Author: SuperMario

Sakura Quest – 12 [The Dawn Guild]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Sakura Quest

Sakura Quest offers a pretty much Sakura Quest-esque this week, and I come to believe that this is a strong mini-arc to close-up the first half of its run. For the Tourism Board, the Manoyama Founding Festival will become their most ambitious project in term of scope they have encountered so far. Moreover, documenting the girls and their efforts for the festival sound like a pretty good idea too, as it’s more a less a time for our girls to look back and see how they have grown, and do a bit of meta for their own show. After spending the first half completing character arcs for everyone, it’s only natural that the Manoyama town has a central focus in this arc. Then Sakura Quest adds little twist at the end with the inclusion of super popular band Plotemaios (who had a hit song in a soda commercial no less) and a character focus on the Queen Yoshino. My primary complain about Sakura Quest has been lifted as well in this arc, as there’s clearly a continuity to the main story. We see almost all the supporting characters from different arcs (the woodcarvers, the chef, the producer, the Community Club, even Nao appearing in the commercial), we see our girls have passed their own crisis as well. Seriously, the strong continuity like this event, with some winks to previous arcs and side characters, is all I could ask for.

For this arc, Sakura Quest really goes all out for their biggest tourism impact. The Founding Festival is already their biggest event of the year, and then we have a popular Moving Mountains reality show that of course will bring good publicity for the town, and then the Festival itself turns into the music night of sort when that rising unpronounceable band decides to show up. For a brief moment there, I was sure the band would bail out in the end, since this could be a real disaster because the whole plan somehow turns itself to rely heavily on the presence of band. But the preview next week makes it clear that they come, so I guess the main conflict would be the band overwhelming the Tourism’s Board efforts. When you think about it, it kinda sounds like a disaster too. Yoshino and the girls personally go such great length to ask for the town’s support for their trivia questions, to their point of begging for more fund and volunteer (by the way, I really love Chitose’s decision to use a reserve fund to help out. She’s always reasonable). This concert will overwhelm their efforts and all their efforts plus fund will come to naught. The tourists will come and go without much impression to the town, because they come to the town for music. I am intrigued to see how Yoshino address and resolve this issue.

At the same time, there is a documentation about our girls and their efforts to market the town. All of the girls, save Mari, are too self-conscious on the whole filming and I have a good laugh or two when they act so out of characters: Shiori wearing that fashionable glass, old man Kadota keeps saying “chupa” all the times and uses every opportunity to jump on the screen with exclaim, Sanae using big, technical words and my Ririko wearing mask at the meeting and Sandal-san, well he just being himself- Costner style. When the girls ease up in front of camera though, it’s time for the director Amamiya – himself a Manoyama native – to ask them about their motivations and what they think about the Queen. The answers are too varied that Amamiya has a hard time on how to frame Yoshino and he flat out declares that Yoshino’s bland. Well, she’s anything but bland, I assure you. Her heart is devoted for reviving this small town and if you can’t see it, it’s your loss dear Mister Director. He seems to fire up at the idea of raising more attention to this town as well and so far he’s taking a good lead. I also feel they better don’t use the information bit that Yoshino was a little Princess (the 100,000th visitor no less – exactly how could they count that?) for to impress the Director. It’s like a miracle story, yes, but she still hasn’t earned her Queen title yet, as far as the public’s eyes concern. Here’s hoping Yoshino will wipe out the band and get people acknowledged her efforts for this little town.

Uchoten Kazoku 2 – 11 [The Blood of the Tengu, the Blood of the Fool]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Uchoten Kazoku

The Eccentric Family again takes some solid steps to its final showdown. But let me address this first because I’m sure no one really see it coming. Soun comes back to life. A fake-out death? Seriously? Using fake-out death ALWAYS comes with a price, which is all the emotional investment we had for the death is now gone, moreover we feel utmost betrayal; thus I hope The Eccentric Family better has something up their sleeves for using Soun again. Now I remember back it was Kaisei who stayed with Soun in his final moments, so saving his life and taking him back are entirely possible. Or was it a scheme staged by both Soun and Tenmaya? But then Tenmaya seems to be mistaken Soun for Kureichirou like everyone else too. This was a very smart plan I must say; only there are two downsides in that plan: that gun is a fake (easily recognized by Nidanme) and the real Kureichirou shows up and makes it clear one and for all. Hmm, no matter HOW he came back to life, the fact that he tricked everyone for so long and nearly pulled of a complicated plan like that just to show us how mad, desperate and wise Soun has become.

