Thursday, January 29, 2004

My cold is clearing out.

I spent much of my illness laying in bed and watching movies and anime. The list? But of course! I shall share my obsessions with total strangers.

• Children of Dune, a surprisingly impressive rendition of the second and third Dune books. The actors were quite good (mostly; Susan Sarandon was unexpectedly mediocre).
• Earth Defence Family, which I believe I’ve effused about on this journal enough. The ending lived up to the show’s established brilliance.
• Quiet Country Cafe. A beautiful, quiet show that has a lot of fans. It’s the anime equivalent of a secretive woman — coy, fascinating, and a complete mystery.
• Turn-A Gundam, which continues its political and character-driven musings. It emphasizes the human character development of the Gundam universe, rather than the typical mechs-and-explosions aspect seen in, say, G Gundam.
• Last Exile, a fusion of early-20th-century German technology, American Revolutionary War-era battles, and an adventurous sci-fi anime story, seasoned with deep characters. Tech TV will be airing this show in a 6.5-hour marathon of the first thirteen episodes on March 14th.
• Witch Hunter Robin, which is just plain serious adult anime. It’s essentially The X-Files (at that shows’ best); it just happens to be animated. The characters manage to not be annoying.

I also re-watched a few MST3K films, as I usually do when I want to be comforted, and re-re-re-re-watched that wonderful anime adventure film The Cat Returns.

On a side note, I see that CD Japan has started a new column called The Collector’s Den, where an American recommends cool products available on the site. A good opportunity for English-speakers to taste the delicate stew of Japanese pop culture. At the moment, there are only a few columns, and they concern themselves with some basics — Studio Ghibli releases, Toho releases (Godzilla et al), etc. — but even those offer some delights, such as the recently re-mastered soundtrack for The Castle of Cagliostro.

Also in other news, Yo Saalon! Gundam Seed will air in America on Cartoon Network April 17th, or so says this report.