Studio Ghibli has produced some amazing animations in its history, and it looks like When Marnie Was There is yet another in a long line of triumphs. The box office results in Japan were poor for this one, but the critical reaction was positive to the point of acclaim, and this is another beautiful feature length production in the Miyazaki style. It will be premiering in New York and Los Angeles on May 22nd, and go into wider (but still limited) release after that. If you are lucky enough to be in a town where you can catch it on the big screen, you should try to do so.
A young French film student by the name of Gwenn Germain has put together an amazing tribute to Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli films, and it is world class. Watch, and go Ooh and Aah, and let me know what you think!
In Movies this week we get The Man with the Iron Fists 2, which is a kung-fu epic fantasy that takes place in a 19th century Chinese village. The villagers and mine workers are the oppressed, while the mine owners and their enforcers are the evil overlords. The stranger in town teaches the villagers how to protect themselves and fight back. We also get the animated Batman vs. Robin, the latest entry in the DC Universe Animated Movies catalog. I didn’t find any North American genre TV shows this time around.
In Anime a single title of note: The Pet Girl of Sakurasou puts all 24 episodes in a single box set. Banished from regular housing for adopting stray cats, Kanda finds himself in Sakura Hall, along with every other weirdo and genus from the campus. There he is assigned to keeping a completely dysfunctional but acclaimed artist from forgetting to eat, clothe, or groom herself, on the assumption that he is used to taking care of the easily confused and distracted animals he has taken in. The fun in this series is in the various characters, who include a manga artist, an animator, a script writer, and a voice actress, otaku all.
A Crow Is White just released their third mini-album in January, called Himitsu, and the first video here is the title track. The next one is their 2013 song Sunny Side Up, and the third one is Hi-speed Muteppou. They are an Art-Rock band from Japan, and they have put together quite a number of quality songs, of which these are only a few.
It is finally time for the release of Home, the animated adventure about cute aliens trying to find a world of their own… without much luck. The unluckiest is Oh, who may have accidentally destroyed their original homeworld, and a number of the other ones they were hoping to take over. Now he is on the run from them, and they might destroy the Earth to be rid of him once and for all. Based on the book The True Meaning of Smekday, this one looks like silly fun.
I suspect Hotel Transylvania II will be cute, silly fun. In fact this trailer seems to guarantee it. Possibly even a little too cute, but I am willing to risk that.