Paprika

I herald the Apple TV for having a trailer for Paprika. The movie, not the spice...although paprika on deviled eggs is pretty tasty...

Wiki slap on Paprika (2006) . (Warning: Spoilers on Wiki).

At first I thought that the 13 year gap it took to make the movie out of the novel was a long time, but it pales to the likes of Metropolis which was made out of its 1949 manga counterpart. No matter, despite the long waits, both of these movies were exceptional. While I'll have to wait until later to talk about Metropolis, I saw Paprika last night and have to talk about it.

Paprika introduces us to a world not far in the future where an apparatus called the "DC Mini" is created by a genius who wishes for people to be able to share their dreams with friends. The DC Mini is being used to help in psychological therapy by viewing and analyzing dreams of patients. Unfortunately, the DC Mini turns out to be a more dangerous piece of technology than anyone imagined, capable of functions that, exploited by the wrong people, can be devastating as well as maddening. In the movie you get to explore the true last, vast frontier for humans: the dream-world. We see the characters struggle with their own pasts, confront themselves to be able to make it through the wilderness that is the human mind.

While Paprika was surely no Spirited Away, it deserves a serious watch and commendation. The animation is brilliant, weaving between dream and reality- sometimes lurching from one to the other purposely, leaving you with a feeling of psychological whiplash. For the most part the plot was excellently accomplished, closing with an ending reminiscent of the Neon Genesis Evangelion movie.

Maybe it deserves a second watch, but the characters could have been stronger; the most developed was the genius Tokita. Though the character association between Chiba and Paprika was interesting, for its importance it was relatively downplayed, anti-climactic and largely unexplained. I am no newcomer to unexplained plot in anime, however, the Chiba-Paprika relationship was one that I was disappointed to find unexplored. The plot arc with the cop Konakawa held my interest through the entire movie, but with all that was going on with the half dozen major characters in the plot, many of the characters didn't get the depth that they were entitled. Perhaps a visit to the manga is in order. I have a feeling it suffers from the same syndrome that Harry Potter movie 4 and LOTR suffered from.. wonderful but LONG story that some pieces simply must be cut out of to fit the entire thing into one film.

Also: please leave out love stories if they are going to seem like last minute throw-ins!

Susumu Hirasawa rocks the soundtrack. He also did the music for Paranoia Agent.

All in all, Paprika is a wonderful movie experience that we here in America are largely unable to experience through Hollywood. I made the comment in the first minutes of Paprika that "This seems like a movie that American cinema would try but utterly fail at...", and it was. Go watch it!

Plotline: Excellent
Characters: Good
Music: Very Good
Animation: Excellent

Trigun: Out Of DEEP Left Field

I remember seeing a few dubs of Trigun on Cartoon Network, and thinking it was another one of those silly lighthearted animes. That being said, Trigun is the only anime I can think of that completely took me by surprise. I was warned that it got much more serious halfway through, but I never expected what happened. Completely out of left field...a good left field.

Warning:Spoilers

Vash is an alien. A freaking ALIEN. I never expected that. I was thinking maybe he was some crazy beefed up assassin a la Bourne Identity or something. That he was one of the alien life forms used to power the plants that are used to colonize a planet just floored me. Being one of these aliens and having a twin brother that thinks completely opposite of him when it comes to perception of the human race gave Vash a depth of character that I doubt could have been achieved by other means. Not only is he cute, humorous and dashing as well as a hopeless romantic he is also brave and serious. I have to say: I <3> Trigun



Definitely a one season series I'd recommend to anyone. It's got a little bit of everything: Guns, romance, philosophy, villains, thinking, humor...name it. Even a little kitty that appears in every episode kind of like a Superman sticker or something is supposed to appear somewhere in every Seinfield episode. Oh, and I liked the kind of animation that was used. I wonder what other animes this particular animator has done....time to go do some research!

Hm. Grades.
Plotline: Excellent
Characters: Excellent
Music: Very Good
Animation: Very Good

Record of Lodoss War

I just had to watch it, because I've heard a lot about it. Record of Lodoss War has two different series, a 2-disc 13 episode series which is the one I watched, and a 4-disc series called Chronicles of the Heroic Knight. The Lodoss War OAV, also called Lodoss to senki was made in 1990 by Akio Sakai and taken from the novel by Ryo Mizuno.

3000 years ago, Lodoss was torn away from mainland during an epic battle between Falis, god of Light and Falaris, god of darkness. It became known as "Lodoss, The Cursed Island". 500 years ago, the homeland of Karla, a powerful sorceress, was destroyed by the complete takeover of the land by one military power. Because such a complete conquering destroyed her homeland, she vows this shall not happen to Lodoss. She lives on after death in a golden circlet, possessing the wearer to be able to keep Lodoss ununified at at odds with itself. This means she supports and spurs constant war and turmoil, and believes it to be the best for her beloved Lodoss.

My first thoughts at watching this series was that it reminds me of D&D, old style RPG,LOTR, or maybe a bit like the NES game Wizardry. There's a human knight (Parn), elven mage (Deedlit), cleric (Etoh), wizard (Slayn), dwarven fighter (Ghim), and a thief (Woodchuck..yes.). The story revolves around the main character Parn's struggle to become a hero, basically, and Lodoss' battle against self-destruction.

The Anime Critic claims that the "the story line certainly isn't skimped on in the slightest, the series strongly focuses on developing its characters as well." I couldn't disagree more. I liked the overall storyline, but it felt choppy, halting, and more than a little confusing. They could have explained the storyline a lot more. I usually don't ask this of animes, but when I get lost and cannot enjoy the series, there is something wrong. There is certainly little to no character development in anyone except Deedlit, Ghim, and Ashram. What really bothered me the most was the complete lack of development of the main character, Parn. He definitely was my least favorite character, and I found myself asking several times why he was the main character

They also tried to play up a romance between Parn and Deedlit, but it was gimpy and never really got off the ground. I think the romance was supposed to come across as subtle, but if that's true, why were the beginning and ending credits romantic and girly?

I expected too much out of this series. Oh, and the English dubs were absolutely dreadful. Not really a series I would recommend unless you just want to sit around and make fun of it with some friends. Record of Lodoss War could have been so much more.

Plotline: Good
Characters: Fair
Music: Good
Animation: Fair