Several times I've been asked about why I use the profile picture that I have and/or what my name refers to. The answer is multifaceted, and it's a bit more of an ordeal to answer than "I think x character is cool" or whatever the explanation is that most people have for their profile picture, so this is my longwinded essay about the why of it all.
The profile picture:
It's a drawing of an alien called Lam. It was drawn by the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley, and it was first published in 1919. According to Crowley, Lam is a Tibetan word for way or path, and it has connections to Buddhism. I don't care about that. Crowley, who was probably high out of his mind at the time, claimed to have seen this critter when he drew it.
What interests me about this image is how similar it looks to the stereotypical grey alien before that became a pop culture sensation. The only real difference being the much smaller and more human-like eyes, as opposed to the big black orbs. In fact, aliens were born out of the occult—notably through theosophy—before any normal person claimed to see one. Theosophists placed a special value upon various planets in the solar system, and many of them would claim to commune with aliens. Quite a number of these fake totally real encounters had the subject referring to the "alien" as an "aryan" or some other very human-like description. There were some more "exotic" alien descriptions that didn't resemble humans too much in some cases.
Anyway, the "sightings," eventually would solidify into the grey aliens we so often hear about today. If you dig into commentary from alien fanatics online, you can find speculation about other alien races, and alleged sightings do vary to some degree, though. What fascinated me about Lam is that it constitutes a kind of "missing link" between the "aryan" aliens and the grey aliens. My interest in alien/UFO history is part of why I chose to use this image.
My name:
Gsarthotegga is pronounced as sar | thought | tay | ga, I guess—whatever, who cares? The name comes from the author Clark Ashton Smith, who was part of Lovecraft's circle of friends, and while he penned many poems and also would draw and paint, he was mostly know for sci-fi, fantasy, and horror short stories that he submitted to pulp magazines. Gsarthotegga is also known as Vulthoom (please, ignore the garbage artwork on this page). The story Vulthoom can be read here. Vulthoom is presented as a deity or god, but it's also very clearly a space alien.
The name and profile picture in unison:
Okay, if you've looked at many profile pictures on here, then I don't need to tell you that most of them are of high school girls from anime. Then you have a few people who have black and white pictures of Stalin or whatever...
I have controversial views on anime (and everything else, to be honest) that often clash with other MALists, and I don't ever try to tone these opposing views down or carefully choose shows where I'll have a positive reaction. Don't care, and I gladly invite these Animefan Crybaby responses I so often receive. I've embraced that "alienation" by choosing an image and name that both correspond to fictitious aliens. I wanted a long, unwieldy, even enigmatic name. One that users might not remember or will be left to wonder about the origin of, but it stands out like a sore thumb when they see it. The picture synergizes with the name well, while also being kind of creepy and funny at the same time. It's also very memorable on a website that has a predictable pattern when it comes to profile pictures.
Perhaps it's counter-productive to choose a profile picture and name that was partially intended to mystify, but then to demystify the pair by explaining away everything, yet most people won't read this in the first place, and now I'll have something to point to when asked, instead of having to type up an answer every time.
Scores and what peons on MAL think about art doesn't matter. Like, get this, because it's pretty important: It's the art that matters. Is that revolutionary enough for you? Remember, it's not an IQ test to score your anime, retard. Before you dissect a frog, you should know what you're actually doing, and the same goes for passing judgment on my favorite anime.
Let this broken vase sink in. It's just a broken vase, you say? That light contorting and refracting has a certain awe to it that you can't experience otherwise, but you probably didn't realize that. Well, I did. Think of the symbology and how it's, like, conceptual, man. Makes me feel like Epicurus or something just thinking about it. This vase looks more beautiful than an intact one that you'd purchase at Walmart. Just like how men need to man up and learn to appreciate used-up old women, you need to accept this broken vase into your heart to understand it. I'm an aesthete, seeing beyond the surface, while you're like, "shit's broken," sweeping it into a dustpan! You might have thrown away a million dollars if the CIA could have gotten ahold of it for money laundering. You have no vision, stuffing everything into pigeonholes and whatever other holes that might strike your fancy. Who are you to baselessly dismiss this art? You got up in the vase's feng shui and tried to make it yours, insisting upon yourself because of your presuppositions, missing the point of expression altogether. Worst of all, you attempt to dismiss rather than to understand. That's right: You're a dismisser; whereas I'm an understander.
