6/21/2006 - Leung/Lau
Having recently watched both Infernal Affairs and Infernal Affairs II
in one sitting (at the insistence of Wonderful Girlfriend), it
occured to me just how much J.J. Abrams and Paramount Pictures
are missing out on by not casting Tony Leung and Andy Lau as Kirk and
Spock in the new Star Trek prequel.
Don't say you can't imagine it because you know you can. Just watch Infernal Affairs
and tell me that, with Lau's cold reservation and Leung's on-the-edge
anger, these two actors aren't the best choice ever to bring the
characters of Kirk and Spock to life for a new audience.
You can't, can you? That's because I'm right.
You know it. ^_^
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6/18/2006 - Ultra Will Power
You know what makes Ultraman Leo so great? Actual character development for the child characters. The two kids in Leo
aren't just happy throw-away characters who bounce back after a tragic
loss like nothing ever happened and the show, and storyline, actually
take their time to show the complex emotions these children feel.
*That's* what makes Ultraman Leo so great.
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6/18/2006 - EREE/Kotono
Wecker D-02 episode #6 succeeds in almost making attempts to
slash the principal female cast impossible by all but offering it to
you on a plate. In fact the relationship between EREE-2210-E and
Nishina Kotono is so palatable that I was genuinely surprised the
episode didn't end in a kiss. |
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6/13/2006 - WTF
I don't want to watch The Fast and
the Furious: Tokyo Drift. I've seen the trailer and it looks like a crap
Initial D knock off. I really don't want to watch The Fast and the
Furious: Tokyo Drift however I know that, following the prodding of
Wonderful Girlfriend, I am sadly going to end up watching The Fast and the
Furious: Tokyo Drift. To add insult to injury the film seems to have amassed
a handful of interesting cameos, not least of all being Chiba Shin'ichi. God
knows why he's in it but it seems that he is. Also featuring quite high on the
cast list is Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon's Kitagawa Keiko as Reiko whilst
Tsumabuki Satoshi (Kai from Orange Days) appears as 'Exceedingly Handsome
Guy', Namioka Kazuki (Pacchigi!, Justiriser, Densha Otoko)
features as 'Tea Hair #1' and last but not least, Maki Yoko (also from
Pacchigi! as well as the American Ju-on remake, Battle Royale
II and Princess Blade) makes an appearance as 'Woman at Boswells'
Apt.' and Nakagawa Shouko (episode #38 of Dekaranger and Nagai Go's
Kabuto-o Beetle) appears as 'Bo-Peep Girl #1'.
Argh.
It's
Shokotan's appearance that hurts the most.
To think that American
films would stoop so low as to cast idols I like in cameos.
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6/7/2006 - Hoshii Nanase
Recently  taa_kun posted info
and pictures from the press conference held for the upcoming Kabuto and
Boukenger films
and, much to my annoyance, Hoshii Nanase is scheduled to appear in the cast of
the Boukenger film. It's not that I begrudge her appearance in
Boukenger but I can't help but think 'where were these kind of aidoru
cameos whenI was watching sentai?' and the sad answer is that they
weren't there...because sentai is handled very differently now. In fact sentai
is handled so differently now that even the 2001/2002 shows look cumbersome and
awkward in comparison. Don't get me wrong I have no real massive love for Hoshii
Nanase, I think she's quite cute and I like a handful of her songs but that's
about as far as it goes. The fact that she's playing the role of the traditional
15 minute 'princess' in the movie shouldn't cause me as much angst as it does
and yet I can't help but begrudge Boukenger for getting these kind of
cameos. Sadly though this is how Toei is doing business now; there's a reason
such aidoru-tachi are appearing with such increased frequency and it's simply
because it sells and, more importantly, it sells the film to a wider demographic
than the kids and their long-suffering parents. With cameos like Hoshii Nanase
and a cast that features already popular actresses/artists like Nakamura Chise,
Suenaga Haruka and Yamasaki Mami, sentai can now capture the erstwhile teenage
demographic and, more importantly, the aidrou-otaku demographic.
Never
underestimate the power of AVEX marketing.
