Coats; Naussicaa

Naussicaa with her pet...squirrel-thing.

Once again, we have a story where the main protagonist is a young, strong minded female. Almost exactly like San in Princess Mononoke, Naussicaa is a fearless leader who, like San, is willing to risk her life for the people she protects. Both girls are also very in tune with nature and the creatures it houses. For instance, San could communicate with the giant, beast-like boars and wolves of the forest, much like how Naussicaa could communicate with the giant Ohmus that attempted to wreak havoc on the Pejites. However, the reason for these hostile actions of the forest creatures is because of the human interference and disruption within the forest. This is where the differences between San and Naussicaa begin to become clearer. San was almost part of the forest herself, her only setback being that she was human. Naussicaa on the otherhand, was not part of the forest, but instead wished to study and gain understanding of it. Another difference between these two is their attitude and approach to helping their respective communities. San lets her emotions fuel her actions, which sometimes leads to reckless action, such as her attack on the Iron City. San just seems overall emotionally unstable, and lets her negative feelings dominate her actions. Naussicaa, however, has a more peace-loving approach towards other people as well as a natural empathy for all creatures. This makes her character very likebale and causes her peers to be drawn towards her. Even though both these heronie's have conflicting overall attitudes and differing approaches towards solving conflict, their goals remain parallel. San and Naussicaa only want what is best for their society and are more than willing to risk everything they have to protect them.

Coats; Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke  is an epic Japanese historical-fantasy written and directed by the great Miyazaki. In this film, many characters struggle with the existence of good and evil within themselves. Let's look at two specific characters from the film:
San

A quick-witted and fierce princess who was raised in the forest by wild wolf-gods (pretty awesome, I know). Her main focus is protecting the forest and keeping the natural world she lives in safe from outsiders. She is seen as a heroine to the forest because of her protection from the iron-city. However, from the perspective of those who inhabit the iron-city, San is seen as evil villian only trying to destroy the city they've worked so hard to create. A fine example of the contrasting existence of good and evil within San. Next, let's take a look at San's main rival:
Lady Eboshi

I immediately got the evil vibe from Lady Eboshi. Just something about her didn't sit well with me. Anyways, Lady Eboshi is the leader of iron town and is responsible for new iron-based technology, as well as for the contamination of the forest. In iron town, she's seen as a savior and a kind-hearted, accepting woman. She takes in those who are seen as undesirable to society, such as lepers and "working girls", and gives them new purpose in life. On the otherhand, she's also responsible for contaminating the forest with hatred and causing these giant beast-like animal gods to become mad. So of course, she can be seen as a villain from San's perspective, as she is destroying everything that is pure about the forest. 


Both of these women demonstrate the existence of both good and evil within themselves that is brought upon by their own personal desires and passions. This story is relavent to every day life, because good and evil exists within all of us and our morals are tired and questioned nearly every day. It's this balance that makes us human, as it is only the gods who are purely good and purely evil. 

Coats; Grave of the Fireflies

Image taken from here.

Truly a sad story, and a story told from a perspective most of us aren't used to. Grave of the Fireflies, by Isao Takahata, tells the story of a young boy named Seita and his younger sister, Setsuko. During this troubling time of war, the children are forced to live with their unwelcoming aunt after both of their parents are killed as a result of the war. She made sure the children knew how hard her family was working for the war effort, and how much of a burden they were on her family. Seita was put off by this and only wanted to keep his little sister happy and occupied. They would play piano to pass the time and keep their minds off of the horriffic reality of what was going on around them. Unfortunately, the children were scolded by their aunt for playing the piano, as it was not constructive or condusive to what was going on. Seita eventually gets fed up with how he and his sister are treated, so they both leave. Seita focuses of keeping his sister's life as normal and carefree a little girl's life should be, but their play time is often interrupted by war sirens. They don't sustain this lifestyle for very long, and both children become malnourished and subsequently starve to death. It's the ugliness of war that can bring out the worst in people, and these children saw the worst in their relatives when they were put out on the street to fend for themselves. We see playful scenes between Seita and Setsuko while Seita is attempting to distract his sister from the war, but these are heavily constrasted by the much more graphic scenes of war-violence and the starving children. Truly an artistic way of depicting the unfortunate ends of innocent people in a time of war.

