Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan 2010

Having a hankering for something historical, I decided to give this series a try.  It aired in 2010, and consisted of twenty two episodes.  Samurai drama, a hint of fantasy, wartime Japan, and the indomitable Japanese fighting spirit comprise the series’ main themes.  It first came out as a video game, but soon had an anime series, manga series, and feature films.

The story revolves around Chizuru, the daughter of a western-trained doctor who abandoned her.  As she travels from Edo to Kyoto in search of her father, she is assaulted by monstrous vampire-like soldiers and is saved by members of the Shinsengumi (Kyoto's police force).  It just so happens that the Shinsengumi are also on the hunt for her father, so they keep her with them.  Chizuru then begins to get to know the members of the group and soon becomes unwilling to separate.  She also discovers that her father created an “elixir” that was designed to create a superior soldier for the Shinsengumi.  This elixir’s formulation is based on the blood of a special race they called oni who possess extraordinary abilities such as rapid healing and heightened fighting prowess.  However, the elixir was a failure – whoever ingested it turned into uncontrollable blood-lusting monsters called Rasetsu.  The Shinsengumi needed to find Chizuru’s father to get him to make an antidote or to improve on the said elixir. 

Perhaps the best thing I could say about the series is that the events were pretty much historically accurate.  The series was set during the time when the Shinsengumi is drawn into the shogunate’s efforts to ward off the impending dominance of a new government and western culture.  I liked how it showed the despair of the soldiers as they watched the slow but inevitable death of the samurai culture – swords give way to guns, and so on.   The series focused more on this theme rather than on the more fantastic aspect of the story, i.e., their battles against the oni and the Rasetsu.  I’m also pretty thankful that they didn’t give the story any corny romantic “harem” angle even though it was the story of a young girl surrounded by incredibly handsome young men who are likely to fall all over themselves falling in love with her.  No such thing – what a relief.  And it also had an appropriately moving and tragic ending.  Well, given the fact that it is about war and a dying culture, it would have been pretty unlikely that nobody would die.  Good thing it didn't have a cheesy happily ever after ending – it gave the whole thing more credibility. 

The art was good and clean but I wouldn't call unique or remarkable.  The pace and plot development of the story was good, and the characters were interesting, if a bit underdeveloped.  I wasn't bored, but I wasn't on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next, either.  I appreciated the series, but wouldn't say it’s among the best I've seen.  Still, you might want to give it a try.  

More information on Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan

In A Dark Wood - Amanda Craig

Book jacket synopsis:

“Thirty-nine, recently divorced, jobless, Benedick Hunter is an actor heading in the exact opposite direction of happily ever after: everything from spending time with his own children to the prospect of dating brings him down.  So when he comes across a children’s book his mother, Laura, wrote, he decides that her life and work – haunting stories replete with sinister woods and wicked witches and brave girls who battle giants – holds the key to figuring out why his own life is such a mess.”

“Setting out to find out why Laura killed herself when he was six, Benedick travels from his native England to the U.S. in search of her friends and his own long-lost relatives.  As he grows obsessed with Laura’s books and their veiled references to reality, Benedick enters into a dark wood – a dark wood that is both hilariously real and terrifyingly psychological.  It is then that his story becomes an exploration not only of his mother’s genius but also of the nature of depression, and of the healing power of storytelling in our lives.”

I picked this book up during a book sale.  I suppose anything with references to fairy tales will easily catch my eye.  It’s not the kind of book I’d usually go for, but I’m glad I gave it a chance.  This is not going to make the list of my top fifty favorites, but I found it quite a worthwhile read for a number of reasons.  First, the narration is good and involving.  The narrator’s voice is brutally intense at times and poignantly fragile at others; it is very easy to get absorbed into the persona’s voice and thought process.  My second reason is the presence of those wonderful fairy tales (or adaptations of fairy tales) that are integral to the progression of the story.  Some of them may seem familiar at first, but through each tale lies an undercurrent of darkness and fear.  I found it wonderful that the author of this book managed to create the atmosphere of the story through these eerily scary stories that were supposed to be meant for the enjoyment of children.  And then there are scattered throughout the book little pieces wisdom and clarity that I couldn’t help but acknowledge.  To quote a couple: 

“What is the law but a vision of how life should be?  Isn’t that what the fairy tale – which was originally for adults as much as for children – is deeply concerned with?  With justice?  What is the phrase every parent hears most often from a child?  It’s not fair.”