Despite doesn’t appear much in this episode, I would safely say Benten’s tears is my favorite moments this week. We have been told many times before, and we know, that Benten has her vulnerable side and she clearly feels empty, always aiming for what she doesn’t have. Doesn’t matter if it via flashback when Yaichirou the frog told his brother that she cries many times alone in a well, or via the dream of Yasaburou when she looks melancholic, this is the FIRST TIME we actually see Benten sheds her tears on screen, in front of Yasaburou no less; when she realizes that she will have to eat him. You could say Benten is a cruel, egotistical, and heartless monster, but I see the fact that she eats tanuki despite knowing all of them well and keeps bragging about that very fact are just the natural hierarchy of that world. Human is at higher rank on the food chain than tanuki so it’s just a natural way of life that tanuki gets eaten by the human. Heck, the tanukis here eat meat and chicken wings from time to time too. Anyway, Yasaburou has always been a source of amusement for Benten (remember how happily she was in the Painting of Hell), and it’s nice to see how much affection she has for Yasaburou, even for a fleeting moment.

Yaichirou once again is incapacitated of his Nise-emon title, as the Shimogamo falls into the scheme made by the Ebisugawa family, this time it’s even grander and more organized than the first season. Yaishirou is framed for exploding his lab, with the gun that shot Soun in it. Yasaburou thus is declared as the person who shot Soun down, and Yaichirou is framed as the mastermind behind it. Losing the reputation he has been so careful building up all this time, Yaichirou breaks out, gives hell with the tradition, and runs forward to help his brother. It’s great to see such a fearless determination from Yaichirou, the one who usually loses his calmness when conflicts arise. But the cream of crop here is Gyokuran, who will support him till the end of the world. She has no second-thought here, just jumps straight to his side to rescue Yasaburou. The director, Masayuki Yoshihara, when talked about this new season, especially mentioned that one of the highlights of this second run lies in its attractive new characters. Well, I wholeheartedly agreed with that, it has been such a joy to see those new characters, most notably Nidainme, Tenmaya, Gyokuran, and my new favorite, Seiran; not only fits the original cast so well, but also shines as their own unique person.

Of course, I can’t end this post without mention one of the key sequences in this series, when Yasaburou finally has a heartily conversation with his father, in a half-dream half-nirvana dinner hall. It’s the moment of life and death for Yasaburou, and here when he finally meets Souichirou, he makes a solid counterpoint to his father’s sudden death. Souichirou might be ready to depart the world with his head held high. The rest of the family members, however, were unequipped for that lost and throughout the first season they were all struggling to both live up to his father’s legacy, and try to protect each other. When his father asks him if he still wants to do more with his life, the answer is clear. He doesn’t want to drag anyone else into this mess (Kaisei) – responsibility – and he still wants to live to do heaps of things – freedom – Yasaburou now has reached the balance between those two forces, with the help of Pompoko Mask hero of course. I know the climax just heating up now, but with just 1 last episode to go (they confirmed that this season will only have 12 episodes), how the hell are they going to tie everything up neatly? We still have that final match between Benten and Nidaime, right? We still need to solve Soun’s fake death, and Yasaburou and Kaisei finally together, right? In order to achieve the last goal, at least Benten will have to go…

Tsuki ga Kirei – 10 [The Setting Sun]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Tsuki ga Kirei

Kotarou and Akane have reached a stage where they need to think hard about the long term of their relationship. Akane is about to move town, so how they going to keep up their relationship? Usually for a teenager’s romance it means the end. Full stop. LINE and texting can keep them for a while but with two separate lives it’s hard to consider each other important anymore. Tsuki ga Kirei again succeeds at displaying their relationship at a deeper stage, where negative feeling starts to bust in the way and whether or not they really are serious about their dating. This episode had me at the edge of my chair till the end, just to show how adept Tsuki ga Kirei is at their pacing and natural progression. Really, I have no complain about this show. They’re as mundane, true to life and as intimate as ever.

Finally, the Kawagoe festival – where Kotarou is about to do the Hayashi dance – has arrived. As expected from this show, the festival itself breathes life with various festival activities. Akane, in particular, has a chance to hang out with her club friends for what possibly their last time, watching Kotarou do the Hayashi moves from afar, and eating imokoi with her mouth full. In order words, enjoying her time. Takumi, on the other hand, has an ulterior motive, believing this festival is a good chance to confess his love for Akane. Through various silly unfortunate chain of events (they both lost on rock, paper, scissor huh?). Takumi did, and Akane flat out rejects him. I don’t know if it’s a good idea, since he knows full well who Akane dating. Sure, Takumi just wants a chance to let it all out, even he understands completely that Akane will reject him. It feels like a victory for Akane, as she gives him a straightforward rejection. It feels like a defeat for Kotarou though, when you imagine that this kid comes all the way to see his girlfriend after a hard performance, just to see her alone (again) with another guy.

