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Garden of Words
This was my second time watching the Garden of Words, and the first time watching it dubbed. I felt like I enjoyed it more in Japanese, because the overall portrayal of the characters through the acting felt more nuanced and relatable- here I found the characters to be too stoic and robotic. It was mostly enjoyable to me for its visuals and calm slow pace- which is a key component of many more serious/emotional slice of life style anime stories. However, I honestly find the emotional core of the film to be quite empty and not as impactful to me as Shinkai may have intended. The way the two main characters interacted felt unrealistic and awkwardly romanticized to me, where they have very little chemistry. For instance, the moments where they are clearly enjoying each others company have no dialogue, and instead music is played over it. While that can be impactful in some cases, I found it to be shallow because there was barely an established camaraderie between them in the first place...
Akira and Cyberpunk
Watching Akira in class was such a blast- the film is so exciting and fast paced, I really wish we were able to screen the whole thing! Akira is so important to the history of anime for being the most expensive animated film at the time (1989), and for being a landmark of animation as an art form. I always found the cyberpunk aesthetic of Akira to be incredibly inspiring, with its bold colors, detailed environments, and badass bike-chases- it does a lot to make itself memorable after all this time. The themes of Akira eerily still hold up to this day- specifically those about the consequences of war, and the threat of nuclear destruction. These themes are very prevalent in most cyberpunk works- especially those that come out of Japan. Another cyberpunk anime that I've always enjoyed is Ghost in the Shell, specifically the 1995 film directed by Mamoru Oshii. It handles similar themes of war, but with the added complication of the blurred relationship between humans and androids. ...
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