The Sky Crawlers

General discussion (non-Usagi Yojimbo related) about all things Japan -- Feudal Japan, Samurai, Ninjas, Anime & Manga, Chambara films, Japanese Pop Culture, Otaku, martial arts, history, sushi, giant robots, Godzilla... anything Japan-related!

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Shinobi<Special Ninja Agent>
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The Sky Crawlers

Post by go »

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Jet_Jaguar
Shugyosha<Student Warrior>
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Post by Jet_Jaguar »

Looks pretty good. The design of some of those airplanes looks a little bit like something out of The Wings of Honneamise (aka Royal Space Force):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szF2ILxO ... re=related

I still want to see Oshii's previous film, Tachigui - The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0jXyZ_ClCE
"It doesn't matter whom you are paired against;
your opponent is always yourself."

-Nakamura (via Joe R. Lansdale's Mucho Mojo)
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JIN
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Post by JIN »

Wow that looks great! When's it out?
Laugh and The World Laughs With You, Weep and You Weep alone.
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Jet_Jaguar
Shugyosha<Student Warrior>
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Post by Jet_Jaguar »

This movie is out on DVD today. I have it at the top of my Netflix queue, but it has a "short wait" status, so it may be a little while before I get to see it.

I found this review to be interesting:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41190

It sounds like the kind of movie that will alienate some people, but it sounds like that may have been intentional to some extent.
"It doesn't matter whom you are paired against;
your opponent is always yourself."

-Nakamura (via Joe R. Lansdale's Mucho Mojo)
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Jet_Jaguar
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Post by Jet_Jaguar »

I watched this movie yesterday. It was...okay but hard to recommend to anyone who's not already a big Mamoru Oshii fan. Anyone who's familiar with Oshii's work will see some of the same themes present in his other films, and there's a chance that they'll feel that it's mostly territory that Oshii has covered before (although, in this case, that might be somewhat appropriate). I didn't really see it as an allegory about Otaku-dom like the AICN reviewer did, but that may be the type of thing that one picks up on repeat viewings. I liked Kenji Kawai's score, even if it sounded a little bit recycled from the first Ghost in the Shell movie.

If you look hard enough, you can probably find some thematic "connective tissue" linking it to Angel's Egg, a movie that I consider to be sort of the "Rosetta Stone" for understanding Mamoru Oshii. (It's not available on DVD, but you can watch a pretty decent copy here: http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/categ ... 00cRrSRZJ7 )
"It doesn't matter whom you are paired against;
your opponent is always yourself."

-Nakamura (via Joe R. Lansdale's Mucho Mojo)
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