Archives for category: WANT

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Lots going on at the house of Totoro this week – first off is an excellent and insightful interview with Ghibli animator and art director Kosaka Kitaro (Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise, Akira, Spirited Away and Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea among many, many others) over at Ghibli World. Here’s a tasty extract:

In fact, it is evident how Miyazaki’s films, notwithstanding their highly imaginative stories, tend to present characters which are deeply human in their behavior and sensibility…

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Some of the coolest things I picked up in Tokyo were a trio of Katsuhiro Otomo art books – although sadly they weren’t for me, intended instead for my favourite Otomo-san obsessive Al T. Shame, as I would have liked to have spent some quality time with these beauties. Luckily though, I was able to grab a few shots before I let him get his grubby paws all over them.

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Look, I know what you come here for. Really. I mean, I’m sure you’ve been enjoying reading about the last few days exploring Tokyo’s ancient monuments and culture, but I know what you’re thinking.

Where the fuck is the anime and the toys, Tim?

Well, my friends, let me put you out of your misery.

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Regular readers will already know about my love for Voices of a Distant Star director Makoto Shinkai’s work, so will understand why I’m pissed with Canadian anime fans right now. Not that the lucky bastards have done anything wrong, it’s just that if they can get to Ottawa this September, then they’ve got a chance of catching the premiere of his latest short Neko no Shūkai (Cat’s Gathering) at the city’s annual International Animation Festival. Like I’ve said before, so far Shinkai has proved he works best in the short film medium, so hopefully it’ll be something special. Check out a trailer I found below.

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A quick heads up for all you London based otaku – or even those of you with only a passing interest in anime – acclaimed auteur Makoto Shinkai will be presenting a screening of his latest film Five Centimeters a Second at 6.20pm this Friday (20/6/08) at the British Film Institute. He’s kicking off a whole weekend there of recent anime, and alongside his last movie (the beautiful but slightly dissapointing) The Place Promised in Our Early Days, it’ll be an excellent opportunity to catch some of the films I’ve been talking about here over the last few months including Vexille, Appleseed: Ex Machina, the brilliant Tekkonkinkreet and Satoshi Kon’s mindfuck epic Paprika.

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To cash in coincide with the release of the Speed Racer live action flick, publishers DMP have released a beautiful looking hardcover box set of the original 1960s manga. That I want. Badly. In the meantime, I’ll just have to make do with staring at the almost as lovely looking website they’ve put up to promote it.

And no, I haven’t seen the movie yet. Hopefully this week…will keep you posted.

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