Kotarou’s frustrated, and true to his first love inexperience and his introvert nature, he holds his feeling all in and can’t let it out. I actually feel a bit taken back when it’s reveal Kotarou was watching those two talking. I mean, misunderstanding is the most stupid, well-worn trope in any romance and at first glance Tsuki ga Kirei seems to be falling into that trap. But it’s not really about misunderstanding in this context, Kotarou’s mad because she spent time alone with Takumi, which she did. This silent treatment doesn’t do any of them any good, Kotarou gets even more frustrated and it hurts Akane. Now, imagine it from her point of view, she just rejected Takumi because she knows she’s in love with Kotarou, she’s rushing in to meet him so they can have some time together and then THIS. She doesn’t deserve that. Seeing her crying in that festival, where she’s supposed to have fun, make my heart swell. That drift makes both of them suffered. They want to reach to each other but are unable to, so they’re retreating in their bed, embracing that pain. This dark moment fits right in any Makoto Shinkai’s moments (without all the sentimental of course) I tell you, but it’s a necessary step for the two to experience the low of their relationship.

Their main concern, however, remains the fact that Akane’s moving away soon. Trying to spend little time left together won’t solve the problem, thus Kotarou researches for the high school that Akane’s applying – Koumei private High School. I tip my hat for Tsuki ga Kirei how they handle the ending moment here, everything is perfect. Showing the reveal of Kotarou applying for her school through Akane’s point of view is a good touch, as she takes a more active role in this sequence (Although, I actually came to believe it’s that potato pushie that made up Kotarou’s mind. Long live the pushie). While Kotarou has been the one who’s more active in this love, this is the time where we can see how much Kotarou means to Akane and how his decision really makes her happy. She reaches out and kisses him for crying out loud. Kotarou’s willing to study in the same school with her, despite the fact it’s two hours away, might affect negatively to his writing and his parents aren’t even informed about that. But that’s the SACRIFCE he needs to make to be together, and he’s game for that. Well, that somehow resolves their conflicts (it actually doesn’t), so I hope that they can learn from their mistake and be open to each other more. The last couple episodes they have been closer and much more natural with each other, now it’s the time for them to become a permanent part in each other’s lives.

Sakura Quest – 11 [The Forgotten Requiem]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Sakura Quest

Well, apart from Ririko suddenly can sing confidently, and sings really well on top of that, this episode ends in high note. In fact, that statement really sum up this week of Sakura Quest as a whole. Messy, a bit all over the place with too many elements, but they have very strong ending that tied up everything together. This matchmaking arc in its entire, is a decent addition to Sakura Quest, with the singing Ririko moment as a highlight. I do appreciate how relevant Rirkio’s own problems with the matchmaking events and the Dragon tale in that extend, for they’re all about the outsiders, but adding other out of place elements like faux, goofy horror; the show’s sudden focus to Sandal and even the bouldering activity make Sakura Quest feels unfocus at times. And the final punch, to give this town a reputation of the eloped town, seriously makes me frown. Rirkio’s issues ain’t that much to begin with but in that regard, I’m perfectly fine with how Sakura Quest handled her situation.

Ririko’s personal issue has always been an outsider of her own village, and she relates very well to the Dragon tales – where the Manoyama dance is supposed to scare the dragon away (that might be the reason why she couldn’t smile when she danced when she was young, and this legend sounds very familiar to the legend in Sora No Oto). The revealing about the absence of her parents further deepens that theme of outsiders: her Mother came from other town, she met her father here in Manoyama and they got marriage, but she couldn’t get used to life here and left. Chitose from then has an uneasy feeling when it comes to tourists and outsiders. Ririko finds out another (true) interpretation of this legendary Manoyama dragon: the villagers want to be friend with the dragon, so they dance to lure her in but scare her away instead, and she ends up die alone in the cave. That dance is still there, but like how the story loses its original meaning as generations go by, the original song has been lost. Magically (because why else Sandal could just appear like ghost and sing that very song the moments the girls mentioned it. Deux Ex Machina!!!), Sandal mentions that this song was passed through generations overseas, and he is one-eighth of Manoyama (appearance can be deceptive huh?). Thus come a beautiful song at the end that tied up her arc, the dragon tale and give the matchmaker girls a moment to remember.

