Lacayo's Videogames and the End of the World

I tried.

I can honestly say that I tried my best this time to actually pay attention to the movie, get the details, find the facts and even be symbiotic. I was giving Nausicaa my full conscious attention... then things began to slow down.

The movie had such a slow pace to it that it was hard to stay focused, things took forever to happen, unnecessary dialogue and lack of action just made me lag to the point of dozing off..again.

I'm not going to say that its a bad movie because its not. I really enjoyed the plot and the style. The story of a post-apocalyptic world that is run by nature and insects was quite fetching. I thought, how far are we from getting to the point where nature will reject humanity and grow to purge the contaminant? I've seen many movies where the world is destroyed as a retribution to the humans. I've also played video-games that fit this genre too.

There is one video-game that I can clearly connect to Nausicaa, and that is Chrono Trigger.

Note the monster thing that comes out of the ground.

Now Chrono Trigger is an RPG developed by Square Enix, it acclaimed to be one of the best video-games of all time. With its gripping story line, well paced game play and a beautiful soundtrack Chrono Trigger is definitely one of my all time favorite videogames ever! But enough praising, I need to get to the point before I'm late to class.

If you saw the video, at one point you could see a red monster coming out of the ground. That's Lavos the antagonist of the game, its a virus/alien/insect hybrid that was laying dormant in the earths core until it matured and then pretty much screwed earth over. 

The remaining humans are left in a pretty bad state. Not only are plants dead, there is no food, no water, no nature...Outside their safe-houses there are mutants, beings that evolved from the wastes of humans and the a decaying ecosystem. The main characters [who travel through time and find themselves in this wasteland of a future ] make their way through the destroyed earth in order to find a way back home. After seeing the state of the world, however, they decide to do something about it and thus the game plot is revealed.

Now, its not that nature rebelled against humans, the case here is that nature is dead and so the humans are slowly dying too. Nature is an important factor in both the film and the game. In Nausicaa you have nature rebelling against humanity for its insolence. Nature is purging the humans because the just didn't care about flora and fauna. In Chrono Trigger you have a society where plants have not been seen in years, and people are pretty much dying every day. Humans depend on nature, if its eradicated or somehow it decides to kill us, were screwed. 

So what can we do? We need to take care of our ecosystem [tree hugger moment]. Little things like not littering and recycling are small steps we can take so that nature grows. We're not really aware of the importance of plants and we wont be aware of it until they're either gone or they decide to just kill us. 

On another note, in Chrono Trigger, if you help the people of who are in the future, you find a tiny shrub growing in the depths of a laboratory. The main cast takes the shrub to the people and a glimmer of hope is seen, they take action and decide to help the plant grow so that they survive. 

Also, one thing that I found interesting is that the Ohms look kind of similar to Lavos. Maybe there was some inspiration from Nausicaa there. Considering that the movie came first.

"Please lead the mistakes of this rotten world to an end

Now, before this world is gone...

What's left in my hand are the ashes of a flower..." Megurine Luka: Corruption Garden

-Xavi

Lacayo's Goddess and the Flashbacks.

Its the first week of school. I'm sitting in my room wondering what the heck my mailing address is. Wanting to buy the Samurai from Outer Space, I fumble across the boatloads of paper i have in several different bags and finally decide to ask if anyone has the book in the infamous class of 2012 facebook group. Luckily, Nia here was nice enough to lend it to me, after thinking I may have been a creepy psycho....but I digress as i always do.

As I read SOS I kept running across Ah! My Goddess, it kept being mentioned and there were even pictures in the books! I had to figure out what in the world this anime was. Since at the beginning of the  year we didn't have as much homework and I was fairly more responsible...and I didn't have as many friends...I ended up in my room at 9pm every night watching Ah! My Goddess. I was hooked!! The characters are hilarious and well drawn, the dub was actually pretty good and the soundtrack.....I loved it.

I love the opening song. Its very relaxing.

Sadly, I was only able to watch about 10 episodes before the beauty of college stress and procrastination kicked in....

A whole semester later I'm watching the movie and, for someone who saw 40% of the series I was initially confused. I guess that's because the movie is the ENDING of the entire series. So thanks for the spoiler Professor :) 

This was my wallpaper for
the longest time

Now, forgetting the fact that a great anime was spoiled for me. I must say the movie was really nice, I liked the way it played out but i wish they could have explained some things a little bit more, especially for those who have not even heard of Ah! My Goddess and needed some sort of intro. Oh well..

Something I kept thinking about while watching the movie was the idea of the end justifying the means. is it right? Does the end really justify the means to doing something. Are you willing to kill if its going to make things better? are you willing to destroy an entire planet full of people for the happiness of one goddess?