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5/24/2006 - Sailing the Good Ship, MegaVoyager
Recently we've been watching a fair
handful of Megaranger episodes simply because they've been on offer and,
well, despite its reputation as 'being popular' it really has remained one of
the less appreciated recent sentai series produced by Toei. It's a shame that
episodes aren't more readily available as the series really does have a
wonderful dynamic especially between the main cast, who manage to come across as
convincing characters whilst also being expressions of the traditional sentai
team archetypes. Part of this dynamic is rooted in the fact that the five main
characters all attend the same school, something that does wonders for the
format of the show as it means that all the antics and humour that doesn't work
when applied to, say, an elite police force (I'm looking at you,
Dekaranger) is suddenly expected and also amusing because of the age of
the characters and the environment they are in. I'm really trying not to turn
this into further exposition on how recent shows have failed to show convincing
character interaction but suffice to say, it seems more natural to see a
character like Date Kenta making an arse out of himself and not being entirely
focused on the fact that he's supposed to be a legendary warrior of justice that
a supposedly professional policeman who can't seem to moderate the tone of his
voice (again, I'm looking at you, Dekaranger). Of course, alongside the
fact that the friendships of the central characters are so well defined comes
the added bonus that every same-sex shipper rejoices in, especially in terms of
sentai: every act of kindness and friendship displayed on screen can be
interpreted as part of something far, far grander.
This works especially
well in the case of Jougasaki Chisato (MegaYellow) and just about every
other significant female character in the series. That's an overstatement, I
know but, within the first ten episodes there's certainly a lot of Chisato love
going on.
As Dekaranger gained a wider and wider English language
fanbase, a lot of fuss was made about the two significant female characters of
that series which eventually resulted in them being paired up wholesale, a ship
that even went as far as to inspire the name for mariko_azrael's
sentai girl-love community, pink_and_yellow.
There's certainly a tradition of having two female characters assigned to pink
and yellow uniforms and yet somehow, the relationship between Chisato and
Imamura Miku (MegaPink) in Megaranger feels that much more honest
than in later shows. Again, it could be the very different roles the characters
play in both series...or it could just simply be that the environment in
Megaranger works to a greater degree with the sentai archetypes than does
the environment in Dekaranger.
There are subtle and not so subtle
hints in Megaranger that sometimes come across as the greatest
unintentional reward for shippers or the most blatantly connived fanservice
known to man. At the end of episode #6 when Kenta tries to find out who Miku
likes and she takes hold of his hand, looks at him very sincerely and then slips
out of his grasp and pulls on Chisato's arm, you might be excused for dismissing
it as the most casual subtext.
But
in episode #9 when Chisato ends up running off hand in hand with Kenta's
bad-girl-gone-good friend, Saeko (after a similar 'Who do you like best?'
incident) then you know that perhaps Chisato's coloured uniform reflects the
kind of fruit she might enjoy. Or rather you don't but if you're willing to read
into the subtext then it's most certainly there.
Well,
in my opinion, it's there and it's that opinion that colours my perception and
makes Megaranger such an enjoyable show to watch. In many ways,
especially with the Kamen Rider franchise, it does feel that Toei is more
than happy to promote subtext with its tokusatsu shows almost to the point of
them no longer being subtext but actually entering the canon continuity of the
show. I don't feel as if I can comment on whether that's a good or a bad thing
but I know that I'd really love to see that approaches taken with mainstream
Western television...if only for the amusement value.
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5/6/2006 - Hollywood or Bust (insert breast joke *here*)
Maggie Q (of Gen-Y Cops 'fame')
is in Mission Impossible III. Sadly this still isn't enough to motivate
me to watch another pointless Tom Cruise promotional vehicle (because I have the
pointless promotional vehicles of Lindsay Lohan to watch instead, hah!). Seeing
Miss. Quigley listed in the credits for MI:3 is an odd experience for me,
as only when looking back through her imdb profile did I fully appreciate
just how much of an 'American star' she is. Like many stars of Chinese cinema
she seems to be appearing in more and more American or American-funded films and
taking on an increasing number of English language roles. This isn't a criticism
of her, merely an observation of the direction in which her career is moving
(and will undoubtedly continue to move in after MI:3) and perhaps the
faintest regret for the fact that she will be appearing in fewer and fewer
Chinese films because of this.
photo
'borrowed' from chinadaily.com
If Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon, with its American funding and executive producers, was the watershed
by which modern Chinese stars (Jackie Chan aside) entered Hollywood then surely
the fully-fledged Americana of Memoirs of a Geisha is the wide-open
sluice-gates. Since the release of that film the awe-inspiring Gong Li has
signed up for three American films over the next two years; Miami Vice,
Young Hannibal: Behind the Mask (again as a Japanese character) and
The Yellow M (a US/French co-production). The only Chinese film she's
working on is the currently in-production mainland film The City of Golden
Armour alongside Jay Chou (who English-speaking audiences will get a chance
to become more fully aquainted with when the Initial D movie premieres in
UK cinemas at the end of the month) and Chow Yun-Fat (who's also going to appear
in Pirates of the Caribbean 3...which should be fun).
