#watanabe eiko

[retrosofa]

To commemorate Cutie Honey's 50th anniversary, I wanted to post trivia for all 25 episodes. We'll start this week with the first episode: "The Black Claw Grips The Heart."

Screenwriter: Masaki Tsuji

Art Director: Mataharu Urata

Animation Director: Shingo Araki

Director: Tomoharu Katsumata

In the early drafts Honey Kisaragi was originally Honey Tachibana. Honey’s finalized surname name, “Kisaragi” (如月) is a traditional name for February in the Japanese calendar. It refers to the seasonal “changing of clothes.” The name "Honey" comes from the American TV series Honey West.

Honey was voiced by Eiko Masuyama, who would reprise this role a few times over the years, notably in the Re: Cutie Honey audio drama and the Playstation game, Little Witching Mischiefs. She also had a guest spot in Cutey Honey Flash episode 31 as Dr. Kisaragi’s old friend Dr. Mitsuko Kanzaki.

St. Chapel Academy is located in Okutama, a mountainous area that’s about an hour and a half away from central Tokyo. St. Chapel itself was most likely inspired or at least named after the real life royal chapel, Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, France. The hymn the students sing during Mass in these early episodes is “Come, Thou Almighty King.”

The freckle-faced girl who stands next to Honey during Mass is her best friend and roommate, Natsuko Aki. Although she’s almost never referred to by her full name but rather “Nat-chan.” Her first name is in reference to natsu or “summer” while aki means “autumn.” In the original manga she is depicted as having pigtails rather than a bob cut and doesn’t have freckles. Natsuko’s anime design was modeled after an unnamed girl who appeared briefly in the Devilman manga.

Natsuko was voiced by Rihoko Yoshida, who’s best known for voicing the titular character in Little Witch Megu, Maria Grace Fried in UFO Robo Grendizer, and Michiru Saotome in Getter Robo. Yoshida would also voice Panther Zora in the 1995 PC-FX video game, Cutey Honey FX. Noriko Watanabe (Sister Jill, Mami) also voiced Natsuko occasionally for whenever Rihoko Yoshida was unavailable.

Honey’s goofy teacher Ms. Alphonne Louis Steinbeck III is based on a male character from Go Nagai’s Kikkai-kun manga. That same Alphonne also served as the basis for Akira Fudo’s teacher in the Devilman TV series. 

Ms. Alphonne was voiced by the late Noriko Tsukase, who had previously voiced Mr. Alphonne’s wife and son in Devilman. Although Ms. Alphonne appears in every other animated Honey series, this is the only version where she is voiced by a woman.

During the early production stages Seiji Hayami was known as Shun Kazami and was described as "falling in love with Honey, despite knowing she’s an android." He would also have a goofy little sister named Zuuko, who would question if she was really related to her handsome older brother. When the series details were finalized, Seiji became more of a comic relief character and his romantic chemistry with Honey was downplayed. 

Seiji was voiced by Katsuji Mori, who would go on to voice Dr. Kisaragi in Cutie Honey Universe.

Seiji refers to Hurricane Honey as kaminari musume (カミナリ娘) which translates to something like “thunder girl.” He’s actually referring to the kaminari zoku (カミナリ族) or “thunder tribes”, Japanese motorcycle gangs who were known for their loud and rowdy modified motorcycles.

Black Claw’s name comes from the original series proposal, which described Panther Claw’s soldiers as being color coded. Potential opponents for Honey would’ve included Black Claw, Scarlet Claw, Cobalt Claw and Gold Claw. Each would have possessed a specific skill or element, for example, “Scarlet Claw” would’ve possessed fire powers. For whatever reason the whole color coded aspect was dropped but “Black Claw” was still used as the name for Honey’s first real adversary.

According to Cutey Honey Roman Album published by Tokuma Shoten in 1981, Honey's childhood memories are artificial. They were produced by Dr. Kisaragi because he wanted Honey to have childhood memories like any other human girl.

Dr. Takeshi Kisaragi was originally known as Dr. Seiji Tachibana in the original series proposal. In the original manga Dr. Kisaragi looks noticeably younger, has black hair, no glasses and a goatee instead of a mustache.

Originally, Honey was only going to transform once or twice during the first episode. Tomoharu Katsumata (director for episode one) requested that Honey use all of her main seven forms.

Some of the choreography from Honey and Black Claw’s fight is based on sequences from the Abashiri Family manga, specifically when the lead character Kikunosuke battles against teachers from Paradise Academy.

Junpei is based on Kichiza Abashiri from Go Nagai's The Abashiri Family manga. Kichiza is the youngest son of the Abashiri family and is a master of explosives. Junpei was voiced by Kazuko Sawada.

It’s probably worth noting Honey and Junpei are the only two characters to appear in every episode of Cutie Honey.

We'll take a look at episode two next week!

[fuyuesu]

book of oc names

this is literally just a ref for ask games so im just puttign the ocs i care abt most here . if i listed every one of them we'd be here all day

enstars ocs: umeko shiina, shiori, kinuyo, takumi, miruku shirogane

enstars fankids: yuudai tojo, kokoro amagi, rina shiratori, asahi shiratori, haruna oukawa, fuyuki oukawa, natsumi oukawa, akiko oukawa

bnha ocs: miyuki yukimori, hisao kato, eiko abe, kuri akase, nao sawada

spe ocs: livid, canary, jade, verdun

spe fankids: sabre tsurugi, pelte schildemilia, mercury berlitz, venus (haha no surname venus)

regular dr ocs: kayo mikami, kouki yuuki, chinatsu kishi, sachi fujiwara, hakaku hirakawa, akira hirakawa, daichi akio, chiharu akio, isamu itou, carmen agnusdei, juro hayashi, michiko hirose, mariko watanabe

dr fankids: yuuto amami, honoka amami, minako ouma, kazuki naegi, emiko hinata

[medea10]

My Review of Princess Sara

And now I return for more World Masterpiece Theater.