What drives us to do the things that we do? And could we find ways that avoid conflict?
I just kept thinking, Celestine wanted Belldandy to be happy, he wanted her to not suffer when she passed the gate, just like Morgan did.

Which reminds me....Keiichi! That guy is an intergalactic whore!! I could not believe that he did that to Morgan! or wait...was it really Morgan? Plothole?

I'm tired and i need my sleep anyhow. but yea something to think about!

"I have invisible wings
Look you have them too!
you can go anywhere because you're free." -Open Your Mind Ah! My Goddess Opening Song.

-Xavi

Lacayo's accident and the two sides of the coin.

The day has been dragging on; I feel my body protest for the lack of sleep and nutrition. Work was awful, having me run around all over campus multiple times. I’m looking forward to watch a film that has been recommended and praised multiple times. I buy my snacks; get comfortable…and then the people watching the film get to hear my repertoire of snores.

Watching this at 2am was pretty epic.

That’s just outright embarrassing…

My body is pretty much energized for the rest of the night so I reluctantly set up my computer on my bed, grab a bottle of water, a pack of double-stuffed Oreos and my headphones and begin to stream Princess Mononoke at 1am.

130 minutes later I have a smile on my face and my eyes are heavy with sleep. I fall asleep thinking of Mononoke, the Nature God with its crazy head hybrid and Lady Eboshi.

While watching the movie…the second…conscious time, I couldn’t help but thinking…who is the antagonist in the movie? Is it Lady Eboshi? With her Iron Town elimination the natural and replacing it with technology? Is it the beheaded spirit of nature? Destroying everything around it and withering all life? All the characters seemed to have their own reasoning, their own thoughts behind everything they did.  There are two sides to each character.

The one character I want to focus on the most is lady Eboshi. She seems to be an antagonist in the film, nevertheless you see her town and the way she treats her people and she doesn’t seem like an antagonist, but a main character. She’s destroying nature, killing animals and ultimately hoping to kill the spirit of the forest. But then you see her treating the lepers, taking care of them and showing them compassion when everyone else would reject them. She also gives women their place in society, allowing them to work and be valuable members of the community. She wants to murder Sai and then kill the spirit of the forest. But she also wants her people to prosper.

If Eboshi isn’t the antagonist…then who is? If it’s Eboshi then she definitely doesn’t fit the normal paradigms of an enemy.

One thing I know is that this movie raises awareness to nature, to our motives and the curses we all have inside of us.

But that’s enough rambling for today, I’m hungry.

Great plot...memorable characters and an AMAZING soundtrack. 

“What have I become, my sweetest friend?” –Hurt,  Johnny Cash

-Xavi

Lacayo's Melancholy and Little Sisters

*wipes his eyes*

So beautifully sad.

I walk out of the cold room, people are getting up at a slow pace. I make my way out of the building, avoiding further contact with people i lethargically walk to my room. I turn on my computer, go on facebook and post a video on my sister's wall. Boy do I miss that crazy and obnoxious being i love to death.

But i digress, as i always do.

Grave of the Fireflies brought up a lot of different points and themes to the table. Ranging from WWII to sibling love and the brevity of life, the film truly has a lot to be discussed and analyzed. As i watched the movie i kept jotting down notes of things i saw on my phone, here's kind of what it looks like:

I'd feel too sad to eat these.

Color Orange

Fireflies

Candybox

Treasures

Moments of relief: Candy, water leaking, fireflies, beach, piano...

Kids being cheated on...

Sibling Love. Ignorance is bliss??

Sacrifice

Looking back and imagination

Bullfrogs

Rain

Some of the things i want to briefly touch today: Rain, Fireflies and Siblings.

First we have le rain, rain can be seen as both a good or a bad omen. In this particular film I believe it symbolizes change. Not only a change in the weather...duh...but also a change in the siblings circumstances. Every time the siblings circumstances were going to change, there was rain. For example,     Seita and Setzuko are running around and it rains, they find shelter in the abandoned...shelter. They discovered what would become their final home under the rain.

If you hold it too hard you kill it.
Hold it too soft and it flies away.

Then we have the fireflies. These guys are iconic for the film. Not only do they represent the beauty of life, the light of the moment and the magical connection of the siblings, the fireflies represent the brevity of life. Seita and Setzuko have the fireflies in their little shelter. The small insects bring light and life to the small cave. The children have a moment of bliss, the fireflies literally light up their life at that moment. Its beautiful but its also short lived. The fireflies die the next day, not only foreshadowing the children's death, but also just expressing the point of the brevity of life a little more.

What a cute scene....

The last part i want to talk about are siblings. In the film you really see how the siblings love each other, care for each other and mature despite all the hardships. Seita takes his sister under his care, acting not only like a brother, but like a father and even a mother for Setzuko. The latter, despite being a 4 year old, has to quickly mature in order to help her brother; as seen in the scene where she learns how to sew the sheets. The love they have for each other is incredible, a couple of memorable moments that really touched my heart were: the beach scene, the fireflies, the scene after Seita is sent to the police and (after watching the movie and then streaming certain parts) the beginning of the movie when the souls reunite.

This film is probably one of the most depressing and powerful films we have seen, that makes it memorable and that makes it worth it.  

Now... this one is for my sister.

Dave Matthews always has the better word for me.

 “To ten million fireflies,
I’m weird cause I hate goodbyes

I got misty eyes as they said farewell

But I know where several are
when my dreams get real bizzare

Cause I take a few and I keep them in a jar”- Fireflies Owl City 

Lacayo's loyalties and the Harp of Burma

Simple has never been so nice.

Pretty much the ONLY picture of the anime.

In contrast to the Botchan fiasco (yes i dare bring it up *cringe*), The Harp of Burma was a very well executed and short film that made me think a lot about loyaly.

You see, there are plenty of examples of loyalty in this short film. And they all just made me think more and more about home, my friends, my family and my loyalty to them. Oh, theres also the whole thing about music making things much better...music has power.




Now when it comes to loyalty, we have different examples of that throughout The Harp of Burma.

*now lets imagine its anime*
Pretty powerful scene

First of all we have the whole team and their loyalty to each other. They all care for each other and cheer one another through their music. They make sure to leave no one behind and one can see throughout the film how the entire brigade is united and loyal to each other. Then you have the crew's loyalty to...err...whats his name? Mizushima? Ill call him Mizu because well its easy that way. Anyhow, Mizu is a central character to the plot, although he is lost for 75% of the film, you can see how the team is worried for him and refuse to go home without him. Nevertheless, they are not able to return with Mizu because of his own loyalty to his fellow countrymen.


Thats the next part of the loyalty issue. The team is loyal to Japan, but not in the same extent. The crew that goes back home is loyal to Japan the country. They are fighting for Japan and one can see how they even cry when they find out that the war is over and that Japan lost.

Then there's Mizu, in contrast to being loyal to Japan the country, hes loyal to Japan the people.
He sees his Japanese comrades decaying and wants to give them proper burial. As a fellow Japanese he fells compelled to give them an honorable passing, considering that the afterlife is not a pretty sight anyways.

Loyalty....who are we loyal to?

Me. I know for sure.

"I finally found what I could never see before.
You've always been the one that I was looking for"- All Along Remedy Drive

-Xavi

Lacayo's half-mark and Identity Crisis

Well, we haVe reached the half point of our clAss. In celebration to fall break, the fact that I didn’t have to take a Midterm and the fact that were a quarter of the way done with our first college year…I’m going to ramble today about the three FILMS we have watched in anime class and how these FILMS, unlike movies, have a much deePer meaning than what we origInally think.

Now the FILMS we watched in class…AkiRa, Perfect BluE and Ghost in the Shell are all excellent FILMS. They all Have an intricate storyline; amazing character development and an overall feel that makes yoU feel completely immersed in the movie if Not mind-cluster-screwed.  I love Tthese films  to the extent that I want to go to amazon and order all three of them and watch thEm back at home with my family and take pictures of theiR baffled expressions as Tetsuo turns into a giant unborn baby, Rumi stabs a photographer with an ice pick and Kusanagi rambling on about her iDentity.

Ahh yes, identity was a common theme in all three FILMS. 

 We have Tetsuo, Wanting to find his identity as a biker. He wAnts to be like his friends, Strong and agile and even mature. He wAnts the power that they have and wheN he gets power his identity goes from being the kid of the group to a demi-god. However, even with his powers, he suffers and At one point in the film We see Tetsuo sitting in a throne, unhappy. Then he turns into a giant baby, is absorbed by the entity of Akira and then says “I am…Tetsuo”.

Then we have Mima, trying to re-discover her identity as a star. Her identity is being stolen by a psychopath; she Falls into dementia and has to find herself once more. She loses herself to the point of believing that she was a mUrderer and she loses grasp of reality. It is until she regains her identity (by taking care of Rumi) that she is abLe to mature and be “the real thing”.

Finally, there is Kusanagi, struggling with her identity as a cyborg or a person. Kasanagi breaks off to philosophical talks at randoM occasions of the movie; wondering abOut her life, her past self and her soul. Is she a complete cyborg? Who was she before haVing 98% of her body transferred to a robot? But then she merges with the puppet master, losIng herself and becoming a different persona…with thE body of a child… she then looks out and thinks: “and where does the newborn go from here? The net is vast and infinite”.

Fantastic characters, great storylines and plots that your mind is going to jump out of your head, slap you hard in the face and say: “WHY THE HECK ARE YOU MAKING ME THINK THIS HARD?!” are what sums up the first three FILMS we watched in class.

I have very much enjoyed this ;)

What I was listening to while writing ze blog.
Thank you K.Tong

“You wanna feel how it feels, you wanna know, know that it doesn’t hurt me, you want to hear about the deal I’m making.”- Placebo: Running Up That Hill

-Xavi

Lacayo's complaints and the Chibi Vampires.

What was that? Why are the credits rolling? Is this supposed to be the halftime show or something because if not ….I must have missed something…? I can now see why this is considered a movie and not a film. I can also see how a film differs to a movie.

It HAD potential.

Just like Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D is a movie made solely for entertainment, there is no agenda to it…no postmodernist commentary or psychoanalytical concept. It’s just a movie, and a crappy movie if I may say so myself. There are so many things that are either not explained, not even mention or regarded as something absolutely normal that really just had my eye twitching in protest by the half way mark.

For example, when the girl (I can’t even remember her name because her lack of personality left no impression in my mind…therefore I will call her Pants due to her obvious lack of them) is bitten by the vampire… nothing happens, apparently she’s a threat to the village. Later on, however, everyone is okay with it and she’s just in her home as if nothing happened. I wish there would have been a gradual transformation in Pants’ physique and psychology, something like: she’s slowly turning into a vampire and D has to do something to revert it before it’s too late. But no, she’s bitten and the issue is not really mentioned again.  We then have that haunted place that is only mentioned once in the whole movie, there was so much hidden potential with that aspect of the movie but it was just explained as a myth. Also, the fact that the movie was set in a post apocalyptic earth was something that could have had a little more backstory. Why is it post-apocalyptic? Where did the monsters come from? If its the future, then why is it like the wild west?

These two shared the most
AWKWARD HUG
I've seen on screen.

What the heck? As Pants' future is being discussed we have this doctor dude who shows out of nowhere and is apparently great family friend of some sort. He pops out from the side and tells a creepy story and apparently we're all supposed to know who the heck he is. The doctor was pretty much the equivalent of a wooden plank with a face on it. Stale and completely two dimensional. And then he turns into a vampire!? There is no character development with this guy and all of the sudden he’s evil and crap. But apparently this wooden plank was pretty loved because Pants mourns him after he pretty much handed her over. Then we have the little brother….who not only has the voice of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin but also came out as quite annoying. I’m not even going to continue with them. All i can say is that the characters, the setting, the story HAD potential. However, it seems as if the producers wanted to be over with this nightmare as soon as possible so they just had D slash and burn through all the goons and stab the old vampire in the eye. Nevertheless, I DO want to stress on the next...

What...the....heck?

 Now the one thing that REALLY bothered me was the hand….D has a face on his hand. Where in the crap did it come from? Did he like eat a person’s soul and in retaliation received the failed sarcasm growing out of his hand like a leech? Was he cursed? Born with it, man do I pity his mother…Does that thing even have a name? WHAT? The thing had potential to be a good backstory, a decent comic relief or even an element that could have added some mystery. Instead we get a random parasite.

You want to read a funny manga/ watch a good anime about vampires, romance and ridiculous nosebleeds? This anime/manga may not have action elements or the really dark mood of other vamp anime but its hilarious. Go look for Chibi Vampire and stash away Vampire Hunter D in the deepest corner of your memory, never to be discussed again. Those who refuse to not talk about it will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.

Fully ramble-o-matic.
“WTF happens when the STUPID arbitrary time limit runs out? Do their battle royal collars explode? They lose honor and disembowel themselves? WHAT?”-Zero Punctuation

"Come here! 
There's something awful 
deep in my chest 
I know I shouldn't tell you 
but it's making a mess 
And it's starting to hurt 
come and ease the pain 
Just be here for a second 
I'm sure you can keep me sane

Something awful is now 
taking over my life 
I would cut it out if I could 
maybe you should give me a knife 
Please come and tell me 
what you think is wrong 
Maybe you can fix it 
the pain's been here for so long

Open my chest and you'll see 
something really awful 
I already know what it is 
and I'm sure you do too 
Within my chest lies 
a totally broken heart 
And you're the one who 
slowly broke it apart

In my chest is 
something awful 
A broken heart is 
something awful

Something awful 
Pretty awful 
This is something awful"

- Thank you Lucy Dieckheus for helping me choose a song that reflects my thoughts as i watched 1.20hours of pain.
-Xavi