Vogue Japan - Hello Kitty Wears Dior

I finally managed to put my hands on the massive issue of Vogue Japan Jun'08! Why, and what is that, that I was so anxiously waiting for? Well, nothing less than a special edition featuring Hello Kitty dressed by no one else than John Galliano!

Well, it also displays some celebs that have succumbed to Kitty-chan's spell, but I wouldn't care less for them, especially the bimbo sisters Paris and whatzername-Hilton. No, that doesn't matter. I'd rather forget about it, even... Oh well...

What is really great is to get the drawings for 60 outfits Galliano designed for her, as well as pictures of her visiting the Maison Dior in Paris - kawaii indeed! To die for!

(It makes me think of Alexandre Herchcovitch - a wonderful Brazilian fashion designer - who also designed some pieces featuring Kitty-chan 4 years ago...)

I also got a special freebie, which is a lovely mascot of Kitty holding a Vogue banner. Here it is, at your left - I scanned it, but it doesn't look great. Just click on it to get a better idea.

Now I just need to know if the Kitties (60, in total) will be released as mascots or straps, so I can get some (my favorites at least)!

Death Note - The Movies

We finished watching the live action Death Note films yesterday and it was too good! I've ordered these from YesAsia, for they have the Hong Kong version, with English subtitles (quite a good translation, it must be said).

There are 2 films: the first one is Death Note, and the sequel is Death Note - The Last Name. They were both released in 2006 and I must say the adaptation is excellent, and that everyone who loves the manga should run and watch the films.

It is even better than the anime series, which is too close to the book. The films bring some changes to the original storyline, without modifying the basic premises and it all takes place in less time, not over the years as it happens with the books. They really did a good job here. The ending is a bit sad, but I may also say so from the manga.

(It's also great to hear the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the soundtrack! It goes really well with the story somehow!)

Yaji & Kita: The Midnight Pilgrims

... or... Mayonaka no Yaji-san Kita-san

Another Japanese gem we have watched last night! It's brilliant, surreal, absurd and hilarious. The plot revolves around a couple of gay samurai in the Edo era (1603 to 1868). Kita-san is a drug addict and Yaji-san, his married lover. Since Kita-san can make "no heads or tails of reality", Yaji-san decides to bring him in a pilgrimage to Ise Sanctuary, after picking up an ad about the place. Ise-san is said to be the solution for all problems, the cure for anything, thus ideal for a junkie such as Kita-san.

I have scanned the ad for your delight (up above!) - now if you can imagine a samurai getting such a leaflet in the Edo era, you can have an idea of the wacky stuff awaiting for you in these 2 hours +.

To arrive to Ise-san they have to follow the old Tokaido road and, on their way, they stop at several inns and meet a bunch of really funny and bizarre characters. The Laughter Inn (where to be accepted you simply must present the funniest stand-in comedy routine, for example), a green tea plantation in Shizuoka where they meet a drag queen with a daughter who cannot sing to save her own life (thus causing Mt. Fuji to be hazed all the time), a group of cute school girls that are die-hard fans of a famous local Yakuza boss, a guy who impersonates King Arthur in a tribute/reference to Monty Python (or so it seemed), the Souls Inn, and an undead bartender in the middle of the forest, whose drinks are made from magic mushrooms etc... Well, think about Alice in Wonderland meets Priscilla Queen of the Desert... Or something along these lines.

But that's not all. Yaji-san is actually being wanted for the murder of his wife Ohatsu (did he, did he not?), and Kita-san believes to have fallen in love with the singing-challenged Shizuoka girl who, by her turn, has fallen in love with no one else than Yaji-san! Not to mention that they also manage to record a CD and become famous as a result.

Some more hilarious characters here are the Police investigators (Kin-kin and assistant Non-no), the she-demon Datsueba, the bearded courtesans, and what have you...

Photography, soundtrack and costumes are all brilliant and colourful, and the film is loaded with puns and jokes, some of which are much probably lost in translation, but still quite enjoyable. I absolutely love when they arrive to what they think is Ise-san, but in fact is the department store Isetan, in the middle of Tokyo's Shibuya. Surreal, and straightforward hilarious.

