“Whisper of the Heart” is the one and only film ever directed by Yoshifumi Kondo, a director who master Hayao Miyazaki intended to reign as his protégé. Miyazaki was going to retire from film and let Kondo take over from where he left off, however, Kondo sadly died at the age of forty-seven, and this was his only piece of art that was left by him. Obviously, Miyazaki never retired, but Kondo’s film does show traces of Miyazaki’s imagination and it’s clear why Miyazaki intended him as his successor.
Tag Archives: Anime
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)
I loved the original “Vampire Hunter D,” I remember watching it for the first time with my jaw hanging down, drool and some snot hanging down. So, I was obviously excited to see this, and after I popped this bad boy into my DVD player, I was not disappointed. I was weary about the new design for Vampire Hunter D at first, I wasn’t sure what was wrong with the original design, but he looks so much better here. With a design that Universal ripped off in 2004’s “Van Helsing” he’s just so stylish here with a beautiful costume that not only acts as a shroud but protection from the sunlight and they make his vampiric appearance better here with a white pale face and just a cold exterior that makes him such a great character to watch.
Metropolis (Metoroporisu) (2001)
Based on the comic book by Osamu Tezuka, we visit Metropolis, a humongous city where high-class humans roam free and robots toil and work underground occasionally surfacing illegally. We meet detective Shunsaku Ban and Ken-ichi two people searching for a scientist performing illegal experiments with robots. This is probably one of the most unusual anime movies I have ever seen. The entire animated sequence and character designs closely resemble the works of legendary animator Ralph Bakshi (Cool World, and Fritz the Cat). No two characters in this movie look alike and no two characters seem alike. Many people who hear about this seems to think this movie is an animated Japanese remake of the 1929 Fritz Lang “Metropolis”.
Pokemon The Movie: 2000 (2000)
I’m not a huge fan of Pokemon, but I am a casual watcher of the television program. This is alot better than the first one, and succeeds where the first one fails. This one makes me happy. The animation as always is spectacular and sleek, with mixing, computer animation, painting animation, and regular animation. We get to see this demonstrated in the pre-movie cartoon, “Pikachu’s Rescue”. In the scene where the clouds begin to form, we see the trees which are painted, brushing with the wind.
Vampire Hunter D (Banpaia hantâ D) (1985)
“Vampire Hunter D” is an underrated movie; sure, it may not rank up there to some with other anime masterpieces, but it will always top my list of the best anime horror I’ve ever seen. Though kind of an obscure animated horror/action classic, “Vampire Hunter D” is one of my favorite animated films of all time and is worth the watch. In the animated adaptation of the manga, we meet Doris, a lonely demon hunter and farmer who lives alone with her little brother. One night while hunting a monster, she meets up with a vampire warlord named Magnus Lee who brands her with his patented vampire kiss of death.