#chie the brat

[cinematicjourney]

Chie the Brat (1981) | dir. Isao Takahata

[animenostalgia]

News - On Discotek Media's announcement stream last night, they announced quite a few new titles. The big ones relating to classic anime would have to be a brand new UHD 4k + bluray re-release of Belladonna of Sadness (1973), a bluray for Puss N Boots Around the World (1976), Isao Takahata's Chie The Brat TV series (1981) on bluray, 2008's Fist of the North Star: The Legend of Kenshiro film (and original story based off the manga) on bluray, and the 2017 live-action Hurricane Polymar based on the 70s Tatsunoko series. You can find more info on these and all the titles they talked about on stream here.

[ljaesch]

Discotek Media's Announcements at Otakon 2024

Discotek Media announce new licenses during its industry panel at Otakon 2024: Lupin III Italian Game on Blu-ray Disc in September 2024 with English subtitles. All 42 episodes of the Space Pirate Captain Harlock anime upscaled in 1080p (the same upscale that was released in Japan) on Blu-ray Disc in September 2024 with English subtitles. Dallos OVA on Blu-ray Disc in September 2024, which will…

[narrators-journal]

Kinktober 2024 masterlist

Once again, a bit early lol. But it doesn’t really matter, bc it makes sure I have less to post on the first day. Which, is a mercy I can’t give myself on Ao3, bc I need to put a fandom on that book, but can’t do that until I get some content to put in. Otherwise, it’s false advertising.

Created: 9/27/24

Last updated: 10/30/24

Prompt list: Here

Rules of kinktober: Here

Fandoms I write for: Here

No-smut characters: Here

Day 1: Teratophilia/Monsterfucking

Little lamb (Loki x Akira Kurusu)

Musical chairs (Eikichi Mishina x oc)

Day 2: Glove kink

Day 3: Dom/sub

Rut is in the air (Akihiko sanada x oc)

Day 4: Free use/stuck in a wall

Reflections can reveal the truth (oc x Teddie)

Swimming with sharks (Mikichi)

Day 5: Breathplay

Lost in the tsunami (Jun x Shadow!Eikichi)

Day 6: Somnophilia

Shame (Ryomina)

Day 7: Cockwarming

Day 8: predator/prey

The cabin in the woods (Vampire!Yu Narukami x frankenstein!Sho Minazuki)

bow to your god (knives x oc)

Day 9: Sex toys

Kitsunebi (Soukoku)

Day 10: Used panties

Day 11: Foodplay

An alternate payment plan (Chie x Aika)

Day 12: Thigh fucking

Shame (Ryomina)

A quick sin in the depths of hell (Shinjiham)

Day 13: Stripping

In slow motion (Katsuya Suou x oc)

Brat (Yandere!Akeshu)

Day 14: Exhibition/Voyeurism

Brat (Yandere!Akeshu)

Day 15: Praise/degredation

Friends help friends (Vash the stampede x oc)

Day 16: Crossdressing

The big bad wolf (Tatsujun)

Day 17: Sadism/masochism

I never pegged you as peggable (Jundori)

A graduation gift (Ryomina)

Day 18: pegging

I never pegged you as peggable (Jundori)

Day 19: A/B/O

Rut is in the air (Akihiko Sanada x oc)

How to get a mate 101 (Yandere!Akechi x Trans!Akira)

Day 20: Bath/shower sex

Day 21: Mirror sex

You can touch, but not see (Ryomina)

Reflections can reveal the truth (oc x Teddie)

Admiration (Ryomina)

Day 22: Phone sex

Day 23: Gagging

Breaking and entering (Akira Kurusu x oc)

You can touch, but not see (Ryomina)

Day 24: Aphrodisiacs

Akechi had a... (Raoul x Akechi)

Kitsunebi (Soukoku)

Admiration (Ryomina)

Friends help friends (Vash the stampede x oc)

Hot for you (Tatsujun)

Day 25: Temperature play

In slow motion (Katsuya Suou x oc)

An Alternate payment plan (Chie x Aika)

Brat (Yandere!Akeshu)

Day 26: Body worship

Together forever (Yandere!Goro Akechi x Trans!Akira Kurusu)

Bow to your god (knives x oc)

Tithing (Yandere!Ryomina)

Day 27: Sensory play

Day 28: Dry humping/clothed sex

Musical chairs (Eikichi Mishina x oc)

Day 29: Dubcon

Window shopping (Ryomina)

Day 30: Knifeplay

A graduation gift (Ryomina)

Bow to your god (Knives x oc)

Day 31: Breeding kink

Let's make a family (Aikoto)

Breaking and entering (Akira Kurusu x oc)

Together forever (Yandere!Goro Akechi x Trans!Akira Kurusu)

Akechi had a... (Raoul x Akechi)

How to get a mate 101 (Yandere!Akechi x Trans!Akira)

[the-monkey-ruler]

