Japan 449
Lupin the 3rd: Part IV
By Andrew Osmond. Some pop-culture heroes only live twice. Others survive through endless reboots, re-imaginings and re-brandings, until they’re barely recognisable if you knew the originals. Japan’s Lupin the Third is different. He’s been in anime nearly fifty years, and yet you could show the new Lupin TV series, being released by Anime Limited, to […]
Persona 3.3: Classic Inspirations
By Mitchell Lineham. Persona 3 Movie #3: Falling Down is the penultimate chapter to the Persona 3 movies, and it focuses on different character arcs as the story ramps up to its climax. Makoto Yuki, Ryoji Mochizuki, Mitsuru Kirijo and Yukari Takeba share deep ties that link deeply with their classics-inspired Persona, and it’s reflected […]
Books: From Truant to Anime
By Jonathan Clements. Mari Okada’s memoir of two decades in the anime business begins and ends with the disastrous premiere screening of Anthem of the Heart in her hometown of Chichibu – a huge event in the middle of nowhere, inconvenient for all attendees, with a film that stops playing halfway. As the screenwriter, she […]
Mary & the Witch’s Flower
By Andrew Osmond. Two years ago, the British film magazine Little White Lies interviewed director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, then best known for directing Ghibli’s Arrietty and When Marnie was There. Yonebayashi was asked about the first Ghibli films he saw. Nausicaa and Totoro, he answered. “I’ve been watching all of them since I was a child… […]
Mind Game
By Andrew Osmond. Mind Game is a trip. Struggling to describe it in my book 100 Animated Feature Films, I called it “spectacular, spontaneous, confusing, kooky and hilarious.” It’s also dense, packed with so many dizzying visual ideas screaming for a rewatch. Its visual style is freehand, lopsided, a virtuoso exercise of virtuous sloppiness. Its […]