While the main plot is going somewhat satisfying, faux, goofy horror Sakura Quest tries to pull off is just way too silly to be taken seriously. All the visual motifs, the sound effects, all come to nothing because there isn’t any suspense to begin with, nor it need to be. The twist is hilarious but there is a leap of logic everywhere (like, he was all wet, covered in mud that night, but the other day he’s way too clean. Also, how did he get into the restaurant without anyone noticed?). And then that police guy just comes as rude when he flat out prevents poor Ririko a chance to speak (this is HARRASTMENT). Sandal takes most of a spotlight this episode, and although I would say that sudden shift of focus to him is a bit too jarring for me, him as a pure outsider, enjoying the town with all his heart is a nice touch that connected with the theme so well, and I can see him gain a lot more fan after this episode. Well, I’m off to enjoy this magnificent “lullaby” again. Give it up to “Dragon’s Song” by our truly Ririko.

ID-0 – 10 [Compressed Sin]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Id-0

Oh no, ID-0. Out of all the possibilities you could’ve picked for the climax, you chose the worst possible one. Ido’s past self, Dr. Kane Arisugawa turns out to be an evil scientist, using human as a sacrifice for his own research’s advancement. If this already sounds well-worn, it’s getting worse from there. The first half of the episode is basically an info-dump where the main antagonist literally throws info-dumps screen served as Arisugawa’s memories without shame. Everything makes sense now, in fact it makes too much sense that it leaves out all the ambiguity it had built up to. Adams Forte blah blah blah, our new antagonist, comes from nowhere to become the worst villain, scratch that, the worst character I’ve encountered this year, not a small feat for a character who only appeared in one episode. It’s worrying signs, really, as the climax now seems to be our group tries to regress this Adams dude from his incompetent plan, as the same time saving the humanity just like Maya loved to do. And I don’t care one iota for either one of those. Such a waste since this one had its feet firmly on the ground for two third of the way just to be swept over by this misfired last arc.

The cliffhanger from last week revealed that Ido is Dr. Kane Arisugawa, and this episode goes an extra length detailing us his backstory. Kane, one of the most genius mind of his time, working together with his colleagues Adams and Jennifer. Jennifer had a daughter, Alice, who was disabled so she wanted to Trance Mind Alice to an I-Machine (she would be the first one, if I understand it correctly, to transfer the mind into an I-Machine). Kane had a better idea though, he transferred her mind into the Orichalt and thus she became humanoid Orichalt, an Orillian. The result upset Jennifer and shocked Adams, so in a state of “saving humanity” he eliminated Kane by putting him into the exile ship and wiped out his memory. Now, although I would prefer ID-0 goes different direction than this (well, it’s not bad, I’s just ordinary), the notion that Kane, Ido real self, was ruthless and heartless creates a nice contrast of how much Ido has grown to become his own person. Throughout the course of this episode, even after he regains his full memory, he assured many times that he isn’t Kane but Ido the Excavator, because now he values the friendship of he has with his comrades, Alice and people around him.

This week also reveals that the person behind all this was Adams, one of Kane’s self-proclaimed best friend. Turn out that the very reason he wiped out Kane’s memory, putting him an exile ship and took over his friend’s identity is a mixture of inferior-complex and saving-the-world mentality bullshit. They are superficial at best and most of the time contradicts each other, making his reasons behind every action sound utterly pretentious and inconsistent. For example, his reaction towards meeting Ido is a bit of childish proud that he became someone important now, a bit of wanting recognition from the person he used to look up to, and a bit of self-satisfied that Kane himself deserved the sentence he did to him. All of this still don’t justify why he wanted to kill him NOW, not THEN. He said that he didn’t kill Kane back then because he still regarded him as friend, then why shoot him in the back at the end? He doesn’t have anything of his own personality to begin with, so it’s hard to identify with all his complex. ID-0 tries so hard to paint him as an opposition to Ido that all his actions are unbearable, and plainly annoying over the times. It doesn’t help that he overacts all the time, even in his I-Machine robot version which was supposed to hide your facial expression.

Not all about this episode is going in the wrong direction though. When the show focuses back on the main cast and their chemistry together, they shine through. Karla has a chance to return to her long-lost body, and the moments when she finally tranced back to her body, the fact that she’s overwhelming both because she’s finally back to her body, and because she still isn’t used to the body, is unflinchingly raw and honest. She then decides to shield herself protecting Maya and Alice as a payback for her betrayal – it’s another emotionally satisfied moment. In fact, I hope the show focuses more about them working together in this last arc because if so they can still provide an entertaining and worthy showdown. Otherwise, the longer Adams stays around and affects the plot the closer ID-0 train is going to wreck. I hear a ticking clock now.

