Tuesday, 28 August 2007
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Byousoku 5cm Screening In Dallas
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Byousoku Screening In Dallas
The film Byousoku 5cm will be screening in Dallas, Texas on 30 August during their Asian Film Festival. Those of you who are planning to go there, you should really consider watching this movie. I highly recommend it. I've watched this film myself and I know what I'm talking about. If you're still not convinced, then go watch it yourself. I can assure you that you won't regret it =).
Thursday, 23 August 2007
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Weird Error Message From Blogger
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Weird Error Message From Blogger
I remember I was trying to upload some pictures onto my class blog some time ago when I came across this unusual error message: bX-fark4r. Anyone care to explain why this error message is typed in such a way O.o? Oh well, its not like it irritates or annoys me. I just find it rather strange and... unique? =D
"Every hobby community has its own bunch of retards and losers who think that they are glorifying their hobby by trying to force it onto others. In this case, it’s just unfortunate that the anime community has more of such idiots"
This is just a small extract from a post by an anime blogger. I decided to explore his blog because he's from Singapore too =). This post was quite old, but I feel that this is an interesting post. For the full post, you can view it here.
Well, all I can say is that I totally agree with his stand. I have personally experienced this (and I'm sure many of you have as well) as some of my friends gloat about their hobbies too and believe me it gets REALLY irritating. I mean, I understand if a person likes what he is doing and stuff, but to talk about it for hours? Thats going overboard...
This blogger also mentioned about these retards forcing their hobbies onto you. This is what irritates me the most actually. It is bad enough that they are talking about it 24/7, but to get you to like something which you're completely not interested in or got turned off by all the talking? I have nothing else more to say...
All I know is that I will tell people that I enjoy watching anime, but I won't keep talking about it to somebody who does not have interest in it at all.
Wednesday, 22 August 2007
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Byousoku 5cm Review by Daike!
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Byousoku 5cm Review By Daike
This review is NOT by me! It was done by Daike, the Webmaster of Makoto Shinkai's Fan Web. I know that this review was written back in March, and probably a lot of people had already read it, but I guess I am just part of the minority who had just come across it. After watching Byousoku 5 Centimeter, I couldn't help but search for reviews. I wanted to see what people think about this movie and especially their explanations on the themes or philosophy of the movie. Well, the review by Daike was the best I could find so far. I have edited some parts of his review as there were some grammatical errors. Despite that, ALL credit should go to Daike and NEVER me. He was the one who used his brain, and I'm just somebody polishing his review a little. For those of you who wants to see his original review, you can go here.
- It's a Real Makoto Shinkai Film -
I had watched Byousoku 5cm yesterday. Wow, it really shows who Mr Shinkai is. I can say Byousoku 5cm is the ultimate result of what he has been trying to make for all these years. I mean, to see Byousoku 5cm is to meet Mr Shinkai himself.
The first episode is a story about faint love between a boy and a girl, both whom experienced difficulties due to their weakness. In the story, their weakness was expressed as time (e.g. their age, the train's delay). The main characters are so young, in fact, too young to decide which path in life they should take on their own. However, such difficulties are very normal, and they are familiar to us. So, any viewers will be able to sympathize with them. This story reminds me of Voices of a Distant Star due to these similarities: two characters, mails, monologues, distances and time, as well as huge difficulties. The story ends with two kinds of emotions in the viewer's heart: hope and anxiety. That is the reason why I said Oukashou is "the second Voices of a Distant Star."
The second episode is my favorite in Byousoku 5cm. It's a story of a girl, Kanae, and her one-sided love. She had two big concerns: the approaching time to decide on her path in life and how to express her love to a boy. This is a story of a small step taken by the girl for the sake of herself. She learned how to live in this world where we can't easily get what we desired. The motif of this story, "the desire for something so close, yet so far", is similar to The Place Promised in Our Early Days. But I don't think this episode is "the second The Place Promised In Our Early Days". This is because the main character is the embodiment of the story in both anime and manga. Also, Kanae is making an effort to look into the future which is different from Hiroki, the main character in The Place Promised In Our Early Days. She has definitely given a different taste to Byousoku 5cm from The Place Promised In Our Early Days.
The third episode is a rather short, but important story for understanding what message Mr Shinkai is trying to convey to the viewers. The title of this episode is Byousoku 5cm (5 centimeters per second), "the speed at which cherry blossom petal flutters down". This was quoted from Akari during the first few seconds in the first episode. I think the reason why he selected this sentence for its title is to express our slow progress in moving forward in life. It also means "the speed of how a person changes by the passing of time."
To know someone has changed is often sad. However it is a law of this world which we can't escape from. It may sound fatalistic, but it is not. It means that you can choose your own path, but never another person's... even if you loved him or her so much.
The cherry blossom petals drop off from their flowers, and slowly fall down to the ground. Even if they do drop off from the same flower, they rarely fall on the same spot. We can identify own lives with these beautiful cherry blossom petals. I believe that is what Mr Shinkai poured into this story and its title.
When I first heard this song, I immediately fell in love with it(same goes with "Allegretto ~Sora to Kimi~")! I was searching for videos for School Days on Youtube, and I came across a MAD video with this song. Although the song's lyric in the video is in Japanese, I've managed to make out some words from the song and I have to say that they have touched me (yes I know I'm being gay and all, but I like romance stuff so too bad!). I went to look for the lyrics and I LOVED it. I really hope you guys enjoy this as much as I do.
[Anata ga... Inai]/[You Are... Not Here] Vocal: Kuribayashi Minami From: School Days Game Ending 1
[Romaji/English]
egao ga yuragu koe ga furueru nijindeku keshiki
My smile trembles And my voice shakes In this blurring scenery
nakayoku naritakute koe kaketa no junsui na hitomi mabushikute chikaku ni itai kara motto motto chiisana itami wa shiranai furi
I talked to you because I wanted to know you better Your pure eyes are so bright I want to to be closer to you, more and more I pretend to forget the tiny aching
hontou ni taisetsu na hito wo itsunoma ni te ni ireta no? hashaideru itsumo yori oshaberi ne? tsukisasaru genjitsu
When did you finally, Get the person you love? You seem lively and more talkative than usual I am in pain as I face this reality
egao ga yuragu koe ga furueru kidzukarenu youni utsumuku anata ga... inai koko niwa... inai wakariaeta noni umaranai kyori
My smile trembles And my voice shakes I look down and pretend I'm alright You are... not here Not by... my side Though we understood each other, There exists an unfillable gap between us
kotoba kawasu dake de ureshiku naru yasashii hitomi ni tsutsumarete hitamuki na kimochi ni obienagara seiippai no omoi sotto sasageta
Just exchanging a few words with you makes me happy Embraced by your gentle eyes, I trembled at my real feelings But still I quietly offered you all my heart
hontou ni taisetsu na deai yukkuri to hagukumitai todoketai todokanai itsu kara ka fuan dake fukuramu
I want to slowly develop Our truly precious meeting I want to reach you, but I can't And before I know it, only my fear grows
hanareru koto ga unmei nante... zutto kono mama to shinjiteta anata ga... inai koko niwa... inai ukeirerarezu ni sagashitsudzuketa
I've always believed, That we were never meant to be You are... not here Not by... my side I couldn't accept this, so I kept on searching
namida ga tsutau kotoba ga kieru karamaru omoi hodokenai anata ga... inai koko niwa... inai yukisaki nakushita kodoku na tameiki
The tears are telling The words are fading The teasing emotions won't leave me alone You are... not here Not by... my side With nowhere else to go, I let out a sigh of solitude
egao de iru kara...suki de isasete
I will continue to smile... so please let me love you