Chinyuki: Taro and his amusing companions (2009) 珍遊記 ～太郎とゆかいな仲間たち～

Director: Kasugamori Haruki Screenwriter: Haruki Kasugamori Starring: Tesshō Genda / Tomoko Kumai / Yoko Matsuoka / Rikimaru Touhou / Yorimitsu Sakamoto / Chie Kamiyo / Kujira / Tomohiro Nishimura / Kiriko Aoyama / Miki Fujitani / Minoru Torihada / Takamasa Nakao / Takahiro Sakurai / Kurumi Mamiya / Kana Asumi / Shoto Kashii / Kozo Dosaka / Hidenari Ugaki / Takaya Kuroda / Thank You Tatsuo / Sakuya Kunii / Shiori Yokoi / Momo Ito / Mai Hirose Genre: Animation Country/Region of Production: Japan Language: Japanese Date: 2009-06-12 (Japan) Number of episodes: 4 Also known as: Chinyuuki: Tarou to Yukai na Nakama-tach Type: Reimanging

Summary:

The original work is a gag manga serialized in Shueisha's ``Weekly Shonen Jump'' from 1990 to 1992. The third original video animation produced as part of the 20th anniversary project of author Man☆Gataro's debut as a manga artist, ``It's 20 years since I fell asleep! It's Man☆Gataro Festival, Bakayaro!!''.

The time is Mansei 2nd year. Genjo, a monk who was continuing his journey towards Tenjiku, is asked by chance to rehabilitate his delinquent son. However, that son is a monster who is causing trouble in the capital! Although Genjo has a hard time against Yamada Taro, a monster with strong magical powers, he succeeds in absorbing Taro's magical energy with his jewel and making him accompany Taro on his journey to Tenjiku, where he has become a monkey. During their journey, the two arrive at a certain town, but Taro, who was walking naked, is picked up by the town's evil gang, the Takeshi Corps. Taro steals Genjo's attention and tries to get revenge on the evil brat, but...?

Source: https://myanimelist.net/anime/6687/Chinyuuki__Tarou_to_Yukai_na_Nakama-tachi

Link: N/A

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Massacre Chapter 17

I can't believe I've pulled this off. I am going over this chapter on the third Sunday in June 2024. In other words, this comes out "On the Night of the Cotton Drifting".

This is the first time since all the way back in Abducted by Demons Chapter 2 where the festival itself was the focus itself rather than a backdrop for something else.

For the first time since before we even knew anything that was going on the point of the festival is to give our cast time to have fun and enjoy themselves.

The scars from the Dam War are finally beginning to heal. The villagers come to Satoko to apologize for how they've treated her and promise to be there for her if she needs help.

And Keiichi and his dad have garnered a great deal of respect in the village. It's a far cry from how the council elders were calling Keiichi a disrespectful brat and acting like Ichiro is a failure of a parent.

Is that Makino-san!!?

This shot is so amazing because the more you look at it, the more you realize these are people who helped save Satoko.

I can't tell if any of the people on the left are anyone of note, but this shot includes Irie, Akane, Oryou, Kimiyoshi, the Angel Mort Otakus, Tomita, Okamura, a few classmates, Kameda, Chie, and Kaieda.

And Chie is eating curry of course.

Just to further emphasize how we're supposed to enjoy the festival itself, this is also the first time since Abducted by Demons Chapter 2 that we see Rika perform the ritual.

Congrats Akasaka. You have dethroned Keiichi as the biggest screw-up in the series.

Rika doesn't hold his absence against him though. After everything that's happened, she realized she shouldn't be relying on some single individual to save her.

And really it's better that Akasaka didn't help. He's completely unconnected from the village, its people, and its history. If he had been responsible for saving Satoko, the village wouldn't have been forced to confront the stagnation and scars left behind from the Dam War and Satoko would still be a mistreated outcast.

Akasaka has a role to play in all this, but rescuing Satoko was not it.

Rule X is utterly shattered. Rule Z is defanged. All that's left is to guard against Rule Y. Rika has brought her friends and Ooishi in on protecting Takano and Tomitake but despite everything that's happened, Hanyu is still going on about unshakable destiny.

The Schrodinger's cat paradox is a thought experiment involving placing a cat and a vial of poison in a box. Depending on some quantum conditions, a mechanism will shatter the vial and release the poison, thus killing the cat. It's not possible to know whether the condition was met until you open the box and check.

It was originally made as a critique to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics because by that interpretation, the cat would end up both alive and dead but we would only be able to observe it being in one state or another.

Frederica Bernkastel's poem said no one knows if the cat is alive or dead until someone looks in the box. When she looked in, the cat turned out to be dead.

Rika is frequently compared to a cat.

This chapter is a celebration of everyone coming together to overcome what was thought to be an unbreakable fate. But it ends in an utterly cruel fashion as we're shown we fell right into the enemy's trap.

It turns out that Takano and Tomitake aren't killed by some unknown assailant. Takano is behind it and the Wild Dogs are part of her conspiracy.

Rika's never been able to find her killers because they were a group she'd trusted this whole time led by someone she always thought was dead.