Oh, yeah, and just in case you're not enlightened enough to get it because you haven't taken as many yoga classes at the local mall as me, I also rate anime, and my ratings are explained below, so check them out.
What's that? I don't even have a ratings section on here, you say? Why should I have to prove anything to you when we live in an incredible world where Congo the Chimpanzee was making better art than you?
Wow, look at this wonderful painting! Abstract expressionism is serious business and not monkeying around at all!
In case you're too plebeian to understand the deep meaning of this painting, then remember, repeat, and all will be clear: Everything around the image is part of its meaning. Its uniqueness is part of the uniqueness of the single place where it is. Everything around it confirms and consolidates its meaning.
My man ThatAnimeSnob 2.0, also known by the totally ironic moniker rorikonfan, giving a dope-ass take on Usagi Drop, his words flowing like a cakewalk with sprinkles and sugar on a rainbow slide!:
Before I twirl into the whimsical whirlpool of thoughts, let’s sprinkle some glitter on the fact that I’m indifferent to slice of life serenades. They’re like marshmallows on a gloomy day—fluffy but not filling. Moeblobs, however, frolic miles ahead in the absurdity race. So here I am, plopping down to watch this anime because it pirouetted into the top ten on every cosmic billboard within weeks. I pondered, "How in the cotton candy clouds did this happen? It’s just another stroll through mundane-ville!"
Peeking at the plot reveals a sprinkle of nothingness. A dude unearths that his grandpa played the parent role late in the game and decides to nurture the sprout after the old sage hops off this merry-go-round. So, what’s all the chitter-chatter about? Whispers suggest it’s got a weird twist at the manga’s climax (not spilling the jelly beans—spoiler alert!), or perhaps it blooms feelings like a garden of emotions. But honestly, the storyline feels as thin as a crepe, characters are cookie-cutter cutouts, and the ending flutters away like a butterfly into the void, so my eyes aren’t glued to a masterpiece through an objective kaleidoscope.
Yet, I must admit, the presentation dances on a tightrope of finesse. It captures the essence of the ordinary with a sprinkle of magic stardust. I remember a whimsy-tastic anime from ages ago called Chocotto Sister—where ludicrousness reigned supreme! With everything from snuggly lolicons to Santa handing out nudie gift wrap to unsuspecting teens; it had a slice of life vibe but quickly tumbled into silliness, wrapped in a lame production bow that faded into forgetfulness.
Usagi Drop prances through a dreamy garden of subtly woven artsy whimsy. The visuals leap like pastel kittens, each character a dancing firefly that beckons eyes to twirl. The voice acting hums just right, never sailing over the top into the land of drama llamas. Each character behaves with a sprinkle of sense; no hopping teens with angst grenades in sight here! The hero juggles work like a circus clown, while a wistful girl seeks her treasure map to joy. This slice of life, so rare among the anime trees, sparkles like a unicorn at tea time. Most shows skedaddle past the ordinary, gift characters with sparkle coins, and toss them into school sagas that turn into accidental nudity rodeos. And remember how ‘grown-up’ parenting traipsed around in Astarotte no Omocha?
Usagi Drop sidesteps that and serves a delectable dish of realism, pouring out the bittersweet recipe of caring for a dreamy child in a world of grown-up grumbles. It reveals the sacrifices, spun with threads of sadness, and let's not kid ourselves—it can be tough for realism-dodgers, who make up around 99.98% of the whimsical media land. Heck, I juggle with realism too! Yet enchanting as it dances, this show is grounded more than any other I've snuggled with in parenthood tales. Many swear by the second season of Clannad, calling it realistic, yet its finale shouts fairy tale escape—a wishful mirage! Then there's Kurenai, where a young lad spins tales of tending to a gloomy girl, sprinkled with action sprinkles, swirling dementia, and even love’s taboo dance. Was it grander than Usagi Drop because of these? Nope, not at all!
