JTurner82

Yoshiaki Kawajiri's Wicked City, based on a similarly titled book by Hideyuki Kikuchi (who also wrote Vampire Hunter D) has its share of devoted fans who consider this a classic in the halls of Anime, but I stand firmly behind this review. This is a disgustingly vulgar, reprehensibly distasteful, and needlessly gory animated mess with little in the way of genuine appeal. Despite a promising start and a potentially interesting plot, Wicked City goes all out on shock value at its most repulsive level -- to the point that whatever virtues it may have are all but forgotten. It's misogynistic as well, with... See full review

The first thing I should mention about Big Fish and Begonia is that it is visually stunning. I do not recall seeing many Chinese animated productions (although I wouldn't be surprised if I had inadvertently stumbled upon one without realizing it), but this is one of the most visually impressive I've seen from the country. Like a magnet, it seduces you from the first frame and keeps you entranced for all 100 minutes. In a way, this film reminded me a bit of Laika's recent Kubo and the Two Strings. That film, while not a tightly plotted story, was nonetheless so visually stimulating that one could not help... See full review

The ending of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water provided a sense of closure to the story, and that is one of the many problems with this theatrical sequel: there is no reason for it to exist. The consensus from many is that Nadia--The Motion Picture is actually worse than the awful island/Africa episodes combined. The movie isn't quite that bad, but this should not imply that it's of the same caliber as the series--on the contrary. There are a lot of bizarre inconsistencies in the plot, which basically feels like a hastily cobbled Saturday morning cartoon episode, minus much of the depth and... See full review

A Japanese high school student named Taku inadvertently gets mixed up with Rikako, an aloof transfer student from Tokyo. The resulting relationship causes rifts between him and his best friend Yutaka. Only at a reunion years after graduating from college are the two boys able to put aside their differences (especially when both are ditched). Aesthetically, there's nothing remotely wrong with Ocean Waves. Like any Studio Ghibli movie, it's as beautifully animated as any of the company's movies (if somewhat lacking in detail). In context, however, Ocean Waves isn't among the studio's classics. It's a decent... See full review

What more can be said about My Neighbor Totoro? Get this movie. Immediately. Without a doubt one of the best animated features ever made, Japan or otherwise, Totoro is an outstanding original creation from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. It's about two sisters -- Satsuki and spunky little Mei -- moving with their somewhat scatterbrained but loving father to a new home in the Japanese countryside. But the place isn't just deserted; wonders galore lie within their household. Tiny, fuzzy black balls of soot ("dust bunnies", or "soot gremlins", depending on which dub you watch) scatter... See full review

Japanese Anime is interesting in that while there are commercially driven movies and series made simply to sell toys and merchandise, amid the glut of such mainstream productions exist more daring, ambitious experiments which can nonetheless be considered great works of art. The late Satoshi Kon's directorial debut, Perfect Blue, is one such Anime. It is very rare to see an adult-driven, psychologically frightening suspense-drama that we would mostly get from directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, and the creator of The Sixth Sense and Signs, but Satoshi Kon proves that, if given the proper treatment... See full review

Studio Ghibli had long established itself as the pinnacle of Japanese animation starting in the 1980's, but recently the studio went into hiatus, leaving most of its younger employees at a dead-end. Not to be discouraged, some of these employees decided to start a new facility of their own. Now christened as "Studio Ponoc", this team of former Ghibli animators, led by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (The Secret World of Arrietty and When Marnie Was There) begin their career with Mary and the Witch's Flower, based on a children's book by the late Mary Stewart. The end result could very well be described as... See full review

Yoshifumi Kondo's first and only film for Studio Ghibli (he died a few years after it was completed), Whisper of the Heart, is an absolute delight. Gentle but not syrupy, this modern-day story about a girl and boy discovering that they have a lot in common is beautifully animated, compellingly characterized, and full of heart (pun intended). Based on a graphic-novel by Aoi Hiragi with a script by Hayao Miyazaki, the movie centers on Shizuku Tsukishima, a somewhat absent-minded but sympathetic young High School student who would rather read books from the library rather than study for her school tests... See full review

Makoto Shinkai's Your Name achieved what would arguably be a most improbable feat: it dethroned Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away to become Japan’s most successful film. And what a movie it is! Heartfelt, hilarious, moving, thrilling, and enthralling, this movie cleverly mixes together the central idea from Disney's Freaky Friday with a bit of Back to the Future for good measure. It's about two teens -- Taki and Mitsuha -- who somehow find themselves switching places in their bodies periodically. (A running gag involves Taki waking up in Mitsuha's place noticing "his" breasts.) Stakes get... See full review

Having scored a box office success with Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki was on his way to becoming a respected animator in his native country of Japan. Yet this was only the beginning; with the help of Isao Takahata, Miyazaki enlisted the backing of their financial distributor, Tokuma Shoten, to establish their own animation company, known today as Studio Ghibli. Under this new facility, Miyazaki directed his third feature--and the first to be produced under the "Ghibli" banner - a rollicking, fast-paced action-adventure tale called Laputa: The Castle in the Sky. The basis for... See full review

In the mid 1970's, prior to obtaining his well-deserved status as Japan's greatest animator ever, a young Hayao Miyazaki was hired by Japanese movie giant Toho to develop ideas for TV series. One of these concepts was "Around the World Under the Sea", based on Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," in which two orphan children pursued by villains team up with Captain Nemo and his mighty submarine, the Nautilus. Although it was never produced, Toho nonetheless kept the rights to the story outline. Miyazaki would reuse elements from his original concept in later projects of his... See full review

Okko's Inn, a disarmingly charming, instantly likable Japanese animated feature, is the sort of family-friendly movie rarely seen from a lot of western productions of this type nowadays. While most kiddie flicks I've seen these days tend to go for loud, noisy, in-your-face schtick and disgusting scatalogical humor for the heck of it, this one instead aims to be a more gentle, down-to-earth sort of tale. Whatever humor we get is thankfully brief and of the clean and clever kind. More importantly, it's a film with a lot of heart. Its only weakness may be that it may fall somewhat short of the standards often... See full review

Everyone has stories about bullies and victims, but there have been very few features, namely animated ones, which actually dare to show the raw emotional honesty of such situations, particularly from the West. Luckily fans of traditional animation have a great contender for this subject: A Silent Voice, directed by Naoko Yamada. Based on a similarly titled Japanese graphic novel series, this movie doesn't hold back on showing the true tragedies of the story it tells, making its uplifting resolution all the more meaningful. A Silent Voice tells the tale of both the growth and redemption of a former bully... See full review