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Interview: Satoshi Kon


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Odekerk



Joined: 11 Jun 2006
Posts: 25
PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:14 pm Reply with quote
He seems like a very pleasant and well mannered man.

I loved Paprika and Magnetic Rose, but unfortunately haven't seen any of his other work.
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Alestal



Joined: 22 Apr 2005
Posts: 605
Location: Dallas, Texas
PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:38 pm Reply with quote
Odekerk wrote:
He seems like a very pleasant and well mannered man.

I loved Paprika and Magnetic Rose, but unfortunately haven't seen any of his other work.
Go see Millenium Actress, or buy it, only $8.99 at Fry's Electronics.

Great interview, I like hearing about Satoshi Kon this way, rather then watching him in dvd extras. (He can sometimes take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to say something)
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Josh7289



Joined: 27 Aug 2005
Posts: 1252
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:01 am Reply with quote
Haha, I like the way he talks; he's a very interesting man.

...Hm, anyway...I think I'm going to pick up Paprika on Blu-ray sooner or later... I'm finding myself to be more and more a fan of his works.
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zanarkand princess



Joined: 27 Oct 2007
Posts: 1484
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:06 am Reply with quote
I have become a big fan of his so this is great. Sounds like his new project will be the anime equivalent of Wall-E.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:28 am Reply with quote
Quote:
I was also doing editing for the magazine, so I helped him with some of his work as well.


I wonder if he did some of the Western characters near the second half of the book.

Quote:
There's some rumors that the Go Fish division of Dreamworks, which doesn't exist anymore, wanted to recut it for American audiences so the story would be in chronological order.


Sounds like bull. Although they did "cut" certain scenes they used in Memoirs of a Geisha... Rolling Eyes BTW, I hear he hates that company, so it might not have been a good idea to ask him. Wink

Quote:
Still, I didn't know anything about what the release [in the US] would look like. I knew that Dreamworks would be releasing it here, but after that, I was never told how they would release it and promote it.


Neither did the rest of us. Laughing

Quote:
The DVD jacket illustration was changed by the Dreamworks management, and honestly, I think that it doesn't really match the story of the film. It sabotages the culture of the film, I think. To put it bluntly... "what the hell?"


At least you didn't get the Innocence jacket, dude.

Quote:
So you've gone against the types of women that have been very popular in anime recently - "moe" type of girls.


And we love you for it.

Quote:
There will be no human characters in the film; only robots. It'll be like a "road movie" for robots. Unfortunately, we ran out of time at this point;


Damn. Wish you'd have been able to bring up Wall-E or Robots.
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ShadowTrader



Joined: 29 Jan 2008
Posts: 231
Location: NJ
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:32 am Reply with quote
Quote:
The image of women that appears in Japanese animation, on the whole, is something that should be approached as a pre-existing stereotype. Women like the ones in anime don't really exist in reality. I don't appeal to realism as if my life depended on it, but with visuals, characters and the story, there's a reality amongst all that.


He poses a very interesting topic here, at least for me. It seems that he is saying the animation industry, particularly the companies involved in serialized shows rather than movies, portray unrealistic heroines which become the stereotypical anime "girls" but do not represent reality thus alienating mainstream society. It could be just my misinterpretation, but I happen to agree with that completely. I strongly believe that the "moe" movement has degenerated the anime industry into a completely unrealistic, self gratifying, and idealistic feast that portrays women in a negative and stereotypical light.
Only after seeing his Millenium Actress did this striking difference permeate my mind, and I realized the real value of a strong female heroine. A great interview with a great director, good job ANN, and I look forward to his next movies.
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DKL



Joined: 08 May 2005
Posts: 1933
Location: California, USA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:34 am Reply with quote
You know, there's a sequence in Paranoia Agent (the Double Lips episode) where Kon manages to somehow do a ridiculous amount of otaku-culture ballbreaking with just that one brief sequence.

The part where:

spoiler[That fat otaku dude is having sex with that prostitute dual-personality lady and, after climaxing, he immediately turns over to his anime toys and tells them what a good job they did, as if he was having sex with these anime characters. ]

All things considering, it was more offensive than anything that came out of Welcome to the NHK! or whatever.

