Wolf Children

Wolf Children (Okami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki) is the latest feature length film by Mamoru Hosoda whose previous works include The Girl who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars.

    The story is narrated by a girl named Yuki.  She tells the story of her mother, Hana, who falls in love with a mysterious man while in college.  The man confesses to her that he is half man and half wolf, the last descendant of the Japanese wolves.  He hides his wolf form from others for fear of being killed.  When Hana finds out she is pregnant with his child she starts to realize just how dangerous this secret is.  They live a happy and self contained life together, though, with their daughter Yuki, and soon welcome a son, Ame.  For fear of anyone finding out the families secret both children are born at home without any outside help.  Everything works well until one day, shortly after Ame is born, the father ends up dying.  Now Hana is alone, faced with raising two children who are part wolf, when she still understands too little of her late ‘husbands’ life experiences.  She is forced to drop out of school and leave her job to provide for her children who cannot be left in anyone’s care.  As toddlers they have little control over being human or wolf and Hana fears the worst if their secret is discovered.  They are able to survive a meager existence on her late ‘husbands’ savings but as the children grow it is becoming more difficult to hide their secret in the city.  Hana moves them to the countryside, far removed from other people, to raise her children more freely. 

    At first Hana and her family are the talk of the small town; the mysterious young family that avoids contact and lives as far as possible from anyone else.  With only the meager savings to survive on, they have to try and provide as much food as possible from the land.  When her crops keep failing and a gruff neighbor offers her advice, she begins to lower her guard with those around her.  Still weary of her children’s secrets being exposed, she begins to have regular interactions with the elderly farmers that surround her.  Eventually Yuki forces her mom to allow her to go to school like a normal kid, promising to keep her wolf form hidden.  After some slight adjustments getting used to being around people Yuki does her best to be a normal human child.  Her brother Ame on the other hand, who has always been less energetic and timid, is unsure if he can adapt to life as easily as Yuki when he enters school.  As they near adolescence each child must decide what their heritage means to them and how they plan to live their lives.

   I was warned beforehand that it was a somber and depressing movie.  I was expecting a really sad and tragic ending, but there wasn’t.  It ended on a somewhat light note; a note of hope for the future.  After I had watched it and was pondering the themes of the movie I realized that it dealt with loneliness, difficulty adjusting to life’s challenges and loss.  It really is a sad and bittersweet story.  While the story is somber, there are really enjoyable and light hearted moments too, especially with the sequences of Yuki getting into trouble as a toddler.  Another fun scene involves Yuki attempting to expose their family secret to two visiting neighbors.   

    The main focus of the film is Hana and her children.  Side characters come and go with only minor impact, they are there as catalysts for change and once their role is done they move on.  The timeline of the movie moves through a few key phases in their lives; the beginning of Hana and the wolf mans relationship, his death, the difficulties immediately following his death, their first few months living in the country, Yuki entering school.   It skips ahead rather creatively a few years later and concludes in that time frame.  I really loved how the transition from Yuki being a 1^st grader to her being a 4^th grader was done, I didn’t catch what was going on at first and had to back the video up to re-watch the process to get the scope of the transition.  The animation is the same quality as found in his two previous features, as well as similar character designs; simplistic and expressive.  The real detail is in the backgrounds and landscapes. 

    Since The Girl who Leapt Through time, Hosoda has been on my hit list for directors to watch.  His follow up Summer Wars was equally as welcomed.  I have been sitting on this one for a bit but figured it was time to watch it prior to the DVD and film being released widely in America.  While it doesn’t replace The Girl who Leapt Through Time on my favorite list, this is an excellent film.  Hosoda continues to prove his self as an in depth visionary.  Much to the beguiling nature of past works…he helped worked on Digimon and One Piece.  Many people are naming Makoto Shinkai (5cm per Second, Children who Chase Lost Voices) as being the one to carry on the mantel of Hayao Miyazaki; bringing depth and scope in storytelling and amazing attention to details of the world.  With Wolf Children, I really feel that Hosoda should be considered the legitimate heir to that throne.  This movie is exactly something you would expect from Studio Ghibli.

    This is an excellent movie and I recommend it highly.  It’s not an action film, its pace is slow, driven less by dialog and more by scenery and narration.  Anime fans who mostly watch fan service harem titles and shonen adventure stories will probably want to pass on it, unless they love Miyazaki films. I am concerned though about the quality of the English dub that is soon to be in theaters, but if that brings this to more people, so be it.  The qualities of the dub in the trailers that have come out leave something to be desired.  I look forward to the next movie by this creative and talented director.

