Review – MW (2009)

News has been circulating around the internet for a while about the live-action adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s mature manga masterpiece MW (pronounced “moo,” like a cow), created to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Tezuka.  I was able to see this film in an advance screening last night and have been itching to share my thoughts.

Being a huge fan of both Osamu Tezuka and MW, I was anxious to see how this film would turn out.  Not surprisingly, I found myself with a graveyard of bones to pick after seeing it.  It’s hard for me to separate this film from the manga it’s based on and review it fairly.  Rather than a straight-up review like those I usually write, I do want to bring my Tezuka knowledge to the discussion, but I’ll try not to digress into fangirlish ranting.

MW (Japan, 2009) dir. Hitoshi Iwamoto. Color, 35mm.

Putting the manga it was based on aside, MW is overall a standard action film, about on par with most of Hollywood’s recent offerings, but nothing special.  A little lacking in the CG department, but a worthy effort nonetheless.  Hiroshi Tamaki, the actor who plays the main villain Michio Yuki, did a great job with the material he was given.  He lost quite a lot of weight for the role to give Yuki a skeletal and hollow appearance, and the effect is quite powerful.  The characters in the film are not all that well-developed or interesting, and as little as that matters in an action film, the action alone here doesn’t make up for everything else that is lacking.  I believe I might have enjoyed this film more were it not “based on” MW and given the same title.  But alas, it is, and comparisons are almost unavoidable.

That being said, I’d like to give my opinion on many of the changes in the movie.  *Cue disorganized rant*

The film character of Yuki comes nowhere near the complexities of manga Yuki.  Yes, he is “pure evil,” but he does not have the dualities and childlike moments of Yuki in the manga.  Part of what made Yuki so interesting was his total lack of remorse juxtaposed with his playful side.  Film Yuki comes off as more of a typical “evil” villain – cunning and remorseless, but also without emotion.
The same can be said of Garai and the other characters adapted from the manga.  A female reporter character added for the film comes off as uninteresting and completely useless.  Many characters are missing, which is not a bad thing on its own, but the characters which ARE there lack good characterization.

Characters’ actions and other things don’t make much sense.  The reporter and Garai help Yuki find MW on the island for no apparent reason.  Why were they helping him?
Garai’s inner struggle is almost nonexistent as well.
The backstory is drastically simplified.  In the film, Garai and Yuki are boys who grew up together on the island and escaped together when the military was killing off the survivors of the MW incident.  This makes Garai’s later “repentance” less dramatic and once again, downplays the relationship between the two.
The film basically turns into a straight action film.  Superficial suspense and chases make up the first half-hour.  It was exciting, I have to admit.  But MW the manga was already full of suspense that would have come across just fine in the film – were all these big-budget action scenes really necessary?
The sexual content is also completely absent.  This is not a bad thing, either, but extends to a ridiculous extent in the fact that the relationship between Garai and Yuki is barely even a subtext.

Sorry for the ranting.  I could go on forever about what’s different in the manga, but when it comes down to it, the film dilutes the manga’s plot and characters to fit an action-movie mold and adds its own ineffectual material.
It’s not that I’m against deviation from source material.  In fact, it can often be a good thing (why make a film if it’s the exact same story?  Use the medium!).  Take, for example, the Metropolis anime – though it went against Tezuka’s wishes and fundamentally altered much of the manga, it did so well and in the spirit of a Tezuka work (the extra characters mainly came from other Tezuka works).  Most importantly, it held up brilliantly on its own.  Though I still prefer the manga, I like the film.  It’s an original work.  With MW, however, I felt that the film was using a Tezuka name to sell a generic, uninspired action movie; it succeeds as neither a good action film nor a Tezuka film.

In one sentence: I’m disappointed.
In another sentence: They could have done so much better, even with half the budget.

Rating: 4/10

Trailer: http://mw.gyao.jp/ (official site)

P.S.: A tie-in MW TV drama (oneshot) is going to air on TV in 4 days.  I’ll try my best watch it and post my thoughts if I find anything worth mentioning.

“Human Metamorphoses” 「人間昆虫記」by Osamu Tezuka

Osamu Tezuka, my favourite comic artist of all time, the father of all Japanese comics and animation, branched out a lot in the late 1960s and 1970s.  At a time when many manga artists were moving towards more serious, sexually explicit, and violent subjects, Tezuka also wrote many of his most dark, mature, and psychologically profound works: Yakeppachi no Maria (a strange, sexual, pseudo-educational manga about which I will probably write another time), MW [Muu] (Tezuka’s darkest work in my opinion), Barbara, Ayako, I.L., and several others were all written by Tezuka between 1969 and 1978.  Though I love almost all of Tezuka’s work, this period is particularly interesting to me for many reasons.  Tezuka not only began to experiment with art style, layout, content, and presentation but also integrated some of the aesthetics of the times into his work.  As a fan of 1960s and modernist aesthetics, I find it fascinating to see ’60s and ’70s styles reflected in the medium of manga.  Furthermore, these works allow a glimpse into Tezuka’s true artistic talent; though he stuck to “cartoony,” Disney-like characters for much of his career, he was highly skilled at more realistic rendering and at adjusting his style to different genres and situations.

