Oh, and a great review. Especially considering I saw GOTS: Innocence for the first time only yesterday.

I would compare Oshii to Miyazaki like comparing perhaps Hans Zimmer to Trevor Jones, or something like that. Hard to describe really.

I've gone into it as open minded as possible & so far it's been a mixed bag. Some rubbish, some too weird for its own good & buried under too much forced abstract metaphysical jibberish, but also some really great, really imaginative stories. As a writer of sci-fi, whose stuff is so out there it would never be made as a film, I wish I'd gained an appreciation for a long time ago. As it is, I'm still learning/getting used to the conventions of it & I'm by no means an aficionado, but it's at least reached a point where I can judge it in the same way I would any movie.

I wrote a mini-review in The Zone that I might as well repost here, just in case someone else here who hasn't heard of it is inspired to check it out. (Oh and sorry for hijacking the talkback, Scott!)

I've been watching one of Miyazaki's first projects, Future Boy Conan, after Scott Green name-dropped it in his column the other day. It's at least in my top 3 favourite things he's done, simply because of the sheer quantity of Miyazaki goodness: 26 half hour episodes.

This was written a little before Miyazaki started work on the Nausicaa movie and manga series of the same name (also in my Miyazaki top 3), so he's in his eco-friendly mode where it seems that the world is a character in itself. Technically it's an adaptation of a book written by the guy who wrote Escape to Witch Mountain, but from what I hear Miyazaki just used it as a launching pad to do his own thang. It's set in around 2008- which is to say 30 years in the "future" from when it first came out. The world got kinda fucked up. The blurb at the beginning of each episode reads something like: "A devastating war fought between two major nations with ultramagnetic weapons far greater than anything seen earlier brings about total chaos and destruction throughout the world, resulting in several earthquakes and tidal waves, the earth thrown off its axis, its crust being rocked by massive movements, and the five continents being torn completely apart and sinking deep below the sea."

It's pretty crazy to think that this is what kids were given for entertainment back in the late '70s. There's no pandering at all, a fair bit of swearing, and the main character, who must be about 10 or 11, gets beaten to a pulp at least five times throughout the series. But Miyazaki and crew inject so much life into these characters... Even the comic relief- a dopey sea-captain named Dyce and Conan's best friend, Jimsy, who kind of reminds me of a young Pigsy (from Monkey)- are written with empathy. Conan and the girl who washes up on his island, Lana, almost form a psychic connection as the series goes on. It's touching, eh?

I'm pretty sure Miyazaki cannibalized this work for a few ideas in his later movies. It most reminds me of Castle in the Sky. In fact, the two main characters in that one seem VERY similar to Lana and Conan. Except they didn't have 26 episodes in order to get fleshed out.

There's a bit of repetition, some there and back agains, and I guess some people might find the eco message a little preachy, as do a few detractors of Nausicaa... Also, the animation is a tiny bit more primitive than some of his later works (though he'll still drop the occasional backdrop that'll knock you out). However, Miyazaki's one of the masters of his medium and I don't see how any fan could pass up on the opportunity of seeing more of his work.

I too recommend Baccano! It's a hoot.

I mean seriously, Voices Of A Distant Star but no Grave Of The Fireflies... Porco Rosso over Princess Mononoke... c'mmooonnnn...

I watched 2 movies last night by the way, both about as different from each other as they could be. They're both pretty famous (in as much as I'd heard of them before), & I thought it would be a good idea to start with well known stuff, when possible.:

1: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. This was awesome! I'm not surprised I've heard of it. It was a bit dated, but to be fair, I don't think I could even count how many movies must have ripped it off!

2: Howl's moving Castle: Again, pretty impressive! Really fun & full of imagination. I suppose the best way to describe it would be "Truly Cinematic". The only drawback was that I spent the whole time imagining what it would look like as a live action movie, which maybe goes against my Anime education thing. I should probably be looking at it as only an Anime & accepting it that way. I loved it though!