Code Geass: Dead or Alive?

Okay, so I've just rewatched the last episode for the third time (don't ask me how I'm making time for this when I have about twenty things due tomorrow), and I think I'm finally satisfied with exactly what I think about it. There are a lot of pretty interesting interpretations and theories floating around, so it's a good discussion all around. It might be a while before I get around to my "official" spoiler-free review of the entirety of Code Geass R2, but for now, here's what I think about the conclusion of this lovely series... (spoilers, obviously)

He's dead.

He's dead. Seriously. But before I get to that, I want to talk about everything in the episode leading up to it.

I liked Kallen and Suzaku's fight a lot, but I always like it when an entire series or two's worth of aminosity and rivalry accumulate in one final battle. It's especially great in a series like this where the two characters have ended up completely switching sides, which re-emphasizes their foilistic nature. It's really interesting from an audience's point of view, because the typical viewer is probably biased towards Lelouch's side. As such, they were used to hating on Suzaku and his MADHAX live-geass, etc, and come on -- you totally cheered when prisoner!Kallen beat the shit out of him a few episodes ago. But who are you rooting for now? Kallen's awesome, but Suzaku's the one on Lelouch's side now. Their conversation was a little lacking, but I did like the final question of right and wrong. That's what everything comes down to in the end.

Anya versus Orenji-kun... I was kind of annoyed that Jeremiah ended up anti-geassing Anya. Of all the people he could have helped with that thing, Anya was probably the least important of them all. Nevermind that Marianne was using her as a vessel for her spirit -- Anya herself really isn't that important. Jeremiah could have been fighting anyone else or no one at all; the position was completely expendable. That he used it on such an unimportant character in the end makes the entire notion of the anti-geass superfluous as well. I'd grown rather fond of Shirley, but let's face it, we could have survived without her subplot. Lelouch would have had to leave school eventually, and we never knew enough about the Geass Cult for it to matter much in the long run, so Shirley's death just seems convenient in retrospect. So what has the anti-geass really accomplished? The death of a semi-minor character (slash one for the harem) and the memory restoration of a similarly semi-minor character.

With the geass itself as such a relevant central point, that the anti-geass -- the ultimate weapon against the geass -- is rendered so irrelevant is incredibly disappointing, especially when you consider all that it could have done. The thing that stands out the most for me is the fact that Jeremiah could have very easily cancelled Suzaku's LIVE-HAX and subsequently stopped the first F.L.E.I.A. (according to Wikipedia, F.L.E.I.A. actually stands for something and isn't just a gross misspelling by every single sub group!) from being detonated, thus stopping Nunnally's "death." Sure, sure, in the end, it was all to move plot along, and you could argue that Lelouch probably wouldn't have thought to tell Jeremiah about the "live!"-geass if he even realized all the trouble it was causing, but alas... the potential...

Toudou, Xing-ke, and Tamaki all should have died. Seriously, Sunrise, what the fuck? I can live with Toudou's survival, I suppose, just 'cause he was legitimately saved, but Xing-ke has been sentenced to death since day one -- come on, "blessed with [Lelouch]'s strategic ability and Suzaku's strength ... but not [with] time" remember? He's mysteriously absent from Ougi and Viletta's wedding photo later on, but I still wanted an explicit death. And Tamaki... I appreciate your retarded crack humor. I really do. But you were impaled and exploded. Please stay dead. The same goes for you, Guilford. And hell, I still don't really accept that Sayoko and Nunnally should be alive. I know it's Sunrise, but they were right in the middle of the explosion. No way for escape. F.L.E.I.A. ended up not being some weird transportation device, so seriously, how the fuck did they survive? Especially when that creepy Britannian woman (apparently) didn't? And why was Sayoko horribly injured, but Nunnally was as pristine as ever? I can accept that Nunnally needed to have a fake death to push Lelouch forward, but it certainly could have been done in a more believable fashion.

Anyway. Lelouch's conversation with Nunnally was really well done. The emotion on both sides was very clear and moving. It made me wonder about when exactly Lelouch geassed Schneizel though. The flashback in the other episode was wonderfully vague and seemed like a huge cop-out, but I think most flashbacks tailored in that fashion can't help but feel like cop-outs. Was the entire Damocles plot Lelouch's idea all along? Or did Schneizel pretty much have the exact same idea as Lelouch, and Lelouch just geassed him to make sure things went according to just one plan, his, instead of two? If the former is true and the whole "vessel of hatred" thing was only Lelouch's idea, then is Nunnally really "thinking for [herself]" when she relayed that to her brother? Or even if Schneizel had also conceived the idea, is Nunnally really thinking for herself?