    The dubbed movie is slated to be released in select theaters across North America and will be available on Blu Ray and DVD November 26^th, 2013.

Usagi Drop - manga - complete review

Usagi Drop is a slice of life josei manga by Yumi Unita and was serialized in Japan between 2005 and 2011.  It was adapted into 10 tankobon, a 13 part anime and a live action movie.  I have previously reviewed the anime so some of this may be a repeat.

    The manga is split into two stories.  The first deals with 30 year old bachelor Daikichi Kawachi returning home to attend his grandfather’s funeral.  He, along with the rest of the family, discovers that grandpa sired an illegitimate girl and had been raising her on his own.  The girl, Rin Kaga, a shy and introverted six year-old, who begins clinging to Daikichi due to his resemblance to the late grandfather.  The family begins to discuss what to do about the disgrace to their name Rin has brought by existing.  Daikichi, infuriated with their lack of empathy, rashly decides to care for Rin by himself.  Next thing he knows he’s now adopted a young girl he knows absolutely nothing about let alone how to raise her properly.  With the help of his cousin who has a girl Rin’s age, Reina, and his compassion and patience, Daikichi somehow manages to provide for Rin.  In the process of getting her life to as normal a state as possible Rin becomes friends with a boy in her preschool, Kouki, who lives with his divorced mother.  Daikichi begins to have feelings for Kouki’s mother but cannot bring himself to express them.  At the same time Daikichi is driven to discover who Rin’s mother is and what her reason was for abandoning her.  Can Daikichi really raise Rin and what will Rin want in her heart?

    The second part picks up the story 10 years later and focuses more on Rin's point of view.  Daikichi is 40 and Rin is 17.  Over the past 10 years they have developed a strong father-daughter bond and Rin is growing into an intelligent and beautiful woman before his eyes.  Rin attends the same high school as Kouki and Reina who have all become close friends.  Kouki though, has deeper feelings for Rin but problems in their middle school years have created a rift between them that is hard to gap.  Daikichi is still focused on Kouki’s mother, but after all this time still cannot express his feelings to her.  As the kids are faced with having to think about their futures as adults Rin begins to question what she really wants to do with her life and who she really is.  She begins to wonder about whom her mother is and what led to her circumstances being under Daikichi’s care.

    It’s actually pretty difficult for me to express my feelings for this series.  When I originally began reading it in 2008 I really enjoyed it.  But due to circumstances was unable to continue reading it until very recently.  Originally I had made it through the first 4 tankobon, which deal with Rin at the age of 7, and a little into the 5^th, which is when it shifts to her being 17.  The anime deals only with the first 4 tankobon and I assume the movie does as well.  That being said, I was unsure as to what would happen in the rest of the series.  I liked the idea of jumping the story ahead so far and using flashbacks to fill in some of the important gaps.  The ending was a bit surprising though.  I had developed ideal conclusions as I read the series and I am a little disappointed that they didn’t pan out, but that does not mean the ending is bad, quite the opposite. 

    This is the best manga I have read and one of the best pieces of literature I have read as well.  It has affected me profoundly at a deep level, it’s hard to explain.  I know part of it is through some relation.  When I began reading the manga my daughter was about the same age as Rin.  While the circumstance of Daikichi raising Rin and myself raising my daughter are nothing alike, I could completely relate with much of what Daikichi was going through.  Yumi Unita has done an amazing job of creating a very realistic story, steeped completely in reality, sometimes rather mundane reality.  Again though, the way the story wrapped up was a bit surprising, but good.  It wasn’t the ending I was hoping for, but it’s probably a more interesting ending. 

    I want to reread some of the last 2 tankobon to see if there were nuances I had missing that I may be able to pick up on knowing how it ends.  The final one, the bonus material, was nice and enjoyable as well.  It didn’t put closure on the series though and there is one glaring question that still needs to be answered…one really important question.  While it seems highly impossible, it would be great for more material in the series, perhaps another story line set another 10 years in the future.  It would also be fantastic to see the second story line made into an anime.  I hold out hope for the second anime series because Usagi Drop was met with a moderate amount of success.  I also look forward to other works by Unita, who apparently is a relatively new name in manga…good for her on being so successful!  Her story truly is amazing.

    The manga is available in North America through Yen Press, 9 tankobon are out and the 10^th will come out early 2014.  The anime is available on Crunchyroll as well.  It’s hard to compare it to other series, but if you enjoy stories that deal with realistic circumstances and characters growing as humans do then this is by far one of the best you will read.