Note that the beginning of the film is in black-and-white, until Yaji-san shows the leaflet to Kita-san and then everything seems to come to life and the colours appear - as if their lives now have gotten a meaning and aim (a quest in search of redemption/healing at Ise-san, that is). There is even a fantastic dream scene where corpses floating in the river become pieces of a supernatural Tetris game, and that's certainly one of my favourites.

Now I just need to find myself the soundtrack!

(Directed by Kudo Kankuro, dated 2005, starring as Yaji-san and Kita-san: Nagase Tomoya and Nakamura Shichinosuke II, respectively).

(Pictures scanned by me, from the DVD insert, by Asmik Ace Entertainment Inc., DVD ACBD-10302).

Manga to Love - "With The Light"

Some weeks ago, I was with Mark at the newly refurbished Reads bookshop in Dublin City Centre. I call that bookshop an "emergency bookshop", in the sense that is rather like a convenience store than a real bookshop. By that I mean, it sells the obvious bestseller releases, tourist guides, Irish-themed books for foreigners, calendars, and the sort.

But they've got a tiny manga section, to my surprise. And there I found this book, from Yen Press (that I haven't heard about until then, altough they are re-publishing another favourite of mine - "The Antique Gift Shop"): "With The Light: Raising an Autistic Child", by Keiko Tobe. Really heavy volume that I quickly browsed and decided to buy on the spot and see how it might be. And this was only the 1st volume, covering the main character's early years.

No regrets. The artwork is lovely and the subject quite distinct from the usual manga offers. It is really a manual-like, guide to autism, and very interesting at that. I say "manual-like" because it gives you some guidance on how to help raising a kid with that condition and shows as well some valuable data and pieces of information on the subject. But it is not quite so, or not limited to that. It is a story, with loveable characters and told with sensitivity, interest and knowledge.

It tells about a couple. Sachiko and Masato Azuma, whose 1st child, Hikaru, turns out to have a very peculiar behaviour on his infancy until he is finally diagnosed with autism. The book follows his journey (and his family's) though the condition and how he interacts with the world around him, prejudices, friendship, and all their strive to adapt - not only to the condition itself - but to society as a whole. And as a normal, functional part of it, not merely as a "disabled" or "special" member of it.

Then you realise how hard it must be. For the kid, for the parents, for the teachers. Hard yes, but also rewarding. As I mentioned before, the artwork is very good and the characters are easy to identify even if a bit stereotypical sometimes - Sachiko is way too nice, the Mother-in-law is way too strict and unsympathetic in the beginning, Masato changes abruptly from a workaholic salary man to a loving Father.

The plot is as simple as that: a day in a life. It could easily turn into a mushy, corny piece of a graphic novel, but believe me when I say it is not. Worth buying it, reading and appreciating for the story and the artwork, I cannot do it otherwise but warmly recommend it. And even urge you to get a copy.

(Please click on the scan below to have an example of the text and artwork...)

Matcha Ice Cream...

I had one today. We went to Aya for lunch and that's where I got it. We always go there for matcha ice cream... Aaaaahhhh...

kuriyama chiaki-glico wagokoro
Uploaded by acdticojp

The above ad stars Chiaki Kuriyama, and I got it from Dailymotion. I added the user to my favorites, since he's got the most fantastic Japanese ads.

Woman of the Water ("Mizu no Onna")

This gorgeous film has been recommended by fellow blogger World of Overcast. It is (of course!) a Japanese movie, starring Asano Tadanobu and the singer Ua. It was the first time I heard about her by the way, and she has a beautiful, strong voice (from what I could grasp from the film soundtrack).

Mark likes to call Tadanobu the "Japanese Ralph Fiennes", since he always appears naked in his films... Well, jokes apart, he is perhaps 90% right here! (Lucky us viewers, I must say...)

The film is directed by Sugimori Hidenori (dated 2002) and is a real gem. Somehow it recalls the beautiful images and words from Overcast as well, and it is a quiet, melancholy movie, almost like a watercolour - shades of blue and green seem to dominate most of the time.