Taking
another route is American born actress, Devon Aoki. imdb has this, ah, 'cute'
way of labelling both Miss. Aoki and Miss. Quigley as 'Eurasian' (a category
that apparently includes Keanu Reeves! - I never knew that!). Unlike Maggie Q.
however, Miss. Aoki has yet to appear in a non-English language film which is a
shame, in my humble opinion, as I'd kind of like to see her in a Japanese film
if only because it provides an interesting counterpoint to her current career
and the careers of popular Mandarin speaking actresses like Maggie Q. and Zhang
Ziyi. I have a tough time accepting Miss. Aoki as Kasumi in Corey Yuen's
forthcoming (American) Dead or Alive film. I can't actually decide
whether Miss. Aoki is attractive or not. As with countless Japanese idols I feel
I've fallen a bit for the style and manner in which some of her photoshoots
present her in and yet, in other shoots and certainly in interviews she has all
the airs and graces of an 'American star', much more so than Maggie Q.
Still,
her dad is a wrestler...so maybe we won't argue with her just yet. ^_^
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5/2/2006 - Final Aura Burst - A Daily Tokusatsu Community
![[info]](09_files/community.gif) finalauraburst
is a community dedicated to monitoring and supporting tokusatsu fandom
on livejournal by providing daily updates informing readers of new
fanwork on each of the many tokusatsu themed communities and,
occasionally, from select forums and websites in the English language
tokusatsu community.
If you know of any journals or communities
that warrant a mention, have any general suggestions or are
uncomfortable with your work being monitored on finalauraburst, then please reply to this post.
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4/17/2006 - Bernard Quatermass no Na O Karite
Courtesy of a benevolent relative I
recently had the opportunity to rewatch the Hammer Horror reinterpretation of
the initial Quatermass story, here entitled The Quatermass Xperiment
(1955). Nigel Kneale's Professor Bernard Quatermass is iconic in the history of
Western science fiction cinema, prefiguring an entire legacy of awkward British
archetypes, most predominately the Doctor from legendary BBC serial Doctor
Who...something that makes the casting of Brian Donlevy, an American actor,
as Quatermass somewhat at odds with the character's standing but an interesting
novelty none the less.
You may think that perhaps this isn't entirely
relevant to a journal regarding predominantly Japanese tokusatsu and yet, whilst
watching Xperiment I could not help but be reminded of the similarities
in format and style between the film and Tsuburaya's seminal Ultraseven
series, more specifically episode #2, The Green Terror.
Both
stories feature incredibly similar storylines involving a man who, upon his
return from a space voyage, is revealed as suffering from contamination by a
previously undocumented alien parasite (a third parallel can be drawn between
the initial Quatermass film and Alien but let's not muddy the water too
much). The stories of Xperiment and The Green Terror follow each
other so closely that, at the conclusion of the film, it's almost a let down
when Donlevy fails to pull the Ultra Eye from the inside of his jacket and
transform into Seven as our poor, beleaguered astronaut, Carroon, completes his
final transformation (which, amusingly, would also bring us into line with the
recent big screen Ultraman remake). It is Donlevy and the abrupt
reinterpretation of Quatermass' character by director Val Guest that sustains
this line of thinking so clearly.
Were the Quatermass of Hammer closer
to the scholarly scientist presented by the original BBC serials then perhaps
this similarity would not be so distinct, sadly I can't truly comment as I
hardly remember the details of the original stories, nor do I fully recall the
way in which Reginald Tate's Quatermass presents himself, relying solely on the
recent reading of reviews, interviews and details featured in Guest and Hammer
film historian, Marcus Hearn's audio commentary featured on the DVD release. The
most striking illustration I have encountered is the reference to Tate's (or
rather, Kneale's) Quatermass attempting to appeal to Carroon's remaining
humanity whilst Donlevy's Quatermass simply obliterates the creature by
diverting the whole of the city's electricity supply to the metal framework upon
which the beast rests.
The
behaviour of Quatermass in Kneale's original story is, beyond the shadow of a
doubt, the template for the behaviour of the Doctor, Val Guest and Donlevy's
Quatermass, however, is so determined and brutal that I can't help but wonder
just how Moritsugu Koji might have acted out these scenes. I've speculated for
some time on the nature of the failed hero archetype in British literature and
cinema, witnessing that character archetype as portrayed by an American or
through the dark lens of Moritsugu's performance as Moroboshi Dan makes for
interesting food for thought.
Once more the idea of redefining archetypes
and franchises rears its head and we find ourselves in much the same place as we
were after our recent evaluation of Leo, Stronger and
Superman and, at some point, it's a theme that I don't doubt we shall
revisit again.
