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Isao Takahata: Endless Memories

What a disappointing, average final section for this otherwise excellent run of articles.

I watched Yamadas last night and I admit my remembered criticism of it being unrelatable to a non-Japanese audience is definitely wrong. It's better than I remember but I'm not sure I'd go as far as EricJ and say "you could show this to an anime newbie as first exposure and hook them." In essence its relatable but it's still a little foreign... noodles for a snack... daily shopping... a night-time bath to rejuvenate a person "the perfect breakfast"...the shame of accidentally wearing shoes in the house... The nature of Japanese gangs... Tiny tiny things that we as anime fans are used to and forget that others will see as a little odd.

On repeat viewing though, I do see it's charms better but I think its biggest fault is simply one of length. The English dub reinforced its similarity to Charlie Brown Cartoons, simple little vignettes, but stretched out to nearly 2 hours with little connectivity. And yes, Charlie Brown has had "movies" but they are not really masterpieces and are connected by a theme. But Yamadas is like a sweet little short anime... marathoned.

The author, Akiyuki Nosaka, lived through these events himself, however, Isao Takahata did too. Takahata had to run, barefoot, away from the fire bombings while carrying his little sister - meaning this movie is not just about Nosaka, this movie is about Takahata himself, done with the true-to-life detail that only someone who lived through the events of the film could capture like this. How often does a director direct events of a war movie that they themselves experienced?

I might come short of calling it "tragedy-porn" though. Such a description connotes a lack of a point. There is a point to watching the suffering, in watching their deaths. It's a point of "you can't look away- you shouldn't look away. This happened." The point is to force empathy more than reveling in sadness.
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The author, Akiyuki Nosaka, lived through these events himself, however, Isao Takahata did too. Takahata had to run, barefoot, away from the fire bombings while carrying his little sister - meaning this movie is not just about Nosaka, this movie is about Takahata himself, done with the true-to-life detail that only someone who lived through the events of the film could capture like this. How often does a director direct events of a war movie that they themselves experienced?

Wait, what?! Seriously?! And we only found this out JUST NOW?! How did we not know this?! This adds so much more weight to Grave of the Fireflies!

uguu wrote:

The Chie the Brat coverage follows the age-old anime critic tradition of vaguely dismissing something old and underrated as 'not engaging' with only microscopic reasoning

Ahem, I said Chie was 'vastly interesting', albeit 'not massively funny or solidly engaging.'

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Covering the history then ending it in a meaningless dismissal of its merits as a stand-alone work.

Right, you've got my dander up now! I spend, at most, four paragraphs on the anime's history... out of twelve paragraphs discussing the film.

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Or you know... the countless Japanese anime and manga from the same time (Joe season 2 aired in the 80s) that focuses on the exact same thing, from Ashita no Joe to Notari Matsutaro.

Fair point.

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The author's only reason for saying the film is unengaging and unfunny...

Please stop taking my words out of context, there's a good chap.

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it would've been interesting to note Gauche was key-animated by one person.

Agreed, which is why I did indeed note it in my review.