Sanada Ten Braves movie review

One of the highlights of my movie-going year is the Japanese Film Festival that plays in Melbourne, celebrating its 20^th anniversary this year. It always has a diverse mix of movies and while the quality can be pot-luck, there are always a few gems in there. This year I saw two movies, The Magnificent Nine and Sanada Ten Braves, the latter of which I’ll talk about today.

I’ll say straight up, this movie was quirky. It was like a cross between a typical samurai period movie and the anime series Naruto. It had this bizarre almost playful sense of humour throughout and right from the start I was expecting it to be crap – but I have to say overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Japanese love to propose ‘what if?’ scenarios to their period movies. I’ve seen many movies and drama series that have turned history on its head, exploring often ambiguous themes from slightly different angles. For example one tele-movie had the infamous Oda Nobunaga as a woman – and rather than being assassinated by Akechi MItsuhide – ran off in love with him!

This movie focuses on the famous general Sanada Yukimura – noted for his amazing defence of Osaka castle against the overwhelming forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Sanada clan – former Takeda retainers, were not powerful but were particularly crafty and known to have many ties with ninja. Through skilful negotiation and subterfuge, they managed to avoid getting crushed when literally trapped between the vastly more powerful Hojo, Uesugi, Tokugawa and even the Oda.

This movie has Yukimura as a coward whose entire life was a lie. All the great battles in which he was famed – he wasn’t responsible, it was his ten ninja retainers known as the Sanada Ten Braves. The reoccurring theme is about lies – in that, if a lie is believable enough to everyone else then that lie becomes genuine. So essentially the question is – can General Sanada become a genuine hero?

The movie opens with an introduction to the first 9 of the braves and is done in a quite effective anime. The tone for the rest of the movie is established when a message pops up on screen, “This is not an anime, the actual movie will start shortly!”

The ten braves were over the top ninja’s and warriors – literally as if they were plucked from the ninja anime Naruto. As is often the case, translating these kinds of characters to reality often looks like bad cosplay – and in the case of Kirigakure Saizo (also a famous figure from Japanese history / mixed media) – he has that long sweeping forlock and slightly feminine cast which is so popular. Actually he reminded me of Miyamoto Musashi’s flamboyant rival Kojiro Sasuke.

But these characters were fun! There were some genuinely funny moments throughout but what sealed the deal for me was the combat, beyond the ninja combat high-wire type fighting, there was some seriously enjoyable and large scale feudal Japanese combat as Tokugawa Ieyasu launched his massive army against the defences of Osaka – primarily the fortress manned by the Sanada where Yukimura made his name, known as the Sanada Maru.

After the final conflict was resolved, there was a scene in a storehouse that caught me by surprise – it was just the perfect ending, followed by a slightly slapstick epilogue type scene and this bizarre hand drawn series of comics detailing how the surviving members went on to form a performing troupe.

It was bizarre as hell but highly enjoyable and in parts, surprisingly emotional. Highly recommended but don’t go into it with any expectations.

The thing about Trump…

I can understand how so many down-trodden American’s are looking to Trump as a saviour of sorts. Someone different. Someone from way left of field, not cut from the same mould as the politicians; who in their eyes, have failed them.

In many respects, I feel the same about the Australian government. I feel measures of frustration and infuration when I read about them. The constant bickering and inaction. The backwards thinking in regards to critical issues such as climate control, the disgraceful handling of asylum seekers and marriage equality. In short, our government sucks, whichever side of the fence you fall on.

I keep thinking it needs reform. Core structural issues that affect the country shouldn’t be mnaged by these incompetent fools who are assigned to a particular portfolio (often beyond their area of expertise) but something along the lines of Singapore – where an independant body of experts handle these things beyond the infuriating political body.

I can see then, where someone like Trump who is so far removed from the a-typical middle-aged white guy could have appeal. The key difference however, is this kind of person needs to have those left of field trait, but also be armed with the facts.

Having just watched the debate between Clinton and Trump I was not surprised in the least at the result. It was like watching a child debate a parent. There was no contest. The sheer fact that everything Trump says is either completely devoid of detail or directly contradicting (or denying) things he’s said on record in the past is telling. Clinton on the other hand answered everything with the cool, calm and collected head of someone not only prepared, but someone who knew what they were talking about.

