Tag: 1988

Grave of the Fireflies Review

Grave of the Fireflies Review

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Grave of the Fireflies anime movie cover art
Grave of the Fireflies

A Look at War’s Effect on Civilians

Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no Haka / 火垂るの墓) is a Studio Ghibli movie about World War II from 1988. It actually released as a double feature with My Neighbor Totoro, which is wild. These two movies couldn’t be more different from each other.

Considering Grave of the Fireflies is a World War II movie, it should be pretty obvious that it’s not exactly “fun.” But, it’s made by Studio Ghibli, so it can’t be that depressing, right? Wrong. Unlike the majority of Ghibli movies, Grave of the Fireflies isn’t a kids’ movie.

Sure, kids can watch it and may enjoy it. But, if they do, I don’t think they’ll understand what it’s about. And, I have a hard time believing most kids would like this movie over the majority of other Ghibli movies. Even other, more serious Ghibli movies like Princess Mononoke are more kid-friendly.

Seita and Setsuko from the anime movie Grave of the Fireflies
Seita and Setsuko

Alright, so what’s the movie actually about beyond World War II in general? It’s about two kids who become war orphans. Their mother dies in a firebomb attack on the city of Kobe. And, their father is a member of the Japanese Navy.

At first, their aunt takes them in. But, over time, it becomes harder for her to care for the children. This is in part due to ever-shrinking food rations. And, it’s also in part due to Seita’s personality. Seita is the older child (14) and doesn’t seem to fully grasp the situation.

By the end of the movie, both Seita and his sister, Setsuko, have died of starvation and disease. That’s not a spoiler, though. The movie opens with Seita dying and us seeing Setsuko’s spirit pop out from her cremated remains. So, right from the start, the movie makes it clear what you’re getting yourself into.

Seita and Setsuko

The two main characters of the movie are Seita and Setsuko. Seita is a 14-year-old boy and Setsuko is a 4-year-old girl. Let’s start by going over Setsuko since her character is a lot simpler. It’s sort of difficult to have a complex 4-year-old.

Setsuko obviously doesn’t have a firm grasp on the situation. Her biggest concern is that their house burned down. She doesn’t understand things like the fact that they don’t know where their next meal will come from. And, for the majority of the movie, Seita also hides the fact that their mother died from her.

But, as long as Setsuko can be with her brother, she’s happy. The one thing she doesn’t want is for the two of them to be separated. And, that affects how Seita acts, to an extent. Everything Seita does is for Setsuko.

Seita giving Setsuko a fruit drop from the anime movie Grave of the Fireflies
Seita giving Setsuko a fruit drop

Alright, so Seita may do everything for Setsuko. But, he’s a 14-year-old kid who often makes the wrong decisions. Sure, he’s responsible in that he’s somewhat able to care for his sister. However, he’s incapable of thinking things through long-term. And, that has fatal consequences for both of them.

For example, after their aunt takes them in, Seita refuses to find work to help support the family. At 14, and especially during the war, he could easily find a job. But, Seita doesn’t get a job for a few reasons — which leads to him and Setsuko leaving their aunt’s house.

One reason for Seita’s refusal to work is that it would mean he’s away from Setsuko during the day. He doesn’t want to leave her alone. And, another reason is that he has the naive belief that his father will come back from the war and take care of them.

Comparison to In This Corner of the World

The obvious comparison to make when talking about Grave of the Fireflies is to In This Corner of the World. It’s another movie about how World War II affected civilians. But, it’s still a very different movie.

Grave of the Fireflies focuses on the impact the war had on children. Specifically, on how many adults turned their gaze away from children in need. And, this resulted in the deaths of many children. In This Corner of the World is more about civilians in general rather than children.

While I think both movies are very good. In This Corner of the World is better. It goes into many more aspects of life before and during the war. This lets us get a better understanding of the impact the war had on the average person.