Now hold your spaghetti horses, I’m not making a grand statue of realism here! Sure, the storytelling has its wobbly jellybeans. Like, poof! Daikichi scoops up Rin like a magician conjuring a goldfish! Home sweet home—bam! And she waltzes into kindergarten without a single treasure map or riddle in sight. The whole ‘adoption’ jazz? A cakewalk on a rainbow slide!
Nay, it’s not the tale twists or the plotty potpourri that tickle your noodle but rather the oodles of feels it flings at you! Sure, any silly fanfare/fadish/sparkly moe concoction can attempt this jig, yet none succeed by prancing in normality. Oh, they just bluster in supernova levels, splattering sex, kabooms, doom, and debauchery, then strut about claiming 'maturity' while tickling skepticism too raw! Characters? Pure vanilla, bare of quirky sprinkles, frizzy beehives, or attire obsessions. They play their roles like pros, needing no zesty garnishes! That’s my jam with this show; it dances with simplicity and realism without snoring off, even if you’re not vibing with the genre. And this comes from one who paloozed with titanic yarns like Aria, Wandering Son, and Yokohama Shopping Diary and found them snooze-fests extraordinaire!
Is it a show of whimsical wonder? Indeed, it dances in the realm of the unusual, and I sparkle with delight in saying this! In a sea of anime sameness, Usagi Drop leaps forth like a hopping unicorn, casting the glow of authentic life instead of a feeble 'adult' tale. Yet, one must twirl in doubt—would it jiggle its fame without 'that peculiar event' at the manga's finish (which the anime decided to play hide-and-seek with)?
Those lumps aren't gonna make themselves, Pudding!
Lol given the scene where he french kisses the dead scientist I think Sergei might have acted by his own account as well
If they are in the real world before going to the alternate one they should have hired real artists. Otherwise it's an interesting premise to justify the uncannyness of the AI art
Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust was very good, I really did enjoy it a lot. Particularly the animation which was just, absolutely amazing (I absolutely love early 2000s animation). Personally my favorite is hellsing ultimate, which is a bit basic but well, I think it's solid while staying interesting. Some of the other ones I've seen that just really aren't that great are the first vampire hunter D movie (the one in the 70s or 80s I can't remember). Blood-C (awful), Blood+ which could have been okay but really just fell off. Blood: The Last Vampire, which is sort of a generic monster movie.
But yeah while I agree that in shiki they could've had some kind of plan for maintaining population levels I think it's definitely the fault of the series for not covering the problem at all even though it sort of presented it as something that was going to be a pretty large issue. Given how critical it is to the worldbuilding of the show it's really a fault that it wasn't touched as a subject.
I also really haven't seen many vampire films either. Never saw Dracula, need to watch Nosferatu at some point because I'm a fan of the director. I think the only one I saw was "Let the Right One In" which was a good movie but definitely non-traditional in regards to what normally makes up a vampire film.
I wonder what makes it so hard to pull it off well though, It's not a genre I feel is as oversaturated as something like zombie flicks.
I really do like your plastic memories and shiki reviews.
I think shiki is one of those anime (like darling in the franxx) that has a lot of problems but I enjoyed anyway for various reasons (for darling in the franxx it was the music). For shiki it's mostly just one of the better vampire series I've seen despite its problems (It's really hard to pull off a vampire flick well imo). But yeah a lot of the stuff you pointed out with shiki were problems I noticed to. Mostly had to do with problems in the worldbuilding.
Plastic memories I just found to be extremely boring, because for a lot of the show it felt there was nothing happening, no tension created that I could actually feel while watching, even though the topic it was covering should have done so.
Ruined . . . I was thinking about something much worse, but let's settle with that.
I looked up a bunch of inspirations for Evangelion years ago, since I wanted to see where it came from. The Andromeda Strain's another novel, so I'd like to check it out, as well. Then there's The Hitcher (1986 film), Pippa Passes poem, . . . A very diverse set of inspiration pieces.
