Tortugas Magicas

I’m trying (once again) to make this blog actually bilingual, so I’ll provide a spanish version after the text in english.

Una vez más, voy a intentar que este blog sea de verdad bilingüe. La versión en español la encontrareis después del texto en inglés.

I read, way before the film was even released, that this film would be either complete win or complete fail. I decided to watch it after some careful thinking, mainly because :

1)I intended to watch the film raw. Apart from my japanese lessons, I haven’t been exposed to “real japanese” as to say (that is, japanese spoken in a more “realistic” way, compared to the japanese spoken in anime shows).

2) I’m a great fan of the Higurashi series.

3) There was probably another reason, but I forgot it…

Well, well, where to start? This film adapts the first chapter of Higurashi, the Onikakushi-hen, in which Keiichi loses his marbles and goes into psycho mode. The adaptation is quite faithful, although there are certain elements that I think they added in order to make the story a bit more coherent, especially for those who are not familiar with either the games or the anime. For example, I don’t remember Takano being painted by Keiichi’s dad, for example. They also changed a bit some pivotal scenes (like when Keiichi eats the Ohagi and goes berserk. In the film, he still goes bersek, but doesn’t phone Oishi-san afterwards telling him what happened) The scene with Rena muttering “gomennasai” wasn’t included either, and that was a pity since I think it was very powerful in the anime. On the other hand, there’s a certain scene in the film in which, like in the anime, Mion is concerned about Keiichi, when she sees him wielding Satoshi’s baseball bat. In the anime, Mion acts a bit “odd”, but in the film she goes completely insane, to the point that Keiichi wonders if that’s really Mion. I don’t know, but maybe in that moment it was actually Shion and not Mion. It’s possible they wanted to introduce her character in the film earlier, thinking of a sequel. Also, no kiss between Keiichi and Rena, and the Yamainu’s role was reduced to a few minutes towards the ending of the film. Rika and Satoko didn’t appear much either.

Now, for the acting. It was often subpar, but maybe I had that impression since I’m used to the anime voices. I didn’t like the cast for some characters (mainly Rena and Satoko) but I was fine with the rest. Keiichi and Mion were close to their anime counterparts, as well as Rika, although the actress playing her was a bit older. On the technical side, there weren’t too many SFX, but they tried to create an atmosphere of terror. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. I can’t tell much about the music, except that the opening song by Eiko Shimamiya (Wheel of Fortune) just rocks.

Will I recommend it?: Only if you are a hardcore fan of Higurashi, or have a thing for low budget terror films.

(By the way, I’ve just watched the trailer for the next film “Higurashi no naku koro ni: Chikai” and it looks good… Judging from the images, it will adapt the Tsumihoroboshi-hen)

Second film’s official webpage

Spanish version after the jump! Haced clic en el enlace para ver la versión es español.

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Following last episode’s cliffhanger, Yumemi and Ichiko meet Kazuya by the river side. Kazuya recognizes them as Suzume’s friends, since Suzume has already told him about them. The girls ask him if the wedding is for real, to what he answers that it is. He and Suzume will marry the next day at that very same spot. He says he’s always been looking for Suzume’s hand, and then proceeds to tell the girls about his past.

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I found this file uploaded at Tokio Toshokan and decided to give it a try. I had actually tried to watch the video on Youtube but, for some unknown reason, when I clicked on the Youtube link, it took me to a video of some…Nice Boats. I guess that was some kind of lame joke.

So let’s see. This Suzumiya-chan thing is actually a parody of the Suzumiya Haruhi series. The first episode was only 4 minutes long, and it revolved around Kyon having a strange dream, related to Japanese New Year. Kyon comes back home and while he’s falling sleep, Haruhi  (desguised as a dog (?))and Mikuru (desguised as a lamb (??))appear. Haruhi wants Mikuru to jump through a fire ring (!!). The dream changes and Kyon finds himself in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly Koizumi appears desguised as Mount Fuji. Then, they both start looking for the “other two” ( In Japan, it is said that if you dream of Mt Fuji, a hawk and an eggplant, that means that you’ll be lucky in the new year). The hawk turns out to be Tsuruya-san (but it’s actually a crane, not a hawk), and the eggplant, Nagato (desguised as a tiny phonestrap shaped as an eggplant) Kyon asks Nagato how to wake up from his dream, and she answers that all he has to do is going to sleep in this world.  He does as Nagato tells him, and then Haruhi and Mikuru appear again. Haruhi still wants Mikuru to jump through the fire ring, Kyon shouts Haruhi to stop  and then he wakes up. The final shot shows a New Year’s greeting (Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu).

Impression:

So, well, this turned out to be mildly interesting. I guess you must be familiarized with the Haruhi universe to get all the little references. Hearing all the cast of the Suzumiya Haruhi series reunited again was great, though, but you know, I hope the would release the much expected second season instead of this. I guess they know many fans are enraged after hearing that the second season has been (once again) delayed. C’mon, Kyoto Animation! Gives us the real Haruhi!

Anyway, the real episode has finally been uploaded at Youtube with subtitles in english.

I guess that many of you have certain books, novels, mangas, etc. you would love to see turned into an anime. This is my list:

1-Mort

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Aaand let me breath before proceeding! What a long title they chose for this show!

Kyoto Animation has turned one of their OVAs (in this case, “Munto”) into a TV series. I had read a bit about the OVAs plot, so my interest on this adaptation was quite high.

The title, by the way, roughly translates as “The world reflected in the pupils of the girl who looks up at the sky”. And that’s more or less, what this show is about. Read the rest of this entry »

I finished Kanon! Since it usually takes me ages to finish a show, I feel like throwing a party… Read the rest of this entry »

This particular scene filled me with GIRL RAGE:

Yuuichi, you’re a moron!!!! Why did you have to do that to Nayuki’s usagi-chan? I still like Yuuichi, though. The last couple of episodes redeemed him a bit. Anyway, poor Nayuki…

The REAL post about Kanon will be coming soon.