Setsuko on a swing from the anime movie Grave of the Fireflies
Setsuko on a swing

Something else to think about is that Seita isn’t a very likable protagonist. Suzu is your average woman who’s trying to do her best throughout the war. She’s likable and someone you want to root for. Meanwhile, Seita is an entitled kid who never recognizes how his poor decisions led to his sister’s death.

I don’t want you to think that you should watch one of these two movies over the other, though. They both have their merits. In This Corner of the World is better if you want an overall look at the war. But, Grave of the Fireflies shines a light on the forgotten victims.

Yes, many of those who die in war are killed by bombs and other weapons. However, even more people tend to die from “mundane” things like disease and famine. That’s what Grave of the Fireflies is really about. And, it does a great job of illustrating how prevalent that is — especially with the opening scene.

Final Thoughts

Grave of the Fireflies is an 8/10. I highly recommend everyone watch it — especially anyone who’s a fan of In This Corner of the World. And, fans of Grave of the Fireflies should likewise watch that movie, too. These kinds of movies are important.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

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My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro

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My Neighbor Totoro anime movie cover art
My Neighbor Totoro

Movie Overview

My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro / となりのトトロ) is a children’s movie made by Studio Ghibli. You’ve probably at least heard of it before even if you haven’t seen it yourself. I feel like either this or Spirited Away is the most popular Ghibli movie.

Now, although I did watch some anime as a child, I actually never watched any Ghibli movies. The only other Ghibli movie I’ve seen so far is Kiki’s Delivery Service, which I watched back in 2018. And right away, I have to say that My Neighbor Totoro is the better of the two.

The movie focuses on two young girls, Satsuki and Mei Kusakabe, who move into a new house in the countryside with their father. At first, it appears that their mother is no longer around, but we later learn that she’s actually in a relatively nearby hospital recovering from a “cold.”

Shortly upon arriving at the house, the girls discover that it’s haunted by various kinds of small — and harmless — spirits. One spirit that lives in a giant tree nearby is named Totoro by the younger sister, Mei.

The rest of the movie then follows Satsuki and Mei as they search for and play with their new friend Totoro. There’s a small amount of drama thrown in towards the end of the movie for an exciting climax, but otherwise not all that much actually happens.

There’s also another spirit creature, known only as Catbus. As the name implies, it’s a cat that’s also a bus. I think Catbus may have actually been my favorite thing about the whole movie. Catbus’s design is just really good, and I think it’s a more interesting creature than Totoro.

What is Totoro?

Totoro looks like a mix between a raccoon, squirrel, rabbit, and bear. But what’s most important about him(?) is that he’s not actually based on a real Japanese spirit. There’s nothing called a Totoro in Japanese mythology or folklore, despite what the movie would like you to believe.

Totoro’s name is also written in katakana, so we can’t even look at the kanji of his name to figure out what exactly he’s supposed to be. He’s just a creature that was made up for the movie. However, that’s what I like most about him.

The genius of Totoro is that the movie makes it seem like it could be a real spirit. For example, Mei names him Totoro after a creature by the same name in one of her books. So in-universe, a Totoro is a known kind of spirit much like a Kappa would be in real Japan.

Satsuki and Totoro waiting for the bus from the anime movie My Neighbor Totoro
Satsuki and Totoro waiting for the bus

To me, the world-building in My Neighbor Totoro is extremely good because it’s able to blur the line between fantasy and reality in this way. Even though Totoro isn’t a real spirit, he’s just as mysterious as real spirits. It’s believable that there would be a type of forest spirit just like him.

Speaking of how mysterious Totoro is, he lives an odd life. There are smaller “Totoro” which seem to gather acorns for him while he naps inside his tree. He also has the ability to make trees grow, implying that he’s a forest guardian-type spirit.

But what’s most odd is his relationship with Catbus. The two seem to be friends, but also Catbus is Totoro’s form of public transportation. When Totoro gets on Catbus after waiting at the bus stop, where is he going? Does Totoro have somewhere to be? I like to think he was going to a job interview.

