More on Miyazaki Saga

Son of anime master enters family trade
He may have a hit, but he's known as the other Miyazaki - Charles Solomon, New York Times
Sunday, October 22, 2006


(10-22) 04:00 PDT Koganei , Japan -- For Goro Miyazaki, the summer ended on a bittersweet note. This 39-year-old filmmaker had the pleasure of seeing his first movie, the animated feature "Gedo Senki," or "Tales From Earthsea," blossom into the biggest hit of the summer in Japan, as it rose to the top spot and took in more than 7.3 billion yen, about $61.4 million, by the end of September.

But even his success brought inevitable reminders that he is, after all, the other Miyazaki. His Oscar-winning father, Hayao, regarded by many critics as the greatest director working in animation today, has earned much more with his own hits. Ursula K. Le Guin, author of the popular "Earthsea" novels, on which the new film was based, went out of her way to make the distinction on her Web site, calling the father "a genius of the same caliber as Kurosawa or Fellini." She went on to complain about the liberties Goro and his new film took with her work.

More on this.

Now I am still looking to watch the movie but looks like strained ego between father and son has taken into new heights. Why the author made such comparision is beyond me, but I do felt it flame more rivalry juice between them. The anime scene will be graced with the saga of Miyazaki family dispute. I would like to think that both will race with each other producing awesome anime movies that excite the world around us.

Ghost in the Shell cloaking now almost a reality

Microwave Cloaking is Now a Reality

Scientists have made a breakthrough towards creating an invisibility device, as they succeeded easier than was thought possible to construct a microwave cloaking device. The device works only in two dimensions and only on microwaves. This first device is far from perfect in that it is barely 8-cm wide and can only reduce back scatter and forward scatter, the researchers said.

Full article.

Wow! This is so cool. But I wondered what ethical abuses this technology might have since the civilian application of it so limited. I am sure this is Peeping Tom's ultimate tool, or state security most prized tool. As shown in Ghost in the Shell, how it affect tactics can be decisive.

A BBC news on this.

Miyazaki saga.

Senior Miyazaki, perhaps looking at the success of his son's work, "Gedo Senki/Tales of Earthsea" decided to make a return to animation world.

Now this is stuff which dramas made of. I wondered what motivates him to challenge his son in this arena that he proclaimed that he is retired? His psychological based on this would suggest a very competitive streak and perhaps a nod to his son's "mastery" by deciding to make a comeback to the arena.

His new movie is scheduled for 2008 screening, what story or title is secret. However according to some rumors, an old cafe in Kobe and views of it from mountain are scouted for research purposes. Also he adopted rather unsual production methods to make this new movie too. I wondered if he already prepared all of this before this is make known to public of his return.

This sounds like Shakespearan drama indeed.

More news on this rather interesting ongoing rivalry. As this news suggested, it has gained worldwide note too.

Lament of the Lamb/Hsuji no Ota Live Action Movie?

TOKYOPOP Set to Produce First Live-Action Feature Film 'Lament of the Lamb'

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Fresh on the heels of acquiring worldwide film rights to its hit manga series, Lament of the Lamb, a gut-wrenching horror story of a young man who shockingly discovers he may be the last in a bloodline of vampires, TOKYOPOP has chosen the property to launch the company's first foray into independent film production. Currently in development, the Lament of the Lamb film venture has landed a coveted "In The Spotlight" position at this year's 19th Annual Tokyo International Film Festival. Ranked as one of the world's largest film festivals and Japan's only officially approved international film gathering, the 2006 Tokyo International Film Festival will be held in Tokyo from October 21 through October 29, 2006.

Full article is here.



I kinda liked the manga, but the short, incomplete OVA did no justice to it. However the original content has a lot of incestrous tendencies so I was wondering how it gonna be reproduced while addressing this part of the story. The relationship is very significant part of the story thus this news made me decidedly uneasy since there is too many potentials of being emasculated of its potency.

It remains to be seen if this colloboration can work.

Manga on classical music

A manga uniquely created with the help of Japanese classical musicians may strike a chord with manga readers, reports KUMI MATSUMARU.


TODAY, the topics and themes taken up by manga are becoming more varied. They range from love, student life and sports – long-popular manga themes – to medicine, cooking and the legal profession. But music, and classical music in particular, has been less often depicted in comics, partly because musical themes were considered too difficult to express in a medium without sound.

Full article is here.

Now I really intrested on how this manga going to tell the story about music without music accompany it. The story is somewhat similar to Hikari no Go, another work that is produced with assistance of professional go players in order to make it more authentic. Hikaru no Go single handedly made Go a hip amongst Japanese youngsters when it became popular so I do wonder if this work will do the same thing.

Another top 10 animes voted by Japanese

Heh, looks like it in thing in Japan to vote for top 10 animes. This list, published by Asahi TV, shown here in original link.

The translation of top 10 is:

TV Asahi's list from the online poll is as follows:

1 Fullmetal Alchemist (TV)
2 Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV)
3 Pani Poni Dash! (TV)
4 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TV)
5 Negima! (TV)
6 Gundam (TV)
7 Bleach (TV)
8 Prince of Tennis (TV)
9 Rozen Maiden (TV)
10 Strawberry Marshmallow (TV)

Now the thing is, this list is pretty much captures what is "in" thing in Japan right now. As you can see, I am not exactly too impressed by the list, it is more like populist voting here. Animes like Negima and Pani Poni Dash is horrendous to be here in first place. Strawberry Marshmallow drove me up to the wall with lack of plot. The Prince of Tennis is a mind numbing experience.



Here's Haruhi for you, saying "Not good enough!"