Today’s classic is something I’m somewhat familiar with. The series is loosely based on the novel titled, “A Little Princess” by Frances Hodgson Burnett. There were several adaptations for film and television throughout the past several decades including a Shirley Temple film in the late 1930’s, an Americanized version in the 90s, and about a bajillion Filipino adaptations. The one I’m most familiar with was the one that came out in 1995. I remember this film very well as it was played a lot in my youth and as an adult, I would come across it from time to time on HBO or some other station playing it. It was fine and all, but I knew that this film took artistic liberties and changed around a lot from the novel.

After watching several of these World Masterpiece Theater animes, I’ve come to realize that these series are pretty damn accurate when it comes to capturing the original source material. I mean yes, Les Mis took a lot of liberties to remove several characters from being killed off, but it was still top tier best version. All of these animes have to take a few liberties as they are all G-Rated. But they’re still very good nevertheless. I was curious about this particular story for the longest time and thought it was high-time I sit down and watch the anime version.

Sara Crewe and her father arrive in London from India. Back home, Sara was treated a lot like a princess and she acted like one. Not the bad kind, the Princess Diana kind, she’s a sweetheart. Sara is about to be admitted to a boarding school, Miss Minchin’s all-girl’s boarding school that is! Once at school, Sara was beloved by most of the students and praised by teachers due to her academic skills. On top of which, her father is loaded! Yeah, her father is in the diamond business back in India and so he has enough money to keep her daughter happy.

Unfortunately, when Sara’s father dies news also comes that the family is bankrupt leaving Sara without a penny to her name. Surely Miss Minchin will care for the poor orphan girl, right? Ha, I already know this story. Miss Minchin strips Sara of her education, clothes, and housing. Even though she tossed around the idea of casting the orphaned girl to the streets, Miss Minchin takes pity on the girl. Sara will live in a cold attic and work as a scullery maid. Sara is to do as she’s told by her higher-ups, never talk with the other students, and must work until she pays off her debts to Miss Minchin.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: As I’ve mentioned in the past, only a few of the World Masterpiece Theater animes were dubbed into English. And this was one of them…sorta! Our good friends at Animax did one. And if you’re unfamiliar, this is the company from Southeast Asia that dubs anime into English. And if that still doesn’t ring a bell, look up the Cardcaptor Sakura dub and you’ve got your answer. As usual, this anime has made its way across the globe to many different countries and territories. Apparently, it was a big hit in the Philippines. So much so that there’s a plethora of memes surrounding this one series! As for the cast, it’s a mixture of veteran voice actors that are still voicing today, lesser-known voices, and one-timers. And as this is a part of the World Masterpiece Theater collection, some voice actors here were heard in other works throughout the years like Naoko Watanabe and Eiko Yamada. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Sara is played by Sumi Shimamoto (known for Okita’s sister on Gintama, Kanata on Lucky Star, Ishizu on YGO, and Flora on Berserk 2016)

*Becky is played by Teiyuu Ichiryuusai (known for Masao on Crayon Shin-chan)

*Miss Minchin is played by Taeko Nakanishi

DISLIKED CHARACTERS: Oh-ho-ho, I knew going in that I was going to hate two specific characters! Those two are Lavinia and Miss Minchin. Though when I watched the movie, it was more of a hatred for Miss Minchin overall and Lavinia was a passing thought. Has this anime changed my thoughts on these two?

Right from the starting gate, they are both detestable and will continue to be that.

Lavinia is a snot-nosed brat who gets jealous every time Sara gets attention from the teachers. But the greatest injustice done to Lavinia was that Miss Minchin took Lavinia’s role of class rep and gave it to Sara. So the bitch was butt-hurt. But when Sara’s father died and she loses her wealth, Lavinia showed absolutely no sadness. In fact, she was the only person in the room smiling. What a bitch! And when Sara became a scullery maid for the seminary, Lavinia made sure to screw around with Sara by any means necessary. She gets a kick from making the poor girl suffer or get yelled at. Seriously, every time you see this snot-nosed brat glare at Sara I’m screaming, “JUST LEAVE THE POOR GIRL ALONE!”

Thank God there was a second of peace. Lavinia’s father learned that Sara was once a student but is now a scullery maid and Lavinia being so insistent that Sara become her personal maid. He slapped the freckles off that bitch’s face. Give that father a cash prize and a trophy! Mind you I said one second of peace. The next episode she was right back giving Sara (and Becky) a hard time. Lavinia does so much to Sara that I can’t believe Sara managed to remain civil throughout the entire ordeal.

And as for Miss Minchin, she’s had it out for Sara from minute one. But because her father was wealthy, she decided to use Sara to show off to high society people. And the brewing point for Miss Minchin to vow vengeance against Sara was because Sara hid the fact that she was fluent in French. The audacity of this bitch! But again, because of Sara’s father, she sucked up. Miss Minchin’s true colors came out in front of Sara when it’s learned of her father’s death and failed diamond business. No pity on the girl who just lost everything. She was ready to throw her out on the street, but was begged by others to keep her as a maid.

Miss Minchin would be terrible to Sara. She physically abused her, starved her, forced her to live in unlivable conditions, and had the other workers (Molly and James) work her like a slave. One of the worst moments was when Sara got severely ill. Never mind pushing Sara to the point of illness, this woman had to think for a moment to get a credible doctor to look at her. She got the cheapest, drunkest doctor they could find who misdiagnosed her. Miss Minchin even thought about sending Sara to a sanitorium if this persists. Bitch, I can’t even with you! At least in this version, Miss Minchin never sent the police on Sara. Of the three versions to this story I’ve watched, I think this Miss Minchin was the cruelest. Only because we do witness her slapping Sara several times!

SHIPPING: I know I shouldn’t be shipping anyone with anybody. Most of the people in this story are young. VERY YOUNG! As for the adults, there were no romantic interests for anyone here. It’s plainly clear that Miss Minchin is going to die a spinster. None of the teachers had secret relationships with some guy like in the Shirley Temple version. And Miss Amelia didn’t run off with the milk man like in the 1995 version! None of that went down in this adaptation.

