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Post by Youngster Joey on Jan 5, 2019 13:54:52 GMT -5
Looking at apartments.
See one for $1,750 a month. 350 square feet. In Chelsea.
GOOD DEAL
no /s
in all honesty, though, my dad always complains about how you live in a shoebox here. But... let's be real here. My requirements for an apartment are: 1) can I fit a bed in there?, 2) does it have a bathroom, 3) are the neighbors insane? (I lived above a genuinely schizophrenic woman once, 0/10 would not recommend), and 4) do I like the surrounding neighborhood?
I don't need a lot of space in my apartment, really. I could cut my apartment into half the size and be totally fine.
...
Although I just saw an apartment for $1,695/mo that has, uh, no bathroom. Shared baths. no thnx, that sounds extremely super gross. I've heard of apartments not having kitchens before (I have never used my kitchen, so that's fine), but no bathroom? qu'est-ce que c'est???
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Jan 6, 2019 13:25:10 GMT -5
I don't need a lot of space, but I would worry that too little space might get hot over a period of time. One nice thing about not having the computer in my bedroom is that, when one room gets too stuffy in summer, I can abandon ship to the other. So obviously lately I've been watching a lot of animated films, but I've found that the animated films I enjoy I definitely enjoy more than I do with live-action. While I think there are absolutely live-action films of equal quality, they seem very rare, and even then I still find I'd rather watch Your Name or Garden of Words. I've been thinking a lot about why this is. I think I've come to a conclusion, but it's so pretentious/nutty that I don't think anyone else well get it. I doubt anyone remembers it, but a while ago I was talking about how books are metaphoric. I can go to great lengths to describe a room, but ultimately every person who reads it is going to envision something slightly different. No two people will ever envision the same thing when reading the same passage. In that sense, it demands a lot on the reader to craft and create the story in their mind. By contrast, film is the opposite. It conveys things very literally, a.k.a. 'the way they are'. If a film-maker shows you a room, everyone will see the same room. Thus, even in a film designed to challenge 'the way things appear' (say, Memento), the moment-to-moment conveyance is still very literal. Animation is the middle ground between the two. While it's definitely more literal than text because there is a visual aspect to it, it also demands that you accept the characters as representative of real people. There's a frequent debate (or at least, was once) about whether or not anime characters look more western or Japanese, but the reality is that they don't really look like real humans at all. In fact, the few renderings that have tried to make them real are extremely off-putting. The same holds equally true for western designs. While you can show viewers a character and have aspects of that character be very literal, it involves a certain amount of work on the viewer's side to accept that character as representative of an actual person.
For what it's worth, aside from the insane cost and time, why bother ever making portrait-level animation anyway when you'd just be better served making a film? I think one of animations greatest strengths is this metaphoric quality. It allows for freedom to do things that live-action could never do. I find myself more strongly drawn to characters because it requires a little something extra to make them real. By contrast, no matter how well Ryan Gosling acts between La La Land and Blade Runner, the fact that it's Ryan Gosling will always be playing around in my mind. It's an unavoidable reality, because film portrays things literally, and in a literal sense that is Ryan Gosling playing someone else.
At least, that's what I've been thinking. No idea if that'll make much sense to anyone else, but there it is.
