nostalgic and traumatic

[hsiuism]

Ganked from oddrid

ANIMATION MEME
- X what you saw
- O what you haven't finished/seen or saw sizable portions
- Bold what you loved
- Italicize what you disliked/hated
- Leave unchanged if neutral

Comments

too tired for italics

[printfogey]

Cool stuff! Going through the list, I note that there are quite a few films which I'm not ready to say I loved, but which I liked enough not to be neutral - I'd probably recommend them, but not go overboard with praise. If I do this meme, I think I'd have to add a category like that. (What, play by the rules? Naah.)

Although our tastes don't always align, I still think you should see Tokyo Godfathers. It's my favourite Christmas film ever. And I think it's perfectly all right for you not to see Grave of the Fireflies. I found it terribly good but not a movie I'd rewatch very often. (I refuse to see Gedo senki because from everything I've heard of it I'd view it the same way you do Howl's moving castle.)

The anime section is really skewed! I know it's impossible to get everything in, and these lists are so subjective to begin with, but it's really, really obvious that this was put together by a guy.

I haven't seen most of those... but I can't think of any feature-length movie to add, either. Which ones would you add?

So, seriously

Re: too tired for italics

[hsiuism]

Tokyo Godfathers is stuck on my "Must See" list. I keep meaning to but never get around to it >_> (and for some reason I forgot to bold all the Satoshi Kon films!)

Yeah, I know what you mean about marking a film "liked" or "disliked." I personally love Umi ga Kikoeru, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to someone just starting out on Ghibli.

As for the anime section, it just very heavily favors mecha and sci-fi anime, and really only features 5 or 6 directors. I'm a little surprised that Angel's Egg and Windaria didn't make the list. Neither did Blood: The Last Vampire, or Metropolis (the only Tezuka title is Unico), any Conan movies, any Gundam movies, Sailor Moon, Tokyo Babylon/1999 (not a great film, but ignoring the shojo giant that is CLAMP is a bit...).

Don't see Gedo Senki! I saw it not having yet read the Earthsea series, and even I could tell it was off.

Re: too tired for italics

[printfogey]

I won't see Gedo Senki. I love the books way too much, and the changes I hear about don't make sense to me (hello, where did all the brown-skinned people and Therru's disfigured face go?) - plus, Le Guin didn't like it either. If Howl's Moving Castle meant as much to me as those books, I would likely feel like you about that movie.

Metropolis is on there, though.

Huh... I don't know anything about Angel's Egg or Windaria. Are they good?

Nor do I know anything about Sailor Moon movies, come to think of it. I didn't even know they existed.

Edit: I posted my own list now, with the cheating additions.

Re: too tired for italics

[hsiuism]

Whaat. And I even checked it off, too! Hahaha, I'm such a weirdo XD

Angel's Egg is a mind trip, but it's a classic for the art and the experimental nature of the movie. I think it's still up on Youtube, in parts. Windaria wasn't a game-changer or anything, but it's sci-fi/fantasy adventure focused on plot rather than action. The English dub was released in 1987, so it's an early-ish import. I think there are three or four Sailor Moon movies? At least one for each TV series season.

That's part of what interested me about that list. No female directors (are there female anime directors?); only one or two featuring female protagonists; only two shojo, one critically acclaimed and one out of print; and the whole list doesn't match the organization of the rest of the meme. Why didn't Tezuka get his own section, for example? Or Gainax? And if this list is supposed to represent "good" or "classic" anime, it's an interesting comment on how we frame those terms

[hakucho_cygnus]

I haven't read the originals, but from what I've heard Miyazaki doesn't seem to respect the original stories as much or the author's intended goals. *ducks*

Although I'm not an anime buff, I feel inclined to agree... it's just going by the popular ones rather than more obscure titles (which would make it all more interesting, if you ask me)!

[hsiuism]

No, that sounds about right. I get that alterations are necessary when adapting books for film, and in fact usually make for a better movie. What bugs me about Ghibli/Miyazaki adaptation is the same as Disney. The company has certain and definite ideological parameters: family-friendly, usually about children or young adults, childhood is favored over adulthood, usually an environmentalist message, nature is favored over human activity, country is favored over city, a nostalgic past is favored over modernity.

All of that is fine, obviously, but then why not pick source material that is easy to reshape to fit those guidelines? If, in the process of making the material fit, you fundamentally alter the message or theme of the source, then, yeah, exactly, it's disrespecting the material

[hakucho_cygnus]

I recall reading in a few places that the authors didn't like what he did to their stories, but he kept pestering them to accept it(?) Also, when Tove Jansson complained about the anime treatment of the Moomin stories (since it compromised key points of characterization), Miyazaki who was working on the series at the time didn't see why she was upset. I'll have to check up on these, though that's what I remember.

Yeah, the same goes for the "imports" section as well. It looks that sadly, the meme creator's own cultural bias is responsible (though not really a culprit)...

and before I forget - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

[anonymous]

Fun meme.

I wish I hadn't seen Graveyard of the Fireflies. It can be beautiful and atmospheric, but it's also basically one long gut-punch right in my Happily Ever After place. Also, why no Lupin III movies?

Land Before Time actually put me asleep with my eyes open when I was 7. I was basically unconscious for the entire movie. I lost two hours of my life.

Fern Gully... a movie I pretty much liked despite myself. Quest for Camelot was my favorite Disney movie since Aladdin; I still have the soundtrack around somewhere.

-- Guile

[hsiuism]

it's also basically one long gut-punch right in my Happily Ever After place.
Yeah, exactly! I'm not good at wanting to see movies where the situation just gets worse and worse.

The Castle of Cagliostro is up there, under Ghibli, but it's a good point. Why multiple Vampire D entries but only one Lupin?

Hahaha, two hours is a long time! If it makes you feel better, I lost, like, countless hours watching All Dogs Go To Heaven over and over even though I hated it.

[anonymous]

Ah, well at least they have Castle of Cagliostro; I didn't realize it was a Ghibli film, I was looking for it elsewhere. That's definitely the most famous (and probably best, though that's kinda subjective) of the lot.

Vampire Hunter D... meh.

I think I'm going to have to watch The Hobbit again. I bet it's significantly less epic now that I'm not 8. ... On second thought, maybe I'll leave it well enough alone.

-- Guile

[postingwhore]

Why do you dislike films featuring talking animals?

I'm annoyed by the lack of Tekkon Kinkreet on the other anime list, given that it's one of my favourite films and also one that won ~awards~ and got pretty positive critical reviews.

[hsiuism]

I'm not sure why I dislike talking animals! 'Cause obviously it's not a blanket sentiment. I guess I don't like it when the animals are cutesy or stand-ins for children. So I liked Lady and the Tramp, as well as the adult Dalmatians, but didn't really care about the puppies :( Also, in general I don't like animals sidekicks for human protagonists, whether in modern fiction (where they feel like props and projections for human insecurities) or in folktales (reason unknown.) I am unbelievably bored, for example, by the Thumbelina story, Pinocchio, Momotaro, and the Musicians of Bremen. Puss-in-Boots is ok because he's kind of a jerk. And Beatrix Potter type stuff (of which I guess Brian Jacques is the heritor?) is ok because their mannerisms and society are basically human.

Wow, sorry! That was a really long rant about talking animals.

And yeah, I don't know what's up with that anime list! In the context of the rest of the meme, it makes no sense.