Where your dreams meet reality.

Paprika
(Where your dreams meet reality)

In the near future, a revolutionary new psychotherapy treatment called dream therapy has been invented. A device called the "DC Mini" allows the user to view people's dreams, exploring their unconscious thoughts. The head of the team working on this treatment, Doctor Atsuko Chiba, begins using the machine illegally to help psychiatric patients outside the research facility, using her alter-ego "Paprika", a persona she assumes in the dream world. The movie opens with Paprika counseling Detective Konakawa Toshimi, who is plagued by a recurring dream, the incompleteness of which is a great source of personal anxiety for him. This type of counseling session is not officially sanctioned, so Doctor Atsuko Chiba and her associates must be cautious that word does not leak out to the press regarding the nature of the DC Mini and the existence of Paprika. Her closest ally is Doctor Kōsaku Tokita, an obsessively obese child-at-heart genius and the inventor of the DC Mini. Unfortunately, before the government can pass a law authorizing the use of the device, three of the prototypes are stolen. Because of their unfinished nature, the DC Minis can allow anyone to enter another person's dreams, giving the culprit an opportunity to get away with all sorts of malicious deeds. Almost immediately, the chief of the department, Doctor Toratarō Shima, goes on a nonsensical tirade and jumps through a window, nearly killing himself.

Upon examining Shima's dream (which consists of a lively parade of inanimate objects, instrument-playing animals, and various cultural icons), Tokita recognizes his assistant, Kei Himuro, which seems to confirm their suspicion that the theft was an inside job. After two other scientists fall victim to the DC Mini, the Chairman of the company, who was against the project to begin with, bans the use of the device completely. This fails to hinder the crazed parade, which manages to claim Tokita and intrude into Konakawa's dream. Paprika and Shima take matters into their own hands, and find that Himuro is only an empty shell. Tracing the "roots" that controlled him, Paprika confronts the Chairman, who claims that he is in fact the "protector of the dream world", guarding this last haven against the inhumane horrors of reality and technology. He is aided by researcher Doctor Morio Osanai, who agreed to give the Chairman his body and become the Chairman's lackey as long as he retains equal powers over his own dreams. Paprika is eventually captured by the pair after an exhausting chase. Paprika wakes as a butterfly pinned to a table in a room surrounded by pinned butterflies. There, Osanai admits his love for Chiba, and literally peels away Paprika's skin to reveal Chiba underneath. However, he is interrupted by the outraged Chairman who demands that they finish off Chiba; as the two share Osanai's body, they battle for control as they argue over Chiba's fate. Konakawa enters the dream from his own recurring dream, and flees with Chiba back into his. Osanai gives chase through Konakawa's recurring dream, causing Konakawa to realize that his recurring nightmare and anxiety result from his guilt that he never finished the film he was making with a friend. He decides to "finish the film" and take control of the dream by shooting Osanai. The act actually kills Osanai's physical body with a real bullet wound.

Dreams and reality have now merged. The dream parade is running amok in the city, and reality itself is starting to unravel. Shima is nearly killed by a giant Japanese doll, but is saved by Paprika, who has become an entity separate from Chiba thanks to dreams and reality merging. Amidst the chaos, Tokita, in the form of a giant robot, eats Chiba and prepares to do the same for Paprika. The Chairman also returns in the form of a living nightmare, reveals his twisted dreams of omnipotence, and threatens to darken the world with his delusions. A ghostly apparition of Chiba appears and reveals that she has in fact been in love with Tokita this whole time and has simply been repressing these emotions. She comes to terms with her own repressed desires, reconciles herself with that part of her that is Paprika. Paprika returns to Tokita, throwing herself into his body. A baby emerges from the robotic shell and sucks in the wind, aging as she sucks up the Chairman himself, becoming a fully-grown combination of Chiba and Paprika. In this new form, she is able to consume the Chairman's dream form and end the nightmare he created. In the final scene, Chiba sits at Tokita's bedside. Konakawa and Shima leave the two as Chiba puts her hand in Tokita's. As Konakawa and Shima walk down the street, Shima asks if Konakawa ever figured out the meaning to all this. Konakawa, turning to his reflection and seeing the figure of his film friend, realizes that he in fact became the character from their original film: the cop. Konakawa visits Paprika's website and receives a message from Paprika: "Atsuko will change her surname to Tokita... and I suggest watching the movie Dreaming Kids." The film ends as Konakawa purchases a ticket for the movie.