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Jan 7, 2019 22:26:00 GMT -5
Watched Children Who Chase Lost Voices again. I enjoyed it more this time, though rather than saying I suddenly think it’s more a good movie, I feel more like saying I have a better handle on what it does well and what it fails at. For starters, this is definitely more of a Shinkai movie than I initially gave it credit for. There’s some great themes about death and moving on, albeit both Asuna and Shin’s motives feel underdeveloped in contrast to Morisaki’s. It’s the parts of the film that feel distinctively like Shinkai’s work that it really shines, and having a greater appreciation for both Ghibli and Shinkai, it’s much easier to identify the two this time around. Which, naturally, brings us to the continued problem: the Ghibli mimicry. It’s every bit as present this viewing as it was the first. From the rounded character designs, the moments of fantastical whimsy, to the children’s perspective, it’s clear that for whatever reason Children is drawing comparisons to Ghibli. I don’t know if this is an effort by Shinkai to try and prove how different they are by telling a Shinkai story in the Ghibli format, or just pressure, but it does the movie absolutely no favours. Let’s start with the character’s ages. Given the subject matter and the way they act, there’s every reason for Asuna and Shin not to be aged by about 3-5 years. Shinkai’s work rides the line between YA and Adult, to the point where I waffle constantly on where I’d place it. Thematically Children is no different, so why is it presented from the perspective of one so young? Why are there moments that seem intended to convey something about the whimsy of a child in a movie that’s taking itself so seriously? Guns, genocide, dismemberment... all of these things are present in Children, and not really presented in a way that constitutes “child friendly”. There’s not much humour or levity to engage a younger audience. In the end, these parts of the presentation run counter to the tone and thematic weight. Children is such a complicated movie because, even without the Ghibli-ness, it still wouldn’t be a perfect movie. Some parts feel underdeveloped, and some things feel a bit too convenient. However, I think without the Ghibli-ness it would stand well with Shinkai’s other works. Even with it I think it’s far from a bad film. It’s just kinda the black-sheep of his work. Up next is The Boy and the Beast. I’m a little worried after Wolf Children... I feel like Mammary Horchata’s movies have been escalating in furriness... Girl Who Leapt Through Time was 0% furry, Summer Wars was 15% furry, Wolf Children was 25-35% furry... Please don’t be > 35% furry... I can’t handle that much furry...
-edit- 33% furry. Just barely safe...
Actually, it's probably my second favourite Horchata film. It's funny though, because where Wolf Children was about motherhood, Boy and the Beast is about fatherhood. Yet, neither really did capture the challenges associated with parenthood. They both presented a very glorified image of the subject: a very heartwarming one, but not necessarily one that does justice to the issue. It's this lack of willingness to delve into some of the weightier, more complex sides of the subjects that Horchata takes on that keep him from being in the same level as Ghibli or Shinkai. I think he comes closest with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which is probably why it stands head-and-shoulders above the other three (and even then the consequences for Makoto's actions were very light all things considered).
But okay, that's my critical analysis. Thing is, I actually really like Horchata's films. Yeah, they're no Shinkai or Miyazaki, but they have a lot of charm and heart to them that's an uplifting contrast to something like Punpun or Crime and Punishment or any of the other heavier things I might be reading or watching. They also have a vision and the feel of an actual person behind them, which counts for a lot in my eyes in both animation and live-action. In short, while I wouldn't call Horchata a *must* watch, I definitely think it's a fine choice if you're looking for something light-hearted that makes you feel happy at the end of it. Considering I bought the collection solely for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, I'm very pleased to have all of his films, even if the original is the stand-out best.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Jan 9, 2019 20:40:59 GMT -5
Hmm, I kind of am not a big fan of American college admissions. The US is unique in that you have to do all of this extracurricular garbage in addition to APs and SATs and whatever. I think it's a bunch of BS. How many students who volunteered for [insert group here] actually cared at the time? Are they doing it post-high school? No. It's not a measure of someone's character if they played squash for 4 years and were the cello in band. Not when you're doing it because you have to.
I think it makes a lot more sense to just admit people on whether they got good grades and did well on the SAT. If you're actually really impressive (e.g., have a patent in high school or something), that can be taken into consideration, but everything else? Who cares? It's all fake puffery anyway.
Other countries (including our neighbor to the north) want grades and test scores. That's it. Seems like a much more efficient and less subjective system...