Season 3 has a . . . funny scene. Let's go with funny. Anyway, there's a scene where Alucard is so lonely, he made dolls of his former comrades (Trevor and Sypha) and played with them, acting out interactions. I can see people noping out of the entire series after watching a clip of it on YouTube. Also, that very same plot thread has him being sexually assaulted by twins and he ends up enjoying it. The twins then start torturing him and he kills both of them, impales their dead bodies on spears, and leaves them hanging in front of Dracula's castle, just like how his father used to. Yeah, the tone isn't any good. It's like Fate/Zero's comedic bits, except awful.
No more anime like D? We lost a real one. The globetrotting in Bloodlust is really well done.
They do say it was like the Virgin Mary. Or the japanese original doesn't say it in an explicit way and it was something they added to the spanish dub? If interpreted in the show themes that was something interesting to compare it to because of the christian europeans who got to the eastern coast of Japan and brought in the religion to a few villages in the 1600s, and the historic western vs eastern topics in the show (they face someone following the orders of a man that admires western culture and a villager gets pregnant like in a western religion)
Beniko doesn't annoy me so much because it contributes to the fact Tsurugi can't even distinguish she isn't the real one because the personalities of the idols he and Ajo contribute to build are easily interchangable like mass produced dolls that can feel in the role of the others, and the moment she starts acting in a way Ajo didn't intend to, she gets beaten up
Yeah it's like Akira in that regard. Nausicaa taking care of the giant is an interesting twist though. She spends the whole manga trying to find where it's stored so it isn't woken up as an instrument of war but it's actually a conscious being that she starts taking care of because it thinks she's her mother, so kinda like Iron Giant in the fact the thing made to be a weapon has feelings and isn't purposely malignant like your typical "oh war is bad" man-made monster. "If he could peek deep into my fears about him and my intent on killing him it would break his heart". Tragically it also spreads radiation so when seeking contention it poisons her. IIRC believe Eva 3.0 started with a short film with this manga version Giant assaulting Tokyo, but I was thinking more about the similarity between how his "wings" look and those famous orange "wings" of the EVA
I watched Episode 14 last night, impressively got me interested despite being an hour thirty exposition dump. The director of the last two OVAS later on worked on Lain and FMA 2003 so he's here first flexing his work by making two people talking have some cool shot composition that makes even talking ten minutes about a photo be visually appealing.
The only moments I felt were tedious were the parts with the doctor's rival, since he wasn't introduced earlier in the series and I feel it's too late to be invested in his story. I was surprised that Mima took an important part in the death of his wife and daughter, and I feel the work's focus in the western vs eastern traditions becomes better explored here, and Key being fixated to become an idol because her family were the idols of the village.
The Tsurugi scene about his relationship with Miho was also interesting and his frustration with her success and his surpise about her being a role that other people can just impersonate (I had thought he already knew she was a robot and that's why she was doing those exercises for Key to show emotion)
That Gene Wolf novel does sound like it'd be an anime, considering how weird things get sometimes.
I know Valis due to it inspiring Evangelion, but I haven't really read any of Dick's novels. Minority Report inspired Psycho Pass, so I suppose some other Dick novels also deserve a chance.
I'm not sure if I'd like to see anime adaptations of books that I like, but I'd like to see more actually good Castlevania animated series.
The first two seasons are good enough despite some issues, but the 3rd is so bad, I still haven't seen the 4th. I also don't feel like bothering with Nocturne.
They should have just tackled every character's plot one at a time instead of jumping around the globe every episode. 4 separate plot threads is too much given each episode's length. It also didn't help that the plot involving Trevor and Sypha has the worst writing and that the overall animation got worse.
Exactly, the dances just build up filler time for the movies even if they don't have anything to do with it. The movie is dreadful but unlike Turkish Star Wars it does try with the special effects, the creature has an awful design but at least it's done with some convincing face animatronic practical effects.