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3/10/2006 - [MV] Shin-ZO-J // Bugman
Shin-ZO-J // Bugman
(65.5MB)
Footage: Kamen Rider Shin, Kamen Rider ZO, Kamen Rider J, Kamen Rider World, Kamen Rider Henshin First Generation
Music: Blur - Bugman
As
has been noted before I'm rubbish at these kind of things, mostly
because I have no patience and an awkward sense of humor. This is
certainly the result of these factors. Well, I laughed at least. ^_^
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3/5/2006 - Our Brother, Jou Shigeru
There's something about the characters
of Kamen Rider Stronger and Ultraman Leo that make them unusually suited to each
other. I don't quite know what it is about the two characters but somehow I
can't quite shake the feeling that, in a team-up scenario, they would be well
matched. The two series were a year apart, Leo airing in 1974 and
Stronger appearing later in 1975. I've already spent a brief amount of
time outlining my initial impressions
of Stronger which leaves me in the position of attempting to clarify why I feel
this fictional 'team-up' should happen based on one episode of Leo
alone.
There's
much in Leo that could be passed over at first. The fact that the series
falls just outside of the 'golden age' of the six Ultrabrothers puts it in
danger of being forgotten about by older fans and ignored by newer ones. This is
a shame because Leo features some of the finest acting I've yet seen in a
1970s tokusatsu show. This stems from the presence of actor Moritsugu Koji
reprising his role as Moroboshi Dan/Ultraseven from the self-titled show of
1967. Seeing Moroboshi as the bitter and emotionally scarred captain of MAC,
unable to transform back into his original form and crippled during a brutal
struggle with Magma-seijin and his pet Gillases (is that the plural of Gillas?)
in the opening episode is one of the most amazing developments of character I've
seen in a tokusatsu franchise ever. Moritsugu plays it with his heart and soul,
waving the crutch upon which his character now leans and cursing at the young,
brash Leo for his behaviour. Certainly the show would have had less of an impact
without him. In contrast to Moroboshi, Ohtori Gen/Ultraman Leo is young and
caring, having learnt to live in the role of his human identity, something
Moritsugu's character never seems capable of doing in Ultraseven. There
is a strong contrast between the two and the feeling that Moroboshi can never,
and has never, forgotten that his human identity is little more than so
much smoke and mirrors whereas Ohtori has embraced his human life and learnt to
treat the people of Earth as his equals. This theme of adoption by humanity
brings us subtly back to Kamen Rider Stronger.
"Unlike all of the
other headline Ultramen, Leo is from Nebula L77 in the Leo zodiac, which is
about 700,000 light years away. His planet was destroyed by Magma-seijin, so he
adopts Earth as his new home, which he vows to protect (making Leo conceptually
a lot like Superman, who lost his home of Krypton)." (Ultraman Leo, wikipedia
article)
This is the heart of the matter, this curious triangle of
influence and inspiration between Leo, Stronger and Superman. Each of these
characters has elements reflected in the other; in the case of Leo, his
otherworldly origins and his struggle to find a place in human society mirrors
Kal-El's adoption of the Clark Kent persona and his upbringing in Smallville
whilst in the case of Stronger, the sheer calibre of his powers and strength
and, by default, his responsibilities place him high above his peers just as his
loss, and the coming to terms thereof, mirror further aspects of the Superman
character. It's interesting to note that Leo, as an alien, resembles the most
human aspects of Superman's personality whilst Stronger, who at times seems in
danger of losing touch with his humanity, resembles Superman at his most alien.
To carry the DC comparison further, a third line could be drawn between
Stronger's loss of his young female sidekick, Tackle and the death of Jason Todd
however the characters of Batman and Stronger simply don't converge. Whilst
Batman may share the same desire for vengeance, the dark detective is too cold,
too logical to allow himself the comfort of Stronger's arrogance and mockery of
those who oppose him (which makes him closer still to Grant Morrison's depiction
of Superman during his stint on JLA).
It
is the responsibility of their powers and their feelings of distance despite a
desire to fit in, that make both Leo and Stronger such interesting characters.
With the right kind of author at the helm, the elements of these series could be
successfully revived in a single book or series with the potential to provide
one of the most unique commentaries on the life of fictional orphans and the
archetype of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's part-golem, part-ubermansch yet
seen. The same fusion of Judaic myth and Nietszchean philosophy that resides in
the root of Superman's creation is present in the golem-like artificiality of
Stronger's origins whilst the 'beyond good and evil' ubermansch-like strength
and will is manifest in Leo's alien-nature. Through these two characters and in
this kind of story we could stand to learn more about the Superman archetype
than ever before.