 

Servant x Service

Servant x Service is a 13 episode slice of life comedy that aired in Japan during the summer season of 2013 and is based on the manga by the same name.

   The story follows 3 new hires to the ward office of a fictional town in Japan.  Lucy Yamagami, a short, buxom, bespectacled book worm is the main focus of the story.  She has taken the job at the ward office in order to find out who had worked there when she was born and allowed her parents to give her the ridiculous name of; Lucy Kimiko Akie Airi Shiori Rinne Yoshiho Ayano Tomika Chitose Sanae Mikiko Ichika (to many more to list) Yamagami.  Yutaka Hasebe is a bored, slacker, genius following in his father’s footsteps of public service and only wants to apply himself as little as possible in life.  Saya Miyoshi is dimwitted, lacking in confidence and unsure why she is even really in a public service career to begin with, more looking to find a man to marry and retire to become a house wife.  Unfortunately for them their coworkers are odd in their own ways.  The sempai responsible for them, Taishi Ichimiya, is easily intimidated and questions his abilities to lead the new recruits, let alone to continue working at the office.  Megumi Chihaya is the department’s serious and quiet temp employee whose life’s passion is cosplay and costume design.  Rounding out the odd co-workers is the section chief, Kenso Momoi, a hikikomori who interacts with his staff via a robotic stuffed bear.  The series follows the characters as they adjust to their career and get to know each other in humorous fashion.  At some point the story begins to shift to a romantic tinge as Hasebe continues to try and court Lucy, who has a hard time dealing with other people and would rather be left to her books.

    This is a fun and enjoyable series.  The characters are fun and the comedy is goofy and light hearted.  It’s a nice slice of life series dealing with people in mundane circumstances, kind of a rare thing these days in anime.  My only real complaint would be the continued plot lines involving Lucy’s bust, but about half way through that really gets pushed to the background.  I was surprised though, I wasn’t first sure what the series was going to be like and the strong emphasis on Lucy’s bust in the beginning was really turning me off…it just seemed unnecessary.  All in all, I was glad I watched the series and may have to check out the manga at some point, hopefully it has more to it than the anime, which ended with out any real resolution to the plot lines.  This was a great breath of fresh air in the world of slice of life stories.  It's hard to find slice of life that deal with adults and the real world instead of the insular world of children. 

    The anime is currently streaming on Crunchyroll; the manga has not been picked up any licensing company outside of Japan though.

 

Kimi no Iru Machi - manga - revisit and expanded review

Kimi no Iru Machi (A Town Where You Live) is an ongoing romance manga from Seo Kouji, who also created the romance manga/anime Suzuka.

    The story beings with first year high school student, Haruto Kirishima, who lives on the countryside outside of Hiroshima, having to deal with a troublesome guest.  Before school starts an unwelcomed guest moves into his families’ house, Yuzuki Eba.  Yuzuki is the daughter of Haruto’s fathers’ childhood friend.  She has decided to move from Tokyo to get away from her family and will be spending her high school career living with Haruto’s family instead.  This situation causes embarrassment with Haruto, who doesn’t want anything to do with the spunky and helpless Yuzuki.  Due to his overwhelming sense of helping others though he can’t leave her to her own devices.  This causes problems as he worries over everyone thinking they are a couple, particularly his love interest Nanami Kanzaki.  Soon though everything smoothes out to some extent and Haruto has some mild success with Nanami.  When he confesses to her she balks and doesn’t give him an answer right away.  By the time she gives him her answer he may already be falling for Yuzuki.  Drama ensues, with a lot of back and forth between the three of them.  Nanami tells Haruto that she can’t be with him as long as he has any feelings for Yuzuki.  Just as Haruto and Yuzuki are about to begin dating for real she decides to move back to Tokyo, unexpectedly.

    At first they agree to a long distance relationship, but misunderstandings during a school trip to Tokyo between all three again causes Yuzuki to cut off all ties with Haruto.  With Yuzuki out of the way Haruto and Nanami are finally able to date.  Before long though, attention is again shifted to Yuzuki as Haruto discovers a note from their last meeting telling him why she has cut off all contact.  He interprets the note as a cry for help and rashly decides to transfer to Tokyo to finish up his high school career.  Nanami reluctantly stops dating him, as she understands his deep seeded love for Yuzuki.  With some trouble In Tokyo Haruto discovers that Yuzuki left him to begin dating a guy she went to middle school with who had a crush on her.  To make matters worse the guy is one of 2 friends Haruto has made since moving to Tokyo, Kyosuke Kazama.  Neither of them knew that Yuzuki and Haruto knew each other and vice-verse.  To make it even more complicated Kyosuke has less than a year to live.  Haruto doesn’t back down however and challenges Kyosuke for Yuzuki’s love.  In the end though, Yuzuki tells Haruto that she doesn’t want anything to do with him, completely disrupting the only reason he moved to Tokyo.