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Derman
Oracle Knight
I still don't have a knife tag on my golden birth knife
Posts: 194
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Post by Derman on Jan 10, 2019 15:00:22 GMT -5
When I got into university, I think I was the lowest score that got accepted for IT that year (they show the cutoff score in the letter they send out, which was exactly the same as my final total). The only factors, for IT anyway, were final Math and Physics (I think either Finnish or English contributed as well, it's changed a bit since then so I can't remember) grades from previous school, and the entrance exams (math and physics). I failed the physics test miserably, and my final grade for physics from the previous school was so low I didn't get any points from that. It's nice to think that I got in just with my relatively high math grades and by doing pretty well in the math exams, but it was still uncomfortably close. I should've saved that letter as a trophy.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Jan 10, 2019 22:08:10 GMT -5
Yeah, it's definitely not like that here. No school's going to not admit you because you got a 690 vs. 700 on the SAT or something. There are a lot of soft factors that go into college admissions, so even if you seem like a pretty good fit for a school, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll get in. I think that's where a lot of the hysteria comes from around college admissions--there's no guarantee, so you might as well try to load up on lots of things to hopefully impress colleges, if you're in a community that's into that kind of thing. (It was town gossip if someone didn't get a college degree in my town. It was just the thing you did.)
It's interesting you did well in math, but not physics--I'd have thought they'd be somewhat related? Granted, I never took physics, really...
I visited the apartment I posted about earlier. It was......... let's just say I upped my price range after that. It was bad, like it looked like a legit crack den and I genuinely can't believe people pay to live there bad. I wouldn't live there even if someone paid me the equivalent of the rent every month instead of me paying it. So... yeah. I guess I'm naive; cheap things are cheap for a reason...
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Post by Youngster Joey on Jan 12, 2019 22:52:39 GMT -5
Hmm.
Applied for apartment today, in a neighborhood I used to live in. Nice area. Beat the person competing with me for the apartment on submitting my application first, so now just comes down to whether they like my finances and whether my references indicate I'm actually a psychopath who doesn't pay my bills (spoiler alert!).
But now having second thoughts--do I want to live in the same area again? I did like it. But what if. Part of me hopes they will reject my application, although there's no guarantee the other apartment I was eyeing in another part of the city will still be there. Not in as nearly good repair, but it's $300 a month cheaper and the surrounding area is really nice. (I really like the $300 cheaper bit...). I'm trying to tell myself I'm pretty sure I'd be having regrets if I took that one, too, wondering if I should have taken the one I applied for instead...
Bleh. No winning when you literally have to make snap decisions on apartments because everyone else who is just as (relatively) poor as you is vying for the same limited number of units. Apartments are gone in literally a day or two. You literally cannot dawdle.
Apartment hunting here just makes me feel poor, more than anything...
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Jan 13, 2019 13:25:09 GMT -5
Just living makes me feel poor. Funny you bring up University entrance requirements as I've started seriously looking at the GRE... but more on that later in the week. I wanted to go back to the dubs and subs thing for a bit. Translation is a really rough business because there's a lot of nuance that will get lost. For instance, in Vesperia, Patty (who actually isn't a bad character at all, colour me surprised) at some point begins referring to Judith as 'Judy-nee' -- nee being the suffix for 'Onee', or 'older sister'. Now, obviously there's no real way to translate into English, and indeed the English script by-passes it entirely. In fact, English scripts almost always have instances of 'Onii-chan' or 'Onee-chan' completely dropped in favour of just the individual's name. While nothing major is lost, there's definitely a nuance to most of these cases. With Patty it adds something to how she views her relationship to Judith. But the example I really want to bring up comes also from Vesperia, namely the Don and Karol. Interestingly, the game has a lot of varying instances of words which end up getting filtered into 'friend'. For instance, during the Don's death he tells Karol, 'Always stick by your friends, and they'll be there for you'. Except, he uses the word 'nakama', which translates more closely to 'comrade' then it does 'friend'. "Stick by your comrades, and they'll be there for you" sounds like a much more fitting speech for the leader of the guilds than some generic nonsense about friends. I don't know why I never picked up on this before, but it makes me wonder how much of the 'Power of Friendship' trope that's so common in JRPGs (and especially Tales) can be attributed to translations simplifying a variety of nuanced words into the singular 'friend'. It's picking up on subtle things like these, even given my abysmal understanding of Japanese, that add to having the original voices. I don't mean to suggest it's the biggest reason: I still pick subs when something is Korean, Chinese, or Swedish because I prefer hearing the work in its native language. But for Japanese, I definitely do get more out of hearing the words vs just reading them, even if 95% of it flies right over my head. The irony of this post is, I cancelled my pre-order for Vesperia Definitive Edition, so the recent release has nothing to do with these revelations. Anywho, now that I have watched all of Horchata's films once, I've dedicated this weekend to going through them all back-to-back, one-per-day. Having finished Wolf Children again last night, it made me realise something about fiction in general: I've kinda come to enjoy it when there's no real 'antagonist' to the story. I don't mind antagonistic characters, but I think I enjoy the story more when the majority of conflicts stem from more down-to-earth reasons. For instance, in Garden of Words the conflict stems from things like lacking confidence, trying to understand yourself, trying to understand your place in society, and things like that. You don't need somebody playing 'the bad guy' to spur the plot along.
