Viewing Journal: Sword of the Stranger

Movie Overview DVD Info Trailer Rating: Overall= B+ Story = B- Video = A- Audio = B

Journal

Hunted by the Mings from China, young Kotaro and his dog meet a nameless samurai ("Nanashi") who is constantly being haunted by dreams of the past which lead him to seal his sword. Among the Mings is a fearsome Western fighter named Rarou, who desires only to find a worthy opponent. When both groups clash with a Sengoku-era feudal lord, a proud general, and monks torn between faith and survival, the reason behind the Mings' pursuit tests the bond between Kotaro and Nanashi. (Source: ANN)

Sword of the Stranger is pretty standard in a lot of respects. It has a standard samurai story involving a ronin warrior trying to protect a kid from other warrior/bad guys who want to use him for some villainous plot. It has the tried-and-true character types of the guilt-ridden samurai with the tragic past, the tough kid, the arrogant and power-hungry leaders, and the fighter looking for a challenge. But standard or not, the movie does pull off all of these elements successfully: The characters are sympathetic and compelling and the plot has just enough detail to keep it interesting while allowing the action to flow at a brisk pace.

But what sets this movie apart from others in the genre are the visuals. I don't mean the animation -- which is smooth and fast-paced -- and I don't mean the art -- which is above even Studio Bones' typically high standards. What I mean is the details in the action itself. The fight scenes are not only well choreographed, but also go so far as so show, in unexpected detail, the physical consequences of the fight. For instance, near the beginning, Nanashi finishes off an opponent by jabbing the hilt of his sword into the foe's neck. It sinks in, breaking the guy's neck, but when he Nanashi pulls the sword back, the neck swells at the entrance point due to internal bleeding. There are also a few other creative details, like when the hawk guy (I don't remember his name) is looking for his sword when it is in fact sticking out the back of his neck. Now that's quality!

As for the music, it was good and fit in with movie and enhanced the drama. At least I'm pretty sure it did because I don't remember it too clearly.

So anyway, this was a great movie overall and is definitely worth a watch for anyone interested in cool samurai violence presented with high quality animation and with good story and characters. And being able to watch it on the big screen at Otakon made it all the better.

Viewing Journal: Honey and Clover (live action movie)

Movie Overview DVD Info Trailer Rating: Overall= D- Story = D- Video = D Audio = C

Journal

Takemoto study in art college, but not knowing what he wants to do in the future. Shy girl Hagumi loves painting. Some day she is painting and Takemoto see her; he fell in love. So does Morita, who is in art college too. (Source: ANN)

Even though I didn't like the anime version of Honey and Clover, I was curious in seeing this live action version (which was showing at Otakon this year). The only reason being that I wanted to check whether or not my theory about how the anime would work in live action was on target. And I can proudly say I was spot on.

This live action movie has all the down-side of the anime with none of the up-side. It's a story about a group of art school students who are all the victims of unrequited love; meaning that girl-A loves boy-B, but boy-B loves girl-C, etc. There is no focus on any particular set of characters, and with no other story elements driving the story forward it was hard to tell where it was going. And the worst part is that over the full 2-hours of the movie, nothing really even develops in any of these relationships, making it seem like the movie could potentially go on forever.

And it doesn't help that it moves so slowly throughout the entire thing. The conversations would include a line of dialogue, and awkward pause, another line, another pause, and so on. This technique can potentially be used effectively to build a sense of tension between characters, but that just didn't happen here. Maybe it was bad acting, or maybe it was lost in translation, but whatever the case it made each conversation way more drawn out than it needed to be. And it made the movie way longer than it had any right to be.

The thing about the anime was that, even though it had much the same type of storyline as in the movie, the visual gags and some of the extreme antics of the characters -- especially Morita -- at least made it somewhat entertaining, if not especially engrossing. But since those types of things can't be pulled off in a live action drama, this movie ends up falling flat.

As for the music, it is half-way decent. And just about all of the songs are in English which is nice from the perspective of a US audience. It also makes me think that maybe this is one of those movies where the soundtrack sells better than the movie DVD.

So in the end, this movie reminded me of a slow-moving Japanese version of Singles -- or any of those kinds of movies that portray multiple couples with loose connections trying to find love. I tend to dislike those kinds of movies because there is no plot and the characters usually seem so self absorbed and sappy that I just want to scream "Get over it already!" Again, I'm not saying that I don't like romance -- hell my favorite anime movie of all time is 5 Centimeters Per Second -- but with little focus and no plot, Honey and Clover left me bored out of my mind.

[Note: Sorry to J, M, and M, but I tried to hint that you'd have been better off watching The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Guess I was too subtle about it...]