Category: Animé

Raspberry Heaven

There’s lots of Azumanga Daioh on YouTube™, but as a follow-up to a previous posting, here are the end credits, framed by the commercial break outro and intro.  The “Raspberry Heaven” catch-phrase is very catchy. 
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Movies/Wordpress/Anime/azumangadaioh.flv 320 236]

It took a couple of episodes to see past the underlying wackiness.  Something I didn’t realize at first is the show deals with some very contemporary themes about growing up that in previous generations were simply not presented.

Seven Samurai 7

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Movies/Wordpress/Anime/samurai_7.flv 425 236]

Honorable son Eric’s latest Animé pick is Samurai 7, a series based on the legendary movie, The Seven Samurai.  When I was in high school, the Boston PBS station showed it complete and commercial-free, and it was my friend and mentor Morris Hyman who made sure I didn’t miss it.

Eric and I watched the original movie together not too many months ago, and I was pleased to see that he was suitably impressed.  George Lucas borrowed much from this movie when creating The Jedi Knights.

I’ve spliced together a couple of brief scenes from both presentations for comparison.  Below is, obviously, the original.  No robots!
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Movies/Wordpress/Anime/7samurai.flv 320 240]

Eric’s Animé Pick

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Movies/Wordpress/Anime/azumanga.flv 320 240]

This time around is the opening to Azumanga Daioh, along with a couple of gags.  Azumanga Daioh is so totally nonsensical it defies description.  Originally a 4-panel comic strip, it was then turned into a daily 5-minute Animé for TV.

Since this video preview is already wacky, for contrast I’ll tack on a single-gag cartoon done of the 4-panel comic strip Peanuts, way back in 1963.  This was some of the first animation produced to test Charlie Brown and the gang for television.

Eric’s Animé Pick

[flv:/Movies/Wordpress/Oct06/pillows.flv 440 330]

Eric has us watching a totally bizarre, edgy and over-the-top 6-show series called FLCL.  The most accessible thing about it for me is the music by The Pillows.

The video is a catchy Pillows song from FLCL called “Ride on Shooting Star.” Use the embedded audio player to hear the song with much better sound, in stereo.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/Japan/Pillows.mp3]

More Early Days

See a previous post for two trailers to the Animé title, The Place Promised in Our Early Days.

Here are two scenes from the movie that I’ve spliced together.  Note: the bit rate is pushed up to 700 Kbps.  We’re giving this one ★★★★★ (OK, who sees five red stars here and who sees something else?).  Thanks go again to honorable son Eric for putting it on the Netflix queue!

Click here