Hayao Miyazaki Compares iPad Use To Masturbation

[Senbei]

I know it doesn't contribute much to the conversation, but: MAN, that sucks.

[Shadow Hog]

I remember randomly finding Tokyo Godfathers on the TV one night. Weird ass movie, but I quite enjoyed it! Shame he died, then. :(

[Radrappy]

funny you say that because it's as conventional a movie he's ever done.

[Green Gibbon!]

Shit, I was just about to watch Paprika again the other night (it's the only one of his films that's out on blu-ray, at least here) and was wondering if he was working on anything new. Apart from his (amazing) ability to weave a coherent narrative while slipping effortlessly through parallel universes, his films weren't especially great - I mean, that was really the only thing that made them stand out - but, y'know, it's still pretty awesome skill.

I've yet to see Tokyo Godfathers or Paranoia Agent, though.


Anyway, while we're on the topic of great anime directors, what's Mamoru Oshii up to these days? Didn't he do something a couple years ago? I think the last thing I saw was the disappointing but still kind of awesome Innocence.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

The Sky Crawlers. Been hearing realllly mixed opinions on it, though:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sky_Cr ... %28film%29

He also directed a live-action film called Assault Girls:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_Girls

[Isuka]

Man... fuck. He was still too young...

I also catched Godfathers while randomly zapping through TV channels (while its premiere was announced some time before, it was to air on a premium channel that I don't have), somehow I found myself sincerely laughing from a Japanese cartoon for the first time in a long while, not just thinking "hell, that's some fucked up shit, guess that's supposed to be funny". I absolutely have to look for Perfect Blue, also never managed to find the local Paprika DVD (the local publisher kind of... died).

I really hope Oshii directs a fourth Patlabor movie, the third one was a real yawner... and, well, yeah, Innocence also kinda was one too, so...

As for Ghibli, I saw the Ponyo DVD at local newsstands but didn't have the balls to actually go and buy it and take it home in public, lol. Looks like it isn't quite right my alley, though. I watched Chihiro at least twice, the first time fansubbed in a theater and the second the official dub, also at a theater. It didn't really fascinate me as much as it did with other people, but it was really OK. Can't help liking Mononoke better, Howl was just senseless but a cool trip nonetheless. I also still have to watch Nausicaä, Laputa, Kiki, Porco Rosso and Hotaru, among others. Also Nadia, just for good measure.

(...) Summer Wars (...). Seriously. You all need to watch it, like, now.

Sir, yessir!

[Pepperidge]

GG!, you still haven't seen Paranoia Agent? You should get on that. It may just be a TV series, but I'd say it's one of the only ones that even comes close to rivaling Cowboy Bebop in terms of quality, albeit for different reasons. In fact, I just recovered a fascinating article about the series which I am in no way using as a ploy to get people to read my new website. Seriously.

[Green Gibbon!]

I'm waiting for the blu-ray.

Blu-ray has actually yet to catch on in this country. The local Geo actually stopped carrying blu-rays altogether...

[Pepperidge]

Paranoia Agent wasn't produced in high definition. It was made during that unfortunate period in the early aughts where digital animation was in its infancy, but most companies where producing shows at DVD resolution. Even if it does get released on blu-ray, the content would just be upscaled, which is absolutely not worth whatever excessive premium they're going to tack onto it in Japan.

His movies though... yeah, get all of those in blu-ray.

[Arcade]

I loved Tokyo Godfathers, the idea of using an overused plot and giving it an interesting twist (Homeless taking care of a baby? Brillant!) was awesome...