With that said…

Peter x Sara is cute! I would support the hell out of this even though it probably isn’t canon.

ACCURATE OR NOT: So let’s see if Princess Sara really stacks up to the novel “A Little Princess”.

*Oh-ho-ho, time to nail my childhood to a wall. As you know, I’m well familiar with the 1995 rendition of A Little Princess. If you’re like me and know this film from start to finish, get ready to have the balloon pop. Becky’s not black. The story takes place in London, not New York City. The story really takes place in the late 1800s, not World War I times. Ralph Crewe didn’t leave his daughter to fight in a war. And finally the most important fact, Ralph Crewe remains dead. Most of the things I mentioned here were used correctly in this adaptation.

*There are some new characters added to the series. And quite frankly, I’m not entirely sure who these people are. Except for the animals! With the exception of Ram Dass’s monkey, I don’t think Miss Minchin’s cat Cesar nor the family of rats exist.

*Most things in this anime are pretty accurate to the original source. But there’s a good chance that most of the episodes were either fabricated or stretched out to fit the running time. You know, fillers! Call me crazy, but I don’t think the book had chapters involving a Halloween party. Same goes for that episode where Amelia opens up to Sara about her past with her sister.

*It is unknown how long this experience for Sara lasts anime-wise. In the book, Sara’s time at Miss Minchin’s seminary was approximately 2 years. The way I see it, I don’t think Sara was a scullery maid for more than a year in the anime. If she were, we would have probably gotten an episode of Sara celebrating her first birthday without her father.

ENDING: Around episode 30, the home next to Miss Minchin’s seminary was sold to a gentleman from India named Mr. Carrisford. He was able to survive a gnarly bout with Jungle Fever, although now he’s confined to a wheel chair. But Mr. Carrisford has an overwhelming sense of guilt due to how things went down in India. See, he convinced his long-time friend to go into business with him involving a diamond mine. But the friend died from his Jungle Fever, leaving behind a daughter and a whole legal battle involving bankruptcy.

In case you’re not keeping up, Mr. Carrisford’s friend is Ralph Crewe, Sara’s father. Sara is just several feet from the gentleman who can save her from the living hell of Miss Minchin’s seminary.

But Medea, we’ve got over 15 episodes left!

Correct, dipshit! Mr. Carrisford doesn’t remember a lot, probably due to the Jungle Fever. He doesn’t remember Ralph’s daughter’s name. And he forgot where Sara was sent for her education. In fact, he was way off. Mr. Carrisford had his friend travel by boat to France in search for this girl. So I’m sitting here episode-after-episode screaming at the screen, “SHE’S RIGHT THERE, YOU IDIOT”. But because of Sara’s friendship with Ram Dass (Carrisford’s caretaker), he saw to it to repay Sara for her kindness. Ram Dass would spend days and nights going to the attic to give Sara warm blankets, clothes, and food. Sara thought it was a magic spell or a guardian angel looking out for her. It wasn’t long before Miss Minchin saw these special items in the attic and threw Sara out to sleep in a horse stable.

Things only get worse from here when one night the stable catches on fire and Sara almost burned to death. And then she gets blamed by Miss Minchin for starting the fire! This is the one and only time I’ve ever seen Sara stand up to Miss Minchin as she was not at fault. I know it’d be asking too much to have Sara tell Miss Minchin to fuck off, but this was big for Sara to stand up for herself. In actuality, Lottie accidentally dropped a candle when she was scared by (you guessed it) Lavinia and her friends. But no, Miss Minchin jumped to every wrong conclusion and threw Sara out of the seminary. Fortunately, Sara was taken in by Peter and his family and she was even able to get a job like many of the other children in the area.

Sara’s going to be a little match girl!

This anime hurts to watch. This anime hurts a lot.

Thankfully Sara’s stint as a little match girl was short-lived as Miss Amelia came looking for her and brought her back to the seminary. The only reason behind that is because there was a big care package addressed to Sara. Miss Minchin made it very clear that she still despises Sara. But Minchin flips her light-switch when she sees the care package contained beautiful clothing and such. Because she thought Sara was being watched by a wealthy and anonymous family member, she allows Sara to live in the attic and attend classes instead of doing chores with Becky. She goes back to kissing her ass. Again, the audacity of this bitch!

Moving back to Mr. Carrisford’s dilemma! He sent his solicitor to France in search of Ralph Crewe’s daughter. He returned with no such luck of a daughter. Then, they decide to hone their search to right here in England because this is where Ralph was from. Thankfully, fate intervened before they start another grand search as Sara came by the home to return Ram Dass’s monkey. Here it is, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Sara meeting Mr. Carrisford! He learns Sara knows some Hindu and grew up in India. He put 2+2 together and realized the girl from next door he’s been secretly helping was really Ralph Crewe’s daughter all along!

When Miss Minchin went next door to retrieve Sara, she was in for the shock of her life. Carrisford is going to adopt Sara. The diamond mine that was rumored to be a bust, was really fortuitous. Sara’s debts are wiped away. Not only is she inheritor to her father’s share, but she will also obtain Carrisford’s share when he passes (he has no heir of his own). And to top it off, he knows about the abuse of Sara so Sara is going to live next door instead of a creaky attic. You know, it’s not nice to kick people while their down. But fuck that, this bitch has needed a royal-ass beat down since episode one. Time for Miss Minchin’s sister to have her say!

MISS AMELIA: Throughout these 40-odd episodes, she is seen as the submissive sister, doing whatever Miss Minchin says. Amelia just stands there looking concerned every, single, fucking episode and does fucking nothing! She sees Sara suffering in silence with a smile on her face and says nothing to her sister. She even goes a step beyond that by begging Sara to forgive her sister several episodes prior to this very moment. We do get some light shed on Miss Minchin and Amelia’s past about how Miss Minchin worked odd jobs to take care of Amelia due to lack of parents. Not sure if this is really true or not, so I’m leaving it off my accuracy list. When Miss Minchin returns to the seminary and tells her sister what went down with Mr. Carrisford, Miss Amelia let her sister have it.