Shiki sounded interesting from what you described it but the cartoonish portrayal of the villagers would turn me off. Even in Key you could argue the more cartoonish moments of the villains is more due to stress and mental health problems. Ajo is still trying to do his job with the military and Sergei is pretty much being a victim of some systematic abuse he then inflicts on the others (that disturbing sexual scene with him kissing the dead scientist in the mouth to get his gel in prison and the following cut to another scene is of Miho's fanservice boob shot in the music video Tokiko is watching)
I'm close to the end of the Nausicaa's manga, which feels like Miyazaki doing an epic military political sci fi story like Gundam, and I have a similar problem I have with Akira, where the longer story becomes quite tedious because most of the time it's spent with the least interesting characters. The MC's environmentalism and pacifism is annoying here in a way I don't remember her in the movie. But even then it's a 7/10 because the time spent with the better ones (mainly the princess Kushana) is deservedly interesting. Also cool to see Miyazaki being so gory (like in the above page) and doing this kind of epic with a pulpy world.
Never thought Nausicaa having a pet Evangelion could be so cute XD. I bet here is where Anno got his inspiration given he did animate the giants scene in the movie
It's an E.T. clone, the guy is a mentally challenged man and the alien makes him become smart and have superpowers. What does the dancing have to do with it? XD
Ah yes it's more about him trying to make Key his fake idol against the industry trying to do the same. Lol what, is everyone in that Shiki anime a stereotypical redneck?
I kid you not, all of the masala movies have a song or a dance scene. Seriously with it, look at the above video and don't search a thing about this movie. What do you think it's about? Clue: it's a ripoff from a famous Spielberg movie, but you'll have to take a wild guess XD
I disagree with Marxism as well but that part of the theory about the separation of the result of a person's job from them always struck me as something interesting. Also the snake god priest does confess to Tokiko about him being a fraud in the scene where she cures the kid that was dying, so there is however some criticism of religious practises that are dependant on idols
The kagura dance is the ritual the woman in Tokiko's vision performs? Is she her mother who was respected in the village for her powers? Is that why there's that emphasis on the fact the villagers were very dismissive of Shuichi, a city boy, when snooping around looking for the clues of Tokiko's past?
What I believe though is that the dance numbers won't fit anyway XD. In the comments of that trailer there's someone saying "I felt bad for the british guy at the end. The dance challenge was epic" ????
I remember watching a video on those Indian soap operas hahaha. Made the turkish ones my mother watches feel actually sane XD
Oh I forgot to tell you from watching Key yesterday. The marxists must have a field day analyzing the series. The most interesting aspect for me so far regarding the pop idol industry is that the alienation (I hope I'm naming the concept right in english) of the worker with its work is portrayed here in a more emotional way than just "fuck capitalism and the people that take the things I made to sell it" because it's about people this time. The guy who is in charge with finding girls for the show laments at multiple points that he hasn't even seen Miho since he prepared her for the industry. And the guy with glasses that wants to train Tokiko to make her his masterpiece also tries to peel away the humanity from her because his work as a director gets on Miho's show becomes a robotic (literally) piece in which Ajo has the actual control
Yeah Ray is what Indians call "parallel cinema", kind of like the Hollywood vs Indie distinction. Say what you want about US mainstream productions but the mainstream cinema of India is way too ridiculous for its own good XD
Those Bollywood movies like Ramayana are called masala because they feel like a combination of ingredients like a very varied Indian dish, that's its biggest issue for me, trying to do action and romance and musical but without balancing each other. The most popular masala as of lately was RRR. Ramayana has the pass for me at a 5/10 because the animated medium feels more impressive for exaggeration and mindless spectacle but what the heck is this? I swear Bollywood feels like all the movies are directed by Zack Snyder 🤣🤣
What about this movie? It's very meh much like the better hindi productions, but because they gave the animation job to Madhouse there are really stunning scenes
By the way, what do you think of Bollywood films? I swear I get called an elitist everytime I dare to criticize one but they are so similar to each other, force songs that don't do a thing to advance the plot and are underservedly long, with weird editing choices. I think the earlier ones must have been better but the more recent ones (this anime is from 1992 and it still sins of this) are exaggerated in how campy they are, and not in the more stylisht way that wuxias were for example
Hahaha that quick gag of comedy feels very Lupin III esque. Doubutsu Takarajima was one of the first works Miyazaki participated in right? The swimming in the air part feels like a gag that shows up everywhere he works in. And the second clip feels very much like the finale of Castle of Cagliostro when Zenigata and his troops storm the castle
All Comments (5373) Comments
If they are in the real world before going to the alternate one they should have hired real artists. Otherwise it's an interesting premise to justify the uncannyness of the AI art
But yeah while I agree that in shiki they could've had some kind of plan for maintaining population levels I think it's definitely the fault of the series for not covering the problem at all even though it sort of presented it as something that was going to be a pretty large issue. Given how critical it is to the worldbuilding of the show it's really a fault that it wasn't touched as a subject.