Coats; Ghost in the Shell

The anime Ghost in the Shell, by Mamori Oshii, elaborates on the issue of sentient artificial intelligence and the blurred lines between biological humans and androids. In today's modern day society, the defining line between humans and machines is very clear as our current technologies have not yet reached those found in this particular anime. While we have developed prosthetic limbs to replace lost or under-developed limbs for human beings, this does not compare to the technological acheviments found in Ghost in the Shell. For instance, Batou's arms look human-like, but are in fact super-strength, mechanical limbs. He also sports bionic eyes, great for tactical advantage in the battle field. Batou's cybernetic qualities are not quite as impressive as Major Motoko Kusanagi's "parts". It is stated in the film that she is almost entirely robotic, besides the few human cells found in her head. Kusanagi is fully aware of her mostly mechanical chassis, which also raises one very major issue in this film: identity. Kusanagi debates whether or not she exists as an artificially made machine or the farthest point away from humanity one can be while still being human. She contains a "ghost" (hence the title) that serves as a substitute for the human soul, but is it the soul that makes us human? Or is it because we are naturally existing sacks of meat with flesh and organs? Or is it simply because we can reproduce and inevitably, die. I believe it is a combination of all these things. You could argue that Kusanagi is human because she is aware of and questions her own existence, thus illustrating self-reflection and free will. On the other hand, one could also argue the opposite. Kusanagi is still succeptable to virtual infection from the Puppet Master's virus, a quality unique to machines. Or the fact that after Kusanagi is nearly permanently destroyed, but has her A.I. transferred to a new cybernetic chassis, thus demonstrating how much of a machine she truly is. Unfortunately, all these points are what make up the gray area between humans and machines. We can only hope that when we do achieve the technology of artificial sentience, it chooses to coexist with us, rather than some unattractive alternative.

"Kill all the humans"

Coats; Giri, Ninjo, and the Burmese Harp

Mizushima plays a song to his battalion one last time.

This week we will be discussing the Japanese classic, Harp of Burma. This film follows a group of Japanese soldiers in the east asian country of Burma during the final days of the second world war. I wouldn’t call the Harp of Burma a war movie however. It more so focuses more on the subject of music, human feelings, as well as Buddhism (though not as extensively). We learn very early on that the Japanese battalion has taken up the hobby of singing while being accompanied on the Burmese harp by fellow soldier, Mizushima. Throughout the film, the battalion must face hardships such as lack of food and ammunition, being ambushed by the Burmese, being forced to work in a POW camp, etc. However, it seems that when the going gets tough for these soldiers, they find solace in their singing as well as the accompaniment of Mizushima’s harp. And to be honest, they sound pretty good for a bunch of soldiers held up in Burma. In fact, they actually briefly discuss how they’ve all improved greatly in all their musical ability, despite most of them being amatuers when they began, especially Mizushima. The fact that these soldiers are spending their down time practicing song shows that the Japanese, like all other human beings, need an outlet; some sort of stress relief to calm the mind. Because after all, all humans experiance human feelings, or ninjo. It’s sort of the same tone as Letters from Iwo Jima. In that film, it tells the story of the struggle between the United States and Japan during World War II, but from the Japanese perspective. This film does a fantastic job of potraying human feelings (ninjo) within the Japanese, as well as showing how “good and evil” exist on both sides of war, which is something not very common in war movies. Both the Harp of Burma and Iwo Jima focus on these themes of despair, hope, and death in their portrayal of everyday Japanese soldiers in a time of war. The Harp of Burma deals with death a little differently though. One would expect a war movie to portray death directly, through some sort of firefight or battle scene. But in the Harp of Burma, we don’t actually see anyone die. Instead, Mizushima is chosen to travel to Triangle Mountain, where he is supposed to convince a held up Japanese battalion to ley down their arms and that the war was over. This is last time Mizushima ever saw of his battalion. On Mizushima’s journey back, he runs into a Buddhist monk, discovers a newfound spirituality (in Buddhism), and stumbles upon a massive death site of fellow Japanese soldiers. Mizushima is incredibly disturbed and moved at the same time at the tragic scene that lay before him. He attempts to bury his comrades in proper grave sites, but it seems that the bodies are endless. Mizushima gets upset, and returns to the Burmese village. On his way back, he sees a gravesite with a tombstone that read: “Tomb of the Unknown Japanese Soldier”. Poor Mizushima. First stumbling upon a huge murder scene, then seeing this. Mentally disturbed and greatly moved, Mizushima then makes it his duty to bury the rest of the soldiers that were being exposed to the elements. But before he started his work, he returned disguised as a Buddhist monk to the Burmese village to play his harp for the battalion one last time. It isn’t until the battalion is back on their voyage home, that they open a letter Mizushima left for them, explaining the reasons behind his actions. He feels he cannot let his fellow Japanese soldier be left without a proper burial, even if it takes the rest of his life. It is his duty. It is his giri.

