It is said that a director bares his soul and reveals his true nature in his films. If that is the case, then Oshii Mamoru, director of such anime classics as EGG OF THE ANGEL, the PATLABOR films, and GHOST IN THE SHELL, is probably one of the more complicated souls on the planet Earth. His most recent project, AVALON, is a mix of live-action and special effects and attempts to portray a world within a world.
Intro paragraph to EX:clusive - Peering Into The Mists Of Avalon - An Interview with Oshii Mamoru, at not-sure-if-they're-dead-or-not EX: The Online World of Anime & Manga.
Picked up the film because of the nice blurb from Neil Gaiman on the box -- figure anyone who thinks a quote from Neil will help move product is clearly. . . in need of all the help they can get -- and from a half-remembered mention of the film in FROM HERE TO SHINJUKU The Animatrix and Anime's Burgeoning Influence.
Curiously absent from The Animatrix is a contribution from Ghost in the Shell director Oshii [Mamoru (and yes, I'm not sure whether the family name should come first or second either at this point - Ed.)], whose cyberpunk leanings and artistic sensibilities would have made for an interesting short film in the Matrix universe. It is unknown if the Wachowskis even approached Oshii regarding The Animatrix, and the Japanese director may have seen too many similarities between his film and The Matrix for his own taste.[. . .] Although Oshii's next film, Avalon (2001), was a project he said he had been working on for a while, it feels like it may be his response to the ideas the Wachowskis pose in The Matrix. Avalon focuses on the difference between what is real and what is a dream, a common trope running through Oshii's films picked up by the Wachowski brothers for their film. While the real and the dream in The Matrix seems to be well defined if one has the ability to perceive it, in Avalon it is not nearly as clear. Given the interest generated by The Matrix in the United States, it would be interesting to see how Avalon would fare over here.
Not very well, if no one knows the thing is out, I'm figuring. Anyone seen ads for it? I don't think I read any magazines or regularly visit any websites that would have been selected for such advertising even if it did exist. . .
Anyway, being me, I haven't finished watching the film yet. And won't tonight, as I'm going to the show at Schuba's mentioned yesterday. So, um, possible review Wednesday. But don't hold your breath.
Update: Link to Avalon site corrected; remind me to check those things before just pasting 'em from source, huh?
Corrected link found at IMDB's Avalon page, which I should'a gone to in the first place. I am dumb.
And looking around Production IG's site (following a link from Destroy All Monsters) for something more about Ghost In The Shell, found something that cheered me up immensely:
In 1996, "Pa Rappa" made a successful debut on Sony Playstation as a music and dance game. The game became a hit amongst the hip rappers, and the cute character designs by Rodney Greenblats also brought about lots of attentions from the teenagers. Now, it's made itself into an animation series of 29 thirty-minute episodes. The main character "Pa Rappa" is of course present, and he's joined by many other wonderful characters to bring about excitement to his Pa Rappa town. You should also check out the great and fun music that the show uses throughout the series.
Oh yeah.
True, it's probably never going to make it to the US. . .
I don't recall seeing anything for "Avalon", but I'd probably do better to ask my oldest daughter - she's the anime fanatic in the house and tends to find out stuff far earlier than I'd hear about.
A Pa Rappa series? I'm sure it'll eventually show up here -- after 4Kids or someone else has glommed onto it and watered it down beyond recognition. (probably on ABC Family or somewhere like that - it's too much to expect it to show up on TechTV or Adult Swim)
Added to my rental queue--thanks for the recommendation.