| 1. | (10 posts) | Princess Mononoke Video Reviews |
| 2. | (3 posts) | Anime in Utah |
| 3. | (14 posts) | Princess Mononoke Posters |
| 4. | (5 posts) | How Many Drawings? |
| 5. | (14 posts) | What you've all been waiting for. . . Hard Core Nudity! |
We looked at 213 posts by 53 different contributors.
The list rolls on. . . have you rented the Princess Mononoke VHS yet?
Ryoko Toyama posted a ton of clipped newspaper reviews:
Aaron Meyers mused, "Is anybody else on this list from Utah (just wondering)? I'm trying to see if any kind of Anime Conventions etc. that you other people are always talking about exist here." David Athay replied, "I am but I will deny it if ever asked. ^_~. . . areas around the colleges (ie: BYU and UofU as well as Utah State) a fairly ripe with anime fans and also with Miyazaki fans. This is largely due to the Mormon missionary efforts (you'd be surprised at how many people from small, podunk towns in Utah speak excellent Japanese). . . I'm sure there are comic conventions down at the Delta center and also at the old Salt Palace. The comic conventions will have an anime sub group if that is what you are looking for. Other than that the colleges themselves are probably your best bet."
Joe Monson wrote, "There aren't any specifically-anime cons in Utah, but CONduit (the annual sf&f con in Salt Lake) has a full anime track and they show Miyazaki anime every year. . . There's also an anime club in Salt Lake called SLAAKers. . . you could probably see most of the Miyazaki/Ghibli films either at the club or by borrowing tapes."
A lenghty thread, considering the topic. Ketcha wondered, "where to find a movie poster for Princess Mononoke...?" Suggestions boiled down to:
Xavier Michaut asked, "just how many drawings per second are there in the Ghibli animations?" I responded:
# of cels - 144043 Time - 133 minutes
"From the MH film info page:
So with some math the figure is a hair above 18 cels per second.
Of course this turned out to be totally incorrect <g>
Marc Hairston wrote, "18 is just an average and things are worse if they're counting *all* the cels. A single frame can have 1 to 4 or more overlaid cels in it, some of the cels changing every frame, others not. . . I think what the questioner wanted to know is do they film on the 1s (a different image every frame for 24 frames per second), on the 2s (each image is shot twice for a total of 12 different images per second), on the 3s (well you get the picture...). . . Ghibli films are generally on the 2s with some scenes done on the 1s. (TV shows, in order to be economical, sometimes will go down to 4s or worse). . . It's a tribute to Miyazaki and Ghibli's skill that you rarely notice that most of their stuff is not all 1s like Disney."
Chi Chung Tse (an animator at ILM) replied, "For Ghibli film, normally there are 8 drawings per second but for special case like fast action scene they might increase it to 12 drawings per sec. . . One of principle on animation frame rate is 12 drawings per second as the minium to avoid stroking or the jumpyness for the life-like moment. . . 8 drawings per second rate was first widely used by Tezaka on Astroboy (The first TV anime!) due to the budget issue. But somehow the followed TV anime shows use that as a business/production model and finally became a anime principle and unique style (when done right of course :)" Michael Wojcik chipped in, "I notice more glitches and awkwardly animated scenes in Disney films (for example, the workshop scene with Belle and her father early on in _BATB_; the figures are somewhat distorted and the movement is uneven) than in Ghibli work. If there are significant differences in frame rate I don't think it's paying off."
Winner of the pretigious Thread of the Week® award (if not for the subject alone), it started out with Dave Homsher commenting, "My biggest complaint about his character is that when he leaves the Emishi village he shows no sign of sorrow. . . for crying out loud, he leaves everything, with not even a tear ... I would expect at least a wistful look back at the village" Tom Wilkes wrote, "This is only my own interpretation, of course -- but when Ashitaka gallops headlong out of the Emishi village after Kaya's tears start flowing, I think he did so in order that Kaya's last memory of him would be of his smile, rather than his own tears of parting."
