Spent some time with my quality time with my brother to recover from the social hangover that is the double whammy of V-Day and LNY Day 1 being on the same day. With my folks were out on a date and my sis out at work, we were both the only 2 slackers at home who woke up at the glorious time of 10 in the morning without the sounds of general housecleaning or the blasted alarm clock. Mine did ring this morning (as I scheduled it to wake up me at 7.45) but it was a beautiful feeling to be able to just turn it off and go back to dreaming. My brother and I ended up walking around IMM and just talking about all things nostalgic – mainly films and cartoons that we remembered as children.
It’s interesting to note that my brother was born nearly a decade after me. He turns 19 this year so obviously he and I remembered different things with only some series overlapping. What I found most interesting was just how far back our interest in animation went back… and just how many of the cartoons whose names that we couldn’t remember were actually asian in origin. We both remembered films like Totoro fondly as we poured over the shelves of the dvd store. I’d state more but we just couldn’t remember the titles. Oddly enough, we could remember the american cartoons for their titles but not the plot. Rare exceptions were series like Pirates of Darkwater and Fox’s Peter Pan – whose plots and animation quality enthralled me as child.
I found myself at a loss when I tried to decide what to buy. Paprika was something I’ve always wanted to watch… and Twilight Samurai and Zaitochi were coveted almost-additions to my collection as far as I could remember. In the end, I bought up three entirely different titles:
Couldn't decide... so bought all 3. =.=
From left to right: Pom Poko, Tales from Earthsea and The Simpsons Movie
- Pom Poko
I remembered watching Pom Poko as a child and I loved it. I must have been 10 or so and I probably watched the version that was dubbed in either Malay or Chinese. It was the same situation for Totoro and Dragon Ball Z. I was especially delighted to find out that it was available in these lovely tin covers and with a free coaster that’s too precious to be used. I remembered crying at the end and asking my dad if I could grow up and work for Greenpeace or PETA so that I could help animals (especially the fantastical Tanuki). My dad, wonderful man that he is, just told me to stop crying and said I could grow up being whatever I wanted to be. I was vegetarian for 3 days, enduring the wrath of my mother…. and thus, I credit this film with the one that set me on the inevitable road of being a little more environmentally conscious. Beautifully drawn and poignantly directed, the only thing I’m afraid of when I think of watching this piece of art is how much I’ll cry. Again.
Pom Poko
- Tales from Earthsea
Okay, so this one isn’t strictly from my childhood (it was released in 2004) and I read the books at an age where I was too young to internalise the meaning or remember much of it, for that matter. Maybe that’s a sign that I ought to go back to it and actually pay more attention this time round. Spud is a huge fan of the Earthsea series. We watched the Legend of Earthsea, amidst minor prods from him telling me that it was very much different from the books he read. However, I remembered it being very beautifully drawn and the style made me think of Princess Mononoke for some reason. I understood it to be Goro Miyazaki’s first production and while it’s not the book, I don’t really care much because the spirit of the work is wonderfully artistic in its simplicity.
Goro Miyazaki’s Tales from Earthsea
- The Simpsons Movie
Me: You know… I don’t know if I really want this. It’s really cheap at $10 but…
Bro: *sings* Spider Pig… Spider Pig… Just think of that scene.
Me: Lol. Yeah.
So The Simpsons isn’t really anime and it’s nowhere as technically artistic as the previous 2 Ghibli purchases I made. But that’s really the charm of The Simpsons – the basic 2-D renditions and the unashamed pop culture references that I grew up with and took to like a duck to water. Watching the Simpsons never required brain power and I never remembered a episode I didn’t like. Every episode cracked me up and the movie, perhaps unfortunately, felt like an extended one hour plus special… Its hard to describe why I love The Simpsons so much in words other than ‘It’s just really funny’. I picked this up for its sheer entertainment value… and just in case, anyone forgot why they love it too, here’s a little reminder that sums up everything we love about the Simpsons:
So that sums up my my animation purchases and the reasons. No one will probably read this but I’ll enjoy remembering the reasons anyway. *curls up and pops in the Pom Poko dvd* ^_^
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