Gravity

Gravity, by Maaya Sakamoto on the Wolf’s Rain Soundtrack.

This is a very beautiful song, and easily one of my all-time anime soundtrack favourites. Yoko Kanno never disappoints! While I’m loving every bit of Wolf’s Rain’s background music (and am rather unsure about the opening), the ending is nothing short of perfection.

Been a long road to follow,
Been there and gone tomorrow,
Without saying goodbye to yesterday.
Are the memories I hold still valid,
Or hath the tears deluded them?

Maybe this time tomorrow,
The rain will cease to follow,
And the mist will fade into one more today.
Something somewhere out there keeps calling,

Am I going home?
Will I hear someone singing solace to the silent moon?
Zero gravity what’s it like?
Am I alone? Is somebody there beyond these heavy aching feet?

Still the road keeps on telling me to go on.
Something is pulling me,
I feel the gravity of it all.

Starting Wolf’s Rain

Most of the torrents I found for Darker than Black were of a massively-sized Matroska video format, which made my beloved The KMPlayer slow down and destroyed the spartan VLC player. So I suppose I will have to abandon that one until someone releases an avi version of it, or at least one with a smaller resolution.

Meanwhile, I took to Wolf’s Rain, one episode of which I had watched on Animax. I was very impressed with what I saw then, and I still am – excellent screenplay, perfect editing, conceptual art and so on. I’d go on to say that it is definitely the second best anime I’ve seen, second only to Cowboy Bebop. (I’m probably saying a bit more than I should here, but what the hell)

I especially like how the wolves and animals behave realistically, as opposed to having them being extra humanish or something. The story in itself is pretty mysterious still, alluding to the “wolves” who are supposed to be extinct, knowing where “paradise” is. Kiba, the protagonist, a proud wolf arrives at a city, where he meets wolves masquerading as men (which he utterly despises).

I’ll say this that the story isn’t dashingly original or brain-meltingly awesome, but it does have its charm, and that’s what is important. Every scene was enjoyable and left you wanting for more – not for the story, but because of the depth established by the fine work on the series.

The only thing that didn’t impress me, I’d say are the visuals. Even there, the locations, backgrounds, concept art, all of it is fantastic, and I noted the various designs and elements with interest here. But the characters feel to be drawn from a rather old anime. Perhaps that’s nitpicking.

Rashomon

I was watching Akira Kurosawa’s famous Rashomon yesterday, and I can see why it’s such a classic film. I think it did have one flaw, which critic after critic has pointed out – it is too monotonous. The film uses only four locations, and the same characters, who are more or less doing the same things over and over – add to that the black and white and it’s a boring, boring watch.

The classic takes place in Japan, where a woodcutter narrates a story to a man who has taken shelter from the rain. The woodcutter claims to have found a dead body and was produced before the court, where four testimonies regarding the incident are narrated, therefore we see a flashback-within-a-flashback. Who is telling the truth? Who can be trusted? Is the woodcutter telling the truth? The entire movie leaves this an enigma, but not as an enigma, but a question that is meant to be appreciated, not answered.

Still, it was an artistic treat, especially the parts devoid of any dialogue for several minutes, or the subliminal commentary on the human condition that runs throughout the movie, as well as the mild eulogy on the subjectivity of truth. While the movie could have used some more originality, I thought it had fantastic editing and soundwork.

I’ll have to look into the ending, though. It was a rather unusual ending – while it does help conclude the film’s philosophical themes, questioning morality and the human condition, as a plot it feels unsatisfying. Then again, to be frank, it was a relief the movie ended at last.

Greatest commercials of all time

Japan’s commercials for Fanta appear to win the “awesome for all time” award from me.