Tezuka wrote Human Metamorphoses (「人間昆虫記」Ningen Konchuuki) in 1970-1, during this same fascinating period of experimentation.  It is unfortunately not available in English translation, but I recently finished reading it in Japanese and wanted to share my opinions.

I only wish I had a scanner at the moment, as the artwork and layout in many of the page spreads is fantastic; it’s hard to convey just how awesome this manga is without the images to back it up.  For now, you’ll have to settle with scans found on the internet.  Images that some may find objectionable due to mature content will be linked to off-site.

Human Metamorphoses, like another famous Tezuka work called Birdman Anthology, draws parallels between humans and animals – in this case, insects.  Many of the characters even have the kanji of the insect in question in their name.  The main character is the beautiful, fashionable Tomura Toshiko, likened to the haruzemi (the terpnosia vacua cicada), moves through life constantly reinventing herself amid a succession of lovers, shedding her previous identities like the cicada sheds its shell.  Toshiko is ruthless yet subtle, convinced that her actions are justified.  Most of her successes rely on plagiarism and blackmail, yet she is able to

The REAL story behind the USA localization of “Astro Boy”

Astro Boy or Mighty Atom? Or Tetsuwan Atomu?

Everyone loves Astro Boy.  He’s world-famous, lovable, and righteous.  What about Mighty Atom?  Or Tetsuwan Atomu?  Or 鉄腕アトム?  Those are his “real” names and their various translations and transliterations….but why did his name change when he was imported to the U.S.A.?

Well, the common myth is that “Mighty Atom” (1) had too strong a connection with “atomic bombs” and similar ideas, and/or (2) sounded too much like existing characters “Mighty Mouse” and “Atom Ant,” and was therefore changed to the unoffensive “Astro Boy.”  But recently, some ‘research’ of mine suggested otherwise….

For the English version, the producers, NBC Enterprises, settled on “Astro Boy” after discussions with producer Fred Ladd and representatives from NBC led them to the name. (The title “Mighty Atom” for an atomic powered robot, as “Astro Boy” was thought of back then, was considered too generic and not “catchy enough” a title for a program for American TV.)

(taken from the “Astro Boy” article on wikipedia)

So, it was really just a question of what was catchy, I suppose.  When you think about it, poor Leo the lion went through something similar.  Leo is such a stereotypical lion name in Western countries, while “Kimba” sounds exotic and African.  What sounds more rare and exciting than “Kimba the White Lion”?  I guess “Jungle Emperor Leo” just doesn’t have that “kid show” ring to it, now that I think about it.

Things have changed quite a bit from the “old days,” where localizers often went to great lengths to make sure a show didn’t appear “Japanese” in any way.  Even as recently as when I was a little girl watching Sailor Moon, I remember that all the signs were painted over to have English on them and all the characters’ names were changed to “English” ones.  In recent years, however, dubbers and localizers have responded to changes in audience and the audience’s increased knowledge of/interest in Japanese culture and anime and minimalized changes.

Phoenix Interview Show #4: We couldn’t get Rock this time.

L’il Phoenix: Hullo again, everyone.  A warm 2009 welcome to the new-and-(slightly mayhaps)-improved L’il Phoenix Deluxe-o-riffic Cartoon Interview Talk Show Hour! …..  Er, yes, we’re still working on the title, otaku and otome….er….ladies and gents.
Anyhoo, you may have been wondering what happened to our exciting and high-intensity multipart interview with Rock from Tezuka Productions.  After many months of waiting and wondering what to do after Mr. Makube walked out on his contract, we went through our exhaustive list of Tezuka-affiliated persons, animals, and enlightened beings, aaand…. GUESS WHAT?

audience: WHAT?

Phoenix: We…er….   That is….  Our guest today is a surprise.  Let me make a quick phone call.
*phones* Hey!  You’re LATE!  ……   Oh fine, ‘dramatic entrance.’  …… That was NOT the fee we negotiated!  …….  Yes, it’s an, uh, emergency.  I’m bleeding buckets. *bad acting*  Aoooohh, owwww….
*hangs up*
Thanks for your patience, everyone!  And now, put your wings, hands, and noodly appendages together for our Tezuka-related guest!

*Black Jack enters the studio, looking quite nonplussed as he takes a seat.  Pinoco hops joyfully into the seat beside him, preening before the TV cameras*

So today, we continue our discussion of weird and exciting Tezuka merchandise with Dr. Black Jack and his *air quotes* “wife.”

Pinoco: I wesent those air quotes!  I’m eighteen!

You, miss, are a barely-within-the-realm-of-explainable-science plot device contrived so that the solitary doctor here has no possible way of becoming romantically involved with the ladies in horrible fanfiction and so that he has a cute sidekick.  Questions?

Pinoco: OUCH, my existence!  How can you—  *blank stare*

BJ: I thought I was being called here for a life-threatening emergency. What in the world is going on here?

I’ve….er….yes, I’ve been on the phone with an acquaintance of yours, a certain Rokuro Makube, about some compromising information?  *hopeful smile*

I think you’re bluffing, but…I don’t have much of a choice.  *Sigh*

Phoenix: Back to business!  Oddball Tezuka merchandise ahoy!

Phoenix: Now I don’t want to resurrect the past here, but you have to