IF Trump argued against her, backed by fact and knowledge, rather than the blathering babble of someone clearly out of their depth, then something akin to a landslide might occur. As it stands, Trump to his supporters is a clear indication of what the people want. They want something different – and I dont think that’s too unreasonable at all as I’d like the same in Australia. But when that something different is a dodgy, shit-talking, sexist, racist and questionably successful business-man like Trump however – until someone with integrity, passion for real change and armed with the facts comes along, we’re stuck with the same middle-aged white politicians who created this problem.

Berserk 2016 – Worth the wait?

Ever since I was young I’ve enjoyed Japanese anime. Not the cutesy Pokemon/Sailor Moon type stuff that many people immediately think of when they see the word anime – but the heavier movies and TV series that often have cult followings attached to them. Series like Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo – all timeless classics. These types of stories are very much aimed at adults and are often surprisingly complicated when dealing with various scientific and political issues. Berserk, another old favourite has resurfaced this year and for once, is finally continuing the story.

Like most anime, Berserk is also adapted from its original manga and I’ll admit, as much as I enjoy reading/watching Japanese stories, I struggled with the manga. Japanese books/comics are effectively the opposite of their western equivilants – you start from the back cover and read from back to front. In addition, you’re scanning from right to left. I tried really hard to get used to this but it just does my head in, it feels so bloody weird!

The original Berserk anime came out in 1997 and follows the story of Guts (or Gatsu in the original manga), a swordsman noted for his strength and in particular, his ridiculously massive sword. The very first episode is present day and then quickly jumps back in time to follow a younger Guts as he hooks up with a renowned mercenary group known as the Band of the Hawk and the stories two other main characters, the enigmatic Griffith and the fierce warrior captain Casca. I won’t go into the story as it gets bizarre from that point, but I will say that Berserk is as unique as it is awesome.

The anime series ran for approximately 25 episodes and ended in a particularly dark place – and that was it. Short of reading the manga, there was no means of knowing what happened to these characters we’d grown to love – until 2013 when a series of three movies was released known as Berserk – the Golden Arc. These three movies effectively rebooted the series – following the same story but with newer (and not neccessarily better) animation – but frustratingly like the anime, also jumped back in time and retold the same story as the original 1997 show. Worse though, these movies of questionable quality skipped over most of the story (obviously limited timewise) and much of the character development suffered as a result. For someone new to the series this wasnt the best entry-point to the story.

But finally in 2016 we’ve been given a brand new series that continues the story. It starts with Guts fighting in a familiar tavern, but what happens there was not a jump back in time, but pushing forward! Woo!

And now having watched all 12 episodes of this first series (until it returns in 2017) I have to say the overall feeling is slightly under-whelmed. The animation itself is decidedly low-budget and has adopted this pencil sketch type technique which I assume is an ode to the manga but just makes everything seem a bit…shit. The character animations are jerky, the models a bit on the lifeless side and i guess the overall feeling is watching a video game from early 2000.

The story itself is not much better. I’m told from people who have read the manga that it hits all the key points but like the movie, it feels like it moves from one scene to the other with not a lot of explanation as to why. We’re introduced to this religious zealot known as Father Mogus and the Knights of the Holy Chain (basically like the Spanish Inquisition) as Guts tries to find Casca (who is still insane from the end of the original anime’s dark conclusion).

There’s fights with rather goofy looking demons, a range of odd new characters including a particularly annoying blonde with super tight curls, and well – there’s not a lot else to speak of. Guts is still pretty badass but i suppose the highlights are the comic interactions between the young thief-type Isidro and Puck the elf which tap into some of the things that make anime so enjoyable in the first place.

So while I’m keen to see how things pan out in the next series, I do have to say that Berserk 2016 was a bit disappointing and difficult to reccomend.

 

 

 

THE PRE-WRITE PROJECT: AN EPIC WORKBOOK

I’ve been spending a lot of time developing an idea for a novel that’s been percolating in my brain. It’s been at least a year now – maybe two, a process that’s taken far more time than I would have anticipated. It started out as a germ of a story which evolved into a setting and eventual world – well a continent on a world. I began building various systems, governments, cultures and a vague sense of the characters and themes I wanted populating this place.