Totoro Without Nostalgia

As I’ve mentioned, I really like the world-building in this movie. The creatures are fun, and we see just enough of them to get a vague understanding of what they are and do. I think that’s important because if we learned everything about Totoro and Catbus, they wouldn’t be fantastical anymore.

But as I also mentioned, there’s not a whole lot going on in this movie, and that’s the biggest flaw for me. The movie is 1 hour and 26 minutes long and the titular Totoro doesn’t even make an appearance until after 30 minutes in.

Maybe this is on me, but I expected the character of Totoro to have a much larger role than he actually did. It’s not like Totoro ever really hangs out with Satsuki and Mei. Totoro just kind of exists and the girls sometimes see him — that’s it.

Satsuki, Mei, and Catbus from the anime movie My Neighbor Totoro
Satsuki, Mei, and Catbus

It’s also a bit misleading that this movie is tagged as an adventure. I’d argue that it’s much more a slice of life anime than an adventure anime. The girls don’t go on an adventure. The movie is all about them living at their new home, which happens to be located near Totoro’s tree.

The adventure tag would make a lot more sense if Totoro took the girls to a fantasy world. Though, from my understanding, that’s kind of what Spirited Away is — I’ll watch that eventually and probably find out I’m wrong.

Anyway, at the end of the day, My Neighbor Totoro is a children’s movie. Is it a good children’s movie? Yes. But let’s not pretend like it’s the most engaging anime movie around. I feel like the first act could have been shortened drastically to make more time for Totoro shenanigans.

Conclusion

My Neighbor Totoro is a 7/10 from me. And while I did just say that I generally want more than what it offered, it’s definitely a movie I would watch again. I probably wouldn’t watch it on my own. But if someone wanted to watch it, I’d watch it with them.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi~ for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika and Senpai tiers respectively this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Gunbuster

Gunbuster

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Gunbuster anime series cover art
Gunbuster

Series Overview

Gunbuster (Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster / トップをねらえ！ GunBuster) is one of the early original anime by the studio Gainax and is basically responsible for putting them on the map. It also heavily influenced many of Gainax’s later mecha series, such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gurren Lagann.

In fact, you can still see the influence of Gunbuster in studio Trigger’s anime. I feel like this is pretty common knowledge, but Trigger was created by ex-Gainax employees and is in many ways the spiritual successor to Gainax.

But, what exactly is Gunbuster about?

Set in 2015 (the series is from 1988, so forgive them for thinking 2015 would look like this), humanity has expanded beyond Earth — sort of. Earth is still the only planet humans inhabit, but humanity has a large fleet of city-sized ships that can travel at light-speed throughout the galaxy.

However, a mysterious enemy has emerged from the center of the galaxy to destroy humanity. I don’t feel like this enemy was ever named, but they’re basically some bug-like biological entity. And so, the premise of Gunbuster is that humanity has to fight back against this enemy in deep space so they don’t reach Earth.

The plot isn’t really all that involved. Instead, it’s the various perspectives regarding deep space travel that made the series interesting to me. I’ll explain this more in the final section, but I really enjoyed how the series explored the effects of deep space travel on the human psyche.

One of the not-so-good parts of Gunbuster, however, was the often out of place nudity. There were some obvious fan service scenes, which is fine. But then there were other scenes that included random nudity that didn’t seem to be meant as fan service but also didn’t add anything.

Main Characters

Noriko Takaya is the protagonist of the series and eventual pilot of the mech known as Gunbuster. If you think that’s a spoiler, I’m not really sure what else you expected to happen. Anyway, her dream has always been to go into space to follow in the footsteps of her father — a ship captain who was lost in battle protecting humanity.

In a lot of ways, Noriko being the protagonist is pretty annoying. She has no talent for piloting mechs, she doesn’t work as hard as other cadets, and yet she’s still chosen to pilot Gunbuster because of who her father was. It’s not the same as Shinji piloting Eva-01 because, in Noriko’s case, there are many other candidates who are better options than she is.

