“I wasn’t tough enough to be a member of a gang, not good-lookin’ enough to be in with the birds, not clever enough to make it at school, not good enough with the feet to be a good football player. I was a loser.
*cheer from the crowd*
And, uh, I think everybody feels that way at some point. And somehow, bein’ a mod, even though I was too old to be a mod, really, kinda got me right there.  And I wrote this song with that in mind.  Jimmy, the uh, hero of the story, is kinda thinkin’ he hasn’t got much goin’ for himself, but at least he’s, uh, ‘one.’”
- Pete Townshend of The Who introducing the song “I’m One” in Largo, Maryland in 1973 (Quadrophenia Tour).

This little gem came off a Who live bootleg, Taking the Capitol, recorded at the Capitol Centre in Largo, Maryland back in ‘73.  It’s not the best recording or the best performance, but it does have a very prominent bass and some wonderful snippets of Townshend explaining Quadrophenia.

I can really relate to that quote, though.  Quadrophenia changed my life.  I finally had something to relate to for my various identity crises and struggle to be a mod.  And mod has been the only subculture I’ve been involved in that I really clicked with and didn’t make me feel like a poser trying to assert myself.

What can I say, they’re my favourite band.  And they always will be.

Hey, everyone…

You may have noticed that some images haven’t been loading recently, instead just displaying a villagephotos “image not found” thingie.  This is because of a bandwidth issue that I will definitely resolve once my usage resets next month by uploading everything to a different website for hosting.

The changes will be taking place ASAP.

-Recca

The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) UK, dir. Tony Richardson. Color/35mm/Panavision.

I recently saw this film because it features the two stars of my favorite film Blow-Up, David Hemmings and Vanessa Redgrave.  Furthermore, it has animated sequences by the incredible Richard Williams, who I’m a big fan of.  I was not disappointed.  It’s a solid war film and satire with some great animation and acting.    I’m mostly going to discuss these aspects rather than going for my usual full review.

The visuals are great.  This is a nicely-shot film, making full epic use of the widescreen frame in many shots.  Secondly, the animated visuals are fantastic.  They make up the opening credits as well as several transitional scenes, all done entirely in the style of 1800s political cartoons and engravings.  It’s really something special.  Here’s some images to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

View all the images in an album here: http://img205.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=brig6.jpg

See what I mean? Pretty cool, eh?

As for the close-ups in that image set, those are just there to show you how different Redgrave and Hemmings look from their roles in other films. That just goes to show the power of good costuming and make-up, I suppose.
It’s not that great a film to be honest, but the animation segments and visuals do make it worth watching at least once. The film is rather long and jumps around – it can’t really decide on its tone. Yes, I don’t have much to say here. Nothing constructive, anyway. I just wanted to share some amazing images from this film, mostly.

trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFIkxAQCIM0 (it’s a pretty lame trailer, and it’s way too long. It barely shows any of the animated sequences!)
To make up for the trailer’s lack of awesome animation, here’s the opening credits of the film:

I made this several years ago, and recently re-discovered it on my computer while cleaning out my art folder…

(c) 2008 Recca Phoenix

(click for fullsize)

It’s a “mandala” of sorts for my favorite band of all time, The Who.  The way much of their music and albums are organized sort of lends itself to the mathematical and geometric organization here, I guess.  4 (band members) is such a nice number, and it plays into many of their works.

Now for the explanation.

Obviously, the overall background motif is a British flag….because the Who were British and it has at least something to do with them.  Which leads me to the next feature, “MOD” at the center in a mod symbol, the R.A.F rondel.  The Who came out of the mod subculture and were originally sort of a “modsploitation band” called the High Numbers who wrote songs about mod stuff.  Moving outwards from the center, we have the blue ring of the rondel, the 4 band members as expressed by 4 songs showing the 4 personalities of Jimmy, the main character of the album Quadrophenia.  These songs are the “themes” of each of the band members: “Bell Boy” (Keith Moon), “Is It Me For A Moment” (John Entwhistle), “Helpless Dancer” (Roger Daltrey), and “Love Reign O’er Me” (Pete Townshend).  The red bars radiating from the center contain the names of the band members.  The “records” represent 4 of the Who’s most well-known/representative songs, “Baba O’Riley,” “I Can See For Miles,” “My Generation,” and “Who Are You.”  The lyrics of these 4 songs are written on the diagonal white bars that cut through them.  Finally, the 8 triangular blue sections in the background are the 8 best albums by the Who (which is obviously a matter of opinion, but most would agree with me): A Quick One, My Generation, Quadrophenia, Who Are You, Tommy, Live At Leeds, The Who Sell Out, and Who’s Next.

So that’s my little “fan art” for my favorite band.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Posted in artwork, mod, music Tagged: fan art, mandala, mod, pop art, the who ]]> http://reccaphoenix.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/whomandala/feed/ 0 Recca Phoenix mandalawhocc http://reccaphoenix.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/kinonotabi/ http://reccaphoenix.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/kinonotabi/#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:35:37 +0000 reccaphoenix http://reccaphoenix.wordpress.com/?p=604 ]]>

After a long state of disillusionment with most anime, I found a real gem in Kino’s Journey (キノの旅） And trust me, because being a film nerd, I’m very picky about my films and TV series.

