Month: March 2021

Shōjo Tsubaki 2/10

Nick SheedyLeave a comment

NR, 56m, 1992

With the Voice Talents of Minako Naka (Midori), Norihiko Morishita (Masamitsu), Keinosuke Okamoto (Koijirô Arashi), Kazuyoshi Hayashi (Akaza), Yoshifumi Nomura (Muchisute), Sanae Katô (Benietsu) and Yumiko Takagi (Kanabun). Directed by Hiroshi Harada. Produced by Hiroshi Harada. Screenplay by Hiroshi Harada. Music by J.A. Shîzâ. Based on Shōjo Tsubaki by Suehiro Maruo.

            In my experience as an anime fan, there comes a time when a person watches anime for the first time and comes to the realization that anime is unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. Prior to watching my first anime, which was Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, I had no idea that animation could go to the lengths that Fullmetal Alechemist was going in terms of content and quality. Granted I was fourteen when I first saw the show, so my worldview of animation was limited. This review covers an anime film that once again pushed the boundaries of what I can sit through. This is coming from a guy who has seen A Serbian Film, Cannibal Holocaust, Salo, and trudged through the swamp of 4chan.

            The film opens with Midori (Minako Naka) selling flowers, where she meets the seemingly kindly Mr. Arashi (Koijirô Arashi), who tells her that if she ever needs help to go and find at his circus. Upon returning home Midori discovers a horrible sight. Her mother had succumbed to her illness and is already partially eaten by rats and mice. With nowhere else to turn to (the film never explains why Midori didn’t go to an orphanage). Midori takes up Mr. Arashi on his offer and goes to visit him at the circus to beg for his help. Immediately after arriving at the circus, Midori is physically, emotionally and sexually abused by every member of the freak show. This continues for quite some time until the arrival of the dwarf Masamitsu, who takes an immediate shining to Midori. Under his protection, Midori is spared from any more abuse from the members of the freak show. I’d like to tell you that this film ends on a happy note, but that would be a lie, as poor Midori suffers much more for the rest of the film.

            The plot of this film is rather difficult to critique, because when you get down to it, it basically comes down to. How much pain and suffering can we inflict on this girl? Even the one glimmer of happiness for Midori, which is the relationship between Midori and Masamitsu, is uncomfortable as Midori is around the age of twelve and Masamitsu is middle-aged. The writer and director of this film, Hiroshi Harada, initially only wanted to distribute this film exclusively at carnival freak shows, so I doubt plot and characters weren’t the real focus during the production of this film. Instead, we’re treated to the torture and humiliation of a twelve-year-old girl for almost an hour. This film was banned in Japan upon its release and I can hardly fault Japan for doing this. Despite being one of the most graphic films I’ve ever seen Cannibal Holocaust at least had a reason for going as far as it did, it was trying to make a point and in my eyes, it succeeded in that endeavor. Shōjo Tsubaki does not have a message that it’s trying to make. It’s just a film that relies on fringe and shock tactics, which is very effective at first, but when the viewer is constantly barraged with such horrific content, they’re either going to stop watching or become numb to it.

            According to multiple sources I came across while researching this film, Hiroshi Harada animated most, if not the entirety of this film. That in of itself is very impressive as animating a single scene can take an animation team several weeks to complete, However, that doesn’t mean that this film looks good. The film’s general look takes inspiration from the Japanese art style known as Muzan-e, which translates out to blood prints. Muzan-e art typically portrays violent acts of murder or torture. In this aspect Harada did succeed as the overall look of the film looks like a hellish landscape of filth, sometimes gore and debauchery. The character movement in this film is minimal at best as when a character does actually move, it’s only through the use of limited animation. Now limited animation can work as it was used extensively in the Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes shorts as well as animated television series like Scooby-Doo and the Peanut specials. But with Shōjo Tsubaki, the animation style just looks odd and rather jarring. I have to give some credit to Harada as animating an entire film is a Herculean feat to say the least, but that doesn’t excuse the film for looking so rough.