Either way, Lelouch's belief that Nunnally had become autonomous was a brilliant way for Sunrise to justify his geassing her, and I completely accept it. Once he knew for sure that she would accept his final plan -- that is, once he knew what he was doing was her true wish -- he had no qualms about proceeding, and I really give the guy props for putting up his facade as quickly as he did. Walking away was probably the hardest thing he'd ever done, and he's done a lot of hard things. It was an incredibly powerful scene, and I loved that Nunnally called him cruel because that comment was probably the cruelest thing she could have said. Yeah. Incredible scene.

Another semi-plothole though... why can't Nunnally walk? It was established that the whole Marianne assassination was a sham and that neither Nunnally nor Lelouch were really present at all. As such, Nunnally's blindness and the injuries to her legs were completely fabricated. So if she could overcome the blindness, then why not the leg injuries too? ...Unless Charles was a huge asshole and shot up her legs for realz. I guess that wouldn't be hard to believe.

The Zero Requiem. Honestly, the plan was probably one of the most predictable parts of the series because it certainly isn't the first time this idea has come up. (Ironically, the second season of Gundam 00 begins airing in R2's slot next week...) I contest the idea that focusing everyone's hatred in one place and then getting rid of it is an effective means of peace. Sorry, Lulu, but I think things could have been much simpler if you had just played nice with the United Federation of Nations to begin with and made peace from there, especially if you already had Schneizel in your pocket. I understand that you wanted to erase Euphie's "sins" from history and replace them with your own, but seriously, the book writers aren't going to leave out an entire chapter about the Massacre Princess just because a few chapters later, there's a whole long tirade about how horrible the 99th Emperor of Britannia was.

The idiocy of the idea didn't really make its execution any less poignant and touching though. Even if it meant Suzaku was mad hax again. Oh, Sunrise. No body = no death, right? But seriously, that death scene was beautiful. I totally agree with my buddy Alexius: that death scene was pure, cinematic beauty. Everything about it was perfect, and for once, the flashback didn't seem so contrived (well, except for the "lol Suzaku is alive!" part, but I think at this point, everyone has come to realize that zombies are completely acceptable). Even the overt homolust didn't really ruin the moment for me (and undoubtedly, it enhanced the moment for hordes of fangirls), and I actually loved Lelouch's last words to Suzaku. It is Suzaku's punishment to have to live forever until his natural death, leading the world as a hero he never, never wanted to be. It's also hopelessly ironic and symbolic -- our two main foils living out each other's roles. Suzaku had wanted to be the sacrifice. Lelouch had strove to be the hero. Ahh, I love shit like this. It's so wonderfully tragic.

And poor Nunnally, seriously. The whole world is erupting in victorious chants of "Zero!" while she's clutching her dead brother's hand and wailing miserably. She's right. It really isn't fair. Poor Kallen too. I guess she gets to have Gino in the end, but her final realization is on the same level as Nunnally's -- "GODDAMNIT, LELOUCH!"

And finally... C.C. That final scene, along with Nunnally's sudden flash of knowledge as Lelouch died, are the basis for most of the arguments that our beloved hero is indeed alive. I think it's very interesting to invoke the title of the series, particularly the "Code Geass" part, but I don't think enough was ever really revealed about geass for that argument to hold. It's all speculation. I suppose it's possible for Lelouch to take the Code of a person that didn't give him his geass; after all, Charles had offered to take C.C.'s code, but whether or not that would allow him to retain his geass? Completely up in the air -- absolutely no evidence for or against it. But Lelouch did not have a Code on his hand or anywhere else that we saw, so the easiest thing to do would be to assume that he did not get one and is thus not immortal.

Naturally, Sunrise being Sunrise, this proves nothing, but the fact remains that there is no concrete evidence for the idea that Lelouch obtained Charles's Code. Except that flash of memory obtained by Nunnally. Honestly, I'd like to believe that that was just Nunnally's sudden realization by her own intuition and deduction. She's a smart girl -- I don't think it would have been that hard for her to come to the right conclusion given her impressions of both her brother and Suzaku previously. They didn't need to show the specific jumble of flashbacks... though I also don't think that that the visualization of the knowledge Nunnally received was in any way similar to the flashbacks we'd gotten from C.C., which had always detailed the World of C. The only instance where C.C. seemed to willingly transfer knowledge was at the beginning of R2, when she restored Lelouch's memories, but that seemed more like Lelouch remembering on his own than C.C. giving him information.