I also really haven't seen many vampire films either. Never saw Dracula, need to watch Nosferatu at some point because I'm a fan of the director. I think the only one I saw was "Let the Right One In" which was a good movie but definitely non-traditional in regards to what normally makes up a vampire film.
I wonder what makes it so hard to pull it off well though, It's not a genre I feel is as oversaturated as something like zombie flicks.
I think shiki is one of those anime (like darling in the franxx) that has a lot of problems but I enjoyed anyway for various reasons (for darling in the franxx it was the music). For shiki it's mostly just one of the better vampire series I've seen despite its problems (It's really hard to pull off a vampire flick well imo). But yeah a lot of the stuff you pointed out with shiki were problems I noticed to. Mostly had to do with problems in the worldbuilding.
Plastic memories I just found to be extremely boring, because for a lot of the show it felt there was nothing happening, no tension created that I could actually feel while watching, even though the topic it was covering should have done so.
I looked up a bunch of inspirations for Evangelion years ago, since I wanted to see where it came from. The Andromeda Strain's another novel, so I'd like to check it out, as well. Then there's The Hitcher (1986 film), Pippa Passes poem, . . . A very diverse set of inspiration pieces.
Season 3 has a . . . funny scene. Let's go with funny. Anyway, there's a scene where Alucard is so lonely, he made dolls of his former comrades (Trevor and Sypha) and played with them, acting out interactions. I can see people noping out of the entire series after watching a clip of it on YouTube. Also, that very same plot thread has him being sexually assaulted by twins and he ends up enjoying it. The twins then start torturing him and he kills both of them, impales their dead bodies on spears, and leaves them hanging in front of Dracula's castle, just like how his father used to. Yeah, the tone isn't any good. It's like Fate/Zero's comedic bits, except awful.
No more anime like D? We lost a real one. The globetrotting in Bloodlust is really well done.
Beniko doesn't annoy me so much because it contributes to the fact Tsurugi can't even distinguish she isn't the real one because the personalities of the idols he and Ajo contribute to build are easily interchangable like mass produced dolls that can feel in the role of the others, and the moment she starts acting in a way Ajo didn't intend to, she gets beaten up
I watched Episode 14 last night, impressively got me interested despite being an hour thirty exposition dump. The director of the last two OVAS later on worked on Lain and FMA 2003 so he's here first flexing his work by making two people talking have some cool shot composition that makes even talking ten minutes about a photo be visually appealing.
The only moments I felt were tedious were the parts with the doctor's rival, since he wasn't introduced earlier in the series and I feel it's too late to be invested in his story. I was surprised that Mima took an important part in the death of his wife and daughter, and I feel the work's focus in the western vs eastern traditions becomes better explored here, and Key being fixated to become an idol because her family were the idols of the village.
The Tsurugi scene about his relationship with Miho was also interesting and his frustration with her success and his surpise about her being a role that other people can just impersonate (I had thought he already knew she was a robot and that's why she was doing those exercises for Key to show emotion)
I know Valis due to it inspiring Evangelion, but I haven't really read any of Dick's novels. Minority Report inspired Psycho Pass, so I suppose some other Dick novels also deserve a chance.
I'm not sure if I'd like to see anime adaptations of books that I like, but I'd like to see more actually good Castlevania animated series.