Julio Bruna replied, "This is not what I'm feeling. I think Ashitaka is someone that didn't let his emotion get out of him. . . Outside, he seems to be a rock. I think this is due to his condition, he's the future king after all, he must show no fear, sadness or anger to his people. . . But I didn't say that Ashitaka feel no emotion. I find him really melancolic during all the film. Moreover I think melancoly is the main atmosphere of the film." Setyr (I really should figure out their real names eh?) wrote, "I agree that Miyazaki-san shows Ashitaka's emotions in a more subtle ways. I also think he (Ashitaka) has that (originated with the Anglo-Saxons) mental fixation, that I am a man, I must be strong, I can't let anyone know the pain I'm in. . . Remember the segment, after the Great Forest Spirit heals Ashitaka from the bullet (or musket) wound, and he realizes that the mark is still there. I think (possibly) he cries not only because the mark remains, but, at that point everything catches up with him. The animals and the humans hate, together with his suffering, and the twenty-fifth letter of the alphabet, (Y) why?"
Walter Amos mentioned, "With a subject topic such as "Nude Bland Ashitaka..." one can't help but wonder how many female list members are reading the informative and complex discussion while the back of their minds are thinking "Mmmmmmm... nude Ashitaka...<drool>" ^_~" This earned him a similey from Sharon Westfall, "Oh Walter.. ^_^. . . Sorry, but Ashitaka wading in the water in his underwear made me wince. "Keep your clothes on, son....""
The thread returned to its normal programming through IronMouse, "Miyazaki's characters are usually very androgynous in looks. . . On the other hand, in western animation you can usually tell whether a character is male or female purely by their looks. . . Other people may not agree, but I like Miyazaki's designs very much largely because of how androgynous it looks. His characters are thus freer to break through the gender stereotypes, while still maintaining the "behavioural requirements" of their sex. . . Imagine "He-man" being gentle, caring and compassionate - it's not that it's not possible, it's just that he has no time to show his "softer" side because he's always too busy flexing his muscles and slicing and dicing the bad guys. . . the lack of "excessive expressionism" in his films certainly set it apart from other animated films. . . it stops emotionally intense scenes from being melodramatic, by restricting any sort of exaggeration that the animators (or even actors in a live-action film) may want to put in to get their point across. . . in exaggerating the characters' expressions and movement, you'll end up sacraficing subtlety. And if you're not subtle, then you don't resemble how people behave in real life, which IS subtle. . . Art Imitates Life, And Is Imitating It WELL ^_^."
Michael Wojcik replied, "I'll agree that Miyazaki's character designs don't exaggerate the secondary sexual characteristics as much as many in anime, but I don't know that I'd call them androgynous, exactly." Michael also discussed the topic of Nausicaa being "butch" (which IronMouse had mentioned in his post), "I know people who would likely see Nausicaa as quite butch, and others who would probably peg her as "femmey-butch", and still others who don't use "butch" for anyone without an extensive leather collection. . . I don't think it's inaccurate to call Nausicaa butch, but it certainly doesn't define her." Mike Arnold replied, "I actually don't think Nausicaa is particularly butch. <:-) There are several characters in Miyazaki's work I think would fit the description better, though: Monsley, Kushana, Eboshi, the women of the iron community"
Their dialog extended into a long (120+ lines each) but great comparison of Nausicaa and the "Alien" movies. Unfortunatly, their discussion is also nearly impossible to cull! Their thread is recommend reading (put aside 10-20 minutes though).
Marc Hairston did some semi-scientific research on video sales after Kiki's Delivery Service was shown on the Disney Channel. Marc also posted info on Dr. Susan Napier's current activities (which includes teaching anime at Harvard!) Robin Casady finished the skin mentioned last week, it's for SoundJam (which is Macintosh only) but I'm sure it's neat - hey, it even plugs Nausicaa.net! And of course it's coolest feature is "In pause mode three Kodamas shake their heads". Ryoko Toyama posted some bathing specifics and the meaning of the word "genkotsu". Tom Wilkes noted that Princess Mononoke popped up at firstlooks.com.
If you caught the reference in subject #5 you're watching way too much of "The Simpsons" I've started breaking up some of the longer text sections into seperate paragraphs, let me know what you think.