I don't buy the idea that the "R2" of the series' title is a reference to Lelouch. I agree that the name "Lelouch Lamperouge" is highly suspect, but his name is still in L's, not R's. Regardless of the Japanese's inability to pronounce the "l" sound, the name of the character remains Lelouch, not Rurushu. Similarly, C.C. and V.V. are still spelt C.C. and V.V. despite being pronounced like "C2" and "V2." Of course, it's always a possibility that Sunrise is trying to be roundabout and subtle.

The fact that Sunrise left everything up for lengthy discussions and interpertations, as evidenced by the literally hundreds of journal and blog entries that have surfaced since the episode aired less than two days ago, was incredibly smart of them. This pretty much lets everyone interpert the ending in a way that pleases them. The more people that like the ending, the better, eh? Doesn't matter "which" ending they saw for themselves, as long as they like it. I alway love to hate these kinds of endings. On one hand, yeah, I have my view and it's probably skewed by the fact that I prefer the tragedy and want Lelouch to be dead. On the other hand, that there's so many ways to twist it so that it's reasonable to think that he's still alive... well, it bugs me that we'll never know for sure either way.

C.C. wouldn't have cried while praying in a church if she knew Lelouch would survive. Suzaku wouldn't have cried from behind his mask if he had known Lelouch would survive. I believe that Jeremiah would have gone ahead with the plan anyway even if he had thought Lelouch would seriously die. If Nunnally really was glimpsing Lelouch's memories when she touched him, then similarly, wouldn't she also know that he would survive? There's the possibility that none of them knew Lelouch would live, including Lelouch himself, and that he just happened to find C.C. later on for that cart scene, but if none of the involved people knew that Lelouch would live, then I think it would have been pretty difficult for him to sneak away into the night after his fatal wound magically healed itself.

Lelouch is dead. It would cheapen the entire plot too much if he were alive. C.C.'s comment about defying loneliness could still apply to Lelouch; after all, in death, he had the cooperation of his closest friend. He was not alone when he died. He'd been killed by the only person he would have accepted being killed by, and his sister held his hand as he drew his last breath. He was not lonely when he died. He had the Power of the Kings, and he was not alone. I suppose this leaves C.C. cheated out of her death, but there's still something nice about her beginning the series as an immortal witch and ending the series as an immortal witch. At the very least, her perception of mankind has changed and she can probably find a little more happiness in her endless life. Maybe, when the time comes (because history inevitably repeats itself) in a few hundred or thousand years, she will take it upon herself to find a new Lelouch vi Brtiannia and start the cycle all over again.

Unless, of course, Sunrise is really just fucking with us after all and Code Geass R3: Spice and Wolf is announced in the coming weeks. Read the rest of this entry...

Death of Toonami: Rest in Peace

I'm back from AWA. I somehow managed to miss every single panel that I had wanted to attend; managing an artists' table was just far more time-consuming than I'd anticipated. I couldn't step away for more than ten minutes at a time without feeling horribly guilty. In retrospect, I'm not sure I would have wanted to be in the room when Cartoon Network dropped the ball that they were canceling Toonami after its eleven year run. This so soon after the injustice they're doing to Code Geass and Moribito? I'm sure that panel room exploded into rioting. And I'm not so sure I wouldn't have been among the rioters if I'd been there, even though I personally haven't watched Toonami in years.


It's a Catch-22, I suppose. Code Geass was pulled for low ratings, but it will only continue to suffer low ratings in that 5:00 am deathslot. I find it hilarious that CN is claiming to keep anime on [adultswim] though, especially the "focus on new series" line. Hello? Did you not just sentence Moribito to death after premiering three fucking episodes? And for what? Fullmetal Alchemist reruns. New series my ass. Then again, I also find it a bit paradoxical that fans are indignant at such treatment of their new series... while giving those damned reruns the stronger ratings that put them there in the first place. Yes, yes, we all love FMA and Cowboy Bebop, but seriously -- haven't you seen them enough times already? STOP WATCHING IT. Then maybe they'll stop showing it. WATCH THE PREMIERE SHOWS. Then maybe they won't be sent off to die.

