows how long it’s been sitting there for. It’s not even that good an analysis (which is probably why I didn’t publish it right away). But it seems a waste to trash it, so here you go.
Last night I finished a book for the first time in months. I’m very pleased with myself, especially since I love reading but never seem to make time to do it these days. Such is the legacy of working in news — you never want to fricking read anything!
The book I finished was always going to be a Murakami novel. They’re the only things that can sustain my interest these days it seems! Wind-up Bird is supposedly Murakami’s opus. Certainly it feels pretty hefty at close to 600 pages, with multiple characters flitting in and out and lots of random changes of storytelling and viewpoint (though, yes, most Murakami is like that). And Kafka on the Shore was certainly as long as well.
Did I like it though? I did. Yes, I did feel that it was a tad too long — the story just seemed to drift for the final 200 pages or so, unlike Kafka, which built nicely to a crescendo. But the majority of the novel really sucks you in: the usual dreamy Murakami descriptions, the lonely, down-to-earth hero, the troubled woman he has to save. The quirkiness of the characters is also something to be admired. Sure, there are weirdo’s in all his novels, but few with the charm of May Kasahara, or the tangibility (is that a word?) of Creta and Malta Kano.
I was satisfied with the ending too. A good Murakami ending: happy, but not totally resolved.
Still Walking (2008) January 17, 2010
Posted by ayasawada in Film.Tags: Film, Japanese movie, Kore-eda
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I’ve seen Tokyo Story twice and I do like it. But the overwhelming feeling it left me with, both times I saw it, is an unbelievable sense of guilt about not spending more time with my parents. In that respect, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Still Walking is a perfect film to accompany the BFI’s Yasujiro Ozu season.
Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers (2005) January 3, 2010
Posted by ayasawada in Film.Tags: Film, Japanese movie, Ueno Juri, Yu Aoi
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Or possibly the most wonderfully random Japanese film I’ve every seen. It’s that randomness that I love most about Japanese movies, and random, slapstick, Japanese movies that I love most. And Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers delivers with aplomb.
The plot, for what it’s worth, is about Suzume, an ordinary Japanese housewife in an ordinary Japanese town who finds life isn’t so ordinary when she takes on a part-time job as a spy. Sort of.
What the above paragraph doesn’t convey is how the film is neither as exciting as that makes it sound, or as pedestrian. One of the two things I really liked about it (after Ueno Juri and Yu Aoi ^^;) is how it tells a coherent narrative while being completely unpredictable. You’re watching perfectly ordinary activities, in perfectly ordinary locations, but performed by people who are just off kilter.
The other thing is its central theme: the celebration of the ‘ordinary’ as a quality of value, be it a person who leads an unremarkable life or a ’so-so’ bowl of ramen that is neither tasty or terrible. As one of the characters says, “To be truly ‘ordinary’ is a rare skill — one might say ‘extra-ordinary’”.
I don’t want to say too much, lest I give away what is, at 90 minutes, a nicely compact story. But I highly recommend it to those who love modern Japanese movies for the same reasons I do. It’s full of wonderful characters who are inspiring, funny and almost like you and me.
The lazy round up post December 29, 2009
Posted by ayasawada in Anime, Film, Jdorama, Manga, Music, TV.Tags: Anime, Film, Jpop, Manga, Music
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I’ve been kind of slack with this blog over the last few months, a combination of work, life and lack of motivation. Two of the most frustrating things about blogging are 1) you really have to make time for it if you’re to do a decent job; and 2) unless you’re in the mood, everything you write will suck (yes, some would say everything I write sucks anyway :P).
