grinning through my teeth
hi friends!
This past weekend, I made the train journey up to NYC, for time with pals and to see the broadway musicalization of perfect Don Bluth movie Anastasia. It was a good time! The pals were of course the best part, but Anastasia was fun (I wouldn’t call it great, but the audience experience largely made up for it and honestly I love the source material too much not to have had a ball), and we stopped by Kinukuniya, a huge Japanese bookstore where we saw some ice boys and I spent a lot less money than I might have, which proved to be prescient, as I broke my phone immediately after leaving. All in all, a wonderful time.
I made a new friend.
Notable Breakfast
Dog Thing
Mixed Media
I read Akira for the first time last summer, and last week I finally watched the movie. It was excellent, but I definitely prefer the manga and it’s absolutely because of Katsuhiro Otomo’s art. Otomo adapted the comic into the film, so the look is still very much him, but there’s something about seeing Otomo’s art on the page that just stops me in my tracks.
(The film also omits my favourite sequence and my 2nd favourite character, so it was never going to win in that contest.)
Something about his ability with buildings and faces just gets me.
I realize this isn’t a ground-breaking opinion to have, but between seeing the film and looking at some incredible out of print Otomo art books my friend has (which I have asked be willed to me upon his death, a request he has promised to honor), I’ve had Akira on the brain recently. It’s absolutely a masterpiece worth checking out, and since it’s currently the only work of Otomo’s in print in English (how), it’s all I’ve got.
I started watching Haikyuu!!, an anime about teenagers who care deeply about volleyball. I don’t usually go for sports anime, but this one has grabbed me. It’s very fun and wholesome?? I love it. One evening in New York was spent watching our favourite episodes of The Good Place, and we came to the conclusion that “Chidi’s Choice” is a perfect half hour of television. I can’t wait for that show to come back.
I read Wanted, A Gentleman by K.J. Charles, a fun historical romance. And on the topic of iconic manga, I read Revolutionary Girl Utena, which was very odd and a little gay and on the whole I liked it.
One of my Kunikuniya purchases was the soundtrack for Your Name, and I’ve been constantly listening to it since. It’s wonderful, and is making me badly want to see the movie again. I’ve also been listening to j-pop group Spyair, because my days of ignoring the pop music in anime are apparently over.
The next movies in the Ghibli Festival were Whisper of the Heart and Princess Mononoke. Mononoke is of course a masterpiece, and I jump at any chance to see it on the big screen. Whisper of the Heart I nearly skipped. I’d seen it once, probably 5 years ago, and was thoroughly underwhelmed by it. But I’m very, very glad I went, because it ended up being the most fun I’ve had seeing these movies so far, purely on the strength of audience engagement. It’s not a Miyazaki movie, but if you enjoy it for what it is–a sweet, earnest story of young love and discovering what drives you–it’s completely wonderful. My showing was full of people who were thrilled to no longer be 14 years old, and we had a blast.
Also if you haven’t yet, please stop what you’re doing and watch the trailer for A Wrinkle in Time, already my favourite movie of 2018.
Anxiety Pyjamas
Lastly
I love you all very much, did you know?
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