Rika's friends called Oyashiro-sama's curse a fear within the village of upsetting someone who doesn't exist. Keiichi said the curse wasn't because of a deity, but because of people. They spent this arc breaking that curse, but now Takano has stepped in and she intends to set a new curse on the village.

We've seen it before how Takano only sees Oyashiro as some cruel and evil god, and she revels in spreading that idea. She writes horror stories based on the village's history. Her interpretation of Oyashiro-sama's curse is just another aspect of that.

It turns out that "Tokyo" is behind everything, though Takano's words imply this is happening because of some internal dispute. This faction's end goal is to bring about some grand catastrophe related to Hinamizawa Syndrome. In other words, they're likely behind the Great Hinamizawa Disaster. And Irie and Tomitake will be killed to get them out of the picture.

Whether it's fear of a non-existent being or the utter destruction of the village, it turns out that Oyashiro-sama's curse truly is just the work of people.

The kidnapper is finally named. He's Okonogi.

This chapter started with the highest highs and ends with the lowest lows. Going forward, this will just be another dead-end timeline. I hate that Hanyu was right.

back

[plaindangan]

Maki Got a request from miu and tsumugi to train them like they do with shu and kaito.

Which hey she felt like accepting, but imediately regreted when the piano loving bimbo and the inventor skank spent the WHOLE TRAINING SESSION wobbling their ridiculously thicc tights and ass, jiggling those massive fat tits, acting super slutty. She just had ENOUGH. Time to unleash her massive assassin dick and TRAIN THOSE BITCHES TO BECOME CUMDUMPS!

Disclaimer: R18 material! If not to your liking then please do not view!

What Maki wanted was a serious training session with three of her classmates.

What she didn't expect was how slutty each and everyone one of them would be acting. Well, okay, in Miu's case, Maki expected it. The girl came to the session in tight pink yoga pants that had 'juicy' on the back of them and a sports bra that seemed to intentionally show a lot of cleavage. Whenever people were around, Miu intentionally move to give them a better look at her sweaty, oversized knockers, or shove her ass out so they can take a better picture of it~ Not to mention that annoying moaning!!

But Tsumugi? Kaede? Maki had hopes for them!! Yet, in the former's case, she spent her time in tight blue booty shorts and a blue crop top, cosplaying as various characters from her stupid games and anime. Currently, she was looking like Chie from Persona 4, doing lewd stretches and allowing people to get a good look at her surprisingly flexible legs and what was between them~

On Kaede's end, while she did initially try to just be a good exercises partner, and was even dress the most modestly in a pink shirt and black shorts...she eventually succumbed to the antics of the girls next to them. As they were squatting, trying to be cheeky, Kaede cupped her breasts and began to twerk. Earning some whistles from onlookers, and had both Miu & Tsumugi soon joining her to either one-up her or just join the fun.

Maki was not amused.

Especially since, as a futa, she had been fighting the urges of being next to three irresistible women all day and if her time was going to be wasted....she was going to get it back one way or the other. Leading the girls back, to her lab, she said announced a final excerise was in order:

An exercises all three got the message, and loving what it looks like, as Maki dropped her grey leggings to flash them her terribly long, nasty thick, pulsing, pre-cum dribbling, delicious looking, slutbreaking dick!!!

Miu was first - she was the biggest brat there after alll~ The inventor was quickly on her knees rushing to give a mind numbing titjob to Maki. The huge milkers grew slick with all that pre-cream Maki oozed out, making for quick, suitable lubricant. But Maki wasn't done yet~ Evemtually, that eight foot pole went into Miu's mouth, with the slutty girl slurping on much of the tasty sausage as much she could~ Trying her damndest to deepthroat it!! And eventually, like a good girl, swallowing heavy loads and cumming from Maki's intense fingering from blonde servicing her. Soon after she went down, with a puddle of spunk leaking from her satisfied mouth

Tsumugi, back to her plain old self, was next. Taking the flexible nature of Tsumugi into account, she had the cosplayer in a carrying full nelson. Fucking her sopping wet pussy to high heaven, and taking great pride in seeing Tsumugi moan to bits about how the plainest girl in the room was getting fucked so heavily like in one of her doujins~ Never stopping until Maki busted her second load right inside of, overflowing the blue haired girl and having her give two peace signs before passing out.

This just leave Kaede. While not the biggest offender of the bunch, given Maki's high respect for her, the assassin had the biggest frustration load meant for the pianist in partcular. And what better way to give it then by fucking Kaede on a spare bed that she had, room filling up with sounds of the assassin bucking Kaede's heavy buns. As well as Maki go out of her way to massage and play with Kaede's big tits too to get the cow mooing throughout the entire venture. By the time Maki was done, Kaede out like a light and was leaking 'milk' from quite a number of holes~ Cooing (or was it mooing?) happily in her sleep. With all three girls finished, and Maki no doubt burning a lot of calories from such a session alone, even the assassin couldn't herself from curling next to Kaede in a shared, exhausted, sleep.