            As a long time anime and film connoisseur, I’ve seen some messed up stuff in my day. That being said this film remains the most graphic and horrific animated film I’ve ever seen. Having said that I know quite a few of my readers will see this statement and think “Ok, now I’ve got to know.”. I should know because I had a similar reaction when a friend of mine told me about, calling it the worst animated thing she’d seen in terms of content. To put thing into perspective, in the first few seconds of the movie a character is seen biting the head of a live chicken while it squawks in thrashes about in pain and horror. This film also contains one of the worst things to happen to a dog in an animated project. As soon as I saw the good-natured protagonist caring for the puppies, I knew something terrible was about to happen. I won’t spoil what happens, but I will say that what happens to the puppies ranks up there with the dog scenes from Elfen Lead and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

            Throughout this review, I’ve repeatedly called this film out on how graphic and shocking it is. Despite all that I saw I wouldn’t say this film repulsed or even really offended me, granted my mileage for what I can sit through has been pushed beyond what most people are probably willing to sit through. Am I glad I saw this film, in an odd way maybe a little, as the film did give me an odd appreciation for life. After watching this film, I even did some research on the film, which is not something I always do after watching a film, and I found quite a few sources didn’t even mention this film. I couldn’t even find an entry for this film in the 2nd edition of The Anime Encyclopedia by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy. This surprised me as the book is a mammoth sized book that is a great reference guide for everything anime. This could also be another point in the film’s favor as I don’t normally dive into studying a film as methodically as I did with this film unless the film leaves a deep impact on me. That being said I can not out of good faith recommend this film to most people. Even the “nice” scenes in this film are fringe worthy when you understand what’s going on. The only people I can recommend this film are those few people who actually like films that rely on shock value for the sake of shock value, and even then I’d definitely recommend other films like Tusk, Cannibal Holocaust and The Human Centipede over this film, as those films at least had some semblance of a reason for existing, but in the case of Shōjo Tsubaki, I can’t think of a single reason for this film to exist outside of using it for psychological torture.

Mulan 5/10

Nick SheedyLeave a comment

PG-13, 115m, 2020

Starring: Yifei Liu (Mulan), Crystal Rao (Young Mulan), Donnie Yen (Commander Tung), Jason Scott Lee (Böri Khan), Yoson An (Chen Honghui), Gong Li (Xianniang), Jet Li (The Emperor of China), Tzi Ma (Hua Zhou), Rosalind Chao (Hua Li), Xana Tang (Hua Xiu), Jun Yu (Cricket), Cheng Pei-pei (The Matchmaker), Jimmy Wong (Ling), Chen Tang (Yao) and Doua Moua (Chien-Po). Directed by Niki Caro. Produced by Chris Bender, Jake Weiner and Jason T. Reed. Screenplay by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin. Music by Harry Gregson-William. Based on Disney’s Mulan and The Ballad of Mulan.

            When I first heard that Disney was going to make a live-action version of the 1998 animated film Mulan, I was genuinely excited. For the most part I’ve been disappointed by the Disney Studio’s attempt to remake their animated films into live-action films. I largely see them as shameless cash grabs, that are no different than the hodgepodge of animated sequels that ranged from surprisingly good to ok, now you’ve pissed me off by ruining something that I like. I did enjoy The Jungle Book and Christopher Robin however, as they did something different and in the case of Christopher Robin explored a route that hadn’t previously been touched on. When I learned that Mushu, the dragon voiced by Eddie Murphey in the original film, was not going to be in the film I thought, “Ok, this film is going to be serious, that’s just what I wanted, this could turn out great”. And then the first trailer dropped, and I thought “Oh boy, this could be a problem”. I thought this, because I could see they were adding some mystical elements to a film that did not need any of it. The more the learned about this film, and the more I saw of the film in trailers, I was convinced that this film was going to annoy me and boy howdy did it succeed in this endeavor.

            The film opens with a young Mulan (Crystal Rao) herding a chicken into its pen. Naturally hijinks ensues much to the dismay of Mulan’s father (Tzi Ma). While chasing the chicken, Mulan shows signs of superhuman abilities, and by this I mean she can easily climb and run on top of a roof, fall off of said roof and land unharmed with a triumphant smile on her face. This acrobatic display causes looks of distain from the townspeople, and it’s later revealed that many of the townspeople think that she’s a witch. That night Mulan’s father gives her the standard talk that is prevalent in most stories and films centering around a young woman living in a society where a woman is expected to be docile and find a husband. The film then cuts to the Silk Road in Northwest China where the Rouran army, led by the villainous Böri Khan (Scott Lee) manage to invade China by penetrating the defenses of the Great Wall of China. This prompts the Emperor of China (Jet Li) to issue a proclamation throughout China that states that one man from every family must be sent to join the Imperial Army to combat the threat of the Rouran Army. Mulan (Yifei Liu) now a young woman, knows that since her farther never had a son, he must go and join the Imperial Army. Mulan also knows that if her father was to join the Imperial Army, he would never return due to his injuries sustained during an earlier war. To prevent this from happening Mulan disguise herself as a man and takes her father’s place in the Imperial Army. Now Mulan must defend her country from not only the Rouran Army, but from the shapeshifter witch Xian Lang (Gong Li), who allies herself with Khan because he promised her a place of refuge, where she will not be prosecuted or shunned due to her powers.

