Vladimir Rakhmanin takes a look at two films shown at the recent Anime Marathon…
Vladimir Rakhmanin
Staff Writer
I really enjoy anime. I love the classic animes like Akira as well as look forward to new releases like sword art online. I recently had the pleasure of attending an Anime Marathon, hosted by Sci-Fi Society and Japsoc. Normally I watch anime online, but attending a marathon was so much fun. While the entire event ran for approximately ten hours, with seven films on show, I dropped in to see the two that I was most interested in, Grave of the Fireflies and Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.11. In a way, the two could not be more different – while both belong to the animated medium, one is a tragic, down-to-earth anti-war narrative, while the other is an outrageously over-the-top philosophical action saga.
We’ll start with Grave of the Fireflies. Grave of the Fireflies is made by Studio Ghibli, who are often described as Japan’s answer to Disney – they have produced such masterpieces as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Unlike those fairy-tale-like films, though, this one is more realistic, even though it retains the beautiful human aspects of the studio’s more traditional offerings.
Set towards the end of World War II, it follows the story of Seito and Setsuko, brother and sister, attempting to survive after some bombings destroy their city. The animation is stunning, and I would expect no less from Studio Ghibli. The character design truly shines – Setsuko is absolutely adorable. I also love the fact that the soundtrack occasionally stops completely, with periods of complete silence during certain shots – this silence really adds gravity to the emotional impact of the story.
And the emotional impact is indeed severe. Absolutely do not go into this film unprepared; you are mostly likely to end up weeping like a child. I myself was close to tears, although the hilariously dark comments from some of the audience members helped me to pull myself together. Every element of the film comes together to really hammer the message home, and it does so with devastating power. The most important factor here, in my opinion, is that Grave of the Fireflies actually makes you care about its characters through small, human details.
For example, in a scene when the siblings are taking a bath, Seito makes an air bubble, much to Setsuko’s delight. You can really see the playful curiosity on her face, the childish glee, the sense of discovery. Or Seito’s enthusiastic patriotism when he’s talking to his sister, full of bitter irony, considering that we know how the war will end. These details make the film that much stronger, and make it rank up there with some of the greatest war films ever made.
A little too depressing? Let’s talk about Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.11. The Evangelion franchise is so embedded in the minds of all anime fans, that I’ll have to address the review both to those who watched the original series, and for complete newcomers.
To the uninitiated – Neon Genesis Evangelion is an anime series that aired during the mid-90s in Japan. It was absolutely ground-breaking, and used many tropes that have since become stereotypes for the medium – giant robots, a conspiracy plot, philosophical musings… While these elements had been used before, Evangelion used them to their full potential in a brilliant way. To this day, people discuss the controversial, imagery-laden ending. In fact, many would consider this to be the greatest anime series ever made. Unfortunately, the serious lack of funding harmed the visual quality of the project, and, when viewed today, it looks terrible. And so, recently enough, a remake of the series was begun in four films, this one being the first, and covering approximately six episodes of the original anime. This is definitely the superior version, and if you’re a total newcomer, this is the one to start with.
To the fans – man, this version is gorgeous. I cannot stress this enough. Sci-Fi Society were showing the Blu-Ray version, and right from the beginning my jaw hit the floor. Every scene is crisp and flowing with colour – bits of CGI have been added to enhance certain moments (one of the Angel attacks is mind-blowing – you’ll know it when you see it). I also love the way foreshadowing has been added, which refers to the events later on in the plot, making for a more coherent narrative – not only that, I feel like the whole film flows faster than the original series. Of course, the series still has its problems – Shinji is still a whiny little brat, certain moments of weird humour (the protagonist’s first visit to Rei, for example) don’t quite mesh with the overall serious tone, and the story is just as overly-philosophical as it was the first time round. But we’ve made our peace with that a long time ago, I think – and if you’re even at all interested, you should definitely watch this gorgeous remake.