Uchoten Kazoku 2 – 10 [The Day the Trick Magister is Chosen]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Uchoten Kazoku

The plot of Eccentric Family thickens greatly as this episode ended and heads nicely towards a much-awaited climax. Well, all the developments are pretty much expected, but with a compelling twist. I mean, was there any doubt from the beginning that Yaichirou will become the next Nise-emon? Except maybe not. Kureichirou – his opposition – might be an imposer for whichever unexplained reason and the true Kureichirou might go back home and break all the tanuki’s peace there. Was there any doubt from the beginning that the one who would end up in a tanuki hot pot is none other than Yasaburou? Except maybe not. Kaisei is unfortunately dragging along the ride too and it would be much more tragic (I WIL SCREAM) if Kaisei’s the one who become a tanuki meat. Meanwhile, we have some lovely moment of Yaichirou finally achieved his dream and the new ship of Yajirou and the hole-digger Kancho-girl has been sailed fast (I’ll be here shipping them hard). This episode hasn’t lost any of The Eccentric Family’s charms yet.

Let me just get off track a bit and compare The Eccentric Family to another show airing this season, Saekano. Both are character-driven shows, yet in Saekano’s case, despite a smart-sounding writing that usually fall within my taste, somehow the characters always leave a sour taste in my mouth. Take how they introduce new characters to see the difference in their approach. Last week Saekano introduced a new “boss”: Kosaka Akane, and she surely makes the most out of her introduction with over the top gestures, screaming, demanding and even deranging her face. Her extreme actions have a purpose though, as she was pushing our characters to their limits, but I still have issues with that. In Eccentric Family, they highlight the “boldness” of the tanuki who love to dig hole through showing us many subtle details. Yes, she’s quirky alright, but the new girl wouldn’t be that distinctive if she hasn’t make witty comments WHILE poking his frog-face with whatever things she was holding (the YELLOW fur of fate) and running around the hole carelessly in her BARE FEET. And I haven’t get to the part that she recognized Yajirou (by his name no less) just by sniffing at him (how awesome!) and they already have some sort of history before with the Fake Train and all that. This show knows how to make a good impression on their new characters and to top it off, her chemistry with Yajirou is amazing. Well, the girl who was born to dig hole to meet a guy who literally lives in a hole. I can’t think of anything else to say except that they’re born for each other.

The inner parlor rooms where the Kincho clan resides are another case of impossibly huge interior space that The Eccentric Family is famous for. In this case, they can change in shape and size as well. However, it’s soon revealed that the lazy grumpy guy who we don’t even get to see his face might be the real Kureichirou. Which means who the hell is this monk back home and why reveal that twist that late of the game? It will have to do with the climax, right? Whatever the reason that the guy tries to impose as the eldest of Ebisugawa might be, it’s all from his good will as he has done nothing but trying hard to make peace for the two families. As for Yaichirou, the moments that he become the next Nise-emon, I actually feel that he’s truly earned it. His father said some wise advice here and if there’s anything to indicate that Yaichirou doesn’t follow his father’s footstep, it’s that he still very much sincerely cares for all his brothers. Gyokuran have many solid moments with Yasaburou and even outshines him in some scenes. The Eccentric Family really knows how to develop new characters that fit right in with the old cast and the world around them.

At long last, both Yasaburou and Kaisei get shot down and on their way to become a delicious tanuki hot pot. Till death do us part, hey? If there is one thing that we should learn throughout the course of this series, trust Kaisei’s instinct. Like when she hears the sound of music, you better know that you’re about to be in deep trouble.

Announcement Time – Writer’s Recruitment

by SuperMario, posted in About, Special Articles

UPDATE: WE HAVE ANOTHER WEEK TO GO. THIS APPLICATION PROCESS WILL CLOSE AS SOON AS THE FIRST SHOW – KAKEGURUI – STARTS AIRING. WE WILL SEND EMAILS TO THE APPLICANTS AFTERWARDS TO INFORM THEM WHETHER OR NOT THEY MADE IT. THANK YOU.

I’ll be straight to the point, it’s time for us to recruit a new permanent writer.