Looking back on all the movies I've purchased, nearly all of them fail to have an antagonist. When I look at the books I love, Wind-Up Bird/Kafka/Norwegian Wood/Killing Commendatore all lack an antagonist. I don't really know the reason for this change. Honestly, I don't even know when it happened, since I really only just noticed yesterday. It's just something I realised, and something I'm reflecting on as I go.
-edit- Also Billy West has apparently been doing Trump quotes in Zapp Brannigan's voice. Only now do I realise, we elected Zapp as president.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Jan 14, 2019 1:08:28 GMT -5
Meh, doesn't really surprise me that Don used "friends" in lieu of "comrades." The entire localization was clearly pretty rushed. I can't comment on the Japanese -> English nuances, but I did notice all of the English grammar errors and sloppy editing... I'm imagining (hoping) that was cleaned up in the re-release.
I'm glad Patty isn't horrendous, because she always sounded like the exact sort of trope I don't want in my games. That said, while I wasn't thrilled when she was announced, it didn't really make a difference. I don't think I would have ever been in the market for the PS3 version anyway, irrespective of whether the game had lolis. I wish they had spent time redoing the last third of the plot than putting Flynn or whoever in; I guess they were nice to haves for the people who liked him, but the plot just... what. I'm still really baffled that Vesperia did so well when preceding Tales games were so much better. ToV did do battling well, though, so maybe that's part of it...
I suppose no antagonists make stories and characters potentially more introspective. I think it's a lot easier to pull off a story where a not-so-great antagonist moves an otherwise stagnant characters and plot along. It's much more difficult without that element--suddenly, the characters themselves have to be compelling, or otherwise why read at all?
And, really, when you think about our day-to-day... yes, of course there's true evil out there, but what troubles the average person? Their own failings, or perhaps troubling circumstances with others. There is no "villain" to speak of, just life itself. I find that I gravitate towards characters and plots where the antagonist is, in a sense, one's own self. It's much more realistic that way, and a work that can pull off introspection believably (not an easy feat) is one worth lauding.
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Derman
Oracle Knight
I still don't have a knife tag on my golden birth knife
Posts: 194
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Post by Derman on Jan 14, 2019 17:28:05 GMT -5
I've been playing the Definitive edition over the weekend, managed to sink 20 hours on that game with my younger brother. It's almost nostalgic playing that game again, and I'm surprised how much I remember. It should make the game a lot more boring, but the fact that I like the character interactions and having someone new experience it at the same time made it so that I basically wasted an entire weekend playing that game.
The new voice acting is driving me crazy though. I'm playing it with english voices, and the difference between the original recodings and new ones is like night and day. First of all, they are not even the same volume, so I have to turn the game up to hear them properly. The voice actors sound a lot different due to different recording set/whatever, and they don't talk the same way as the characters used to, so they feel like completely different characters (except Rita, her VA did pretty good job). Yuri is the worst, since the VA changed. Makes me want to switch to Japanese...
Patty is great, I like the character a lot. The playstyle is fun. She's actually cute, like a younger sister to Yuri. She's not annoying like Mieu, and has some great dialogue. In general, playing through the game for third time, I really like the party dynamics in Tales games, and Vesperia might be my favorite. Between the story scenes and skits, the way the character relationships progress feels a lot more natural than any other game I can think of.