Coats; Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue is one of those movies that really makes your head hurt after a while. It’s a psychological thriller that blurs the lines of dreams and reality while following MIma, the pop-idol from the J-pop group “CHAM!”. As many musicians do at some point in their career, Mima decides to leave the pop-group to become and actress (i.e. Will Smith). Mima manages to land a role in a show called d Double Blind, but this sudden change in persona and image upsets her some of her fan base, even to the point of MIma receiving an anonymous fax calling her a traitor. It also seems Mima has upset her internet fanbase, as she discovered a website called “Mima’s Room”. This website contained very personal information about Mima, as well as diary entries describing her life in great detail. Upset and confused, she turns to her manager Rumi Hidaka for advice. Rumi, being a former pop star herself, advises Mima to just ignore the website. Mima continues on with her acting career on the set of Double Blind, and even lands a larger part on the show; the part however, is of a rape victim at a strip club. Rumi insists that Mima turn down the part, saying that it would ruin her reputation. Mima, however, ignores her manager’s wishes and accepts the role. As the scene is filmed, it is apparent that Mima is traumatized by the intensity of what is being film, so much that she begins to blur what is real and what is not. Now, I’d like to talk about a few things here.

This image was taken from here.

First off, this film comments on some of the problems in the film industry, related women and what they “have to do” to become famous in that industry. Mima becomes so desperate in her aspirations to become a famous actress, that she subjects herself and her previous reputation to that of a rape victim because she thinks that will jump start her career…or something. Now, I’m not a woman, but I personally find that to be slightly degrading, that the girl would rather fake a rape scene rather than actually be good at acting on camera. This also leads to another issue the film comments on, and that is the idolization and commodification of celebrities. In today’s society, this issue is very prominent with the constant monitoring of celebrities through paparazzi, twitter, magazines, online articles, news coverage, etc. It seems that most of the world today is more worried about the image and lives of their favorite celebrities, rather than their own lives. And that leads to the last issue this film touches on: the loss of personal identity and self-image. In the film, Mima loses touch with her perception of reality once she makes the jump from small film actress to a leading role rape victim. Then, when she discovers that her online identity has become further tarnished through the website “Mima’s Room”. She becomes distraught and begins to lose her sanity and can’t tell when she’s dreaming or when she’s awake. It isn’t until the end of the film that she discovers her manager Rima is the mind behind her false-self, and of course, they battle. Mima overcomes Rima, and Rima is sent away to a mental facility. Mima is then left to live her life on her own, and begins to regain control of her sanity and self-image. 

Coats; Ninja Scroll

Ninja Scroll, the 1994 feature anime movie, takes place during the time of feudal Japan, where the samurai and ninja warrior reined supreme. The story follows the adventures of a wandering ninja named Jubei Kibagami, and a female ninja counterpart, Kagero. Not long into the film, Jubei is poisoned by, and therefore forced into helping, a small, crazed Buddhist monk named Dakuan (later we learn he is actually a government spy). Basically, the story boils down to Jubei and Kagero helping this crazy little monk fellow hunt out and kill the Devils of Kimon so that they may find the gold mines the Tokugawa are searching for. Dakuan, being a spy for the Tokugawa shogunate, uses Jubei and Kagero to fight off the Devils of Kimon while he conducts the main investigation on his own. However, during these battles with the Devils, Kagero is abducted by the Devil, Shijima. Shijima posses Kagero, and forces her to fight Jubei when he arrives to rescue her. Jubei, however, quickly disposes of Shijima. Once the group is reunited, they attempt to stop the remaining Devils of Kimon from transporting the gold via ship to the Shogun of the Dark, but in their attempts Kagero is fatally wounded. (oh no!) Jubei quickly rushes to her side to hold her in her last moments of life. Kagero, in her few final moments, confesses her love to Jubei, the two kiss (curing Jubei’s poison), and she then passes away. Enraged, Jubei hacks and slashes through the enemy forces, boarding the ship before it departs. Dakuan also makes it on to the ship, and overhears Toyotomi retainer and Gemma discussing their true intentions for the gold. The Toyotomi explains the plans to use the gold to purchase advanced weapons from Spain, while Gemma on the other hand, plans to use the gold for himself to raise the ultimate ninja army. Gemma then kills the Toyotami retainer, and takes control of the ship. Meanwhile, Jubei and Dakuan are in the hold of the ship, and in a battle with Zakuro, set the ship aflame. Gemma confronts Jubei, and the two have a final clash. In an ironic turn of events (as it so commonly happens in anime), Gemma falls into a pool of molten gold, and dies. Jubei and Dakuan manage to escape the ship before it sinks completely, thus ending their epic journey.