Noriko Takaya from the anime series Gunbuster
Noriko Takaya

Kazumi Amano is the other pilot of Gunbuster, though that role doesn’t really make much sense. Throughout the whole series, we’re told how important it is for her and Noriko to work together to pilot Gunbuster. But at the same time, we see that Gunbuster can be piloted just fine by a single person.

Really, Kazumi is just there to be another main character who isn’t Noriko. There’s no logical reason for her to be kept around in an important role if it’s already been decided that Noriko is going to be Gunbuster’s main pilot. Also, she had some awkward character development towards the end.

And while not exactly a main character, the third mech pilot who’s somewhat important is Jung Freud. Jung is a Soviet (yes, the Soviet Union still exists) pilot who’s a romantic rival of Kazumi. She and Kazumi are both in love with their commander, Kouichirou Oota.

Jung is kind of just a third-wheel since Noriko and Kazumi are the designated pilots for Gunbuster.

Interesting Perspectives

My favorite parts of Gunbuster were the sci-fi concepts and unique perspectives it introduced surrounding deep space travel. To discuss these, I’m going to need to spoil the entire series. So skip to the conclusion if you don’t want to be spoiled.

At the end of the series, humanity constructs a black hole bomb that I thought was really cool. Essentially, they somehow compressed Jupiter down to about the size of Earth’s moon and then caused it to implode into a black hole by pumping energy into it. I have no idea how that would work, but I thought it was a cool concept for a sci-fi weapon.

Now, what I really liked about this series was how it handled light-speed and near light-speed travel (for the most part). In case you haven’t taken physics classes that have covered this, the closer you get to light-speed, the slower time moves for you. This concept is known as time dilation. And technically speaking, at light-speed, time stops.

Gunbuster from the anime series Gunbuster
Gunbuster

So how is time dilation used in Gunbuster? Well, when people leave Earth and go to travel the galaxy, they’re moving at a significant percentage of light-speed. And in this series we sometimes see them travel between 98-100% light-speed for brief periods of (relative) time. What that means is that time for them is different than time for people on Earth.

Noriko and Kazumi leave Earth at about the age of 17 and travel through space for around 6 months relative to themselves. But when they return to Earth for the first time, 10 years have passed there. So, while Noriko is still 17, one of her friends from school is now 27 with a child.

Although time dilation is a very real and measurable thing, I haven’t actually seen any other sci-fi series ever make use of it. It was really interesting to see how Noriko and Kazumi come to terms with this phenomenon and what it means for their relationships with other people.

Conclusion

After watching the first episode, I was expecting Gunbuster to be a 5 or 6. But with every passing episode, of which there are only six, I found myself liking it more and more. The start is definitely slow, but by the time I got to the end I felt like it was a solid 8/10.

One last thing I do want to mention about this series is that the sixth and final episode is all in black and white. This was an artistic choice, not the product of Gainax running out of time. However, I don’t really think that choice added anything to the episode. It didn’t hurt it, but I would have rather it just been in full color like the previous five.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month and recommending I watch Gunbuster. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Gunbuster 2: Diebuster, is available here.

Akira

Akira

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Akira anime movie cover art featuring Kaneda
Akira Cover Art

Overview

A few hours after finishing Neon Genesis Evangelion and making that the oldest anime I’ve watched to date, I decided to watch Akira, which is even older. Despite being from 1988, Akira holds up surprisingly well, although it doesn’t look like modern anime.

While the art style may be part of the reason Akira doesn’t look like a modern anime, I think the main thing that sets it apart is the animation. It seems like at least something is happening in every frame of the movie.

Neon Genesis Evangelion used still and almost still frames, as do many new anime such as Boruto, however, every frame of Akira is packed with movement. In a number of scenes there’s so much going on that you need to watch it multiple times in order to take it all in.

However, while I enjoyed the animation quality of this movie, the plot wasn’t really for me. Sci-fi is fine and all, but the psychic powers weren’t really ever explained and I’m not much of a fan of the “big blob of flesh” monster at the end which reminded me of A.I.C.O.: Incarnation.

