Scotland Loves Anime 34
Cyber City Oedo 808
By Raz Greenberg. In the last two decades of the 20th century, Yoshiaki Kawajiri was the king of exciting, ultra-violent action mixed with the erotic. His urban and historical fantasies – Wicked City, Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (and to some extent also the later Highlander: Vengeance) oozed with style, and at the same time, were also shamelessly […]
Penguin Highway
By Jonathan Clements. Suddenly, there are penguins everywhere. And then there aren’t. Aoyama and his fellow townsfolk are confused by the infestation, but it may have something to do with that big silver sphere out in a meadow near the woods. Shouldn’t someone be doing something about that? So begins Penguin Highway, animated by director […]
Gundam Thunderbolt
By Andrew Osmond. Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky may be the closest that anime has ever come to producing a full-blown Vietnam film. The Gundam franchise has always been about war, but Thunderbolt suggests its makers were marathoning films like Apocalypse Now and Born on the Fourth of July. Thunderbolt makes a “gritty” Hollywood franchise film […]
Calamity of a Zombie Girl
By Andrew Osmond. Calamity of a Zombie Girl is a horror film. If we’re being more precise, it’s a schlocky horror picture show, and it doesn’t pretend otherwise. It’s a film in which college-age students investigate an occult mystery, uncover something they shouldn’t, and then start dying messily. There will be blood. Heads will be […]
Interview: Mamoru Hosoda
By Andrew Osmond. In the run-up to the cinema release of Mamoru Hosoda’s eagerly awaited Mirai on 2nd November (subtitled) and 4th November 4 (dubbed), I interviewed Hosoda himself about his new film. Mirai revolves around the adventures of Kun, a four year-old boy in Japan, who magically encounters family members from the past and […]