It tells the story (or rather tale) of Ryo, whose life's meaningful events are always announced by rain. She is also a Pisces and, as her fiancé mentions in the beginning, could only be surrounded by water. Actually, she works with her Father in a bath house and, one day, during a rainfall, her Dad and fiancé both die in separate incidents. From now on, it is Ryo starting from scratch, new life, new beginnings.

She gets involved with Asano's character, Yusaku, a young man obsessed with bonfires. She hires him to work in the bath house working the fire, and they start a relationship. It happens that Yusaku is a wanted pyromaniac, as we find at one stage.

There are other characters in the plot, two females, who represent other elements: Midori, the crazy homeless woman who Ryo calls "Mom" and seems to symbolise Earth, and Yukino, an artist that Ryo befriends during a trip to Mt. Fuji and whom she meets again when it's time to repaint the Mt. Fuji's landscape in the bath house walls, and she comes with the master painter. This woman, a free spirit, always wandering around, may be associated with the Wind/Air. This interview with the director explains well this concept of the 4 elements and their symbolism in the film, worth having a look.

The relationship between Ryo and Yusaku relies on a fine balance. They both seem to complement each other: no questions asked, no demands, beautiful dialogues, poetic lovemaking. She is water but becomes strangely more "fiery" and assertive than Yusaku himself, whereas he seems to plunge more deeply inside the turvy waters of his memories and past.

Midori, the "green" homeless woman, has a crucial role in the conclusion of the story, which I will not disclose here, naturally.

I strongly recommend this little gem of a film, although I can understand it is not for everybody. From what I've seen, some people find it to be extremely boring and slow, but believe me when I say it is a beauty. And not because I am a Pisces as well, and my element is Water, and etc... No, not because of that, but simply because it is extremely rewarding. Now, please go ahead; you won't regret it!

Take ir or leave it - Tetsuo The Iron Man

For some time, Mark has been insisting that I should watch "Tetsuo The Iron Man", and I finally found it for a very reasonable price in Play. I ordered it, and last night, we sat together to watch it.

Short little masterpiece, I would say (to start with). Think unglamorous, monochrome (entirely B&W), grainy and dark. And gory.

Subjacent theme is a sort of post-industrial grudge. A man obsessed with metal fetishism, is ran over by a car and dies (at least, I think he died). The car is driven by this salary man and his woman who, instead of helping, start having sex in front of the (dead or alive by then) body. They dump the body into a ravine and he suffers a mutation. Or to put into alchemical terms, a transmutation. At the same time, the salary man starts to hallucinate and sees himself changing in real life, culminating in his metamorphosis into a pile of retorted metal - or something to that effect. This realisation of the change and how to cope with it is memorable, but I won't give details here.

Soundtrack is brilliant and the film edition is amazing, I must say. From the metamorphose onwards, the story enters a frantic pace and things start to gradually make sense.

Visually, it reminded me of H. R. Giger's artwork and some 1920's expressionist films (makeup, facial expressions, body movements etc). I recall Wegener's "The Golem" for the dark atmosphere and the inhuman character of the protagonist(s), albeit in a totally distinct scenario of course. Also, "Metropolis" may come to mind for the post-industrial, man-machine relationship theme. The black and white footage and lack of dialogue lends it an air of silent movie almost, which greatly contributes to such associations, I guess.

I think it's brilliant because the story hardly needs any words to be understood (that is a merit, in my point-of-view), except perhaps with the flashback scene with the doctor, and the last scenes where the two main characters talk to each other and one of them says something like:

"Together we can rust this world. With our love we can destroy this world together", while entering a post-apocalyptical Tokyo scenario, empty streets, abandoned buildings and no other human beings, dead or alive, to be seen.

Homosexual metaphor. Metal mutation epidemics. Technopop hallucination. Cyberpunk fable. I think it's all these things together perhaps. And perhaps none of them at all.

Who is Tetsuo in the end? None of the two male characters is called Tetsuo. But the being resulting of the salary man and the fetishist's fusion. Almost like a homunculus born from a twisted alchemical process, a perverted "conjunctio". That is Tetsuo, or at least that's how I see it.

