Anime and Gaming shrine

The Japan Foundation of Kuala Lumpur held the 11th edition of their Japanese Film Festival. Held between 11th to 17th September, it featured 13 japanese movies with five new releases making their Malaysian premiere. I was very excited and caught a few at the beginning but work (Argh!) stopped me from completing my watch list and forced me to find online streams from the Japanese websites (Legal! But Hard!)

On my watch list was Like Father, Like Son, Rent-A-Cat, and Samurai Hustle. There were a few animes as well but I was only hyped about  Hayao Miyazaki's historical drama film The Wind Rises since it was his last film. I watched that previously at my friends place but wanted to watch it again on the big screen.

For me, the highlights were as follows.

New Initial D the Movie Legend 1: Awakening
Official Synopsis
High school student Takumi Fujiwara is a gas station attendant by day and a delivery boy for his father’s tofu shop by night. But little does he know his precise driving skills and his father’s modified Toyota Sprinter AE86 Trueno will soon pit him against Gunma prefecture’s best racing groups.

My Take
This is basically a reboot of the Initial D franchise whereby the entire series is compiled into 3 movie releases. Kinda like what Neon Genesis Evangelion did. IMO this format works for EVA fans as it sharply focuses on the action and drama while taking out all of the 'fillers' and lousy fluff the studio HAD to put in because it was running out of money.

For Initial D, I felt that they left out alot of the technical details and exploring of the tactics and mechanical background for some of the races. However the funny moments were hilarious. Have to go back and watch my old episodes to compare.

One thing that I much prefer though is the new 2D visual style. Some people hate it but this 'vector art' style really appeals to me and makes things grittier.  All in all a really good movie.

*at least we didn't end up with a remake of THIS scene

Samurai Hustle
Official Synopsis
Masaatsu Naito is the head of a small and poor clan in Northern Japan who is ordered by the Shogun to travel an incredible distance in an impossibly short time or risk having his land taken away.

My Take
Quickest Summary = Life Die Me! (but 2 other friends of mine 'cannot catch the ball' of the jokes. Lols)

Longer Summary below
Not alot of people liked this movie despite it being the top local film in Japan with over ¥900 million (RM28.3 million) in ticket sales. I always love farcical movies and really laughed at the humour here.

A rough summary of the story can be found here from AsianWiki

During the reign of the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, the Yunagaya Domain in the Tohoku region is a small han. But at the han, there is a gold mine. Suddenly, Masaatsu Naito of Yunagaya Domain receives an order to perform Sankin-kotai within 5 days.
Sankin-kotai is a custom that requires the daimyo to visit the shogun in Edo. Unfortunately, the time needed to visit the shogun in Edo for Masaatsu Naito is 8 days. Masaatsu Naito also learns he received the order because a high ranking government official wants the gold mine. Also, the expense for Sankin-kotai is high and the Yunagaya Domain is such a small han that it seems impossible to complete. Nevertheless, Masaatsu Naito begins an unexpected operation to complete Sankin-kotai in 5 days.   

And most of the hi-jinks and fun is on the travels there but then things get a little darker sometimes before switching it back to humour again. My favorite character is Masaatsu but Osaki (played by Kyoko Fukada) has some pretty good scenes in this movie. 3 Thumbs Up!

Saint Seiya: Legend Of Sanctuary
Official Synopsis
Five young warriors known as Saints wage war against the Sanctuary in an effort to protect Saori Kido, a reincarnation of the goddess Athena.

My Take
 I've always been a fan of Saint Seiya ever since I saw their toy collection in my local toy store section. I liked their armor designs and characters but didn't really give much thought to the storyline since everything was in Japanese. However all that changed once I started reading the English translated manga back in 2005 and was hooked every since on Athena's warriors.

The storyline is pretty basic with a baby being revealed as the reincarnation of Athena and Pegasus Seiya assisting her to be returned to the Athena Sanctuary or face death. Thereafter are alot of excellent fight sequences at each zodiac temple (favorite is Cancer Temple with Deathmask)

You can pretty much guess who the real enemy is, BUT WHO CARES? Epic Gold Armor Fighting! Woot!

I bet you these guys were excited about the movie as well


The Wind Rises
Official Synopsis
A fictionalised biography of Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the Mitsubishi A5M and its successor, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero. Both were converted for use as fighter planes by the Empire of Japan during WWII.

My Take
This film courted alot of controversy when it was first screened as some Japanese didn't like a film celebrating the creator of a 'war machine' and glorifying Japans war. Miyazaki himself wanted to celebrate the Zero plane and as a pacifist himself was actually critical of Japans 'foolish arrogance' in going to war.

The movie is actually a bittersweet tale of how someone's pursuit of their dreams to create something beautiful can be twisted and reused to suit someone elses need. (If you ask me, this could be referring to Studio Ghibli itself but thats another post for another time. )

All this is framed against the fictionalized biopic of Jiro Horikoshi, the chief engineer of many Japanese fighter designs of World War II, including the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter. There are alot of dream sequences and conversations with an Italian aircraft designer   and amidst all this there is the loving romance betwen Jiro and Nahoko. And i think these were more teary eyes compared to Grave of the Fireflies.

To be honest i couldn't really enjoy the storyline of the movie as I had read too many previews and interpretations of the movie prior to watching it the first time. But now having put all of the theories and speculations to rest, I could finally enjoy  Hayao Miyazaki's swansong.

"All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful" - Jiro Horikoshi