Wow. Simply wow. Satoshi Kon has struck again and captivated my heart with this film. This is another film he can add to his mind f**ck resume. I’d say this movie is right on par with the Ghost in The Shell Franchise due to it’s complexity of technology while, Paprika did not have a lot of cyberpunk in the movie, the two could quite possibly be siblings from different fathers. It only took me one run-through to figure out what was going throughout the entire film. The parade procession can be quite confusing but, I understood it be a Japanese folklore/tradition. I also love when anime film makers include part of their heritage in their films; it shows a little bit of their world and puts a little piece of them in the movie.

Satoshi Kon is talented in all ways of capturing the hearts of the otaku community and quite possibly psychologists. He really hit it on the nail with his psycho-thriller, Perfect Blue. It was a completely ordinary situation and he messes with your brain. He really puts you in the characters shoes. He wants you to feel the same emotions and experiences the characters are going through. This movie might take a few watches for you to get what’s going on but, that’s quite alright because it’s one of those films you can watch over and over, always finding something new.

Overall, I give Paprika a 9/10 and a gold star for creativity, actually requiring us to think with our pea-sized brains.

Definitely worth a watch if you are into Ghost in The Shell.

EDIT: 8/25/10 - I just found out that 2 weeks after I wrote this, Satoshi Kon passed away last Tuesday. It passed away at the age of 47 in his battle with cancer. I offer this post/review/whatever you would like to call it as tribute to this amazing director and animator. Dedicated to him, family, friends and fans.

His ideas and visions will remain encased in his colorful films.

Anime School: Where an otaku can be an otaku!

Anime School
(Where an otaku can be an otaku)




I know many of you love anime but have you ever thought about working in the anime industry? Many people get into the industry though their work and then there are some who get in after attending an anime college.

One of the schools is Nihon Kogakuin College. From looking at their site, you can see that they offer courses that teach you the full production cycle of anime production from planning, plotting, drafting, post recording and editing.

Many of whom work in the anime industry scout for talent at such animation colleges. These schools are a great way to get hands on experience and create something to help further ones career.

Many folks go on about how salaries are dead cheap in the anime industry - it may be true for some but in many cases salaries are cheap for folks who just left college who want a chance to work on something big. And if they are still on a low salary after working for many years - well that's no different from any other job where salary is usually performance based.Experienced illustrators in the anime industry are paid quite a bit for their achievements on past projects and would have likely started off being paid with peanuts and raisins.

Far too many on an occasion have I seen folks who don't have past achievements demanding high salaries. Think long term instead of short term - peanuts for now to help you get by and then golden nuggets after you have been through hell - you deserve it. If you believe in yourself then don't focus on the money right now because you know you will make it in the end.

There are a load of colleges in Japan where you can where you can take courses that cover game, anime and manga creation. The following sites have info in English so I'm guessing that they have facilities to cater for non Japanese speaking folks.

And how about the lessons? At the Tokyo Animation College site lists the curriculum for three years where you will learn things like Anime Production, Sketching, Digital Work, Background Basics, Short Movie Production and so on.

So how about fees? Well the cost of the courses are not listed on many of the sites . A "Manga and Animation" course at the Nihon Kogakuin costs 2,555,170 yen for two years. Quite a bit of change. How much has education been costing you so far in your neck of the woods? Do you pay for everything or does your government help pay most of it?

So, how many of you want to work in the anime production industry?

(Ahhaaa. First post for July!)

Tenchi Muyo! This ain't no kiddy anime.

Tenchi Muyo!
(Going old school, baby!)

Tenchi Muyo! (天地無用!, Tenchi Muyō!?), is a Japanese anime, light novel, and manga series created by Masaki Kajishima and Hiroki Hayashi about a boy named Tenchi Masaki, which has grown into a larger franchise. Along with the likes of Moldiver, Tenchi Muyo! Was one of the early successes for AIC, the animation company behind it, which went on to create El-Hazard, Battle Athletes, Oh My Goddess!, Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure and many other anime series. The generally accepted translation of the title is No Need for Tenchi, though at the time of its appearance it was also translated variably as No Heaven and Earth and This Way Up due to the original title's pun nature and multiple meanings.