Also why did the psychic children all look like zombies? I get that there’s a lot more information in the manga, but you’d think that maybe that should be touched on in the movie. I also assume Akira was an actual character in some way in the manga, because he wasn’t here.

I felt like naming this movie “Akira” is kind of like if they titled the Naruto “Minato.” Yeah, Minato is an important character as far as the back story is concerned, but he’s not really relevant to the plot, mentioned for most of it, or alive. Akira is the same way.

Characters

The protagonist of the movie is Shoutarou Kaneda, the leader of a biker gang in Neo Tokyo. I think he’s also supposed to be a high school student even though he has a custom-built motorcycle and gets in violent gang fights.

I don’t really feel like there’s much more else to say about him, he’s a fairly standard main character.

Tetsuo Shima is the primary antagonist of the movie and is a much more interesting character than Kaneda. He’s also Kaneda’s childhood friend from back when they were both orphans.

It seems that Tetsuo has always been bullied and picked on his whole life, and Kaneda was always the one coming to his rescue. Because of this, Tetsuo feels inferior to his friend, which naturally angers him.

However, after coming in contact with one of the aforementioned psychic zombie children, Tetsuo gains psychic powers of his own and no longer needs to rely on Kaneda for protection. This change is symbolized by him stealing Kaneda’s motorcycle which he was told is too powerful for him.

Another one of the main characters is Kei, a girl who’s a member of an anti-government rebellion. Kei is Kaneda’s primary love interest for the movie and the two of them work together to bring down Tetsuo.

The fourth and final main character is Shikishima, a military colonel who’s in charge of the psychic zombie children. It was unclear to me whether or not he was supposed to be a bad guy.

Sure, he want’s to capture Tetsuo and use his powers, but he also protects the other children and seems to be doing what’s best for the people of Neo Tokyo at large. I’m sure his character is flushed out more in the manga, but in the movie I wasn’t sure if I should be rooting for him or not.

In the end, what we get are three different factions and four different reasons for each of the main characters getting involved in the situation.

Tetsuo wants to show off his new strength and works alone for himself. Kaneda and Kei work together to stop Tetsuo, but for different reasons. Kaneda wants to save him, while Kei wants to stop the military from gaining his power. Shikishima wants to increase the strength of the military.

Shoutarou Kaneda from the anime movie Akira
Shoutarou Kaneda

Conclusion

In the end I feel that Akira is a 6/10, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad at all. It was a genuinely good movie, but had some things it needed to work on like any other movie, and simply wasn’t for me.

I think the best part of the whole movie was the beginning where we get a high-speed motorcycle chase and fight between Kaneda’s gang and their rival gang. Honestly, if the whole movie focused on a war between these two rival biker gangs that would have been better.

Just change Kaneda’s name to “Akira” so the title can still be used (Akira is a better title than Kaneda) and remake the movie as a biker gang war movie. Someone could even just edit out all the other parts and it would probably be good without even adding more content.

The opening scene for the movie Akira can be found here.

Rewatch Update (May 25, 2019)

After rewatching Akira I’ve come to appreciate the more sci-fi aspects it has to offer, as well as the latter half of the movie in general. I appreciated all the gang members a lot more this time around, especially Tetsuo. You really do get the feeling that these teenagers are just being caught up in something way out of their control.

The title, Akira, also felt more meaningful this second time around because I already knew who Akira was. I think the first time around I was a bit disappointed that the movie was named after someone who wasn’t even a real character.

Also, the animation still held up and is the best part of the movie, but I found the soundtrack to be a bit off. Don’t get me wrong, the soundtrack has some absolute “bangers,” as the kids would say, but they felt out of place sometimes.

Overall I’d say Akira is actually a 7/10, and I’m actually looking forward to the newly announced live action movie coming in 2021. This may be the first time I’ll actually watch a live action adaptation of an anime.

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