As for Toonami, I find it insulting that CN waited until the day of the final airing to announce that Toonami was going to die. AWA isn't a small convention, but it isn't the biggest, and I don't see why they couldn't have said something at AX or Otakon, give the kids a bit more time to accept the loss and all that. I really wonder what the death of Toonami will have on the anime community as a whole though -- for years and years, it was the place to watch anime. It premiered dozens of series that went on to define the fandom and to catapult fans towards more obscure things. Toonami debuted Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon, two series that thousands of fans will cite as their gateway to greater things. Some older fans like to rail on Naruto and whine about how anime "isn't what it used to be," but Naruto, without a doubt, is the DBZ and Sailor Moon of the current generation. What's going to be the gateway now that Toonami is gone? No other channel's block ever really gave anime the attention that Toonami did, but really, anime programming has been disappearing bit by bit for a while now.

I also missed AWA's "Is Anime Over?" panel on Sunday, but I kind of think the ending of Toonami can be taken as an indication that while not dead, the fandom is definitely in decline. Low ratings are low ratings. Low sales are low. Even though convention attendance for just about every con has only risen in recent years, a vast majority of artists I talked to, and even some dealers, are citing lower sales. I still think the economy is a huge factor (have I mentioned that Lehman Brothers just went bankrupt after 150-some years in business?), the biggest one, even, but it's hard to deny that there are other factors as well, among them, oversaturation and piracy among the digital evolution.

Interestingly enough, Toonami Jetstream is still a go -- another nod at the gradual dominance of the Internet over television broadcast as people's primary means of obtaining anime. If kids these days really are so wired, then maybe it won't be such a loss. Maybe they can still get their Naruto online. Maybe Shippuden will premiere there. Maybe.

Me? I'm just conflicted as to how I should feel about no longer having a reason to turn on a TV after Gurren Lagann finishes its run on Sci-fi. Oh, wait, Gundam 00 is airing after it. Nevermind! :P
Read the rest of this entry...

Reduced Posting & AWA

So I made it out of Houston. Am currently in Savannah, though I'll be leaving for Atlanta tomorrow evening for AWA.

Since classes have started, I'll continue to be on a slower posting schedule, though my hope is that I'll be able to post at least once a week, if not twice. My RSS feed has exploded in the last few days while I was busy with con preparations and school, and I now have over 300 unread items... It's hard to keep up, definitely, but I'll try. I'll also hopefully have a review for the Gurren Lagann Parallel Works done soon. And going to a con will always bring things to talk about, yeah?

Anyway, I promise this will be the last of the self-promotion for a while, but here are some of the things I'll be selling at AWA this weekend:

More over here.

Read the rest of this entry...

Ragequitting [adultswim]

Actually, I'm kind of surprised at all the fan rage that's exploded since it was revealed that [adultswim] was changing their Saturday schedule (again) and moving Code Geass and Moribito to the 5am deathslot. After all, I don't remember this kind of reaction when they did something similar to Gundam SEED and Yu Yu Hakusho some years ago. Maybe this is just the straw that broke the camel's back; as many others have pointed out in aforementioned threads, anime on [as] and Cartoon Network in general has been going downhill for years. We're all nostalgic for the pre-2003 era, but we've put up with [as] because it was still the best place for televised anime in the United States. We put up with the rampant schedule changes and snarky comments from the producers because [as] censored less, put in less commercials, kept our opening themes, and so on.

But do we really have to put up with this anymore?

The Anime Network and the FUNimation channel are still far from perfect, but they're there. More and more, companies are embracing the digital distribution model. These alternatives aren't really mainstream yet, and all the Narutards will probably stick with CN for a few more years, but things are starting to change. Where TV was once the easiest way for people to get their dosage of anime, they now have the likes of YouTube and Veoh, amongst hundreds and hundreds of torrents. More kids are looking online for their fix. With the way things are going, I really don't think it'll take long for all the online methods to become the norm and the "mainstream." And then [as]'s treatment of anime will no longer be tolerated.

Personally, once again citing my lack of an actual TV, I've been watching my dub Geass episodes online from [as]'s website, but Moribito hasn't gotten the same treatment. I've had it with [as] though. After Code Geass and R2's dub run (if they make good on their promise to air R2), I think I'm just going to stick to the online things for anime. Sci-Fi's airing of Gurren Lagann has been all right, but their four-five commercials per episode is frustrating as hell and their mispronunciation of the series in commercials for it is just embarassing. I guess after this final run, I really won't have a reason to ever get a TV. Oh well. That's just more money in my pocket for con merch, right? ;3

Anyway, sorry for the sloppiness of this post. I really should be packing. Read the rest of this entry...