    We then find Haruto as a freshman in college, most of his friends from Hiroshima, Nanami included, decided to move to Tokyo as well to get the whole gang back together.  Haruto has started dating the other person he first made friends with, Asuka Mishima.  With Yuzuki out of the picture for good, Haruto and Asuka’s relationship blossoms, until Yuzuki’s little sister begins to disrupt that union and brings Yuzuki back into the picture.  Haruto must make a choice once and for all who he wants to be with.  Yuzuki, with their long and checkered past, or Asuka, who brings him happiness and support.  With everyone so close now what will his choices mean for his circle of close friends and for his future.

    OK, so I started originally reading this manga when it first came out, back in 2009.  I stopped reading it though, for some hazy reasons.  I decided to pick up the manga again after watching the 13 episode anime that aired in Japan in the summer of 2013.  I think part of the reason I stopped reading it originally was due to much of the story being pure garbage.  I kept forcing myself through the manga to see how it related to the anime and what was changed.  The anime for Kimi no Iru Machi pretty much starts with issues 81 through 142 of the manga, then references previous episodes throughout its 13 episode run.  There are some side characters and story arcs that were not included in the anime, but you pretty much get a play by play.  Once I got to that point I had already ingested 142 issues of the manga so I stuck with it out of just seeing it through.  At the time of this writing I have caught up with the series and am waiting for issues 253 to be released.  I still really don’t like it.

    Haruto is a sack of shit.  It’s hard to really like him when his flaws are his only good points.  He’s inconsistent, flighty and downright disagreeable.  Through the course of the series, which covers so far about 6 or 7 years, he has caused quite a lot of trouble for everyone around him with his half hearted pursuits.  The main woman of his attention, Yuzuki is also quite annoying.  She’s a bit of a brainless princess and has a flat personality.  Aside from these two main characters not being to my liking there is an unnecessary amount of ecchi material in the comic.  There were whole chapters I skipped due to this fact.  It got annoying when every 20 chapters or so all the female characters are going to a bath house…with barely any plot and story development.  But whatever, you gotta make the readers interested right?  Spend that cash?  Just another check mark for the sad state the manga/anime industry in Japan has gone to.

    I like more realism in my romance stories; too many of the plot lines in Kimi Machi are tired, played out and ridiculous.  An example, in one issue Yuzuki brings up the idea of Haruto being concerned about premature ejaculation with all of their friends and thinks it has something to do with his mental health.  Seriously?  What a waste of time…

    Anyways, the manga is really not worth that much investment.  You do get a pretty good idea of everything by watching the 13 episode anime.  If you want to see what happens from there, then start with issue 143 of the manga.  I’m going to keep reading it…I don’t think Kouji can squeeze too much more out of this series and I’ve invested so much time into reading all of it that I should see it out to the end.

Recorder and Randsell

This 2 minute per episode slice of life comedy series aired in Japan in 2012 and is comprised of 26 episodes.

    The story revolves around situation comedy vignettes showcasing misunderstandings about the Miyagawa siblings.  Atsushi is an elementary school student who has the body of a 20 something male.  His sister Atsumi is a high school student with the body of a grade-schooler.  Hilarity ensues, mostly involving Atsushi, when he's frequently mistaken for a pedophile.   The story involves a small cast of side characters including Atsushi female classmate, Atsumi's best friend and the siblings 30 something unemployed live-at-home neighbor.

    There isn’t much to say for a series that runs essentially the same gag for about an hour’s worth of run time.  More than half of the episodes deal with people thinking Atsushi is an adult, most involving the police dragging him away as a pervert.  This and the artwork make for a grating series.  Its only saving grace is the length.  The art is subpar, reminiscent on the end of the 90s in style, with overly buxom/jiggly women portraying the adult female characters.  The series is semi ecchi in some of its content.  I decided to watch it all mostly to just have something to review, but it honestly took about an hour to watch...so I don't feel too bad about the time spent.  It’s not really worth the time though.  If you are curious, just watch the first five episodes and you will get the gist of how the whole series goes.  But honestly, you can just skip it.

    Hey made 2 other seasons of the show as well; Recorder and Randsell Re & Recorder and Randsell Mi, each 13 episodes.  The original series along with ‘Re’ are available via Crunchyroll, and I am sure ‘Mi’ will follow shortly.