It was a long-time coming and I can understand a person like Amelia letting loose. Some people hold it in for so long until they’re filled to the top and explode. I’m one of those people, so again, I can relate in a way. Amelia spent this whole time contemplating whether to speak up about Sara’s abuse by her own sister or to shut up and do what her sister says. Hearing about Mr. Carrisford taking Sara snapped Amelia and she had a total breakdown. And all I can say is, “Bravo”! Amelia was absolutely right and I’m glad Miss Minchin heard it. It was all her fault. And if the seminary closes because people hear about Sara’s abuse, it’ll be all her fault.

BACK TO THE CONCLUSION: Fortunately for Miss Minchin, Sara is kind and forgiving. She had Mr. Carrisford give a sizable donation to Miss Minchin’s seminary. Miss Minchin was a notorious penny-pincher, so this should settle her. Sara gets quite the happy ending as she gets to live with Mr. Carrisford and still go to school. She has Becky become her personal maid. All of Sara’s belongings that were taken away when Ralph died are returned to her on Christmas. A little starving girl she helped early in the series has a happy ending as well. And we end with Sara and her new family go back to India. It’s for 4 months to settle things on the Crewe estate, but she’ll be back.

At least when she comes back, Lavinia won’t be there. Good riddance! At least they come to some sort of truce.

No matter what version of A Little Princess you watch, it’s always going to be a tough watch. Because of the size of this series, it can sometimes be too hard to watch. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good story where a character takes on adversity and struggles. But there comes a time when struggle just becomes borderline torture-porn. You know those stories where the hero has to go through so much pain and agony and eventually get some sort of satisfied conclusion. The anime The Rising of the Shield Hero and the movie Precious comes to mind. Thank God Sara never had to endure what Precious did. Still bad though! At least with the movie adaptations to Princess Sara, we only watch Sara’s struggles for like, what, an hour or maybe less. This is over 30 episodes of watching this girl get abused. That’s 23 minutes per episode, mind you! Not just from Miss Minchin, but the cooks and one smarmy brat who has a vendetta. All the while, you’re telling yourself, “Dude, you know this story and it’s going to get better”. But it’s not an easy watch! There are scenes where you just wish they’d leave Sara alone or just wish for things to get better.

Is this my favorite adaptations of A Little Princess? Hmm…I don’t know! I really liked this version of the story, but I still have an attachment to the 1995 film. Granted, the animation is always a bit of a drawback when it comes to these animes. But I have to cut some slack as this was mid-1980s here. If you were a fan of this story, whether you saw the 1995 film, the Shirley Temple film, or any of the other adaptations out there, I give a recommendation. Track this down and give it a watch.

Okay Randomizer-kun, I’m giving you another shot. Please don’t give me an obscure hentai to watch in place of this.

Oh thank God, another Nippon animation!

[brandonshimoda]

THE BOOKS I READ IN 2022, in the order in which I read them (*books I read before, that I was reading again):

Alexandra Chang, Days of Distraction 

Elizabeth Miki Brina, Speak, Okinawa 

Cynthia Dewi Oka, Fire Is Not a Country 

Hanif Abdurraqib, Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest 

*Cathy Park Hong, Minor Feelings 

Victoria Chang, Dear Memory 

*Etel Adnan, Of Cities & Women (Letters to Fawwaz)

Sun Yung Shin, The Wet Hex 

traci kato-kiriyama, Navigating With(out) Instruments 

Raquel Gutiérrez, Brown Neon

Solmaz Sharif, Customs 

*Etel Adnan, Journey to Mount Tamalpais 

Lucille Clifton, Generations: A Memoir 

Emerson Whitney, Heaven 

Kim Thúy, em, tr. Sheila Fischman 

Angel Dominguez, Desgraciado (the collected letters) 

Janice Lee, Separation Anxiety 

*Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Dictee

*Cathy Park Hong, Translating Mo’um 

Kyoko Hayashi, From Trinity to Trinity, tr. Eiko Otake 

Lao Yang, Pee Poems, tr. Joshua Edwards & Lynn Xu 

Yuri Herrera, A Silent Fury: The El Bordo Mine Fire, tr. Lisa Dillman (

Mai Der Vang, Yellow Rain

Chuang Hua, Crossings 

José Watanabe, Natural History, tr. Michelle Har Kim

Walter Lew, Excerpts from: ∆IKTH 딕테/딕티 DIKTE, for DICTEE (1982) 

*Bhanu Kapil, The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers 

Vasily Grossman, An Armenian Sketchbook, tr. Robert & Elizabeth Chandler

Hiromi Kawakami, Parade, tr. Allison Markin Powell 

Lynn Xu, And Those Ashen Heaps That Cantilevered Vase of Moonlight 

*Etel Adnan, Sitt Marie Rose, tr. Georgina Kleege 

Jennifer Soong, Suede Mantis/Soft Rage 

*James Baldwin, No Name in the Street 

*Hilton Als, The Women

Dot Devota, >She 

V.S. Naipaul, The Return of Eva Perón 

Yasushi Inoue, The Hunting Gun, tr. Sadamichi Yokoo and Sanford Goldstein

Molly Murakami, Tide goes out 

Adrian Tomine, Shortcomings 

Hisham Matar, A Month in Siena 

Leia Penina Wilson, Call the Necromancer 

Gabriel García Márquez, News of a Kidnapping, tr. Edith Grossman 

Amitava Kumar, Bombay-London-New York 

Elizabeth Alexander, The Trayvon Generation 

Ryan Nakano, I Am Minor 

Constance Debré, Love Me Tender, tr. Holly James 

Hilton Als, My Pin-up 

Victoria Chang, The Trees Witness Everything 

Leslie Kitashima-Gray, The Pink Dress: A Story from the Japanese American Internment 