It's funny that you mention the 'Judy-nee'. There was a scene after Judith left where Patty was sad that she left, and I was wondering what their relationship was. It felt a bit out of place to have her worry like that. I also agree that having Don say "comrades" instead of "friends" would make more sense for the character. While I (as non-native speaker) don't think the original translation of Vesperia was that bad, a few of the new skits have some really awkward lines that I have to wonder how rushed the translation was.
I'm also noticing some lazy stuff elsewhere. The arena announcer introduces the fighter with "<equipped title> <name>", but some of the DLC costume titles are named after the costumes, so you've got stuff like "Light Fedrock Uniform, Yuuuri Lowell!". They also decided it'd be a good idea to give all of the costumes in the game as separate DLC (that means all the stuff you'd normally get as quest rewards), without mentioning that they are in the game regardless. So you probably have some people wondering why some of the quests give out no meaningful rewards.
Is there a particular reason you are moving? I personally hate all the hassle that comes with moving. Even though I don't really like my current apartment (I miss the sauna in our previous one), I don't think moving to a better one is worth the hassle. I don't have a lot of requirements for an apartment but separate rooms for two people and a sauna proved to be too much to ask for anything below 700€/month, so we had to drop one. And even then we spend a couple of weeks looking and managed to snatch this one just a couple of hours after it had gone up.
The thing with Physics and Math is that Math, to me at least, is pretty straightforward, and with little basic knowledge I can understand anything if I think about it for long enough. Physics is mostly just remembering a lot of things, so even if I know HOW something is supposed to be done and calculated, I can't remember which formulas I need to apply. I guess remembering it just comes down to the fact that Physics has a lot of "fluff", with all the real world connections and applications, while Math is like a pure, simple language of logic which I find more appealing.
As a side note, I've also been playing a lot of Nier: Automata last week (I managed to get a lot of game time in for last week, and now I've got a ton of school work piling up). Haven't finished it yet, but it's currently sitting in the top 3 games I've played in the last few years (with BotW and Persona 5). I might write a post praising Yoko Taro and Platinum Games once I finish it.
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Jan 14, 2019 19:34:50 GMT -5
Well, after watching all of Horchata’s films through a second time, one-per-day, I’m surprised at how solidly my thoughts have materialised. Turns out, it’s actually pretty easy to rank them, so without further ado, here is a f*ck-huge breakdown of all of Horchata’s films that nobody asked for. Note that there are minor spoilers, but nothing major or specific.
#4: Summer Wars
The interesting thing about Summer Wars is how clearly it displays of all of Horchata’s flaws. From glossed-over characterisation, to needless integration of the fantastical, to a lack of fine-details, all of his excesses are given free-reign. It’s a testament to his thematic intent and fun characters that the film manages to remain decent in-spite of this.
You can tell the characterisation is going to be rough within the first few minutes of Summer Wars. Why does this attractive girl go to these two dweebs requesting their assistance for a job? Eventually revealed that they’re all in the same physics club, yet her demeanour does nothing to imply this (she doesn’t even refer to them by name!). As the heroine of the film, her behaviour rarely evolves beyond this baffling, ill-explained emotional distance. It’s so bad that even her climactic moment feels more like a matter of obligation (because she’s the heroine!) than the natural result of her choices as a character.
All-in-all, the main characters in Summer Wars feel weak. Fortunately, the theme of the movie is family, and Horchata does an excellent job at capturing the spirit of a family reunion. Each family member has a distinct design and character, and if they aren’t all multi-dimensional, that’s fine for a film. Horchata’s strength lies in finding the warm moments of his frequently family-oriented themes, and it’s this strength that ultimately saves the movie.
Unfortunately, if the family bond is the movie’s strength, the fantastical Oz is the constant barrier to it. As the film’s virtual second world, its role should be to serve as a mirror to reality’s conflicts. Instead, the way it’s woven into the movie often feels like they’re two separate places, running two separate story-lines with two separate sets of rules and conflicts. Where the family parts feel great and relatable, the Oz sections feel like a mediocre isekai.