Hurricane and the Economy

I'm currently in Houston and frantically hoping that my flight out of here tomorrow won't be affected by Hurricane Ike. All flights are canceled starting from tomorrow at noon and well into Saturday. My flight's at 10:10am. Sigh... Either way, I'll be extremely busy for the next week and a half and likely won't be posting much here.

Some interesting bits of stuff today though. Since hitting that record high in early July, crude oil has declined a third and hit the $100 mark today. Sign of a slightly recovering economy? Maybe. Wall Street is still terrified about the fate of Lehmen Brothers, but it looks like GONZO is getting saved. It's also good to see that Crunchyroll is getting more and more attention; it builds more points for the digital distribution model, and maybe it'll be a sign for other companies to start contracting with Crunchyroll so we'll have a more universal platform rather than the scattered one we have now.

Also on the topic of the economy, it doesn't seem as if anime conventions are hurting much from the general, worldwide slump. Most kids are still planning on spending the same amount at cons, and some are even planning on spending more, for whatever reasons. Otakon gained more than 10,000 attendees this year over last, and Baltimore is determined to keep the event in town because of the annual boost in the economy it provides. On the other hand though, it seems that ADV isn't quite done crashing and burning yet...but at least FUNimation benefits from that fire. And hey! Manga's back on the weekly booklist! I'm still interested to see what the holiday season will be like. Read the rest of this entry...

Celebrity Privacy in the States and Japan

There's been a lot of political gossip going around since Sarah Palin was put on the Republican ticket. Even before that though, McCain was comparing Obama's rampant popularity, especially among the 18-24 generation, with a celebrity status. This, along with the recent live action movies I've seen involving j-musicians, got me to thinking about how most Japanese celebrities are very, very secretive. Japanese people seem to be really into privacy in general though. They rarely put names on personal websites, are gung-ho about blurring out faces in photos, and prefer anonymous BBS to member-registration-required forums. Celebrities, particularly musicians, seem to be take it a step further. For one, most j-rock artists operate under stage names and aliases.


Who knows what 雅 -miyavi-'s real name is? Pata, hide, Yoshiki, Toshi, and Heath of X Japan -- at least three out of five names are obviously fake. The real name of Dir en grey's 京 (Kyo) has been a topic of much speculation as he signs his name as Tooru Nishimura in his poetry books, but some sources claim his surname to be Niimura instead. ,Magazines and fansites love listing supposed real names, but it's incredibly difficult to find any sort of reliable documentation. Gackt's full stage name Gackt Camui, but it's still a far cry from whatever his real name is. Birthdays are similarly difficult to find. Gackt's birthday is July 4th, but the year is still a big question mark. hyde did not confirm his birthday to the public until an interview in 2002, more than a decade after L'Arc~en~Ciel's debut.

In the United States, it's unthinkable that celebrities would be able to keep such simple biographical information private after so long. How do the Japanese do it? Is it just because their society values privacy more than ours? J-pop artists and idols don't hide behind aliases as often, but magazines will sometimes print their names in katakana or romaji rather than the specific kanji, allowing for use of their real name without giving all the details away. That's a unique level of half-exposure that English doesn't allow for. Even when celebrities' names are out in the open though, it's rare that you hear about scandals in Japan. Or, at the very least, they happen with much less frequency than they do in the States.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie can't seem to keep their kids out of the tabloid spotlights, not to mention all the attention the aforementioned Palin is getting, but when was the last time you heard anything about hyde and Megumi Oishi's kid? It is pretty much impossible to find information on him. Name, birthday, any blurry sort of photograph, anything. There are a lot of fans that will forget he even exists, and it isn't hard to see why. Even high profile mangaka like Naoko Takeuchi and Yoshihiro Togashi live behind a comfortable veil of secrecy. No one knows their son's name either.