Emmanuel Carrère, Yoga, tr. John Lambert 

Ronald Tanaka, The Shino Suite: Sansei Poetry 

Patricia Y. Ikeda, House of Wood, House of Salt

Soichi Furuta, to breathe 

Kiki Petrosino, Bright 

Sueyeun Juliette Lee, Aerial Concave Without Cloud 

Nanao Sakaki, Real Play

Esmé Weijun Wang, The Collected Schizophrenias 

Francis Naohiko Oka, Poems 

Geraldine Kudaka, Numerous Avalanches at the Point of Intersection 

Steve Fujimura, Sad Asian Music 

Augusto Higa Oshiro, The Enlightenment of Katzuo Nakamatsu, tr. Jennifer Shyue 

Julie Otsuka, The Swimmers 

Salman Rushdie, The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey 

Margo Jefferson, Constructing a Nervous System 

Hua Hsu, Stay True 

Barbara Browning, The Miniaturists 

Kate Zambreno, Drifts 

*Julie Otsuka, When The Emperor Was Divine 

Louise Akers, Elizabeth/The Story of Drone

Wong May, In the Same Light: 200 Poems for Our Century from the Migrants & Exiles of the Tang Dynasty 

Gabrielle Octavia Rucker, Dereliction 

Trung Le Nguyen, The Magic Fish 

Jessica Au, Cold Enough for Snow 

Tongo Eisen-Martin, Blood on the Fog 

Lucas de Lima, Tropical Sacrifice 

*Like a New Sun: New Indigenous Mexican Poetry, ed. Víctor Terán & David Shook 

Billy-Ray Belcourt, A Minor Chorus 

Kazim Ali, Silver Road 

*Sadako Kurihara, When We Say Hiroshima, tr. Richard Minear 

Simone White, or, on being the other woman

*James Baldwin, The Devil Finds Work 

Christina Sharpe, Ordinary Notes 

*Raquel Gutiérrez, Brown Neon 

Marguerite Duras, The Man Sitting in the Corridor 

Gayl Jones, Corregidora 

*Bhanu Kapil, The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers 

*Etel Adnan, Seasons 

Gwendolyn Brooks, to disembark 

Cristina Rivera Garza, The Taiga Syndrome, tr. Suzanne Jill Levine and Aviva Kana

Gwendolyn Brooks, In the Mecca 

Nona Fernández, The Twilight Zone, tr. Natasha Wimmer

Selva Almada, Dead Girls, tr. Annie McDermott

*Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Dictee

Valerie Hsiung, To Love an Artist

*Theresa Hak  Cha, Exilée and Temps Morts

Dao Strom, We Were Meant To Be a Gentle People

Randa Jarrar, Love Is An Ex-Country

*Dao Strom, Instrument

Osamu Dazai, Early Light, tr. Ralph McCarthy and Donald Keene

Osamu Dazai, The Setting Sun, tr. Donald Keene

Rachel Aviv, Strangers To Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us

Mahmoud Darwish, Journal of an Ordinary Grief, tr. Ibrahim Muhawi

[riverpancakes]

hhhh all oc pronouns ig

Nobuyuki Tokoyami- he/him

Tako Tokoyami- they/them

Arashi Kaminari- she/her

Daisuke Kaminari (Wakabayashi)- he/him

Hisana Yaoyorozu- she/her

Kaito Yaoyorozu- he/him

Daiki Aoyama- he/him

Akira Aoyama- she/her

Hiro Ashido- she/her

Kaede Ashido- he/him

Katsuro Iida- he/him

Masa Iida- she/her

Ryota Uraraka- he/him

Shinzuko Uraraka- she/her

Kenta Ojirou- he/him

Rin Ojirou- she/her

Azumi Kirishima- she/her

Akirhiro Kirishima- he/him

Kina Kirishima- she/her

Koto Aizawa- she/her

Reiji Tachibana- he/him

Hachiro Amano- he/him

Mr. Serizawa- he/him

Iwao Kamegai- he/him

Amberlynn Korematsu- she/her

Takashi Korematsu- he/him

Nakiichi Kirishima- he/him

Yua Kirishima- she/her

Takumi Bakugou- he/him

Mansa Bakugou- she/her

Takayuki Midoriya- he/him

Kayo Midoriya- she/her

Ichirou Midoriya- he/him

Aito Kaminari- he/him

Iku Kaminari- she/her

Hoshi Kaminari- he/him

Hideo Iida- he/she, he/him preferred

Meiko Iida- he/him

Baako Iida- he/him

Faraji Iida- he/him

Hanami Amajiki- she/her, wants to try neopronouns (snow/snowflake/snowflakes/snowflakeself, sy/sky/skyself)

Emi Amajiki- she/her

Ahmya Kuroiro- she/(rie/eer/eri/erie/eeriself)/(li/lich/lis/lichs/lichself)/(necro/necrom/necself)

Suiren Kuroiro- she/her

Yami Kuroiro- he/him

Miyako Kuroiro- she/her

Keiichi Tokoyami- he/him

Ren Tokoyami- she/her

Michi Sero- he/him

Etsuko Aoyama- she/her

Kasumi Tokage- she/her

Eimi Ojirou- they/she

Fuyuhime Amano- she/her

Kiku Chiba- she/her

Chihiro Hidaka- she/they

Momoka Hino- she/her

Hideoyoshi Inoue- he/him

Haruto Kurosawa- he/they

Hanzou Mizutani- he/him

Rekka Serizawa- he/him

Kohaku Takeuchi- they/he

Koshiro Tsuburaba- he/him

Shin'ichi Kaibara- he/him

Jirou Tsunoda- he/him

Masako Yusado- she/her

Aimi Nishiyama- she/her

Kei Konishi- she/her

Katsumi Matsumoto- he/him

Yukio Ishida- he/him

Aoi Neishin- he/him

Junichi Hoshino- he/him

Mariko Ayuma- they/it/she

Satoshi Mamoru- he/they

Ryo Yabun- he/him

Hope Korematsu- she/her

Dai Takenaka- he/him

Layla Arafa- she/her

Kin Akiyama- she/her

Isao Kanekou- he/him

Komiko Miyashita- she/her

Eiko Fujimoto- she/her

Katashi Koi- he/it

Aiko Saito- she/her

Chou Hirabayashi- she/her

Hiroaki Abe- he/him

Ayumi Haimawari- she/her

Satoru Chinen- he/him

Fynn Dimick- he/him

Diana Morias- she/her

Moriko Kato- she/it

Sophia Barrett- she/her

Damion Jay- he/him

Bonnie Webster- she/(tea/teaself)

