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15 years before the world ended (that would be 1985 for those of you keeping score) Mamoru Oshii gave the us this gem; his directorial debut, Angel’s Egg.

It’s minimalism rivals that of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, and ironically also like Beckett, when he was questioned as to what it was about, he replied “I don’t know”.  It’s my belief that Oshii chose to speak with the image rather than the word. Beckett, of course, was writing a play. Dialogue was something of a necessity. Oshii was under no such limitations however, and one of the true beauties of this film is that the lushness of the landscape, the haunting environment portrayed, speaks in greater volume than the characters would ever need to. As such, the dialog is minimal, serving primarily add appropriate counterpoint to the story already being played out.

In many ways it shares these aesthetic similarities with a much later (though indeed, truly excellent) film  Les triplettes de Belleville. While worlds apart in storyline the two both focus the viewer’s attention on the detail of the portrayed world by honing precisely in on those elements that will bring the most life to it. I find it disheartening that this is one frequently overlooked by fans of anime.

But the best part about all this of course?

It’s simply Art that Had to be Made.

(Warning: Veoh embed. You’ll need their silly player to view the whole thing, I wasn’t able to find a full copy elsewhere.)

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Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Videophilia by Etruscan
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Sadly, I’m running a bit short of time the fall evening, so I’ll have to make this one brief. However, I do not come empty-handed. Tonight I’ve managed to round up for you the part 1 and part 2 OVAs for the English subbed release of Battle Angel Alita, apparently released in the US as ‘Gunnm‘ (which was news to me, actually).

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Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Videophilia by Etruscan
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Below you’re likely to find a 5min preview of Kim Moon-saeng’s masterpiece Wonderful Days (released dubbed in the US as Sky Blue), one of the most top-notch and best produced examples of Dystopian anime I’ve come across in ages (Thanks Matt!). Sadly, the original Korean subbed version, in all it’s stunning feature length goodness, appears to be only hosted by Veoh; who want you to download their particular player. Stuff like that always makes me more than a little squirrely.

This is one of those exceedingly rare times that I’m going to tell you its worth it.

Watch Wonderful days (ENG SUB) in Animation

(Ed.Note: both link and download tested clean to all 4 scans I ran, and seem to be working quite well. Nor has a full system scan returned anything untoward.)
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Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Videophilia by Etruscan
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Ok, ok. You may have already seen this one as it was fairly widely released in the US. But that doesn’t detract from its loveliness. What does detract from its loveliness is the fact that it somehow ended up as a PS2 game. I’m still scratching my head over that one; done properly it could have turned out to be a tour-de-force, but ended up being a bit of a rote shooter. Nevertheless, the storyline (once it gets going) is a dystopian dream. Not, of course, the bits with all the shooting but rather the character development over the course of the series, which is on par with many of the longer running anime out there. Mafia controlled mega-corporations, human enhancement, gutter-punks rising to riches, all abound in Gungrave.

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Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Videophilia by Etruscan
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Now then, let’s try something in a slightly different vein. Thus far the  dystopias we’ve examined are some of the more tried and true definitions, those in which the experience is grounded in the familiar;  food,  shelter, politics,  war,  social unrest,  class inequality. These things we can all relate to in a personal, visceral form (to a greater or lesser degree). Tonight we’ll throw some new material in. Noein takes many of the the traditional tropes you might expect from standard anime fare  but grows on them by presupposing one fundamental idea. That our construction of Time is relative and subjective. Oh yes. It’s a treatment of Quantum Mechanics in anime form.

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Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Videophilia by Etruscan
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Ahh, now this should be interesting. I’ll go out on a limb (I swear, no pun intended.) tonight, as this is one I’m only now delving into (though it seems highly recommended). If you’re here with me tonight, then I’ve brought Hirotsugu Hamazaki’s Texhnolyze along. Class warfare, prosthetics, and consideration of a culture which has become overly obsessed with technology and the necessary human consequences of such, seem to be the order of the day. A bit like Repo in the anime form. Let’s watch together, shall we?

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Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Videophilia by Etruscan
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<begin> Welcome. Please leave all goggles and top hats at the door. You will be issued a biometrically assigned identity card with which you can reenter the theatre should you need to avail yourselves of any non-statutory amenities. Tonight, for your viewing pleasure, we have compiled the first moments of Innocent Venus
Please remain seated whilst projection is in progress, and disregard any opinion and/or viewpoint that you may find not in the interest of the public taste. All content has been pre-screened and approved by the applicable Cultural Panels.

Let us take this opportunity to offer a reminder that fraternizing with individuals not already familiar to you may constitute a danger, and possibly result in physical harm to yourself or others associated with you.

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Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Videophilia by Etruscan
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