The reason, you ask? Welp, as much as I don’t want to admit, each season I feel we left out too many shows that worth covering. Having another writer on board, along with the support from casual writers like Helghast Killzone or Bam, we’re aiming at 9-10 shows per season. With psgels is now returning on the site with his monthly summary, the site can finally be in an active mode. Having new writer also mean that more shows for you guys to follow and enjoy.

But I’ll stress this again, for those of you who wonder if this site is ever going back to the glory times before psgels left, I can safely say we won’t, nor we intend to. We run things differently now with all the respect towards his bloggings from before, and rest assured that we still inform psgels on any development/ change we plan for this site, such as this.

But if you’re tempted with the idea of blogging anime, let be warned: this is a job that have little to no reward, time-consuming and require a strong commitment and frequent update. If you frequent this blog you would notice that usually we have little response rate, we’d be lucky if we have 1 or 2 response per post. Writing a post can eat up a lot of your free time as well. Usually, it’s about 3 hours per post, and you need to write them constantly almost every week.

Now, are you still keen on giving it a shot? Then, to the application:

– Tell us a little bit about yourself, your favorite anime/ genre, what can you bring to the site (nah, we are not some kind of stuck up employers), and a sample post on any recent episode of your choice, or even a full review. The main reason for this sample post, apart from us having a good grasp of your writing style, is a little challenge for you guys to test yourself. “Try to write a post a same size as us (about 500 – 600 words), time how long it takes and ask yourself if you can really do that 3 times a week, for every single week of the year.” I’m just quoting roughly what Aidan said to me when I first approached him for the job and it did scare the hell out of me, but I survived. Ask yourself can you devote that much time each week to write reviews. If after you finish this sample post you still feel perfectly fine with all that, then you’re basically who we looking for.

One more thing that I suggest you do if you give this blogging a shot, just be yourself on your writing. Having a competent writing skills and good critical writing ability of course help, but having your own voice is what matters most. Let us know more about you through your post.

–Send your application to this email: redriver(underscore)2005(at)yahoo(dot)com with the subject: “[your username] psgels.net Writer’s Application”. The deadline will be until the start of next season (1st of July), meaning you will have approximately 3 more weeks to get involved. Depending on how many applications we get, we will try to email you back whether you made it or not as soon as the decision is made. If you have any question, shoot it down the comment section. We honestly don’t know how many applications we will eventually get, but it’s part of the fun. Remember, as long as you think of this blogging as your hobby, you’ll be fine. That I can assure. You won’t go far for things you don’t enjoy. So don’t be shy, give this a shot and good luck.

Window Horses (2016) Movie Review – 87/100

by SuperMario, posted in Anime Reviews, Reviews by SuperMario, World Animation

In Window Horses, or its full name Window Horses – The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming, many characters keep asking the main protagonist, a Stick Girl in an otherwise fully formed character designs, why is she wearing a chador, in which she’s unable to reply. It’s her first trip to go overseas, so she just tries to fit in. For she’s blank state, you see, having little to no idea about the outside world, or even the poetry world. Rosie Ming, her name – herself a half-Chinese half-Persian who living in Canada, working in a fast food restaurant while writing poems (to be more exact, singing poems) as her hobby. She self-published her first book title “My Eye-full Poems by a person who has never been to France” and her greatest wish is to travel to France, the land of love and poetry. God listens to her well it seems, as she receives an invitation to attend to a poetry festival… in Shiraz, Iran. Throughout the course of the film, in a stranger land, she has a chance to listen to the voices of others, to staying open and curious with different cultures from different generation and learns a bit about herself and her family situation.

There’s one thing I can say for sure, Window Horses’ most obvious charm come from the fact that it feels like nothing else you’ve seen, especially in animation medium; the film whose main setting is in a poetry festival, a main character that is multiracial and the cast contain characters from many different backgrounds. Partly due to its unique appeal, the director Ann Marie Fleming had a bit of difficult time funding it, so she decided to crowdfund the project instead and it took her nine years to finally bring this lovely feature to life. The main character Rosie, a Stick Girl, has been the director’s own avatar for most of her career (the director herself is a half-Asian), and her simple design, both mean as a blank page, who despite not having a lot of experience, goes out to the world with curiosity and willingness to learn the world and all the things she can from other people; and as a simple likable character we can all root for and feel empathy with.