Kozuya Mochizuki- he/him

Salem Mochizuki- he/him

Rose Laurence de la Croix- it/its

Zephyrus Williams- they/he

Sora Hirano- she/her

Hisashi Miyake- he/him

Tamiko Miyake- he/him

Anastasia Williams- any/all pronouns

Daichi Kuroki- he/him

Haruki Kazame- he/they

Junpei Akabane- he/him

Adriana Gegeen- she/her

Misaki Go- she/her

Tsukumi Sakai- she/her

Talyor Korematsu- she/her

Chase Korematsu- he/him

Jaelynn Korematsu- (cor/corpse/corpself)/(go/gor/gors/goreself)/she

Asahi Korematsu- he/(ve/ver/vis)

Divya Korematsu- she/her

Tadashi Bakugou- he/him

Naoki Bakugou- they/x

Akina Bakugou- she/her

Mei Villin- he/him

Kae Midoriya- she/her

Ayano Tachibana- she/her

Emori Kaminari- he/it/(haz/hazel/zels/zels/hazelnutself)

Fukumi Aoyama- she/her

Chiyo Ogawa- she/they

Kameko Shibuya- she/her

Mitsuko Morishita- any/all pronouns

Sophie Kindermann- she/her

Yuki Shiratori- she/her

Akui Miyake- he/him

Hatsuko Hoshino- she/her

Haruto Watanabe- he/him

Sana Yamazuki- he/him

Haru Yabun-Mamoru- they/them

Junji Yabun-Mamoru- he/him

Akaya Yabun-Mamoru- he/him

Kira Yabun-Mamoru- she/her

Kizuki Maede (Yabun-Mamoru)- he/him

Natsume Yabun-Mamoru- he/him

Manami Takenaka- she/they

Rei Takenaka- she/her

Seth Arafa- he/him

Thanatos Kobayoshi- he/him

Ryosuke Ishida- he/him

Kyou Achikita- he/him

Erika Maede- she/her

Rui Bakugou- she/her

Kouta Maede- he/him

Amitsu Maede- she/her

Akiyu Takenaka- she/her

[cinemaronin]

Unforgiven (2013)

許されざる者 Unforgiven (2013)  directed by Lee Sang-il cinematography by  Norimichi Kasamatsu

[njotaku]

Top 10 Females for Summer 2021 (Again I know it’s late)

10. Eiko Kawasegawa - Remake our Life

9. Sarasa Watanabe - Opera Girls

8. Frau - Peach Boy Riverside

7. Liscia Elfrieden - How a Realist Hero rebuilt the Kingdom

6. Jeanne - Vanitas no Carte

5. Piscalet - Idaten Deities

4. Alice - The Duke of Death and his Maid

3. Mizuho - Sonny Boy

2. Aisha Udgard - How a Reali st Hero rebuilt the Kingdom 

1. Tomoe - Tsukimichi Moonlit Fantasy

[retrosofa]

After I finished Mahou no Mako-chan, I decided I wanted to re-watch some other magical girls shows I haven't seen in awhile. Last weekend I started watching Mahoutsukai Chappy or "Chappy The Witch." I haven't seen it in 10 years and honestly, I barely remember anything about it. Chappy is more or less a ripoff updated retelling of Mahoutsukai Sally.

Chappy and her family live in the magic kingdom. During a royal banquet she decides to flee to the human world with her younger brother, Jun. Her mother, father and "pet" Don soon follow, and thus their adventures in the human world begin.

Chappy is the third majokko series Toei Animation produced, following Mahoutsukai Sally, Himitsu no Akko-chan, Mahou no Mako-chan and Sarutobi Ecchan. While Mahoutsukai Sally and Himitsu-chan no Akko were both extremely successful series, Mahou no Mako-chan and Sarutobi Ecchan were not. Mako made decent ratings but definitely never came close to Sally or Akko's success. The series also failed to keep consistent ratings, which gradually dropped throughout it's 48 episode run. Ecchan tanked in the ratings, which resulted in it ending with a mere 26 episodes. Frantic to get another winner on their hands, Toei Animation decided to make their first "original" magical girl, combining elements from their previous series. Like Sally, Chappy was a witch from another realm. Like Akko and Mako, she had a magical item. Like Ecchan, she had a "pet mascot." The end result exceeded their expectations. Apparently Chappy was only planned for 26 episodes but got extended to 39.

The first episode, "Here Comes the Magical Family," was written by Masaki Tsuji, directed by Yugo Serikawa, and featured animation direction by Shinya Takahashi. These three men previously worked on Akko, Mako, and Ecchan. The first episode does a pretty good setting the tone of the series. There is quite a lot of Disney influences sprinkled around, namely Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. In the magic kingdom, Chappy dresses very similarly to Maleficent. Her father conjures a spell to turn a mouse and pumpkin into a horse and carriage. There's a scene where Chappy's brother and their grandfather have a magical battle that's reminiscent of Flora and Merryweather fighting over Aurora's dress color, etc.

The scenes in the magic kingdom are a lot of fun. They're pretty spooky and the denizen depicted are all eccentric and otherworldly. If you look closely you can see one of the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz, and there's also a demonic character aptly named "Satan King." When Chappy arrives to the human city, things are not as she had hoped for, evoking the social commentary we previously saw in Mako. As with the other series, Chappy and her family must keep their true identities a secret. There's a darker twist this time, as they fear being burned at stake.

I just re-watched the first two episodes, which were both pretty fun. Some of the darker aspects took me off guard - like the paranoia about witch burnings, as well as a scene where a biker thug attempts to assault Chappy's mother. It's not a graphic scene at all but the implication is very clear.