Perhaps this would be a suitable lesson for such naughty girls...or maybe the four were working on scheduling another session like this in the future? Who could say~

[localcryptideli]

For the positive asks game: 🐶🍕🏠

🐶 I have pets! Nine here and two at my mom's!

We have a horse of uncertain breeding who is good at pulling carts and dressage and is, despite being a very safe horse, a bit of a brat, and has been named Way to the Dawn cause my husband is a nerd.

We have three mice (left, the others passed of old age), two of which are old ladies (Vala, Chie, and Sora)

Then we have two white and grey cockatiels, Mochi and Matcha, who are gay and kinda lazy but very cute.

And lastly here we have three cats, Luca (gentleman, calm, precious), Finn (cute and soft but deadly, lives by his red cat genes), and Merlin (a clown and a gremlin who likes being in weird position, loves pets but doesn't like hands).

At my ma I have two cats, Vivi (way too smart for his own good, there is nothing he can't open and he can turn the lights on and off, he can also point and he appreciates classical music), and Mati (also smart and learning from Vivi, but better at lying and vocalizing, she can say "mama" and will do so as emotional blackmail; she is also so precise at waking my mother up my mother hasn't used an alarm in years to go to work).

🍕 My favourite comfort food is, hands down, fries. Possibly steak cut. I also like cappelletti (although with wheat allergies it became a rare treat), and different kinds of soup, and thai curry.

🏠 My dream home: it would have a garden where I can plant some trees and bushes and flowers, and have enough space for a shed so we can have chickens; the bathroom would have a bidet; parquet and stone floors as opposed to carpet flooring; well lit and with good air flow; with solar panels, well insulated thermically; the kitchen would have big counters where I can cook whatever I want and there would be space for a big library. It would look very comfy and have a lot of plants, and the walls would be painted as opposed to having wallpapers which I always squint at ever since I was at an abandoned home and saw a barbie wallpaper being absolutely covered in black mold.

[thelustarcana]

TV Trouble! Adachi walks past Chie trying to escape the Shadow World~

Warning! Slight Non-Con themes(Non-Con at first but it’s very small)

F/M

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Adachi smirked deviously at the sight in front of him. He always thought about what would happen if he spotted one of the brats trying to solve his little ‘murder mystery’ in the Shadow World. But he never imagined he’d catch one of them on their way out. “*sigh* As fun as it would be, it’s probably best if I don’t—wait a minute.” He continued to stare at Chie’s thick ass and noticed it wiggling from side to side. As if she was struggling. ‘Is she stuck?’ He questioned in disbelief.