The first two seasons are good enough despite some issues, but the 3rd is so bad, I still haven't seen the 4th. I also don't feel like bothering with Nocturne.
They should have just tackled every character's plot one at a time instead of jumping around the globe every episode. 4 separate plot threads is too much given each episode's length. It also didn't help that the plot involving Trevor and Sypha has the worst writing and that the overall animation got worse.
Shiki sounded interesting from what you described it but the cartoonish portrayal of the villagers would turn me off. Even in Key you could argue the more cartoonish moments of the villains is more due to stress and mental health problems. Ajo is still trying to do his job with the military and Sergei is pretty much being a victim of some systematic abuse he then inflicts on the others (that disturbing sexual scene with him kissing the dead scientist in the mouth to get his gel in prison and the following cut to another scene is of Miho's fanservice boob shot in the music video Tokiko is watching)
I'm close to the end of the Nausicaa's manga, which feels like Miyazaki doing an epic military political sci fi story like Gundam, and I have a similar problem I have with Akira, where the longer story becomes quite tedious because most of the time it's spent with the least interesting characters. The MC's environmentalism and pacifism is annoying here in a way I don't remember her in the movie. But even then it's a 7/10 because the time spent with the better ones (mainly the princess Kushana) is deservedly interesting. Also cool to see Miyazaki being so gory (like in the above page) and doing this kind of epic with a pulpy world.
Never thought Nausicaa having a pet Evangelion could be so cute XD. I bet here is where Anno got his inspiration given he did animate the giants scene in the movie
Ah yes it's more about him trying to make Key his fake idol against the industry trying to do the same. Lol what, is everyone in that Shiki anime a stereotypical redneck?
I kid you not, all of the masala movies have a song or a dance scene. Seriously with it, look at the above video and don't search a thing about this movie. What do you think it's about? Clue: it's a ripoff from a famous Spielberg movie, but you'll have to take a wild guess XD
I disagree with Marxism as well but that part of the theory about the separation of the result of a person's job from them always struck me as something interesting. Also the snake god priest does confess to Tokiko about him being a fraud in the scene where she cures the kid that was dying, so there is however some criticism of religious practises that are dependant on idols
The kagura dance is the ritual the woman in Tokiko's vision performs? Is she her mother who was respected in the village for her powers? Is that why there's that emphasis on the fact the villagers were very dismissive of Shuichi, a city boy, when snooping around looking for the clues of Tokiko's past?
I remember watching a video on those Indian soap operas hahaha. Made the turkish ones my mother watches feel actually sane XD
Oh I forgot to tell you from watching Key yesterday. The marxists must have a field day analyzing the series. The most interesting aspect for me so far regarding the pop idol industry is that the alienation (I hope I'm naming the concept right in english) of the worker with its work is portrayed here in a more emotional way than just "fuck capitalism and the people that take the things I made to sell it" because it's about people this time. The guy who is in charge with finding girls for the show laments at multiple points that he hasn't even seen Miho since he prepared her for the industry. And the guy with glasses that wants to train Tokiko to make her his masterpiece also tries to peel away the humanity from her because his work as a director gets on Miho's show becomes a robotic (literally) piece in which Ajo has the actual control
Those Bollywood movies like Ramayana are called masala because they feel like a combination of ingredients like a very varied Indian dish, that's its biggest issue for me, trying to do action and romance and musical but without balancing each other. The most popular masala as of lately was RRR. Ramayana has the pass for me at a 5/10 because the animated medium feels more impressive for exaggeration and mindless spectacle but what the heck is this? I swear Bollywood feels like all the movies are directed by Zack Snyder 🤣🤣
https://youtu.be/AVVO3Yat_Bw?si=4ASC16Q0mj1L0KXf
https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/66747
By the way, what do you think of Bollywood films? I swear I get called an elitist everytime I dare to criticize one but they are so similar to each other, force songs that don't do a thing to advance the plot and are underservedly long, with weird editing choices. I think the earlier ones must have been better but the more recent ones (this anime is from 1992 and it still sins of this) are exaggerated in how campy they are, and not in the more stylisht way that wuxias were for example