It's bewildering to me that it's even possible to achieve that level of security when you're in the public eye so often (unless you're in CLAMP and make public appearances once in a blue moon when the planets are in alignment). Overseas, it seems like no one will even take you seriously if you work from behind a mask, much less make you famous, but in Japan, it's the norm. It really makes you realize how incredibly nosy American society is, how eager we are to devour tabloids and dirty gossip. No wonder the rest of the world thinks we're offensive and rude. Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Moon Child

Moon Child is one of the few movies I actually own (well, to be fair, it was a gift). I've seen it a half dozen times or so and have been trying to write about it for a while. Even though it's been years since I first saw it, writing about this movie in an objective manner has been much, much harder than I thought it would be, but here we are...

(this review does no specific spoilers, but hints at some)

Moon Child

STORY & PACING - There are ruthless mafias, extravagant fire fights, and a melancholy vampire or two, but really, Moon Child is just about friendship. To some extent, you might consider it slice-of-life, or several slices of life with the multiple time skips; that kind of format lends itself to subtlety, and it's easy to forget about the overarching themes of the movie. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though, as it allows you to fall into step with the lives of the characters, to get to know them without thinking too hard about the grand scheme of things. It's effective in portraying the realities of friendships, which are often taken for granted and not fully realized until something comes along to threaten it.

There are three time skips in the movie, essentially dividing it into four sections, though the first and final sections are very brief. We follow the life of Sho as a child, as a young adult, as a more mature adult, and then older still. The timeline is easy to follow and actually very effective in highlighting differences between the characters as they grow and change. Oddly enough, the supernatural elements of Moon Child are severely downplayed for a majority of the film. They don't bother trying to explain the technicalities of Kei's vampirism; the traditional aspects -- frying in sunlight, need for blood, and immortality -- are stumbled upon casually, and they treat him the same as any human character, which was nice because it didn't distract from the casual and natural-feeling flow of the movie.

Moon Child doesn't really offer a profound story. There are things within it that might have been able to offer a deeper kind of narrative, such as the racial tensions, but you could consider that reality is very much the same. People go about their lives; sometimes, it's possible to read into events and find something profound, but most of the time, you dwell on much simpler things. So sure, Moon Child isn't particularly thought-provoking or sophisticated, but at the very least, it's touching.

CHARACTER & ACTING - Moon Child stars three exceptional musicians: j-rockers Gackt and hyde, as well as c-pop/j-pop artist Leehom Wang. As acting is not the primary talent of any of these men, it's natural to approach this movie with skepticism and doubt. As a fan of all three singers, I can't pretend to be impartial, but I was honestly surprised at all of their performances. It didn't take long for me to shed my perception of them as Gackt, hyde, and Leehom Wang and to see them as Sho, Kei, and Son, the first two of whom, at least, were pretty solid characters. Yes, there were many scenes that were over the top and cheesy, and some were ridiculous enough that it was difficult to tell whether they were serious or satirical. And yet, there was still a certain depth to their characters, and emotions were sometimes eerily genuine. I had just as much skepticism and doubt as the next person, but I was impressed.

As the movie follows stages of Sho's life more than anyone else's, it makes sense that he grows and develops the most. The contrast between the younger and older stages of his adult life is especially powerful and poignant. Gackt's acting at first appears incredibly mediocre -- his pitch rises hilariously at the end of many sentences, and his voice squeaks occasionally. He appears childish and impulsive, like he doesn't really know what he's doing, but that's the character he's playing. Sho acts like a hotshot because that's how you survive on the streets, but his vulnerability shows in his fierce loyalty to his friends and brother. It's not a unique character at all, but it was very well portrayed. As his life becomes marred with loss and betrayal, the older Sho appears lonely and jaded. His exterior is harder than it's ever been, but he is, perhaps, even more vulnerable on the inside. Gackt's squeaky voice completely disappears, and it becomes clear that he had perfect control of it all along. Sho does a lot of stupid things in this movie though, even as an adult, and it's frustrating to watch him sometimes.

Kei, being immortal, does not change nearly as much. Indeed, he is essentially the same man from beginning to end, though he has to be reminded of this. His self-loathing is the most defining aspect of his character and is what causes him to lose himself at the halfway point of the movie. Once again, this is a very general archetype and is typical of many vampire or vampire-like characters. Kei delivers a few soliloquys on the subject throughout the film, and those moments best highlight the extent of hyde's acting ability. Sadly, it isn't nearly as impressive as Gackt's. hyde appears forced and overdramatic, and his exaggerated facial expressions are especially hard to take seriously. His more relaxed scenes are much better though, and while his overall performance isn't impressive, it's not quite a disaster either. Kei, also, is decidedly less of an idiot and much more tolerable than Sho in most cases.

