Paprika and more...

Paprika movie poster, originally uploaded by Sakuya Masaki.

Well, I know I haven't posted in some time, but even in the week and a half absence I've somehow found much more that I can talk about. The main item being the film Paprika, which was showing in my city's downtown. I had no idea, but coincidentally saw the film listed and I went that very same day.

While I won't give the movie a full review, I will say I enjoyed the movie, especially with the theater experience. Having seen one of Satoshi Kon's other film Perfect Blue, I was more then prepared for a strange experience, and that is indeed what I got; however, one of the amazing qualities that anime allows for is an extreme sense of the visual surreal, while still being stylistically beautiful. Not that other genres don't also have that; however, it just seems directors like Satoshi Kon really know how to amplify those qualities of anime to a beautiful extreme.

My second item of note is more of something I consider a personal accomplishment, at least until I get a ton of negative comments, and that's the completion of my fourth AMV! I began watching Hayate the Combat Butler, after hearing about it on a couple of podcasts, watching the preview on Track-shun finally pushed me to watch the series, for which I'm grateful. I always figured, and still do to some degree, that heavily romantic animes aren't necessarily for me; however, I liked the romantic comedy side of Full Metal Panic, and I can now see why Hayate the Combat Butler, basically a romantic comedy with young characters, also attracted me. Of course, it didn't hurt that along with the comedy, they added often, comedically so, the breaking of the 4th wall, along with a plethora of funny anime references.

To get to the point though, I made an AMV with Hayate the Combat Butler and Green Day's cover of Lennon's "Working Class Hero" and as I mentioned I'm quite proud of the end result. So as not to hoist the AMV upon you already, I'll put the video at the end, but feel free to check it out if you like!

Last of all, my brother and I went back to our local anime store and picked up another batch of goodies. First my brother decided to grab the second Bleach OST (original soundtrack), and while it was my intention to grab some JPop/JRock, I ended up leaving with the complete imported Melancholy of Haruhi Shizuma and Bartender, which those regular readers may recognize as a show I've previously reviewed. Apparently, by purchasing one of those shows I was allowed to pick out a sticker packet with about 30 or so stickers all themed to various shows, and since I'm really not too picky, I grabbed a Naruto pack, and now have an aptly placed sticker of Kakashi's squad on the back of my iPod video.

So I guess if you take me away from posting about anime somehow I become more involved with it. Seems strange to me, but clearly I've done a lot since my last posting. Hopefully, next time I'll be able to go into more detail on Paprika or that Samurai Deeper Kyo review I've still been delaying. Guess we'll see as always!

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Working Class Butler
Anime: Hayate the Combat Butler
Music: Working Class Hero - Green Day