            When this film was being made, the filmmakers claimed that they were going to make this film more realistic than the original. This initially excited me until I started to read more about this film. This “more realistic” version features people climbing up walls by running up them and characters catching arrows fired at them. They are able to complete these physics defying feat by using Qi, which is your basic mystical force that grants the practitioner great power. The very concept of adding Qi to Mulan angers me. This is because giving Mulan special abilities that very few people possess actually weakens the character. In the original film Mulan had to rely on her wit and ingenuity to survive. In the original film, Mulan was intentionally made a bit bland so girls could see themselves as the titular character. This is a quite common tactic that filmmakers and authors utilize to make their characters more relatable. In the 1998 animated film, Mulan literally has nothing that the average girl couldn’t obtain or do if she set her mind to it. She also receives no help from a magic user or a love interest, making her unique as a female lead in a Disney film. This film just completely strips the character of any semblance or uniqueness and it feels like a slap to the face as a fan of the original Mulan.

            One of the aspects of this film that I was looking forward to was the battle sequences. The 1998 film had some thrilling action scenes, but it was hindered because it had to appeal to kids and in order to appeal to kids, the bloody action of war has to be downplayed. During the battle sequences I was less than thrilled at what I saw. Because Mulan possess the power of Qi, I never felt that she was in any real danger. In the original Star Wars trilogy, Luke Skywalker has a mystical power that makes him stronger than most people, but he still struggles against the foot soldiers of the Empire, so the audience never feels that Luke is too overpowered. In this film Mulan cuts through the Rouran Army, as if they were made of butter. I get the need to give characters their moment of badaasary, but you have to show your character struggle a little bit. The film tries to make the battle sequences look good, but I never once felt like I was watching a real battle. In films like Ran and Kagemusha, I feel it when a character dies. Even if I know nothing about the character, I’m at least convinced that his final moments were of pure adrenaline and fear. These films don’t shy away from the brutal aspects of war, and as a result, I’m captivated by what’s onscreen. I never once felt any semblance of this while watching this film and I feel that is one of the film’s biggest upsets.

Speaking of battle scenes, the Rouran Army utilizes a trebuchet, which is primarily a stationary catapult that flings objects at your opponent. The trebuchet was an effective weapon of war, but the usage of it in this film is a little baffling. The trebuchet was primarily used as a siege weapon while trying to take out a heavily fortified area packed with soldiers. In this film the Rouran army uses one in an open field, against an army that isn’t particularly large. This makes little sense as they would have had to haul the bulky weapon of war all over China, as well as over the Great Wall of China. It also takes quite a bit of time to load, aim and fire a trebuchet, which in an open field you might get two or three rounds out at best before your enemy is on top of you, rendering the weapon useless at this point. In the original Mulan, the Huns use archers to drive the Imperial Army near the bottom of a hill, where the majority of the Hun Army is waiting at the top so they can decimate the surviving Imperial Army in a single charge. This is a smart battle tactic, as the Huns took out the majority of the Imperial Army’s cannons, leaving only a handful of foot soldiers. The only reason the Huns lost was due to Mulan’s ingenuity and quick thinking. In this film the majority of the Rouran army is destroyed due to their own stupidity.

            While watching this film I felt nothing but white-hot rage, so much so that I had to pause the film several times to compose myself. I haven’t felt this much rage towards a film since the Mandarin reveal in Iron Man 3. To quote Dewey from the show Malcolm in the Middle, “I expected nothing, and I was still disappointed”. This film legitimately pissed me off. I’ve already reviewed the 1998 version of Mulan, and for those of you that haven’t read it, I loved it and I consider the original Mulan to be the best film to come out of the latter Disney Renaissance. If you must watch a live-action version of Mulan, I recommend the 2009 Chinese film Mulan: Rise of a Warrior or better yet, read one of the translations of The Legend of Fa Mulan.