That the film insists they are the same further worsens the issue. To borrow one example, early in the film the Grandmother draws on a bunch of favours from old friends in an attempt to quell the chaos that this malevolent AI enacts on the real-world. The idea is that everyone has a role that they can fulfil. The problem is, in the real-world this manifests in the form of doctors and traffic-control experts and so-on all working together. Later, when the men decide to fight the AI, they all contribute parts to a super-computer by using their unique contacts. It seems similar on the surface, but when the actual fight begins, it’s just one person actually doing the fighting while everyone else stands around like a bunch of knobs. This problem is then repeated several times over in the climactic battles, under-cutting the idea that everyone has a part to play.
But okay, if that super-computer part has you scratching your head, then let’s get into the last of Horchata’s problems: lack of attention to detail. They say ‘the devil is in the details’, and there’s a surprising amount of truth to that. Part of what makes Miyazaki and Shinkai so effective are their meticulous attention to the details of their world. Through small nuance they breathe life and believability into every single scene and moment. By contrast, Horchata is what I’d describe as a ‘big-picture’ type of director. He’s more interested in the emotional overture than he is finer points of logic, and to varying degrees it’s why his movies will never be as powerful as those of his contemporaries.
Again, Summer Wars is the easiest film to level this critique at. The digital world of Oz just does not make any kind of sense. It’s supposedly accessible by any device with internet, from PCs to cell-phones. Yet, the Oz we are shown and the Oz on people’s screens are two obviously different things. Ordinarily that alone would be enough to distract you throughout the entire movie, but it gets worse when the two worlds are forced to interact. Remember the super-computer? Everyone’s big moment is helping contribute parts to this machine, which will power-up the kid (who is, of course, the bestest Oz player in the world). Problem is, that doesn’t make any kind of sense. I could take the best Counter-Strike player, give them the best computer, and then watch them get slaughtered by an extremely basic aim-bot script. It undercuts your point that everyone has a role to play when you have to literally make-up roles because your fantasy world doesn’t actually have a role for everyone to play.
That might leave you thinking that Summer Wars is a terrible movie. If somebody really broke it down that way, I’d be hard-pressed to disagree. However, personally, I think there’s enough solid stuff with the family side of the film that it’s worth watching in-spite of everything. It’s a film of two-worlds, and even if the better world isn’t as good as it could have been, it’s still worth checking out, albeit certainly not as your first Horchata film (I recommend making it #2).
#3: Wolf Children
Deciding between Wolf Children and The Boy and the Beast for second and third feels like a choice between intent and execution. I think that Wolf Children’s intent – the struggles of a single mother in raising two children – is far more commendable, challenging, and praiseworthy than The Boy and the Beast’s more straight-forward subject matter. However, the rough execution of this complex theme results in something overall less enjoyable than The Boy and the Beast’s solid execution of a simple theme.
Characterisation is a bit different this time around, where rather than the characters themselves being the problem, it’s the lack of conflict thrown at them. This comprises the movie’s single biggest flaw, because it limits the extent to which the characters can grow. The satisfaction of overcoming a trial is directly proportional to the difficulty of that trial. To that end, Wolf Children does itself a disservice by frequently giving its characters easy-outs to complicated situations.
Before I get into examples, I want to bring up the inclusion of fantastical elements. I would think that the point of having the children be half-wolf, half-human, would be to heighten – and thereby highlight – the challenges associated with raising children as a single parent. Often-times the film comes very close to doing this. Early in the film the young girl swallows a silicone-gel packet, prompting the mother to rush her to a doctor. Yet, as she stands between the vet and the doctor, we really get a sense of just how challenging her job is. Does she take her to the doctor and risk them discovering her children’s wolf side? Does she trust the vet’s knowledge to treat a human (nevermind what they might think!). While not a literal scenario, it does a great job of capturing the frantic desperation of trying to do best by your children.
So how does this great scene get resolved? She calls the doctor, is told that it’s no big deal, and the girl demands to be fed. Yeah, I’m not going to even comment on how much that dropped the ball.