“When you fall in love with someone you see them through a palimpsest of all their former selves.  It’s as if you’ve always known them and always will, as if time itself has collapsed.”

The imagery in the story is so clear and beguiling.  In the picture book of my mind I saw each leaf, each castle, and every witch’s hut.  I smelled the polluted air of big cities and the green-brown earth smell of forest floors. The pictures drew out my empathy for the persona. I felt drawn to Benedick and could very well relate to his confusion and anger, how lost he is and how I wished he’d be all right in the end. 

The end of the story came as a surprise.  I never thought things would turn out the way they did; the author of the novel did well by not really hinting at the twist towards the end.  And I felt glad at such an unexpected and unconventional ending.  I thought that the ending of the story put all the events that happened before into much clearer perspective.  It was well-executed, to say the least.

I recommend this book to anyone who would appreciate something that could be quite difficult to categorize.  It’s not really a “drama”, not really a romance, either.  It’s not a mystery, not horror story, nor a fantasy.  Suffice it to say that it’s a good book that will be appreciated by a discerning reader who shies away from the mundane and shallow, and appreciates a tale that stirs the imagination and provokes the contemplation of happiness, loss, sanity, the inner child, and life.  Life, above all. 

Q10 (2010)

I just finished a series called “Q10” (pronounced kyuu-to) which aired in Japan in 2010.  The premise of the story gives us a kind-hearted but rather distant young man, Heita, who comes across a girl that’s actually a robot.  I know. There are already a great number of similar stories out there.  “Not another Pinocchio spin-off!” is what I thought.  But I was wrong.  Good thing I stuck around and saw the whole thing through. 

The series focused not on the robot, but the people around it.  The episodes featured themes that revolved around coping with financial ruin, loneliness, separation, friendship, aging, illness, and how people cope with life in all of its fragility and transience.   Heita behaves rather distantly towards his peers and family.  He’s very careful of his heart condition and prefers not to involve himself in anything serious or emotional.  Through Kyuuto’s innocence and unbiased view of the world, Heita learns more and more about what it means to struggle, to hope, to help and be helped, and of course, to love.  Because of Kyuuto, Heita’s world gradually changes. 

The way they handled these myriad themes was unexpectedly sensitive and moving.  I thought this would be another one of those teen-oriented comedic stories, but no.  I was pleasantly surprised by how delicately and gracefully the story developed.  The actors were very convincing; sublime performances, I’d say.  The pace of the series was unhurried; and they managed the entire tale in nine episodes without leaving you hanging.  I recommend this drama to those who would like to get a fresh view of life.  Thumbs up.

Cast: Sato Takeru, Maeda Atsuko, Kaku Kento, Renbutsu Misako, etc. 

Click here for more information on Q10.

Chronicle

Tonight I saw a recent film called “Chronicle” directed by Joshua Trank.  It’s one of those unexpected movies that suddenly become really popular hits even though it didn’t have any overhyped superstar Hollywood celebrity cast members, publicity, and all that paraphernalia.  It was pure story – and I loved it from start to finish.

It centers on Andrew, a high school senior who is faced with such a hard life to cope with – poverty, a mother who’s very ill, an abusive drunk of a father, bullying at school, isolation and loneliness.  The one person he could call a friend is his cousin, Matt. 

One day Matt forces him to go to a party.  Things don’t go well for Andrew there and Steve, their popular classmate, approaches Andrew and urges him to explore something that had been discovered in the woods.  It turns out to be a cavern that leads deep underground, tunneling into the earth.  There Andrew, Steve and Matt encounter something inexplicable – an alien object or creature.  Their contact with this object causes the three of them to develop telekinetic powers.  As they explore and experiment with their newfound abilities, getting stronger and becoming more and more creative with it, the friendship and camaraderie among the three friends grow as well.  Things seem to be looking up for Andrew; he has friends now, and he has power.  But it didn’t make anything easier for him and as his troubles continually plague and overwhelm him, he feels all the more alone and desperate.  Andrew starts to lose control and use his power in a very destructive manner.  He succumbs to his despair and lets all Hell break loose in a seething rampage that leads to the story’s inexorable tragic culmination. 