The animation quality is a little rocky, even for an older series. This series was produced in 1972 which was around the time of the Toei Animation Lock Down, so maybe that's why? If I remember correctly, the series has a lot of ups and downs in the animation department. Some episodes look fantastic while others are downright horrendous.

Oh, something I found very amusing: most of the cast would go on to star in Cutie Honey. Check it out:

Chappy: Eiko Masuyama (Honey Kisaragi)

Chappy's mother, Shizuko: Noriko Watanabe (Sister Jill, Mami)

Chappy's father: Koji Yada (Additional voices)

Jun: Sachiko Chijimatsu (Twin Panther)

Don, Chappy's grandpa: Kosei Tomita (Danbei Hayami)

Obaba: Nobuyo Tsuda (Panther Zora, Ms. Miharu)

Ippei: Masako Nozawa (Scorpion Panther)

The fact Eiko Masuyama and Noriko Watanabe play daughter and mother in one series and mortal enemies in another is so freakin' hilarious.

Anyways, I'll post more after I watch the first 13 episodes.

[foricecream]

Short Thoughts: Children of the Sea

If you're feeling a little lost, I highly recommend Children of the Sea. Magical realism and verklempt animated art tell a wonderfully nuanced story, one that can be deeply appreciated regardless of how simple or how complicated a viewer's interpretation might be.

Even before the magic kicked in, the art struck me immediately: the level of detail in the roof tiling, the dirt, all the natural imperfections. Also, Studio 4°C portrayed Ruka as a teen wonderfully well, in how she exudes emotions without addressing them, and how she reacts viscerally to conflict, pride, embarrassment, and exclusion. Then, as the story became more magical, the art became more magical as well, especially with how the artists and animators drew outer space and the ocean. This film had the best animated water I have ever seen; sometimes they went for uber-realistic, sometimes super fantastical, other times metaphorical. Their water was amazing!

And you might expect that dedication to water in a movie with this title, but there were also many beautiful touches that I did not expect. I really loved the way they had the camera move and accelerate with Ruka in some moving scenes, instead of rotating or remaining stationary. I loved how they animated first-person vision going between air and water in a choppy surf. They captured the third dimension in two dimensions in such a convincing, artistic fashion, and made their scenes feel so wonderfully full.

This is another film where the writers resolve just about everything, from majestic tensions caused by the cataclysmic convening of all the world's oceanic creatures, to a couple of B-roll cuts of moths around a lit then not lit lantern, to unnarrated familial tensions, and to the very first scene that perturbs Ruka.

The small moments of tragedy and fear are both well-placed and well-paced. And with all the exquisitely understated drama, there's some really nice understated comedy too. I love how the story about Umi and Sora is the main story, yet not, and how Ruka, Ruka's family, and her school environment are the main story, yet not. And some of the most engaging conversations were between side characters, and those moments still felt so natural.

Fantastic, interesting musical compositions. Even in the most visually romantic, emotionally sweeping scenes, they rarely chose overflowing music, which I think really worked with Ruka's personality and how she struggled with fitting in, opening up, and self-reflection. Studio 4°C opted for quaint, mysterious, and expansive, and they grew those adjectives and their weight by repeating musical themes. They also did some muffling of the music during some underwater scenes...just...chef's kiss and all that.

It's so relatable how caught up Ruka gets in such a spiraling adventure that sends her into the universe and the deep sea without leaving home and the problems close at hand. That she's taken with the concept that whales can transmit their experiences fully, without words. The artists literally drew streaking galaxies and countless helices of swirling marine life, and they laid layers of visual and spoken metaphors that I will spend hours thinking about, but also through all that, they resolved what seems like a common insecurity.

I adore the ending where Ruka opens up and made me feel a little more at peace with the confusion, vastness, and vacillating fullness and emptiness of the present moment.

Until next time.

-For Ice Cream

[sesiondemadrugada]

Children of the Sea (Ayumu Watanabe, 2019).

[viejostiestos]

Children of the Sea 

海獣の子供, Hepburn: Kaijū no Kodomo

2019

Ayumu Watanabe

Studio 4C

[culturedarm]

Julia Holter reworks the Keyboard Fantasies of Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Animal Collective pay a ramshackle tribute to Scott Walker, while Eiko Ishibashi dedicates her latest record to Jack McCoy through layers of flute and sax. Menzi, Flaty, Ruth Radelet, Flatbush Zombies, Nneka, Laura Cannell, and Kate Ellis also feature in the best new tracks.

https://culturedarm.com/tracks-of-the-week-18-12-21/

[captainmactaggart]

Season 4 Profiles (Part 3/3)

I’m not saying anything this time...

***

MILBURN DONOVAN - One of the Winter Hexagon Order’s chief commanding officers. Officially the direct superior to Captain Latrigg. Has a Northern accent so thick you need a chainsaw to cut it. Red Fox. (Episode 47)

GENEVIEVE FISHER - Admiral and general top dog of the W.H.O fleet. Tends to bite off considerably more than she can chew. Often overstates her own part in the success of her battle campaigns. Red Fox. (Episode 47)

TADASHI KUSAKABE - Old school friend of Kyoko. Currently works for her father’s interstellar shipping company. Thinks he’s all cool and tough, but he’s really not. Used to smoke, and once tried to set Kyoko onto cigarettes as well. Raccoon. (Episode 48)

EIKO TAKATO - Religious advisor for the Japanese half of the Stellar Typhoon crew. Frequently has trouble putting her own needs before those of others. Pilot of Mori 3. Cat. (Episode 48)

URSULA WATANABE - Commander of operations in the Galactic Liberation Front’s isolated base on Kiritari. Current superior to the demoted Commander Takano. Squirrel. (Episode 49)

LILY ALCAR - Wing Commander at the Kiritari base. Was once fooled by Captain Darkblade’s holographic enemy fighters. Border Collie. (Episode 49)

***

And that concludes this trilogy of profile posts for Season 4. Join me tomorrow night, as I completely lose my shit whilst trying to complete the circle with Season 5′s bunch...