It’s this cycle of good ideas that get mishandled that lead to one of the most confusing climaxes I’ve seen. Once again, the idea is fundamentally fine: both children are growing up, and the single mother needs to accept that they’re able to stand on their own. While not particularly engaging, her pursuit of the son during a storm mirrors this competently enough. The problem is, this movie has been about the trio, so to have the daughter undergoing a separate coming-of-age conflict unrelated to the mother feels disingenuous to the theme of the movie. Again, it’s the kind of detail that weakens the core rather than strengthening it (as well as the fact that the mother’s fatigue and age never reflect in her character – seriously, she looks the same at 30 as she does as a 19-year old, care-free college student).
For all these critical points, Wolf Children singular emphasis on its characters places it well-above Summer Wars’ dual-world split. If it’s not the best representation of the trials of motherhood, it at least doesn’t undercut itself by badly contrasting real-world values with a generic fantasy world replete with boring AI villain. It’s rare for anime to take a more level-headed approach to this type of topic, and it shows that sometimes trying for something genuine will generate enough favour to overlook certain structural flaws.
#2: The Boy and the Beast
This one is a bit surprising, because it feels like the most ‘shounen’ of these four films. It’s definitely the most simplistic with its ‘boy is raised by gruff martial-arts master, both boy and gruff martial-arts master grow from the experience’ story. Yet, if Horchata is someone who struggles with the finer details, then a straight-forward premise allows him to focus on the emotion and characters.
As such, the characters are mostly solid, although the heroine could’ve used a bit more development. It’s a nit-pick, but I would’ve liked to have seen some of her conflict rather than simply be told about it. Fortunately I’m willing to give it a pass. Where this felt like a major problem in Summer Wars, here the story is really about Ren and Kumatetsu (the titular Boy and Beast). To that end, both of these characters were very well done, and their relationship is probably Horchata’s best yet.
Another plus is that the fantastical elements actually make sense this time. While I think that Wolf Children’s efforts are more admirable for their attempts to stay down-to-earth, The Boy and the Beast not only contextualises its fights well, but makes certain that they all serve as an extension of the characters. As a result, they elevate the story in a way that Wolf Children’s unwillingness to face difficult conflicts could not. (Furthermore there might be the most furry characters of any of Horchata’s films, but their presence feels more natural. I never want another wolf + girl implied sex scene in my f*cking life.)
That’s not to say The Boy and the Best doesn’t back away from some complicated issues of its own. Ren’s struggles to reconcile Kumatetsu – the master who raised him – with his blood-father – the man who divorced his mother, but genuinely wants to reconnect with his son – is actually very well done. The film’s clean conclusion to the dilemma feels a touch disingenuous. It’s logical within the story and it makes for a happy ending, so while I don’t hate it, I still feel like it misses an opportunity to go deeper.
The Boy and the Beast feels like the least ambitious of Horchata’s films, and I can definitely see how that might be used against it. I might not even disagree: as I said, I feel the question is more of intention versus execution. For me, the simplicity allows for a solid execution that lands the film firmly as my second favourite.
#1 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Duh.
Time-travel is one of those plot devices that I fear. Much like making a wish, the instant impulse is to begin trying to loop-hole the system. It’s the kind of theoretical scenario that invites nit-picking the dozens of inevitable plot-holes. Thus, had I not seen the film, I would have advised against Horchata tackling such a complicated topic. Yet, almost bizarrely, his big-picture approach is part of what makes it work.
The other part comes in the form of the protagonist. Makoto is a head-strong girl who prefers to act before she thinks. She’s impulsive, but not stupid: this distinction is what makes her likable rather than irritating. Thus when she gains the ability to time-travel, it allows for the ‘don’t think too hard on it’ mentality that makes this type of story work. In fact, multiple characters comment that they’re glad such an impulsive, but good-spirited person gained the ability. Her frivolity is far less damaging than the potential harm of a malicious over-thinker.