While the main plot is about Rosie visiting Iran, Window Horses isn’t strictly about her tale, but she serves as our window for the tales of other poets, the tale of Iran, and the tale of her father, who she come to believe that he had abandoned her and her Mom when she was young. Putting together, those tales are messy and over the place, but that is exactly the point to demonstrate how inspiration can come from every corner of the world; it’s the love of art, of poetry that brings those people who have vastly different ethnical backgrounds and different experiences in life all together. In one of her poetry quest, she is handed a poem by a Chinese poet Di Di (in Mandarin of course), who requested her to recite his poem in English with her own take. In order to do that she has to translate them into Persian, and then from Persian to English; thus in a process she has a chance to learn more about both of her ancestors, the Chinese and the Persian.

The humor of Window Horses is on the bright side here, in fact, its whimsical and light-hearted nature really help strengthening the mood and the theme of the story. This trip, after all, is more like an adventure for Rosie, where every new thing she learned, every people she met brimming with curious eyes. She quickly remarks in most of the things, mostly innocent deadpan questions like “How is it everyone here knows everything about everything”. The struggles she experienced for her “offensive content” to the Persian culture, for example (ya know, in Iran, solo performances by women is considered mildly offensive and have been banned), or the background story of exiled Chinese poet Di Di, both show us the difference in cultural perception, and add the richness to this little world.

Another main portion of the film is about each poet reciting their poems, and the history of Iran and important figures in Persian poetry culture, in which each part is showcase of visual inventiveness from different directors, who experiment with new styles to fit the content of the poems they are representing. (Fleming’s main job in those segments was to composite them into a cohesive whole). The history part doesn’t really sell it for me, mostly because it feels more like an educational Discovery Chanel on TV rather than fitting into this plot’s content; but the poem parts are easily one of the best strength of Window Horses. The director Fleming gave a smart decision to have all the poems reciting in their own languages without the subtitle. As a result, us as viewers don’t really understand what they’re talking about, but feel it. It’s the beauty of poetry. It’s not about the meaning, but the rhythms. Fleming also commented later in her interview that she wanted those poems to be some kind of code, viewers don’t need to understand it because they might get distracted from the main story, but if they wanted to, they can dig deeper to those contents because ther’s a whole world of art buried underneath it.

And then her little story about her parents, especially her father’s life come into light and was told to her by different people, most of them have known him at some point of his life. Her father’s backstory come a bit heavy-handed at times as it again touches upon the Iran Revolution and the refugees, but they do it without the expense of emotional drama of familial bond at its heart, so as messy as it is, it has its merits. Rosie’s grandparents, voiced beautifully by Nancy Kwan and Eddy Ko (If you have no idea who Nancy Kwan is, she was one of the first Asian-born actress played a pivotal role in the acceptance of actors of Asian ancestry in major Hollywood film roles) have some really great scenes of overprotective grandparents who must do anything to avoid their kid getting hurt, but hurts her instead by not telling her everything.

Wildly imaginative, sensitively portray the richness of multi-cultures and the love for poetry, at the same time bright and optimistic enough to bring hopeful sentiments to some otherwise grim and dark topics and a full delight from start to finish, Window Horses is a total winner in my book. Although feature a wide array of cast, it’s ultimately a personal story of Rosie to reach the world, learn few new things from other, appreciate more about her backgrounds and grown into her own at the end. Window Horses is a little story that worth telling.

Tsuki ga Kirei – 09 [The Wind Rises]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Tsuki ga Kirei

A little bit of note that Tsuki ga Kirei was delayed a fair bit this week. Apparently, the Japan broadcast was still on schedule but Crunchyroll experienced a bit of extra time subbing it, which my guess is that the production cut a bit too close this time prior to airing, which also mean we might have a rushed, unpolished production just like last week. My worrying thought didn’t come out true, thankfully, because Tsuki ga Kirei again excels this week, producing one of their most solid episode. There are plenty of moments to love this week, ranged from their well-earned LINE messages (gosh, made me realized that we hardly see any real conversations through messaging device in other anime, even in films), their uncertainty about which school to choose, to Akane’s last competitive track to Takumi and Chinatsu’s mutual moments. Tsuki ga Kirei is simply at its top form this week.

The time for graduation is getting near and our kids have to pick their future high schools. Both Kotarou and Akane have little idea where they end up with, Kotarou largely due to whether or not he’d pursue his writing. The publisher few episodes back suggested him to try writing light novels, but he’s unfamiliar and even uncomfortable with light novel format, thus he asks his senpai about the medium and tries to read some. His parents both care about his future choice, but each of them have different idea on how to push him on the “right” track. His mother increasingly concerns about him getting in good school with good grade (typically Asian mom). His father, in his very timid fatherly way, suggests him to do whatever he likes to do (I love the way he even doesn’t look straight to his eyes when he discusses with Kotarou – Again, a very Asian style of communicating between Dad and son – you know, we don’t really fond of expressing our thoughts to each other). I could sense his wise advice coming from a guy who regret not following what he loved when he was his son’s age, and now he doesn’t want his son to follow his footstep.