The result is I have a stack of draft posts on stuff that I will never get round to finishing off. So in true lazy ass Christmas holidays fashion, I am resorting to a round-up. For better or worse, here’s some of the things I’ve seen and done over the last few months: (more…)
Summer Wars (2009) December 29, 2009
Posted by ayasawada in Anime.Tags: Anime, Mamoru Hosoda
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Having discovered the wonderful talents of Mamoru Hosoda last year with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki wo Kakeru Shojo or ‘Tokikake’ as the fans call it), I really was eagerly anticipating his next film. In hindsight,my expectations may have been a little too high. Summer Wars is certainly not TokiKake, but is enjoyable in itself and every bit as imaginative. (more…)
Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest Anime-All Nighter 2009 December 24, 2009
Posted by ayasawada in Anime.Tags: Anime
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Back at the tail-end of October I attended the Sci-Fi London festival’s Oktoberfest special for, what else, their anime all-nighter. Five movies (well, four movies and one OAV series), nine hours, Red Bull and sweaty otaku :P
On the face of it, the line-up was exceptional. All movies I’ve wanted to see for a very long time and one which I’m a huge fan of, so I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, many turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, though I discovered one gem. (more…)
Avatar – echoes of a thousand anime? December 24, 2009
Posted by ayasawada in Anime, Film.Tags: animation, Avatar, Film, Miyazaki
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Does this look like a Zentradi to you?
I saw James Cameron’s Avatar at a midnight screening at the BFI IMAX last night. I’ve read a million reviews, generally positive but with a fair-bit of backbiting as well. Having now seen the thing, I can see all their points of view but agree with the vast majority: Avatar is a stunning cinema experience.
Seriously, you’re unlikely to have seen anything this visually arresting on the big screen, and certainly not in 3D. I really wasn’t sure what to expect, but the animation was immaculate, like the best Final Fantasy cut-scene improved to such an extent that you quickly accept it as the real world. (more…)
The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi 2009 December 16, 2009
Posted by ayasawada in Anime.Tags: Anime, Haruhi, KyoAni, Kyoto Animation
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(Yes, I know the show finished months ago. This is the first of a long series of draft posts I am finally finishing….)
The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, or rather, the Boredom/Sighs of Suzumiya Haruhi if you’re going to be anal about it. The long-awaited second season of Haruhi got a lot of fan-flak for essentially running the same episode eight times in a twelve episode ’season’. But for what it’s worth I really enjoyed it and admire the balls of KyoAni to take such a piss-taking direction. (more…)
Yatterman: live-action movie (2009) December 6, 2009
Posted by ayasawada in Anime, Film.Tags: Japanese movie, Tatsunoko, Yatterman
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I’ve been waiting a long time to see this live-action version of Yatterman, if only to find out what on earth the show is about. It’s one of those anime we overseas otaku hear about quite a lot but will never in a million years get to see through official means.
Here’s what I knew beforehand (mostly from playing Tatsunoko vs Capcom on the Wii ^^;). Yatterman is an extremely popular masked superhero anime from that factory of franchises, Tatsunoko Productions. There are two ‘Yatterman’ heroes: No.1, the boy, and No.2 the girl. There’s some kind of giant robot dog mecha (Yattarwan) they can call on.
They fight against the Doronbo gang, three idiotic villains in the shape of the scantily clad beauty Doronjo and her two ugly henchmen, one fat, one skinny. So far, so Pokemon (or indeed Nadia).
Curious then that Japan’s king of the extreme, Takeshi Miike, would choose to make a live-action version of such a generic series. There’s obviously something about it that’s weird to attract him, and very soon it becomes clear what that is — sex. (more…)
Love Exposure (2008) November 30, 2009
Posted by ayasawada in Film.Tags: Film, Japanese movie, Movies
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Love Exposure is a four hour cross-genre epic about an innocent misguided young panty photographer trying to relate to his father and win over his one true love.
It sounds pervy and completely batshit insane, and in some ways, it is. But its a film well worth seeing. Exciting (in both senses of the word), touching (in both senses of the word) and moving (in both senses of the word), Sion Sono’s opus combines contemporary Japanese perversity with romance, empathy and sensitivity, delivering comic moments, disturbing moments and downright perplexing moments.
SPOILER ALERT