This also allows the plot to remain fairly grounded. Going back to previous eras never seems to cross Makoto’s mind, and as such it’s natural to the viewer to never question it. It’s a ‘what-if’ scenario that allows her to play around, but also explore the consequences in relatable ways. In this sense, it’s not only the best integration of the fantastical, but it also justifies the lack of ‘butterfly-effect’ scenarios one might expect. If the film doesn’t delve into any of the serious ramifications of time-travel, then at least the current impossibility of the act means that it isn’t undercutting real-world scenarios either. In other words, goofy time-travel shenanigans is easier to roll with than Wolf Children’s idealised motherhood or Summer Wars’ goofy video games.
In fact, the ratio of silly-to-serious moments not only fits Makoto’s character, but also Horchata’s strengths. Horchata may not be a Shinkai or a Miyazaki, but The Girl Who Leapt Through Time shows that he can still produce a story with something to genuine say (without the need of a ‘villain’), even if that genuine thing is a simple as “time waits for no-one”.
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So yeah, those are my thoughts on Horchata’s films. Saying much more would be redundant, other than that I’m looking forward to his next one, which should hopefully be dropping in certain parts of the internet next month.
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Jan 19, 2019 14:27:02 GMT -5
Addendum to the previous post:
And that effing cloud, which will always show up in the final scenes of his movie, which is so important that it's even in the background of the poster for Mirai.
F*ck that cloud.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Jan 19, 2019 15:31:08 GMT -5
The new voice acting is driving me crazy though. I'm playing it with english voices, and the difference between the original recodings and new ones is like night and day. First of all, they are not even the same volume, so I have to turn the game up to hear them properly. The voice actors sound a lot different due to different recording set/whatever, and they don't talk the same way as the characters used to, so they feel like completely different characters (except Rita, her VA did pretty good job). Yuri is the worst, since the VA changed. Makes me want to switch to Japanese... Oof. Not even the same volume? That's kind of sloppy... I haven't heard the voices, so not sure just how jarring it is, but some of the changes in the Symphonia voices in DotNW really threw me for a loop. Lloyd in particular sounds nothing like in ToS, and felt like a different character altogether, really. I can't imagine how it would feel heairng the same game switch between voices... I don't normally bother with Japanese voices, but I think I would have preferred to have played that game in Japanese, because for whatever reason, it's just less jarring to hear totally different voices in totally different languages, than to have totally different voices in the same language. That's good... perhaps appearances are deceiving ; ) Meh, there are a couple reasons. Probably the biggest one is that the area I live in is also super dead. I moved from a really touristy area, so the quiet was initially nice, but... realistically, the activity here is limited to 9-10 and 5-6, when people are commuting for work. It's a bit depressing. I want to live in an area that has a lot of activity of regular people living their lives, not bursts of same-looking people going to work or endless throngs of bumbling tourists from the Midwest. I also work in the area, so while the commute can't be beat (5 min walk!), it means I operate in the same mile radius most of the time. Having a division between work and home is nice. Also, the rent has gone up since I first moved in. The original rent was up against the end of a comfortable range to begin with, so... My apartment has been trying to convert itself into a luxury apartment building, with the extra $$$ to pay for the associated amenities. I don't care about or use said amenities, and I definitely don't want to pay the associated cost with them. Hm, I would have thought the real-world application would make it a bit easier? But I suppose the level of memorization might make it tricky.. I started up on Game of Thrones again today after months of not watching anything. Of course, today I am also due to hang out with some friends today in the first time in a while, so I'm all salty about having to go and be social instead of continuing to binge in solitude. What monsters. One day I'll watch the Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Although I've been saying this since it was released, so.
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Jan 24, 2019 21:30:03 GMT -5
Is there a sh*ttier feeling than thinking payday is today, only to find out you're a week off?
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Jan 25, 2019 16:50:15 GMT -5
So I guess Nintendo restarted development on Metroid Prime 4 so that Retro could be involved. I guess that's neat? It depends on how badly things were going (which I doubt we'll ever know), but if a breath of fresh air is what made Prime 1 so good, it seems a bit odd to keep it so... traditional. Then again, Prime 3 was a dumpster fire IMO, so maybe
1) not all change is good change. 2) Retro might not be the best choice. 3) they'll consider going back to basics.
We shall see.
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