The film is directed, produced and starred by Shinya Tsukamoto - as the fetishist guy. We recently saw him as the main character in Takeshi Shimizu's "Marebito", which, truth to be told, failed to impress (not him as an actor, but the story itself). In the other hand, he directed a little gem of a film called "Vital", with Tadanobu Asano, one of my favourite J-Horror films (although I personally don't see it as "horror" at all). All that makes me think he must be no short of a genius.

(Thanks Mark, for introducing me to Tetsuo. Owe you one!)

Shopping Bags

We went to Tower Records yesterday and I bought myself this cute shopping bag. These are the front and back views:

It's really nice, spacious and cheap. I have now in my wish list a bag from these same makers that is kinda weird, but very funny: Looking Good For Jesus. Mark wonders if it would be safe for me to use one of these here in Ireland?

New Favourite Anime - Jigoku Shoujo

Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl) is my new favourite anime series. I am collecting the manga as well, but I heard it was toned down for younger audiences. You can actually see that in the artwork, which tends to look "cute" most of the time, whereas the anime is surely more sinister and gloomier.

It tells the story of a website (Jigoku Tsushin, or "Hell Correspondence") where you enter at midnight (if lucky enough to be granted access) and transmit the name of a person against whom you have a grudge. The Hell Girl will then come and offer you a straw doll (normally the next day), which is the symbol of the pact you agree in making with her. Once you remove the string around the doll's neck, Hell Girl will immediately call upon your grudge and bring him/her to Hell. That's the idea permeating the episodes.

Fascinating. And it seems Hell is quite busy too, since it's not that easy to get connected. As for your grudge, it needs to be justifiable. Namely, you must take revenge upon an evil person, a real jerk for that matter. It's not just anyone (otherwise it would be too easy, no?)

At any rate, Hell Girl makes sure you understand that, by entering the covenant, your own soul will be the price to pay in the end - but this time, after you are dead.

It's basically a series of revenge tales, and so far, the people being punished are really evil, and seemingly deserving their fate, as I mentioned above. It also seems that Hell, in this case, is a concrete, physical location and not a mere metaphysical concept, since people literally disappear through its magical gates, brought in a boat by the innocent girl herself.

The girl is beautiful, has huge beady red eyes, wears a kimono and traditional clothes and, if anything, starts the episodes with a rather expressionless face. Striking, but empty. However, if you pay attention, you will note that she gradually changes. I am curious to know what is going to happen inside her as the series progresses. You mostly perceive that change through her eyes.

So far, I only watched 5 episodes, the last being "The Woman in The Tall Tower", and at this stage we still don't know much about Enma Ai (the girl). I believe she is atoning for something that happened in her past (past life, that is), but I still don't know what that is. I will wait for the DVD's to be released and the story to unfold by itself, little by little!

I also managed to get two soundtrack albums on eBay, and the music is gorgeous as one might certainly expect from such an eerie plot.

Meanwhile, I can recommend the fan site, containing beautiful wallpapers and extra information.

Have fun!

I am back, finally (and hopefully!)

Terrible, I am terrible. I know... Such a lazy lady... Well, more than 2 months without blogging. Christmas, New Year, Birthday - all these events came and went, and I was here. Either reading manga or reminiscing about our trip to Rio (where I stayed 2 months, by the way).

Then, why am I writing today, of all days? Simply because I have decided to get into the blogging activity again, as simple as that, and because I got something really cool on eBay! It is silly, I know, and people would just think why am I so bloody childish and so on... Especially now, since I just turned 45, so I should know more and be a real adult - once and for all, right? Well, not quite.

Still in love with Keroro, I scored this:

This is a miniature of the Hinata house kitchen, with Kero-chan performing all his daily duties (except vaccum-claning that is) and Tama-chan waiting for some snacks! Comes with saucepans, cleaning products, furniture, cutlery etc! Waaaaaahhhh, so cute! Just look at this detailed pic here:

He looks so proud, no? Showing all his cleaning gear, ah...

How could I not fall in love??? Next will be the miniature of his room (Chibic My Room), and also the Gourmet + Hobby set, which includes delicacies from Keron planet: