[adult swim] on Cartoon Network is a refuge in some ways. There are
some really interesting toons sent out on the Cartoon Network late at
night -- great ones such as Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist and the
Turner creations Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Venture Brothers.
(Inuyasha … yawn. Soap opera. Samurai Champloo: Rocks tha' hizzouse.
Kurosawa goes toon.)
But there are a couple of sterling anime examples they've been
retransmitting. FLCL, at just six 30-minute episodes, is arguably the
strangest, but definitely the most creative. The storyline is more or
less standard alien-invasion fare, but the series makes bold
experiments with the toon genre, breaking into "maga style" just for
kicks, for instance, and the end titles are set to "Ride on Shooting
Star", an interesting and energetic example of the punk genre as
interpreted by a Japanese mindset, capably rendered by The Pillows.
Paranoia Agent is weird too with its story centering around a
rollerblading boy with a metal bat who begins by stunning people who
are at the ends of their ropes -- and who becomes something much more
sinister. The soundtrack for the series is scored by Susumu Hirasawa,
and his musical explorations are fascinating. In the series soundtrack,
his main title sequence ("Yume no Shima Shinen Kouen") is unmistakable,
but a later experiment, "Jouken Douji", is probably the gem of the
disc.
This isn't just about music, of course; it's about how the melding of
music with visuals seems to have affected anime in a way totally
different from how it's manifested in the States in the form of MTV and
its offspring. On the whole I think the Nipponese flavor is much more
intriguing. I was just wondering if anyone else here was watching … and
listening … and had comments to make.
--
Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books
http://books.nightwares.com/
Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror"
http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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