I love how the film is entitled “Chronicle” because the events unfold from the perspective of a number of different cameras, but mostly Andrew’s own.  You see the story from a third party point of view; you are merely an observer, chronicling the events of the developing drama.  In effect, the camera perspective becomes as much a barrier between you, the audience, and Andrew’s world, as it was between Andrew and the harsh realities of his world.  It allowed him to feel detached, isolated, and safe from all the cruelty and the loneliness.

Beautifully imagined and executed, this film is definitely an amplified reflection of this, our world.  This is what happens when people are pushed too far – they break.  It is a glaring commentary on the truth around us – poverty, domestic abuse, bullying, and isolation.  Once people become sunk in despair, they look for something that they feel empowering and they let loose.  Look around at the shooting rampages in schools, bombs thrown around like so many cigarette stubs, massacres left and right.  This movie made me look hard, and let me think about my actions, the actions of the people around me, and so much more.  I highly recommend this to everyone.  See it, think about it, and maybe it will change everything, including yourself.

See the trailer of CHRONICLE

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea - Yukio Mishima

The premise goes:

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea  tells of a band of savage thirteen-year-old boys who reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and train themselves in a brutal callousness they call “objectivity”.  When the mother of one of them begins an affair with a ship’s officer, he and his friends idealise the man at first; but it is not long before they conclude that he is in fact soft and romantic.  The regard their disappointment in him as an act of betrayal on his part, and react violently.

This book reminded me so strongly of another favorite, William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies because of the particular feature involving youths exhibiting unrestrained cruelty.  In this book, the scene where they brutally slaughter the cat is one of the most horrific that I have ever encountered.  As I read it my heart pounded madly and goosebumps rose on the skin of my arms – it was rendered in such gruesome detail and the narration felt like it would never end.  I asked myself how anyone could have justified what felt like such an unnecessarily violent scene, but as I read the book to the end I realized of course that it was important and was actually a stroke of genius on the author’s part.  Mishima was indeed a great literary master.

The main characters are Noboru, a thirteen-year-old boy with a fascination for ships and the sea.  He belonged to a gang of smart, yet disillusioned boys of the same age, led by “The Chief”.  Noboru’s widowed mother, Fusako, runs a shop that specializes in western luxury fashion items.  She enters into an affair with Ryuji, a Second Mate, when she and her son tour the ship that he works in.

The novel is very much character-driven.  You feel that the story moves because of the very nature of the lives that people it.  And although it is quite a depressing, emotionally taxing tale, I couldn’t help but admire how gracefully it was delivered.  The language was just so poetic; and I’m sure that even more beauty had been lost in translation.  You get to know the characters, how they thought, the motives behind their actions, their loneliness, their anger and frustration, and the way they cope with the world they are faced with.  You feel for them and come to understand them somehow, even those lost boys who feel that they have no hope and no other choices left but to do what their lives have led them to believe must be done.  Some people say that this novel is largely allegorical, that this is how Mishima saw Japan during his time, and it is how he expressed his disappointment with his country.  Perhaps they are right, because if you look closely enough there certainly are many parallels.  Ideas such as fascination with western luxuries, the abandonment of Japanese traditions, trading off one’s ideals and dreams of glory, the feeling of helplessness and being compelled to move along and face the “realities” – these are all represented in the book.  If this was indeed Mishima’s way of venting his anger at Japan, then he did it through such a thought-provoking and unforgettable masterpiece.  I recommend the book for the provocative insights it gives, and the emotional turmoil that it allows you to experience.  For what else is a good book for, if not to disturb your soul? 

More on this:

Information on Yukio Mishima 

Another review of "The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea"

Departures (おくりびと)

This is one of the most gracefully told stories I have ever witnessed.  Upon having seen it, it’s really no wonder why it won all that acclaim.  The plot revolves around Daigo, who lost his job and ended up going back to the countryside and landing a job that he assumed had something to do with being a travel agent.  This is a story about the trials that people face in life, a search for a purpose, the human concept of death and the loss, grief, and acceptance that go with it.  It is about family and the relations we have with those people around us who shape our lives.  All of these and more wrapped in an exquisite presentation of Japanese culture and tradition.  How precise and elegant every moment of this film is!  Nothing was overdone.  The music, the performance of the cast, the pacing of the story, everything just flowed smoothly and went straight to the heart.  Every laugh and tear that the movie elicits is well worth it.  “Departures” will be one of my high-ranking favourites from now on.