Akane’s issue is more apparent, though. Her father might relocate again with his new position, it’s the biggest, most obvious obstacle they could’ve have in their age: won’t be able to meet each other due to long distance. Akane doesn’t like moving away from Kotarou and the environment she has grown accustomed with. But first, she has other things she needs to focus on: her last track competition. After last week when the two of them spend almost all the time together, this week they spend most of their time doing their own things (which is good) and keep in touch through LINE. Those LINE exchanges are adorable and I really appreciate the show for not only showing their reactions when receiving and texting, but the detail of their conversations as well. She has a big day coming up, but she doesn’t wish Kotarou to come because she would get embarrassed and distracted from it, as a result Kotarou still comes… in secret. It’s a charming action since the reason he comes isn’t about getting her attention, but because he just wanted to see her running. While she succeeds in her last race, beating her personal record and coming first in a race, we can’t help but feel sadness. The way she looks at the track one last time (she might not do running again in her high school), and her last bento with sincere clubmates who were together for 3 years- are powerful and intimate. Once again Tsuki ga Kirei shows us that the show isn’t strictly about romance, but about the coming of age tales from those kids.

Takumi and Chinatsu have some time to shine in this episode too. Takumi (now I just realized that he was the same age with Akane and Chinatsu, despite his more mature look) realizes that Akane might move to other city, so he works up the courage to ask the track girls to the coming festival. Chinatsu, once again despite her carefree appearance, is way more observant than the rest of the cast, noticing that Kotarou sneaked up to the competition to watch Akane, and Takumi’s deeper thoughts. They, in a very “Scum Wish” way, share the same sadness feeling of seeing the one they like be happy with other people; in other words, they share empathy. Takumi might try to express his feeling to Akane, since he “hasn’t even taken a shot yet”. Chinatsu also remark that they can’t change how they feel – but girl, remember that the feeling can indeed change as time goes by. As she grows older that melancholy feeling might become something that she’d be fond of when looking back.

ID-0 – 09 [Seeking the Truth]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Id-0

ID-0 pulled off another excellent episode. With this episode, we’re clear to one of the most central question of ID-0: who exactly is Ido, but the reveal opens up many more fascinating questions, which is totally welcomed. The show still maintains its firm grasp on its main cast’s development, as this episode has a fair share of great moments from many characters, especially Karla and Rick. Even more impressively, those characters’ development tied up very well with the reveal of Ido’s true identity, together they form an overarching theme on existence and comradeship. This show is on its way to become my favorite thing this season now.

Let’s start with Karla, as she receives quite a key development this episode. Last week it is disclosed that the Federation has a hold of her real body, and the first flashback reveals the reason she lost her body and became an Evertrancer. I totally understand the struggle (and a bit of feeling of shame) she has between choosing to take her body back and betraying the trust from her own friends. She has her hesitation, but when the decision is clear, there is no holding her back. She makes the pathway to MT Industries facility clear, almost too clear, for Ido to fall right into the trap. It’s a solid dilemma for Karla. I have no doubt she will come back with the group after this betrayal, but I guess the price she has to pay is given up her own body.

Which come to my next point. The pep talks between Rick and Amanza further inform us about the true nature of Rick’s form, and it’s a knock out. His current “form” turn out to be a copied version of his original consciousness, meaning he has no real body, he has no real soul (something akin to “the second copy of the second will”). Then what makes him now? He’s Rick, yet he is no longer Rick. The answer is relatively simple, he become his own person. Suddenly, the carefree womanizer Rick has given a much deeper characterization. ID-0’s main theme starts to emerge: existence. Are chasing after their long lost memories like Ido, or getting their physical body like Karla, still relevant anymore? Will it change anything? Their current I-Machine versions are who they are now, with the consciousness that run totally independent from their former host.

One of the big bomb has dropped, and to the surprise of no one, Ido is revealed to be Dr. Kane Arisugawa. Now, another concept is brought up: while the Evertrancers are the representative of the consciousness without the physical body, what the real Kane Arisugawa currently doing is creating clones from his body. This reveal of course leads to many more points, what exactly happened with Ido? Who is Alice (I’m still guessing she’s his daughter) and how they going to explore the concept of “too many physical bodies (clones) vs. no physical body” showdown. The next episode is going to be bombastic, I assure you.