“Oh, this is TOO good!” He grinned as he walked up to the Persona user. He mischievously rubbed his hands together before delivering a hard smack to the shaking ass in front of him, making it ripple on impact. Even without being able to see her face, she visibly was taken aback by this. “Haha! This should be fun~” He laughed as he reached out and gripped the tight shorts she had on under her skirt.

~~~ In the Real World~~~

“Ah crap, am I seriously stuck?!” Chie whined as she struggled to get herself unstuck. The upper half of her was sticking out of the Junes TV that they use to enter the shadow world. The others on the team must have not noticed her absence and all gone their separate ways without her as they were no where to be seen. “How the heck does this even happen?” She huffed in frustration. The spunky persona-user desperately tried to wiggle her way out of the television. But suddenly…

“EEEEP!!” She shrieked as she felt a rough spank on her ass cheek. “W-What the—Ah!!” She panicked further as she felt something rip her shorts, revealing her bare bottom. “W-Wait I—OOOHHH!!!!~” Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as something long and girthy rammed into her pussy. It was a surprise that nobody had walked over to the TV section with how loud Chie moaned out as her tight pussy was violated. “S-So fucking BIG!!~” She panted with her tongue lolling out. “Oh GOD! Please don’t stop FUCKING ME!!~” She pleaded as if whoever was fucking her could hear her through the television. At this point she was fucked so stupid that she didn’t even care about the mystery of whoever could possibly be doing this to her. All that was on her mind was the gigantic cock fucking her brains out. She soon felt the cock start to twitch inside of her. "Fuck yes!~ Give it to me!~" She moaned out whorishly, begging for the hung stud to release inside of her. And so he did! Load after load of potent cum filled her up. Making Chie squeal in delight, revealing her a true whore. The slut was given a push through the TV, making her land on the floor, semen oozing out of her pussy.

"You seem like you enjoyed yourself." Adachi snickered as he entered into Junes through the TV. Before walking away he bent down to give his new property one last smack on the ass. "Same time tomorrow. You better hope that your friends will forget about your existence just like today. See ya, slut!" He left Chie those final words as he walked away, giving her something to look forward to the next day.

[perryhedge]

Source: http://gciment.free.fr/caentretientakahata.htm.

Animation and the Real

Interview with Isao Takahata

What was your background?

I pursued higher education studying French literature at Tokyo Polytechnic University.

How, after that background, did you come to animated cinema?

During my studies, I saw Paul Grimault's La Bergère et le Ramoneur (The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep), and it changed my life: I decided that I would make animation.

What are your tastes in terms of animation?

I naturally very much appreciated Disney's early feature films (Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia...) but I've drifted apart from them, even as my admiration for Grimault and the script by [Jacques] Prévert rests intact. Though I like the work of Frédéric Back and Youri Norstein, Le Roi et l'Oiseau is particularly dear to me: certainly Grimault was able, more than anyone else, to marry literature and animation. He opened my eyes to French culture, and to European sensibilities, which you'll find traces of in Grave of the Fireflies...

What was your job at Toei Animation, where you got your start?

Like all the young people who join the company, I started with menial tasks, including sweeping the floors! What they call "an assistant". Then I became a scriptwriter, animator, and finally director, beginning in 1968 with Horus, Prince of the Sun, a TV series with inspirations from mythology that takes place in northern Hokkaido.

Did you have some autonomy as a director? Could you choose your subjects, for example?

Yes, luckily, but it was always a team decision, made with my collaborators.

What pushed you to leave Toei to found Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki?

First I directed two films for other studios in 1981-1982: Chie the Brat and Gauche the Cellist. Then Hayao Miyazaki wanted to make an anime adaptation of Nausicaä, the manga he had drawn in his idle time. He had already led the animation on Horus: our great friendship dates back to that time. Afterwards, we made many films together at Toei, for which he was my main collaborator, as an animation director or in-between animator. It was our excellent collaborations that pushed us to create the studio, to produce Nausicaä in 1984. That movie and the next, Laputa, Castle in the Sky (1986), having encountered great success, Studio Ghibli quickly became well-known, and I had the feeling that my role in the creation and direction of the studio was complete, and that I could leave the management to Miyazaki, who is not only a director: but also a very good manager. Toshio Suzuki, the director of production at the studio, also plays an essential role.

How many people work at the studio?

One hundred people work permanently, because we make films continuously without interruption. The studio is divided into departments: backgrounds, animation, watercolors, shooting...the average age is less than thirty years old.

Once you were settled at Ghibli, you started work on your own feature film, Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no haka). Why did you choose such a difficult theme?

It's true that we find very few "difficult" subjects in animated feature films. I had never tried it myself in my films. However, I thought that tragedy could also be a genre of anime.

Japan has a long tradition of stories where drawings and text are connected (the current inheritors being anime and manga), and these stories weren't necessarily comedies. As I consider that anime does not have to be addressed directly at children, I want to make sure that the whole family goes to see my films. War is horrible, children die, and that rarely appears on the screen. For this film I sought a simple manner of showing these things. Just because it's an animated film does not mean it must spare its viewers, even the youngest ones: they must develop an awareness of reality. No one criticized me for it in Japan.