"In uniform Superman is far too perfect for one to
associate himself directly with him. But as Clark Kent, a near-sighted guy who
can't get to first base with Lois Lane, the readers can see themselves, and
gloat in the secret that they, too, are really Superman." (How to Crash the
Comics! by Abner Sundell, 1942)
Image
'borrowed' from Ronnie Cramer's
Cult Film Site
It's been 68 years since the publication
of Action Comics #1. After all this time perhaps we need intermediates to
rediscover the true identities of our most familiar archetypes. Steeped in the
traditions of their own franchises, both Stronger and Leo are those
intermediates. The path to one of the boldest fictional deconstructions of a
modern icon is open, now we just have to hope that someone takes the path.
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2/26/2006 - Chaiyo and the Recent Mainland Ban on Animation
http://www.animeondvd.com/news/news.php?news_view=8751
I'm wondering how much certain business deals, like the mainland toy company deal with Chaiyo Productions in regards to the new Project Ultraman
material has come into play in regards with this decision. If I'm
understanding this correctly then there is a chance that Chaiyo could
strength its foothold in the mainland market whilst Tsuburaya would be
left out in the cold without even the option to pitch any of official Ultra series to rival TV stations.
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2/26/2006 - Psycho-Ranger
...
I
don't quite know how to explain this. I've never had episode download
links sent to me in a threatening manner before, at least not before
today.
Shortly after signing onto IRC, a small discussion began in regards to Boukenger and Kabuto
when a certain unnamed poster sent me a private message kindly
informing me of some direct download links for the opening episodes of
the two respective shows.
My
awful command of the English language aside, everything appeared to be
okay...until said unnamed poster decided to repost my previous comment
in the main room and remarked "ok......enjoying being behind lol" before informing me that "your lashing out at a.....kids show".
To this rather blunt statement I responded that it was less like
lashing out and more like not watching followed by the example that I
hadn't watched When Harry Meet Sally either but I was hardly lashing out at the directors through my actions. Our friend then followed this up with "don't blame me when were talking about the exciting battle between superdaibouken and boukenhunter vs bouken red lol".
Fair enough, the young gentleman in question is enjoying the one
episode shown to date, he may not have the best manners in the world
but he was simply trying to communicate his enthusiasm for the new
show. And then he PMed me again.
The
events trailed off and our friend returned to 'borrowing' 2chan
bandwidth, leaving me with the horrible sensation that one tends to
feel after an argument in a public place. Suddenly the metaphorical
angle over my shoulder seems like the best place to be looking
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2/19/2006 - Introducing Nakamura Chise...
I am, perhaps, the only person in the
world who hasn't seen Swing Girls yet. Coupled with the fact that I have
yet to see not only Shimotsuma Monogatari but also the live action
Initial D movie, this makes me the most 'unhip' person on the internet.
Irrespective of this fact I now have a reason for watching Swing Girls
sooner rather than later.
Nakamura
Chise
As is well documented, I've been avoiding new Toei
tokusatsu since the decline of Hibiki and so, out of curiosity, I've been
looking to try and gather an impression of both Nakamura-pon and Suenaga Haruka
from other sources. This random thinking has led to the viewing of four
fantastic episodes of Mukodono 2003 and a sudden rekindled desire to
watch Swing Girls. Nakamura-pon is a really an interesting personality
and I fear that this very liveliness of spirit will be drowned by the shoddy
direction of Toei's second-most popular franchise. To try and safeguard against
this I've been going out of my way to find out as much as I can about both
actresses cast in this year's sentai series, which is somewhat ironic
considering I have no real intention of watching it. both Nakamura-pon and
Suenaga-pon have an aura of youthful ambition that falls somewhere between the
gravure stable and the genuine popularity of hello! project members and I really
want to see these actresses in roles that will perhaps give them more of a
chance to shine.
To this end I spent the majority of Thursday and Friday
uploading pictures to the Nakamura thread on 'lah
and ripping the streaming videos from her personal site so that I can upload
them here so as to provide you, my lucky reader, with a chance to get to know
Nakamura-pon herself. behold, the greatness of free aidoru DVD clips!
 
 
 
 
 
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2/19/2006 - G.I. Samurai
http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=sr&page=title&r=R2&title=178780
A Japanese Army unit, commanded by
Yoshiaki Iba (Sonny Chiba), is mysteriously transported 400 years back
in time to the warring states period of Japanese history. Forming an
alliance with the samurai Kategora who yearns to be the next Shogun,
Iba and his men become embroiled in a brutal and bloody conflict and
end up facing an entire army of Samurai warriors...
Having just watched a trailer for this film I have decided that I can no longer live without it.
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