Son does not get quite as much spotlight as Sho or Kei, and his character is a bit harder to grasp as a result. I found his decisions later in the movie harder to understand and emphasize with, and he is sometimes more of a role than a character -- his actions are solely to move the story forward, not because they stem from his personality. Leehom Wang's acting abilities I would put on par with hyde's, though he appears more stoic than exaggerated. The rest of the gang, namely Toshi, Shinji, and Yi-Che, also act more as roles than characters with any significant depth. We have a good friend, a brother, and a love interest. Honestly, I felt like all of them were mostly there to contribute to tragedy, but each was pretty entertaining regardless. Yi-Che was interesting because you don't see many mute characters, but I especially liked Toshi; he was wonderfully endearing.

One of the things I liked the most about Moon Child though, was its multilingual format. The film takes place in a fictional city, presumably on mainland China; as such, a significant portion of the movie is in Mandarin, even though most of it is still in Japanese. Sho, Shinji, and Toshi are Japanese immigrants and thus speaks both languages. Kei, we'd assume to be similar even if he's immortal, also speaks both. Son is from the mainland and does not understand Japanese. This not only provides some pretty hilarious dialogue (Son: "What are you saying!? Stop speaking Japanese!"), but is also the easiest way to see the racial tensions that exist between the mainlanders and the immigrants. And as a Mandarin speaker myself, I greatly, greatly amused by Gackt and hyde's ventures into the language. Both were heavily accented, but reasonably understandable -- their Mandarin is better than their English in any case, especially for Gackt (whose English is markedly worse than hyde's).

I found it amusing too, that Son isn't bilingual; in reality, Leehom Wang's Japanese is much better than either Gackt or hyde's Mandarin. Further, there were a few short scenes involving Cantonese speakers; these made me particularly happy because I'm a Cantonese speaker before I'm a Mandarin speaker (represent!). And finally... there's English. There are a few Americans in the film who spoke their own language fine, but their Japanese was amusingly reminiscent of most American otaku ("Hontou ne!?"). Sho and Kei also offer some phrases in Engrish, and predictably, you can't understand most of it. (I've seen this movie maybe six or seven times already; I still have no idea what the hell Sho says about ninjas in response to a comment by one of the Americans.)

MUSIC - Most of the songs inserted into the movie are actually in English, which, for some reason, isn't all that strange. It's just a bit of a surprise to the ears to hear English-sounding English in the middle of a movie that's otherwise in Japanese and Mandarin. But the main musical feature of the movie is, of course, the duet between Gackt and hyde, "orenji no taiyou," which was written specifically for the film. Can't you just hear the fangirls all screaming? It's a lovely song though, and the melody really resonates with that tragic bittersweetness at the end of the film, when it's properly sung. Gackt and hyde both have beautiful voices. Unfortunately, for a majority of the song, since Gackt is singing melody and hyde, harmony, Gackt's voice drowns out hyde's. In the main verses of "orenji no taiyou," you sometimes can't hear hyde at all; only for the chorus can you really be sure that he's even there. So I wouldn't consider it an equal duet, but in a way, that can reflect their characters' roles within the film: Sho hogged the spotlight, but Kei always supported him.

ANIMATION & EFFECTS - Moon Child has some of the most hilarious special effects ever. And by hilarious, I mean they were bad. Really, really bad. Vampires apparently start smoking and catch fire when they're left in the sun. Dying via sunlight is supposed to be a very tragic thing; unfortunately, you'll probably be too busy laughing your ass off to care about that. Kei is upset and frustrated, but you can't help but point out the fact that there's smoke coming from under his jacket, from his ass. There's also this one scene where they're sitting on a rooftop observing the moon. Have you seen Bruce Almighty? Do you remember when he pulled the moon closer so it's gigantic? ...Yeah. Those are the scenes where I can't tell if they're serious or not, especially with comments such as "WOW! That moon is HUGE!"