What was the reception of the film in Japan?

The film was deemed a masterpiece. More than the tragedy of two children who were victims of the bombs and their effects, I wanted to express the reality of what was the reaction of children, their state of mind.

Is the novel by Akiyuki Nosaka, from which the title of the film is drawn, well-known?

It's one of the most important books of the post-war period, it was a best-seller, but fifteen years before I adapted it. All my films are literary adaptations, mostly foreign-language novels. In the case of this autobiographical novel, one might believe that it is a purely Japanese story, but it is universal: the tragedy of these two children could take place in any era, during any war. I simply added a few scenes, like the prologue and the epilogue where the ghosts of Setsuko and Seita contemplate modern Japan. My intention was to refresh the memory of my contemporaries, tell them that the dead are always present in a certain sense, and that we owe it to ourselves to preserve their memory.

At first glance, unlike Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro which came out in Japan at the same time, the subject and treatment of Grave of the Fireflies don't have any qualities that lend themselves to animation specifically. What did you see in this technique that was indispensable to the treatment of such a realistic subject?

It's difficult to explain. I am convinced that animation is the best medium to show the real. With live-action, one cannot objectively show reality, because there is necessarily a reconstitution, despite how it may appear. Animation, which does not seek to hide the fact that it is an artistic interpretation, can therefore commit to showing the real -- by the way, I also directed, one year before Grave of the Fireflies, a documentary in the form of animation, The Story of Yanagawa's Canals. In addition, the bombings and razed towns would be very costly to create in film. Other than that, it seems to me that in this case animation is more suited to inducing the feeling of the passage of time.

In the end, it would have been difficult, perhaps impossible, to have a four year old child play the role of the young Setsuo. Actors could never reach the precision and purity of the drawn Setsuko and Seita. Pencil, millions of drawings, errors corrected a thousand times can show this emotion. Changing the expression of faces at will, erasing, restarting infinitely: no actor would have had the necessary patience. To approach what I was looking for in Setsuko, it would have taken hundreds of takes with a little girl, even a gifted one. I would have become a real child abuser!

Precisely, the "performance" of the little girl is surprising in its realism, her gestures, her facial expressions...how did you go about this?

First, I remember how my children were at that age. Next, I went to day-cares to observe them. What is true of the characters is also true for landscapes, the details of the setting, the thousand and one minuscule elements that compose an image. Animation offers a freedom, a creativity that traditional cinema does not possess, and shooting a film would considerably frustrate me: I would always have the feeling of having abandoned a work in progress...

The film shares themes with My Neighbor Totoro such as the ailing mother, children left to themselves and their fears, the countryside...is there a dialogue between you and Miyazaki when developing your scripts which would explain these common tastes and preoccupations?

We don't talk about our scripts. But Miyazaki was part of my team at Toei, and so he has heard my advice: "Learn to observe reality as closely as possible, to deal with the hearts of children, the reactions of those who are loved, etc."

You show the fire bombings that hit Kobe. What did you avoid the subject (no doubt the most anticipated) of the atomic bomb, which neverthless the viewer can't help but constantly think of?

Of course the atomic bomb is a contemporary problem, a question that must be dealt with. But my subject was the problems encountered by two children who had lost their parents to the bombs. Atomic or not, it doesn't matter. I had a dramatic experience at the age of ten years old: I had lost my parents for a period of two days after a bombing. There is thus a dash of autobiography in the film.

When they return to their house, which is across from the shelter of Seita and Setsuko, the young girls listen to Home Sweet Home. Is there a meaning behind the fact that it's a western song?

Indeed, it's significant. This song was sung in English even during the World War, and it plays in the film at the house of well-off Japanese, who in the end didn't suffer too much from the war.

You show adults who behave in a way utterly devoid of any solidarity or compassion (except the old policeman).

There's no side taken: during the war, and not only in Japan, adults were generally not very kind towards children; viewers older than I am have confirmed to me that it transpired exactly like that. It wasn't malice, it was wartime! I want viewers today, when they see the attitude of the aunt, the country folk, and other adults, to question themselves about the attitude they would have themselves in an extreme situation.

Could you talk to us about your film Only Yesterday?

It's the story of a young Tokyo dweller who leaves for the countryside for the harvest. The film takes place in two timelines: the '60s and the present. I wanted to describe the small everyday "nothings" that are very important for adolescents and could seem ridiculous to adults. Yet these small things are sometimes defining for the future of young people. The film very much enchanted young Japanese girls, who found themselves within it.

Does the idea of your last film, Pompoko, come from Hayao Miyazaki, who in Porco Rosso toyed with focusing on an animal that the Japanese have affection for but do not respect?

I had in fact talked to Miyazaki about the idea of directing a film about tanukis multiple times over the years. But he is the head of Studio Ghibli: it is he who decided when it was time to begin production of the film.

Does the tanuki transformation ability really exist in Japanese mythology, or is it the fruit of your imagination?

