November 27, 2004

Of the Universe, Right Hands and Sanctuaries

Uchuu no Stellvia (Stellvia of the Universe)

I downloaded and watched this anime following the voice actress of my favorite character: Osaka of Azumanga Daioh. The story follows the life of a girl named Katase Shima who is slow, occasionally panicky and with only programming skills up her sleeve. The setting is hundreds of years in the future where mankind is at peace and united towards one goal: to prevent the annihilation of the solar system from a wave of fragments produced by a massive supernova explosion. Why "stellvia of the universe"? Its the name of the space station where most of the story unfolds.

I like this anime because of the realism in some of the human situations and emotions. It also shows that even in groups of 'elites' there are still those who stand-out, either thru hard work, underhanded tactics or true genius.

Midori no Hibi

A guy's "devil's right hand" mysteriously turns into a girl who has a crush on him; the idea is a bit strange, but it held my attention for its whole duration. The main point it drives is that feelings will not reach the person unless you speak/show/act on it.

Hani-Hani Operation Sanctuary

Normal school life entangled in a web of sci-fi conspiracy. I'd like to put in a good word for this, but can find none. Nothing that bad either.

November 17, 2004

That Purple Haired Girl



I've been incredibly busy these past weeks due to the style-finds project and have been missing out on posting a lot good stuff. Well anyway, I've been asked numerous times: "Who's that purple haired girl whose picture you always use?" She's Kyoko Fukada a japanese actress whom I dicovered because she had a significant role in Ringu 2.

Back to work for me then...

November 11, 2004

Hermione Kawaii



I found the grayscale version of this image while browsing through some errr.... dodgy stuff. I can take credit for the coloring and layout though so here is my 2nd blog released wallpaper. I hope you like it!



Kowaii Harry. He looks scary and evil... oh well.

November 10, 2004

The journey itself is more meaningful than the destination

My feature for today is two movies directed by Satoshi Kon, whose style of direction and storytelling rivals that of Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. I'm saying this because I've seen majority of Ghibli films and Kon's movies give a unique appeal that shows how things are, instead of how they should be.



Millennium Actress is a story about the life of an actress and what drove her to become one. The scene transitions/mix between her past, her movies and the present show masterful story weaving and keeps the viewer asking for more information and detail.




Tokyo Godfathers is an amazing story about the journey of three homeless folk (a queer, an alcoholic bum and a runaway kid) to return an abandoned baby. It is set during Christmas and in Tokyo's slums, which one would think dull but the way it was presented made it incredibly interesting.



I'm looking forward to more of Satoshi Kon's works, for I have seen that his perspective on things is so different from most of everybody else's.


Links for further reading:
Times Article
List of Works

November 02, 2004

You're Under A ... Grudge



Our babe for today plays Hitomi Tokunaga in the horror film "Ju-on: The Grudge" and Officer Natsumi Tsujimoto in You're Under Arrest Live Action. Her acting for horror is shabby but she was an acceptable berserker natsumi :D

I still have to watch Ju-on: The Grudge 2 and the american remake of The Grudge.

Tomorrow I have some sort of a shoot and I'm both excited and anxious. I'll sleep early so that I can at least be "rested". I'm also hoping that there will be cute girls there :))