I LOLed.
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lord_darkseid



Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 57
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:40 am Reply with quote
This new project sounds like it will be an interesting one for sure.

I still need to see Magnetic Rose. I bought Memories once but have no idea what happened to it.

Good point asking him about the question about non-moe women. That part may be why I like his films. Kinda reminds me of a friend's recent response to The Girl of Twenty Faces; 'I like this show. The girl keeps her clothes on."

To people working through his filmography, I consider Millennium Actress the finest animated film ever created. The story, imagery and musc all just clicked for me perfectly on first and repeated viewings. Previously I reserved that title for Wings of Honneamise, but I digress. MA is my favorite film by him followed by Tokyo Godfathers. (The drag queen is a total scene stealer IMHO). Perfect Blue and Paprika were also very entertaining but a step below. Kon is one of the 5 directors whose work I'd buy unseen. (Dezaki, Kawajiri, Takahata and Miyazaki also rank highly here).

Justin, have to say I'm hero hating on you here. Very cool to see you get this on in the bag. Kudos to you and Evan on this score. Keep it up.

*raises beer*
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Dargonxtc



Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 4463
Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:45 am Reply with quote
Quote:
and I have to admit that as I watched it, I noticed many things here and there that weren't done quite right - I felt a little embarrassed actually. Still, although Perfect Blue was my first film and many things didn't look right, there are many elements from the film that connect to my later works.


Please don't be embarrassed. You got Perfect Blue right. I love that movie. I love all your other movies too, but that one still is at the top of my list.

And I can't wait till you make another "that kind" of film. Wink
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inu-liger



Joined: 25 Jul 2005
Posts: 67
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:50 am Reply with quote
Josh7289 wrote:
I think I'm going to pick up Paprika on Blu-ray sooner or later... I'm finding myself to be more and more a fan of his works.


You should!

I've actually purchased both the French and US Blu-ray discs.
I must have watched this movie 2, 3 times or so! I love it Smile
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:53 am Reply with quote
Quote:
I don't appeal to realism as if my life depended on it, but with visuals, characters and the story, there's a reality amongst all that. The characters that appear in that reality - anime fans, stories, male characters - it's not like I present those in a purely realistic way either.

That's one of the main reasons I prefer animation over live action. Since I'm not looking at real human actors or environments on screen I can suspend my disbelief almost without limit, but if the characterisations fit into their sub-real world I can still react to their actions and feelings wholeheartedly.
Millenium Actress is currently very cheap on Amazon. I'm thinking of giving it a shot.
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rti9



Joined: 08 Jul 2007
Posts: 1241
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:41 am Reply with quote
千年女優 from Amazon.jp:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51259YCPH8L._SS500_.jpg

Millennium Actress from Amazon.com:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51P8ACH0T0L._SS500_.jpg

Tokyo Godfathers was really surprising by having three homeless as protagonists, but Paranoia Agent stands as probably the most impressive criticism towards Japanese society I have ever seen. Probably only the great Nobody Knows gets really close.
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Alien1375



Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 45
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:38 am Reply with quote
Funny… The guy is mentioning that women are stereotyped in animé (true in most cases btw), but he’s stereotyping gay people in Tokyo Godfathers himself.
That attrousious crossdressing Dramaqueen really ruins the movie imo. Add to that the spoiled brat that spoiler[stabs her father because lil’ Fluffy ran away (seriously, trying to kill your father because the cat ran away?!?! That girl deserves to be behind bars, or better yet: the looney bin)] and a little too many lucky encounters in the megacity of Tokyo (Hey! You’re here too? What a coincidence!) and you got a movie that I was really struggling to like….
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Rolando_jose



Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 240
Location: Ahhhh it's vacation time again!
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:36 am Reply with quote
Alien1375 wrote:
and a little too many lucky encounters in the megacity of Tokyo (Hey! You’re here too? What a coincidence!) and you got a movie that I was really struggling to like….


If you see it as what it is, a christmas story, you will see that all this coincidences are related to the "season spirit" and the "Holiness of the time" Just look at "Its a wonderful life" or any "Scrudge" movie and you see what I mean.


Rolando
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:38 pm Reply with quote
I'm surprised Justin didn't ask any questions about Paranoia Agent. I'm still looking for a Maromi plush.

I'm looking forward to this new work of Kon.
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