It's not, properly speaking, mythology, with all the seriousness that implies. Rather, it's popular tradition: the tanuki -- the Japanese badger, an unintelligent animal, compared to a fox or a wolf for example -- can take on any appearance, from a cauldron to a human, but is made fun of quite easily. As for the story recounted in the film, I imagined it. According to legend, they can transform into human beings: if they were intelligent, with that ability, we wouldn't find so many of them splattered on the road! I thought that maybe tanukis had lost or forgotten this ability to transform.

Is the focus of the film part of a larger current of increased ecological awareness in Japan?

It's one of the elements that contributed to the success of the film. I wanted to show the modern world through the eyes of the tanukis. In the end, what happens to them, is what we live through ourselves: we are tanukis forced to disguise ourselves as city-dwellers! It's particularly true, for example, for rural folk who come to work in Tokyo, and who are victims of stress, heart issues...

There is also a certain magic in restoring, in image, what has disappeared: the Italian seaplanes in Porco rosso, the countryside surrounding Tokyo in Pompoko. Urban extension is a reality experienced by many Japanese -- it must be the same thing for the French -- and they often share the same ideas developed in the film on this topic. Another important point is that the tanuki are an endangered species. In Japan, in northern Hokkaido, there is the Ainu people, the first inhabitants of the archipelago before the arrival of the Japanese, who suffer a fate today comparable to those of the Native Americans in North and South America: these endangered peoples, trapped in their reservations, are confronted by the dominant people. This could be reflected in extreme positions like terrorism, or even by refuge in religion. The tanuki represent these oppressed minorities, and the film describes the different paths offered to them.

As opposed to killing or hunting all the humans, some tanukis ask to keep some, so that they can continue to eat hamburgers! Doesn't this denouncement of assimilation, rather than targeting just a minority, instead take aim at all of Japan?

It's a bit of humor, indeed, but it's also the reality for the tanukis! They have always been in contact with the humans who conquered their territory, first clearing forests for agriculture, and then urbanizing the countryside. They eat certain garden plants and scavenge through the trash. They have thus always lived alongside the humans.

Has the Japanese public seen this symbolism concerning them?

Many people cried when the tanukis recreate the illusion of the countryside as it was before the extension of the great Tokyo.

Collected by Gilles Ciment at Annecy June 4, 1995 and published in Positif n°425-426, juillet-août 1996). Thanks to Futaba Ueki for the translation.

Notes

This is a translation of a translation, and I am not a native French or Japanese speaker, so keep that in mind.

One major issue is the use of the term dessin animé, literally "animated drawings", which Takahata uses throughout. Indeed this may be the etymology of the Japanese term anime. So the distinction between "animation", "cartoons", and "anime" we might have in English don't apply here. I tried to choose the option most fitting to the context in each situation, but it is not a perfect translation.

Another issue is the use of terms specific to the industry of anime. I'm not sure what is meant by prises de vue -- which literally means "shots" as in a live-action film context. I imagine this is associated with a specific Japanese word, but as I am not sure the exact one I have left it as '"shooting" in analogy with live action film terminology. Similarly, I translated scénariste as scriptwriter as one would in live-action; it may be something different in Japanese. Finally, chef-animateur becomes animation director and intervaliste in-between animation -- this is French->English translation. Again, I don't know about the Japanese->French translation here.

Takahata states that Miyazaki wrote Nausicaa par désoeuvrement. This can be a literal lack of work i.e. unemployment. Or it could be idleness. I chose the latter for now, as idleness can be caused by unemployment, and I'm not familiar enough with the production of Nausicaa to say definitively what Miyazaki's work life was like at the time of its writing.

[cinematicjourney]

Chie the Brat (1981) | dir. Isao Takahata

[animenostalgia]

New Licenses from Animeigo & Discotek!

At Otakon 2024, Animeigo & Discotek had back-to-back panels, and both announced some great licenses! Animeigo announced:

Bubblegum Crash on bluray

Time of Eve: The Complete Collection on bluray

Full Moon wo Sagashite on bluray

Discotek announced 25 new titles, including:

Space Pirate Captain Harlock on bluray

Dallos on bluray

Giant Gorg on bluray

Space Musketeer Bismark on bluray

Chie The Brat season 2 on bluray

Great Teacher Onizuka on Standard Definition bluray

Digimon Adventure 02 on bluray

KITE on bluray (which will include an adult-only "uncut" version, the "U.S. general release" version, and an "International" cut version, the latter of which has not been released in the U.S. before.)

Humanoid Monster BEM on bluray

Groizer X on Standard Definition bluray

The live-action Kekko Kamen trilogy on blu-ray

The Android Kikaider series on bluray

MXC, aka Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, the Spike TV re-edit of Takeshi's Castle that aired on US cable TV in the early 00s.

Check the link above for a complete list of their announcements!

[ljaesch]

Discotek Media Announces Anime Releases for May 2024

Discotek Media has announced that it will release Chie The Brat 1st TV Series, Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple OVA series, the English dub of the second of the Digimon 02 anime, and IGPX on Blu-ray, Lightspeed Electroid Albegas on SDBD Blu-ray, and Belladonna of Sadness on 4K UHD and Blu-ray on May 28, 2024. The Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple OVA series and IGPX will include both the original…

[cglenwilliams]

You're not going to find Midnight Mass or Haunting of Hill House on physical media, true, but physical media is still out there, there are still new titles being released, and even as Sony announces they're going to phase out their optical media releases, sales numbers have started trending up.