The effects during the fight scenes were similarly outrageous, full of cheap effects that you'd expect from movies in the 80's. Vampirism allows Kei to leap buses in a single bound! To dodge bullets with Matrix-esque slo-mo! And don't forget, all mafia fire fights are like video games and the bad guys will raise up and down from behind boxes like automated targets. Good times! Seriously though, if you're looking for anything resembling a realistic gunfight, you won't find it here. That said, I never felt like the cheesiness of it all detracted from anything in the actual story or that it lessened the effect of any of the characters. No one ever said this was a big-budget film. :P

OTHER - Interestingly enough, Moon Child has an official R1 DVD release and is easily available on Amazon.com. The description on the back of the box is hilariously inaccurate though, and the DVD itself is pretty plain: English as its only subtitle language, and there are absolutely no bonus features. As I said, I understand both Mandarin and Cantonese (and that weeaboo splattering of Japanese), so for once, I can actually comment on subtitle quality! Most of it is pretty good, though there are a few translations that are slightly off in that pointless sort of way. For example, cries of "Nii-san!" by Sho were subtitled "Shinji!" Kind of pointless, but it doesn't take away that much from understanding. There were also a few lines of Mandarin that would have made a lot more sense if translated more literally, but I can't remember them off the top of my head right now.

I really wish they had subtitled the English and Engrish though. Seriously, I'd love to know what the hell Sho is saying in that one scene. It took me at least three viewings to figure out that he says "Open the showcase" in another scene.

OVERALL - Obviously, I'm fond of this movie. Friends have attributed this to the fact that it isn't very different from something I would write myself -- slice-of-life, supernatural, a peculiar absence of female characters, and a ton of tragedy and angst. All the same, I feel like Moon Child has its merits, especially considering the doubt that comes with such an all-star cast of amateur actors. Even though it isn't particularly original, the story is solid, and it's easy to sympathize with the characters. There's a lot of cheesiness and there are a lot of things that are easy to laugh at, including the poor special effects, but the themes are respectable enough, and the acting is passable. The multilingual aspect is something I'd really love to see in other films as well. Most of the people that watched this movie were probably fans of one or more of the involved musicians, but even if you've never heard of Gackt, hyde, or Leehom Wang, if you like stories about friendships and life wrapped up in gunfights and drama, and if you can forgive some corniness and technical failures, then Moon Child is worth a watch. Read the rest of this entry...

Review: X (anime)

I wrote a review for the X anime.

For some reason I dreamt about the series on the subway today. Kind of strange. I almost want to go ahead and write a review for the OAV as well, but I don't remember it as well because oh, man, it was painful. I did like the ending better than the ending for the anime though, but that's the angst-loving sadist in me. Curious -- Is CLAMP still claiming hiatus on X or have they admitted yet that they're never going to finish it?

There is no "rest of this entry," but the hack I'm using on Blogspot makes it appear on every entry, so uh. That's why it's there. Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Tokyo Godfathers

I finished a review for Tokyo Godfathers.

ADD prevails and I haven't been able to focus very well on series other than the two that I'm following as they air (Code Geass R2 and Soul Eater). So I've been watching more movies, as evidenced by the two live action NANAs and Oresama. Meanwhile, my to-watch list for both movies and series gets longer and longer. Can't really say when I'll have time to get around to them, but I will likely be rewatching the two Death Note live actions and the L change the world movie when I get back to school since some friends of mine haven't seen it. Look forward to those reviews? I've been wanting to write about the Death Notes for a while. The interim is wonderfully hectic though. I get to fly crosscountry twice in one week and run around doing last minute preparations for AWA, which is conveniently the first weekend after classes start. (Side note, obligitory self-promotion: anyone even remotely close to Atlanta should stop by! I'll be in the Artists' Alley Marketplace selling my wares.)

But speaking of Death Note, I'm rather upset that Kinokuniya's Death Note Day will take place after I leave the state. Figures. It's unfortunate 'cause, among other fantardy shenanigans, I'd love to buy the Death Note movie they're promoting; I loved both live actions movies (haven't seen the L movie yet). I was there a week or two ago and spotted the R2 release of the Death Note movie for like... $30. Obviously a no-go, but yeah. Depending on how much Code Geass and Gurren Lagann merch I end up loading onto myself, I may just pick it up at AWA. Even though I seem to miss all the good stuff though, I agree with Japanator in that it's great to see more of these kinds of events and promotions on the east coast, especially in New York. The west coast has three states on it. California seems to dominate everything about this industry. Where's the Atlantic love? We've got so many more people on this side of the country! Get over here! There are actually a ton of conventions on east coast, but most of them are small and medium sized. From Katsucon to AWA to Metrocon and AnimeNEXT and Anime Boston, there's plenty going on. But I guess no one's going to take us seriously until Otakon starts getting closer to AX's numbers and NYCC closer to SDCC... :3 Read the rest of this entry...