Masaki Tenchi is a typical high school teenager... until he finds out a little bit more about his grandfather and his lineage. Who could have guessed that he was a descendant of a Royal family from an alien planet? Things get even more out of hand when the Masaki household begins to get visitors of every sort, including a notorious space pirate and the beautiful heir to the Jurai throne... both of whom have their eyes on poor Tenchi!

Tenchi is probably the luckiest guy in the entire world….er…galaxy! He’s got a household full of alien women but, I’m sure he doesn’t look at it like that. Now that I think about it….being annoyed by five women ALL THE TIME sounds pretty exhausting. Regardless, the characters are what make this series, in my honest opinion. The storyline is a bit lacking, weaves in and out of WTF moments as well. Muyo! is followed by Tenchi Universe (a basic re-telling of Muyo! and modification of the original character’s personalities and introducing new characters to the mix), Tenchi in Tokyo (Tenchi graduates and attends college in Tokyo...of course, the ladies of the household want to keep an eye on Tenchi while he’s away and interfere with his daily life as usual), Tenchi Muyo! GXP (WTFFFFFFFF) and Tenchi Muyo: Ryo-ohki (Further messed up and WTTTTFFFFFFF…at least they give the three goddesses some screen time). They are also movies that were produced as well; Tench in Love (basically about how Tenchi’s parents meet and get it on), Tenchi in Love (alternate universe where Tenchi totally sexes up this hot woman) and Tenchi Muyo: Daugther of Darkness (Tenchi’s daughter comes from the future and everyone’s trying to figure out who the mother is….bad episode of Maury or something).

All in all, Tenchi Muyo! Is a great series to watch every once in a while. Not intended for the little kiddies, unless you show them the Cartoon Network version then, it’s suitable. However, I recommend watching the original you learn to appreciate the adult humor more. Oh, did I mention that there is full frontal nudity in this anime?

Perverts.

Spirited Away

(Yay! For my first post)



-- Spirited Away –

Directed by anime legend Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away is the tale of Chihiro, a young girl who is taken down an unusual road by her parents while moving to a new home in an unfamiliar home. The curiosity of Chihiro’s mother and father (who were based on two colleagues of Miyazaki’s) leads the reluctant child into what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. Soon her parents are greedily feasting on various delights from an enticing food stand (Seriously, shit looks good, makes me turn into a fat kid) and are literally turned into pigs. The frightened and bewildered girl then encounters a young man named Haku (quite attractive, I might add), who explains what she must do to navigate this strange and magical realm. Finding employment in a bathhouse for spirits and other odd characters – including kimono—wearing frogs, lumbering tentacled monsters (HEHEHEHEH), and a mysterious apparition named No Face – Chihiro attempts to figure out how she can free her parents from the clutches of the resort’s owner, a powerful witch named Yubaba (Seriously, her head is huge, literally). In the process, she makes some very eccentric friends – and has to deal with some notoriously stinky customers (I imagine if you did work at a bathhouse, it can get pretty smelly sometimes).

Spirited Away reminds me of Lewis Carroll’s, ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Chihiro finds herself in the strange and wonderful world – making new friends, defeating enemies and growing up in the process. Chihiro’s character annoyed me in the beginning because she was whiny, pessimistic about moving to her new home and lazy (I’m sure some of us will admit that we were like that when we were children). You really watch Chihiro grow as a person inside and out. It’s beautiful! I love these kinds of movies when characters are on the road to self discovery!

The visuals in this movie are top notch. The artwork is amazingly detailed, character design makes the characters very much likeable and the scenery is just breathtaking. Dazzling and enchanting, I’m trying to find so many words to describe this piece of artwork.

Don’t be frightened by the tentacle monsters because, this is indeed a family film. Hayao Miyazaki is a storyteller and he targets the younger audience. It is indeed fun for the entire family.

I highly recommend it.