The website for Makoto Shinkai’s new film, 5 Centimeters Per Second, is live. Make sure to check out the high definition teaser.
There’s not much more to say at this point. Just watch the teaser. Now.
Monthly Archive for July, 2006Page 2 of 2
It’s nice to know that, even on the sixth or seventh rewatch (I’ve lost count, to be honest), Figure 17 still gets me reaching for the tissues. I’m a pretty stoic guy, all things considered, so I’m always a little shocked when anime (or anything, for that matter) moves me to tears. It’s an involuntary response, I think, kind of like those chills you get when listening to an incredible piece of music. One moment, I’m sitting there, and the next, there’s a tear running down my cheek. Where the hell it came from, I don’t know.
There are a lot of those moments in Figure 17. There are a lot in anime in general. Godai and Kyoko’s first kiss in Maison Ikkoku. Ai and Claire on the moon in Planetes. Meiling’s farewell (and return) in Cardcaptor Sakura. Damn near half of Fruits Basket.
Figure 17 is pretty much structured around these moments, though - especially in its final episodes. And it’s near the end that one finds THE SCENE. Those who have seen the show may already have an idea what scene I’m referring to, near the end of Episode 10. That entire episode is awfully heavy to begin with, given the surprising turn the story takes at the end of the previous episode - a turn that absolutely floored me the first time I saw it, foreshadowing aside. THE SCENE is anime at its best, I think. I look forward to it every time I rewatch the show. It’s funny how that one scene - only a few minutes long - defines the entire series for me.
Why does the scene work so well? For a lot of the same reasons Figure 17 as a whole works so well.
Expression.
It’s a tricky thing. How do you breath life into the characters on screen? How do you move past flapping mouths and dub tracks? Why do people go so crazy over Kyoto Animation’s work? What’s so great about Kamichu? Why does Studio Ghibli amaze us?
There are all sorts of reasons, of course, but I’m sure most of you understand what I’m getting at. Expression is about attention to detail. And passionate acting. And thoughtful direction. It’s a lot of things.
It’s about LOVE.
I think about the animators, producers, directors, musicians, and actors who slaved away week after week, pouring their love into Figure 17, pouring their love into THE SCENE, and I wonder: what would they say if they knew how much their work means to me after all this time? How something they created can move a damn stubborn fool to tears again and again?
That was fun, I suppose.
With the exception of the episode shuffling, there’s not a lot I could point to and say, “Nope… didn’t like it.” Not without getting nitpicky, at least. Still, it’s not often that I finish a show of this quality and say, “Gee… I’m glad that’s over with.”
For all the hype, the show didn’t amount to much. And as for the hype itself, I have to say it got especially annoying at its height. It’s like I had someone standing behind me the whole time, smacking me upside the head, screaming, “LOVE THE SHOW! WOOOOOORSHIP THE SHOOOOWWW!”
That got really old, really fast.
Oh well. I tried. But, in the end, I just don’t get it.
The setting for Figure 17 is the Biei/Furano region of Hokkaido, a rural area outside the island’s second largest city of Asahikawa known for its rolling hills and flower farms. Iowa with mountains, basically. It’s a popular spot for photographers and producers of television commercials, and attracts tourists year-round.
Many locations in Figure 17 are actually found in the small village of Bibaushi. Tsubasa and Hikaru’s school, for example, is modeled after Bibaushi Elementary School, made famous by celebrated Japanese landscape photographer Maeda Shinzo. The school in Figure 17 lacks the distinctive tower of its real life counterpart, but shares the same general design and aesthetic.
Geography geek that I am, I decided to fire up Google Earth and go searching for the school. There was one little problem, however: I wasn’t quite sure where Bibaushi was located. I knew it was near the town of Biei, but I couldn’t find any maps that illustrated both locations in relation to each other. I did, however, have a tourist map of Bibaushi proper, so it was a simple matter of matching that with the satellite presentation of each unmarked village in the area. The first village I examined turned out to be Bibaushi (lucky!), and, within a few seconds, I had located the school.
Hopefully, I’ll some day have the opportunity to visit the area. When I was last in Japan, I tried to wrangle myself a trip to Hokkaido (under the guise of work), but didn’t succeed. Next time…
I just started rewatching Figure 17 for the umpteenth time tonight, and at the end of the second episode, I suddenly realized something: Koyama Rikiya, the seiyuu for D.D., also voices Hakuro in Utawarerumono.
The funny thing is, his Hakuro is pretty much a carbon copy of his D.D. When D.D. scolds Hikaru, I hear Hakuro arguing with Eruru. When he consoles Tsubasa, I hear him comforting Aruru. Now that I’ve noticed, I can’t help but hear it.
Another interesting piece of trivia: the seiyuu for Eruru and Kamyu also had roles in Figure 17.
There’s a scene in Episode 11 of Nana where Hachi is walking around Mizukoshi-san’s store, carrying this phallic kryptonite glass knick-knack thingamajig, fretting over her financial situation. You’re just waiting for her to drop the thing, given her clumsy nature and all - not to mention the fact it would make for great comedy, what with her being down to her last 2,000 yen and Junko’s bag of pity rice. “You break it, you buy it.” Anyway, Mizukoshi-san walks up and surprises her with an offer of dinner (and in Hachi’s mind, something more, I reckon). As expected, Hachi throws her arms up and squeals “Yatta!,” and you’re thinking “Ah, here it is… here’s the gag…”
And, sure enough, in the next shot, there stands Hachi, sans phallic kyrptonite glass knick-knack thingamajig, except…
That’s all. It just vanishes. No gag.
Weird.