[canmom]

Animation Night 74: 4°C

Hi friends, welcome to Animation Night! Today’s been a bit of a slow day so I hope you’ll forgive me kinda hasty writeup.

Tonight, we’re going to return to Studio 4°C, who made many of my favourite films from Animation Nights past: Tekkonkinkreet, Memories, Mind Game, five parts of the Animatrix, Ani*Kuri 15, Genius Party, Digital Juice as well as animation work on Birdboy: The Forgotten Children... and that selection probably gives you a hint at what their deal is: experimental, arty, sakuga rich, sometimes kinda edgy lmao.

4℃ (the name referring to the temperature at which water attains its highest density) was founded in 1986, by producer Eiko Tanaka (who worked as a line producer on Ghibli films including Totoro and Kiki... the chronology is kind of odd here, since those Ghibli films came out in the 90s) and the incredibly stylish animator Kōji Morimoto, formerly of Madhouse. Morimoto’s in most of those anime short film collections I like so much, and consistently makes some of the most striking and vivid entries, especially when he came into his own at 4℃. As to why Morimoto left Madhouse to found his own studio, I can’t really say - the 80s were a pretty high point in Madhouse’s run.

I’d love to be able to dig in more to the background of this studio, but sadly it’s hard to find much information in the time I have beyond lists of films they’ve made. So let’s try and make a story out of those...

Presumably their first few years would have been spent providing services for other studios, since their first works don’t appear until the 90s, starting with two segments of the Memories compilation in 1995 (Animation Night 3... that brings me back). Within a few years they dropped their first feature film, Spriggan (1998), a cyberpunk-adjacent spy story overseen by Otomo and still renowned in sakuga circles for a brilliantly animated back alley chase sequence. (If you followed my links on the cinematism/animetism thing, you may remember this discussion about the different ways it constructs space).

They continued to make music videos and OVAs for the last few years of the 90s, many of which we’ve seen and one we haven’t (Morimoto’s Eternal Family), but things really seemed to take off in the 2000s with a whole series of short film collections. But tonight we’re going to focus on their feature films, and the next notable one here is Princess Arete (アリーテ姫 arīte-hime, 2001), which caught my attention recently thanks to a video by animator Dong Chang. Coming at the tail end of the cel era and thus rich with beautifully painted backgrounds, Arete tells the story of a fantasy princess who is kidnapped by a wizard who attempts to mind control her into submissiveness, and her struggles to throw off his control. So it’s a feminist parable about self-determination... but it sounds like it has more to it than being overtly didactic, with a beautiful and melancholy atmosphere.

4℃ continued filmmaking through the 2010s; in addition to the films mentioned above, we might mention a sequel short to Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space and Harmony (2015) with Michael Arias of Tekkonkinkreet fame.

In 2019 we hit Children of the Sea (海獣の子供 kaijū no kodomo), and this is where we reach a very unfortunate chapter. Children of the Sea is widely named a film which captures the beauty of the sea so well it is almost impossible to describe, as Natasha ‘Illgenes’ writes:

Children of the Sea is easily one of the most stunning things I have laid my eyes on. It’s messy, dynamic, poetic, and a momentum of expressionism that I’ve rarely experienced on a big screen. Barring the unfortunate work ethics involved with the creation of the movie, there is really nothing I can put into words that describes how ephemeral this film is: as the director Ayumu Watanabe said himself, it’s a movie to be felt and seen, rather than truly deciphered and understood.

Rarely have I felt so overwhelmed by the bizarre beauty of the sea, the emotional waves of turbulent youth, and of the vast and inexplicable force we call nature that surrounds us. It’s this kind of immersion that makes me appreciate the medium of anime, and equally, it’s a testament to the careful balance of both hand-drawn animation and CG.

...but achieving this involved taking the already miserable conditions faced by anime production assistants to such an extreme that the studio actually ended up unable to win a lawsuit. kVin writes, in an article about inbetweeners:

When we interviewed many production assistants to shed light on what’s another of the worst positions in anime, it became clear that they’re looked down upon even among their peers; they’re not real creators, even though the second most common route to becoming a director is precisely through production assistance. We’ve continued to see that feeling weaponized from above in the most malicious ways in cases, like the studio 4ºC production assistant who sued the studio over the near-slavery conditions he had to endure during the production of Children of the Sea. The studio succeeded in dividing the workforce and essentially pitted veteran artists against these overworked management staffers—and as of yesterday, we know they lost the case pretty spectacularly. The labor victory comes with so many caveats that it’s hard to rejoice about it, but seeing this strategy fail for once is comforting.

It’s... honestly really tragic that a studio that has made some of my favourite works of animation could be responsible for this kind of malicious workplace abuse, though too easy to believe. (After all, Madhouse, the studio’s ‘parent’ in the grand lineage of anime, have also been implicated in a similar case, bad enough to bring in the ‘Black Companies Union’). Of course, the individual animators who made this film aren’t necessarily responsible for the conditions but more likely to be victims as well; yet it’s certainly a black mark for Morimoto as co-owner of the company that this could happen, and a deplorable lack of solidarity that the animators could be turned against this PA. Not to mention immensely hypocritical given the themes of so many of their films. But bosses will be bosses.

Nevertheless, without conveniently forgetting the miserable circumstances of its creation, I still wish to absorb this spectacle, so Children of the Sea’s on our list for tonight! To actually talk about its contents, film tells the story of a girl who meets two strange boys ‘raised by dugongs’ at an aquarium, and gets drawn into a lot of splashy and wet supernatural events.

Which means we’re probably going to have quite a variety of vibes, united merely by the shared staff who return on each of those films across a span of more than two decades. Since that’s quite a program, I’ll resist the temptation to pad it out further with more of their shorter works: we’re watching Spriggan, Princess Arete and Children of the Sea.

I would like to say we will start now, but I’m still downloading one of our movies, so instead we’ll have to begin in about an hour (8pm UK time), at twitch.tv/canmom. In the meantime I’ll warm us up by trying to finish my current animation project (spoiler alert: there’s no way I’m getting that done in an hour lol).