Many people dislike anime because they find it “poorly/cheaply animated” and “too difficult for non-fans to understand,” or they don’t like the exaggerated facial expressions and stylistic devices found in many popular series.  Many also complain of overly lengthy stories with too much “filler” material, lack of depth, and how many series are similar to one another.  “Film people” especially tend to dismiss anything not directed by Hayao Miyazaki without a second thought.

Luckily,  Kino is here to provide a breath of fresh air for all the jaded film people (and non-film people) out there.  Here’s my breakdown.

Why you should watch Kino’s Journey:

• Episode count and structure: Kino’s Journey is only 13 episodes and the structure is episodic.  No complex character histories and stories to keep track of, no filler, no extended battle sequences.
• It’s really deep: This series makes you think.  And not in an over-the-top preachy way, either.  It’s almost a type of existential wandering story.
• Simple but awesome: No over-the-top battles and magical powers here, folks.  The premise is almost neorealist in its simplicity: the two main characters, Kino and Kino’s motorrad (motorcycle) Hermes, travel around the world, stopping in each place for only 3 days.  That’s it.  But don’t let that simplicity fool you because as I said before, this series is full of psychological depth.
• Good animation and design for a TV series: Don’t expect the animation quality of something theatrical like Ponyo, but you’ll be surprised by the quality here.  It’s simple like most anime, but I feel that the simplicity works for the story, which is “simple” in itself.  The style is also really neat – Kino travels through a fictional, almost steampunk kind of world, so the designs of clothing, machinery, etc. are all very “retro.”  Check this out:

Kino and Hermes

nice background...

….see what I mean?

• Really good sound design: animation sound can be tricky because everything has to be created.  And oftentimes anime sound is just “there.”  However, in Kino, especially in episode 12, I noticed some very creative and effective sonic transitions and distortion.  By the way, the music for this series is quite good.  It’s got a sort of ambient-world feel to it.
• No weird Japanese-culture things: You don’t have to know anything about Japan or anime to watch this series.  Anyone can watch it.  Except young children, because it can be a bit scary at times.

Watch this show!  Try it out!  It’s only 3 discs (13 episodes) and will only take about 5 hours to watch all the way through.  Recca highly recommends it!

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 to watch it and post my thoughts if I find anything worth mentioning.

P.P.S.: I was so utterly disappointed with the film I had no interest in watching the tie-in drama.

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 enjoy the results of her underhanded methods without feeling guilty for the most part.  The plot unfolds dramatically, its characters highly interesting, its visuals cinematic and fascinating.  Take for instance this panel (no, it’s not distorted by scan or photography – it actually looks like that in the book):

Toshiko has gone to the doctor to ask about having an abortion – one that her husband has forbid her from having.  As the doctor informs her that she will need a document stating her husband’s approval in order to have the abortion, the panel becomes distorted.  You know that feeling you get when things seem hopeless all of a sudden – your head aches, your face gets hot, and you feel dizzy?  This panel captures that feeling perfectly, in my opinion.  It’s an interesting device as well – rather than show the full extent of Toshiko’s despair through a thought, text, or an external expression, Tezuka shows the pressure building up inside Toshiko via distortion of the image.  This internal feeling reflected in external surroundings for the viewer to more easily relate to is a highly cinematic strategy, and just another way that Tezuka integrates the magic of the cinematic into his works.

As someone who recently joined a manga club in Japan and started drawing manga with “professional” tools, I’ve really come to appreciate the simplicity of Tezuka’s works.  First of all, they are visuals-heavy rather than dialogue- or text-heavy, which makes for more effective, cinematic, and faster-paced work in many cases.  Tezuka also keeps things simple in the visual realm (which is probably why he was able to write so many works during his lifetime) using his trademark more animation-cel-like style of art yet also integrating complex shaded pieces into his work in an economical, interesting way.  Furthermore, Tezuka uses screen tone (used in manga to make shades of gray and patterns) sparingly, hand-shading almost everything.  Many manga artists today overuse screen tone either because they are too lazy to cross-hatch, don’t know how, or prefer a “cleaner look.”  As a poor artist, I love to see how Tezuka got around using screen tone before it was invented, and continued to pattern and shade by hand through most of his works after the invention of screen tone – it reminds me that I don’t have to constantly spend money on screen tone to make something interesting-looking.
To give you an example of what I mean by tone, look at the above panel again.  Absolutely no tone.  Every “grey” and “pattern” in that panel is inked by hand, yet one still gets a sense of colors and textures.  In contrast, here’s a page from a more recent manga, Ludwig Kakumei by Kaori Yuki:

too...much....screentone. Every shade of grey, the playing cards, and the trees too are all screentone. The trees *might* be digital but that's also still cheating

So, that’s my take on Tezuka’s art.  If you read Japanese, I highly recommend Human Metamorphoses, and if you don’t, let’s hope Vertical picks it up for translation.