You know what you will find out there on disc? The Sandman, Season 1. You can also find both seasons of The Mandalorian. (None of these are affiliate links, by the way -- I'm not getting paid off of this post) As I write this, Star Trek: Discovery is taking pre-orders for the complete series on disc and every season of Lower Decks to date has gotten a blu-ray release.

If you're a 90's kid, how about the short-lived TV series of The Flash from 1990-1991? It's just gotten a brand new, remastered blu-ray release. Viz has been doing new releases of every season and movie of Sailor Moon for the anime fans, or you could pick up the first ever American release of Chie the Brat.

I'm not foolish enough to believe we can drag the studios back to physical media first and foremost -- they're all-in on streaming even as they're realizing that nobody knows how to make money off of it. But I am saying that there are still new physical media releases and if you want to start building a library of the titles you love it's not too late. Hey! Look at that! A brand new DVD release of Dexter's Lab!

Here are a few of my favorite sites to look for new movies that don't give money to Amazon -- since Amazon is pushing streaming over discs these days, anyway.

This is not a drill. Kino Lorber is mostly known for high quality releases of classic cinema and art movies, but you know what else they have? All of Columbo on blu-ray.

I'm going to repeat that, because it bears repeating.

You can get the entire 1970's run of Columbo and the 80's-through the early 2000's revival on blu-ray right freakin' now.

Gruv is run by Universal, who are still releasing a bunch of new titles every month (they're slowly releasing ALL of the extant original series of Doctor Who on blu-ray).

They also have a little series called Murder, She Wrote. Maybe you've heard of it.

They ship quickly and their sales are great -- just be aware that if you pre-order something from them, they'll take the payment right away instead of waiting until the pre-order is ready to ship.

If you like the cult side of things, Vinegar Syndrome puts out high-quality releases of older cult movies -- and their site also carries a massive selection from their partner labels, who release everything from older cult titles to brand new animation and LGBTQ+ cinema. They're a little slow to ship -- don't buy anything from their Black Friday sale that you expect to give as a Christmas gift, for example -- but they're working to speed up their infrastructure.

Sci-fi, anime, and a brand new 4k release of Weird Al Yankovic's UHF -- if you're not buying direct from Shout! then what are you doing with your life?

It's not too late! Get a 4k player and start building that physical media library now!

seriously FUCK netflix and most other streaming services!!!! i miss physical media so much!!! behind the scenes footage, bloopers, interviews, cast/director/producer commentaries etc… bring this back, damn it!!!!

[narrators-journal]

Persona Masterlist: Spring of birth

We are on to our third one! Can you TELL I have a favorite fandom rn? Lololol

Previous masterlist: Here

Created: 6/30/24

Updated: 11/5/24

Fanfiction: x

Headcanons: //

Scenario: \\\

NSFW: *

Ask: ^

OC included: _

Persona 2

😭 The group 😭

Their sexualities //

Them as monsters //

🎶 Mikichi 🎶

Regular content

Lovehandles \\\^

Relationship headcanons //

Patience training \\\^*

Envenomization \\\^*

Swimming with sharks \\\^*

🔧 Tatsuya Suou 🔧

regular content

The duty of a brother \\\

Yandere content

Yandere!Tatsuya headcanons //

💐 Tatsujun 💐

Regular content

Take me for a joyride \\\*

Off the clock \\\*

Not the expected birthday ride \\\^

When a door closes, a window opens \\\*

Primrose-scented wolfsbane \\\^

Leo rising \\\^

And sometimes that window shuts... \\\^*

Not safe for work \\\^*

Beach day \\\^*

False gods \\\^*

The big bad wolf \\\^*

Hot for you \\\^*

Dark/Yandere content

Lion taming \\\^*

A turn of the tables \\\^*

Blasphemy \\\*

Yandere!Tatsujun headcanons //

🎤 Eikichi Mishina 🎤

Regular content

Eikichi nsfw alphabet //*

Musical chairs \\\^*_

Lost in the tsunami \\\^*

🚓 Katsubao 🚓

Regular content

After hours bonding \\\^*

You're so pretty when you cry \\\^*

🌷 Jun Kurosu 🌷

Regular content

Lost in the tsunami \\\^*

Yandere/dark content

Yandere!Jun headcanons //

👮‍♂️ Katsuya Suou 👮‍♂️

Regular content

In slow motion \\\^*_

Persona 3

🌓 The SEES 🌓

regular content

My thoughts on their sexualities //

🌙 Minato Arisato 🌙

Regular content

Let's make a family \\\^*

Yandere/dark content

Yandere!Minato headcanons //

🥀 Jundori 🥀

Regular content

Jundori's spicy relationship takes //^*

I never pegged you as peggable \\\^*

Love bites \\\^*

☠ RyoMina ☠

Regular content

Shame \\\^*

Window shopping \\\^*

A graduation gift \\\^*

You can touch, but not see \\\^*

Yandere/Dark content

It's just a flu \\\

Admiration \\\^*

Tithing \\\^*

This means nothing \\\

🤖 Aigis 🤖

Regular content

Let's make a family \\\^*

🥊 Akihiko Sanada 🥊

Regular content

Rut is in the air \\\^*_

🌙 Kotone Shiomi 🌙

Regular content

A quick sin in the depths of hell \\\^*

🧥 Shinji Aragaki 🧥

Regular content

A quick sin in the depths of hell \\\^*

Persona 4

🔎 The investigation team 🔎

The investigation team's sexualities (+ a bonus) //

👓 Yu Narukami 👓

Regular content

Narukami headcanons //

Yandere/Dark content

Platonic yandere!Narukami headcanons //

⚔ Shokami ⚔

Regular content

The cabin in the woods \\\^*

🧸 Teddie 🧸

Regular content

reflections can reveal the truth \\\^*_

🥩 Chie Satonaka 🥩

Regular content

An alternate payment plan \\\^*

🚓 Naoto Shirogane 🚓

Yandere/Dark content

Yandere!Naoto headcanons //^

Persona 5/Royal

🎭 The phantom thieves 🎭

regular content

My thoughts on their sexualities //

🃏 Persona 5 protagonist 🃏

Regular content

A phantom show \\\^*

Little lamb \\\^*

Adjusting \\\

Dark/Yandere content

Breaking and entering \\\^*_

🐈 Ann Takamaki 🐈

Regular content

A phantom show \\\^*

Ann Takamaki headcanons //

👩‍⚖️ Sae Nijima 👩‍⚖️

Regular content

A phantom show \\\^*

🔫 Akeshu 🔫

Regular content

Akeshu's relationship //

Akechi had a... \\\^*

Yandere/dark content

Together forever \\\^*

How to get a mate 101 \\\^*

Brat \\\^*

☕ Haru Okumura ☕

Regular content

Over indulge \\\^*

Pose \\\^

🐼 Makoto Nijima 🐼

Regular contet

Makoto headcanons //*

General asks

Fic advice I suppose