- Last Online5 hours ago
- GenderMale
- BirthdayApr 24, 1999
- LocationCopenhagen, Denmark
- JoinedJul 20, 2014
20th Anniversary A Bookworm's Haven Olympic Sports You Should Read This Manga My MALentine Story Fantasy Anime League Fantasy Anime League MAL Bunkasai Visitor
Also Available at
RSS Feeds
|
Jul 26, 2024
As of writing this, the MAL synopsis states, and I quote "Three short films by the Japanese avant-garde illustrator and animator. Regarded (unfairly) as the Japanese equivalent of Andy Warhol" and I would love to ask the writer of this which side of "unfair" he falls when it comes to the comparison between Yokoo and Warhol. There is undoubtedly parallels, pop art and manipulating images of pop-culture figures are integral to either's work but I feel the way Yokoo does it in his three animations are noteworthy as it tackles aspects of pop culture and celebrity in ways I only see often talked about nowadays.
In
...
the first short (KISS) I believe we see Yokoo explore the notion of affection depicted in media and the exploitation of public figures in relationships, something that in Asian cultures especially has been a prevalent controversy and topic of discussion, though what I find especially poignant is how the short almost participates in said exploitation, shoving nondescript handsome guys and beautiful ladies in our face kissing, as the short suggests, forcing the viewer to consider for themselves the meaning, or perhaps the lack thereof.
The second short (Kachi Kachi Yama) ventures into even more avant-garde territory, at times mimicking the writings of J.G Ballard in his experimental masterpiece 'The Atrocity Exhibition'. Beatles singing in Japanese to an American pharaoh as billboards advertising seemingly nonsensical nudity fly past a speeding car in the desert. It's absolutely absurd and leaves me bewildered to a point where I have a hard time honestly defending my appreciation for it without also being forced to write an analysis of the previously mentioned 'Atrocity Exhibition'. View it as a spectacle and you will likely enjoy it, view it as an absurdist art piece and you might find it profound.
The final and most abrasive short in my opinion (Tokuten Eizou Anthology No. 1) is almost apocalyptic in nature. Dealing with celebrity and culture in the form of literal idols of worship and how it formed the world into what we see in the 7 minute tour-de-force of seemingly unrelated (but to me deeply intertwined) imagery depicting Sun God's and trees of life controlled by the perceiver and creators of culture. I read this as a cautionary tale of what could be to come and what Yokoo saw us having in store if we fell down a path of worship too entrenched in capitalism and (literally in this case) cults of personality.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Jun 3, 2024
I can't rightfully support this film in any genuine manner, it's wartime propaganda at its finest. But viewing this as a piece of history, both in terms of Japanese history and animation history is incredibly interesting, and I will rate it based purely on how well I feel it's made, not what it represents.
For allegedly being the first feature length Japanese animation, it's animated surprisingly well, with adorable characters to boot, which is very evidently on purpose as it's trying to sell the idea of joining the military to kids. It's showing that it's an honorable decision that'll leave you with love and respect from
...
all those around you. This is also shown in the scenes highlighting the beautiful nature of Japan, and the heroics displayed by the squad of Sacred Sailors. And I will say, the scenes of farms with Mt. Fuji looming over the horizon do look good. Where Momotaro drops the ball (other than the obvious), is both the scenes where characters go completely off model, looking genuinely horrendous in certain scenes, as well as the music. Music and sound effects that sound like they were lifted from a Creative Commons library. During the final third is where we get the meat and potatoes of the propaganda, and while this is obviously wholly disagreeable in every manner, it's also poorly animated and the style clashes heavily with the rest of the film. With the changes in animation style and long stretches filled with seemingly nonsensical shots, it feels undercooked for the most part.
Despite that, there's genuine thought put into this propaganda-piece which is as impressive as it is worrying.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Sep 20, 2023
A charming little stop-motion picture, that sadly seems to have been mostly forgotten despite being an award winning film.
The puppetry is almost beautiful enough to make up for the lackluster and incoherent story, but not quite. Despite that, I don't at all feel it was a waste to watch, as it feels exactly like a story that would be told, and a puppet show that would've been made, in the time the film takes place in.
As mentioned above, the story is mostly incoherent and harder to follow than most, but the style its told in, and the art of the puppetry makes it interesting nonetheless,
...
and I don't think it warrants a negative, or even average score.
All in all, is it worth it? If you're into experimental, odd, artistic, or historical stuff? Probably yeah.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Feb 16, 2018
I'm going to keep this review short and to the point, just like the anime itself.
Wild 7 is a very fun anime to watch, it's definitely not extraordinary, but what it does, it succeeds in pretty well.
The story, albeit it seems rushed, was interesting enough to glue my eyes to the screen, to see how it would all turn out in the end, and oh boy was it worth it. All the main characters had a certain charm to them, that really made them entertaining, and seeing them interact with each other, and seeing the way they fought, were some of the highlights of this
...
OVA.
This anime is very gory and violent, almost absurdly violent at points, but that's exactly what makes it so much fun to watch. Classic violent "gar" anime that really needs some more attention, stuff like this can be rare to find in newer anime.
I would personally recommend Wild 7 to anyone wanting to get more into the gory 80's and 90's OVA's, and people who just want to kill 2 hours fast.
I feel like a good 7 describes my feelings about Wild 7 well. Not perfect or crazy good, but a good older anime nonetheless.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Dec 23, 2017
This anime has a lot of flaws, and I mean A LOT, but somehow, I can't get myself do dislike it. In my quest for 80's and 90's GAR anime I stumpled upon this great short OVA, and since I like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, I thought I might like this. I was right.
The story itself is very eh. The way it's being told is very rushed, which is to be expected from a 50-ish minute OVA, but it was still entertaining to me, though not that good.
The art was, in my opinion, probably the best part of this. It was in short terms, pretty damn
...
good. Very Araki-styled.
The characters are sort of bland and generic, but still lovable. Don't expect to be very connected emotionally to any of them, they're mostly just fun to watch.
Even though it has it's flaws. Baoh the Visitor was so fun to watch. Really a sort of guilty pleasure anime. I really enjoyed this, but because of it's clear flaws, I can't give it a higher score than 7/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|