–Recca 5/26/09

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.

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 admit, this magnet’s pretty creepy!

Black Jack: *sigh*……  I was going to sit here sullenly through the entire show, but that piece of merchandise in particular makes me angry sometimes.  First of all, look at me.  I am not “cute SD” material here.  Second of all, I’m from a serious medical drama series, but due to its popularity they have to make an awful lot of odd merchandise with my likeness on it….for some reason.  Do you see Tezuka Pro doing that to other serious people?  Look at that devil Michio Yuki. He’s popular with the ladies (despite his being 99% pure unadulterated evil) but I don’t see them churning out chibi-Yuki cell phone straps.
………
That’s my bit.

Phoenix: Thank you, Doctor!  And now for something else.

Here we have a lovely statue of cute l’il Melmo-chan…..and her adult self in the oh-so-famous “hazukashii! ‘unintentional’ panty shot” pose.  What the heck?  This is obviously for the fanboys.  *slaps forehead*  Despite the fact that Melmo is a manga for little girls, the “unintentional” (?) fanservice is everywhere.  In fact, I think Tezuka invented fanservice in Melmo.  Seriously.

Black Jack: That girl seems to have a serious medical condition.  She should call me.  Can you give her my card?

Pinoco: *slaps card away* I don’t think that will be necessawy. *Jealously pouts at BJ*

No comment on this one: Pinoco toilet paper.  Ohmigewdness indeed.

Pinoco: ……

BJ: ……

L’il Phoenix:  Is it just me, or does this look like the crazy fanfiction crossover from hell?  Especially when you throw the little “x” in between their names, it can seem like they’re going for *something else* here.  Of course, they’re not – it’s just a harmless little crossover merch line to sell more schtuff and make more money.

Pinoco: Why did they team me up with Neko Musume?  That girl is cwazy!  And we look nothing alike!

Actually, you kind of do.  But anyway, that’s all for today’s stupid licensed merchandise!  Stay tuned next time for more! And we appreciate your comments!

BJ: I want some compensation for this television appearance.

Oh, we’re not done with you yet.  We have a surprise!  Hey there, audience, see this man?  He hasn’t seen his father hardly EVER in his whole life!  Wait till we reunite the two of them and see what crazy antics ensue!

audience: *chanting* PHOENIX! PHOENIX! PHOENIX!

*BJ walks off the set*

0_o;;; Well, so much for that…..

**Note: you might want to read my reviews of the first three Ace Attorney games: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All, and Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations.**

And so, my friends, I came to the end of the Phoenix Wright era of the Ace Attorney series and began the first DS-exclusive, new-character-led fourth game, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.  So here follow my semi-organized thoughts (positive and negative), musings, and random observations for your reading pleasure.

• New main character!  I was a little upset to see Phoenix go, to tell you the truth.  And a little weirded-out to see him turn into a hobo piano-player and “daddy.”  Speaking of which, before I found out the “truth” about Trucy, I was like “daughter?  Maya’s? No, that can’t be!”  I think we would have gotten bored with too much Phoenix, and the writers might have eventually worn him out.  And besides, he’s still in the game.
• Graphics! And GRAPHICS?! This being the first DS-exclusive, only-for-DS-from-its-outset title, the videos, animation, graphics / graphics’ quality (and music and sound quality) are great.  However, in some of the “flashback” cases, the graphics (and old sounds) are from the old games, and are noticeably lacking in quality.  I KNOW Capcom has better quality versions of these graphics because they use them for animated videos at the Tokyo Game Show.  Was it REALLY that hard to remaster the graphics?  I mean, you’re already being lazy by recycling, so can you at least make it blend in with the newer character graphics?  I know this is a minor issue, but it really got on my nerves for a bit.  It didn’t destroy my overall enjoyment of the game, but the disconnect was annoying.
• Music – again, this series has GREAT music.  And there is even a music-centric case in this game, which deals with a backstage murder during a rock concert put on by your rival prosecutor’s all-lawyers-and-police band and a guest star.  It was quite fun, and I did enjoy the song, “Guitar’s Serenade.”
• The Gavin Brothers – I remember a fangirlish friend of mine once telling me something like “Just wait ’til you get to the 4th game and get to see this gorgeous hunk of man-meat *drools, attaches picture of Klavier Gavin to email*”  Not that I feel the same way, but I do think the Gavin brothers are quite interesting characters.  Oh, more German child prodigies to add to the mix (say what you will about stereotypes of Germans but remember that in the original version they were AMERICAN!)  I had an ongoing joke with a friend about breaking Kristoph Gavin out of prison….until I got to the last case and *SPOILER ALERT*found out what an evil bastard he was.  So, here follows Recca’s joke comics, lifted from a certain social networking site’s doodle application.

the fate of the unused file cake.

all comics (c) 2008-9 Recca Phoenix.

all Phoenix Wright characters and games are (c) Capcom.  This is a review and parody.