Currently I have developed all of the above, 3 main characters, 2 antagonists, 2 clear cultures and a 3^rd that’s still hazy, and the beginnings of an outline. But it’s getting out of control! Every day there’s something new that needs to be determined, some other painful question that needs answering and the worst part? It needs to be written! Other than the beginnings of a prologue and several partially written chapters, it’s a mountain I’m still down here looking up at the foothills.

So as usual, in my quest to do anything other than actually write – I started hitting up Google for some means of collating this information because it’s getting simply too much to manage. I have Word documents everywhere, notes in my phone, emails to myself, you name it! So much information in so many places it’s ridiculous.

And I came across THE PRE-WRITE PROJECT over at She’s Novel. For $7.00 USD this was exactly what I was after – a series of sheets designed to collate these thoughts into what the creator Kristen Kieffer calls a Story Bible. This bible effectively contains everything I have described above – but more. It drills right down into the details, from initial story intentions to character motivations. In a nutshell – it’s fantastic. For that price it was a bit of a no-brainer for me but I find myself having two problems with it:

1. It’s sold as a digital workbook but other than being a PDF – it’s not actually a digital workbook. Annoyingly, you cannot enter text into the documents themselves. You’re either going to have to print them out and fill them in or transcribe them yourself. I’ve been trying to unlock the PDF’s and have done so, but it’s not ideal as it’s still not direct text entry. IF these were truly digital workbooks they would be amazing, but for now, they’re simply good.
2. I need to find the motivation now to actually fill them out. You would think that based on everything I said above that I would be leaping at the opportunity. But nope – the writing muscle I possess is still about as flaccid as it comes. As I begin to fill it out I….Reddit. House of Cards. Stare at closest wall.

One great thing about these workbooks however is they come at you with a plan. Kristen has put down a timeframe and a rough amount of hours needed to fill it out which is really quite realistic. If I can whip my ass into gear, I’ll report back – just don’t hold your breath.

If you pick up these workbooks and find them of value let me know – it might just inspire me to fill them out! If you can find an easy way to unlock the text fields without the Acrobat typewriter thing, double let me know!

Star Trek goes Beyond

Growing up, I wouldn’t call myself a Star Trek fan. There was always this thing at school – this reoccurring discussion between young males who possessed a gene that automatically attracted them to anything science fiction. You either fell into the Star Wars or Star Trek camps – subscribing to both was out of the question. I fell into the Star Wars camp, but I was never one of those people who felt inclined to rock up a movie premiere in costume – I was content to merely enjoy the movies for what they were – and harbor a secret man-crush for Harrison Ford of course.

But Star Trek – if Star Wars was space opera, Star Trek was space adventure. Always light-hearted and fun with a cast of familiar characters solving space-problems with technological mcguffins. Need more boost in your phase pulsar? Just add neuro-lathed kryithium – duh.

Star Trek Beyond was very much a genuine Star Trek experience – and the best of the three new movies. I quite enjoyed the first Star Trek movie but found the second to be average (although I do think I also over-analysed it). Beyond was different. The plot was largely throw-away but I felt that the new cast of characters (established in 2009’s Star Trek) really hit their stride. In the two movies prior they came across like they were trying too hard to do justice to the original line-up, but in Beyond, they felt like they’d finally became those characters. My favourite I think was Bones, played by the awesome Karl Urban (please go make Dredd 2 now thx), whose banter with Zachary Quinto’s Spock was highly enjoyable. And kudos also to Chris Pine, whose Kirk constantly reminded me of oldschool William Shatner.

As mentioned, the plot was mostly forgettable but the look and feel of the movie was very much a Star Trek adventure flick. I particularly like the way they continue to use original sound effects (such as the distinctive blip of the sensors), and the classic Star Trek sliding doors. The Enterprise appears modern yet old-school – a definite achievement.

If there’s one thing that ties the three movies together it’s the Enterprise getting its ass kicked. Having enjoyed many of the original movies and watching the Next Generation late at night during my school years when doing homework –  I don’t ever recall the Enterprise copping such a pounding as in these recent movies. But hey – in the far flung future, building starships ain’t so difficult, right?

The movie was highly enjoyable and if you enjoy a good sci-fi romp, I recommend Star Trek Beyond.