From a homeless transvestite to a rollerskating bat boy to the woman of our dreams, Satoshi Kon pushed the boundaries of animated film to remind us that really, you can do absolutely anything in animation. I always felt a profound sense of joy and wonder after watching one of his films and while it saddens me greatly to know that I will no longer get that feeling from new works, I can return to the body of work that he left us to recapture that feeling.

My favorite Satoshi Kon film is Paprika. The interplay between dream and reality was beautifully executed. And it had the voice of Amuro Rei doing a fat Amuro Rei! We had the fortune of seeing it subtitled in a theater in Shirlington and I just remember having a gigantic stupid grin on my face the entire movie. It made me excited to see more of his work, but it also inspired me to continue to push my own work further. I really hope that other animators take inspiration from Satoshi Kon and push the bounds of what’s possible in animation, especially American studios who keep churning out the same 3D crapola. There’s more to explore with 3D and I think American studios would do well to take some lessons from Satoshi Kon’s direction.

If you have a fond memory of a Satoshi Kon work, please leave it in the comments. I feel it only fitting to celebrate the wonderful work he left behind.

The 1/1 Gundam loves us and keeps giving and giving. According to news sent along from Angry Zen Minion Megan Rohm
and AZM Ally deepfreeze, spare parts from the life-scale Gundam were auctioned off from August 16-23 to benefit the Japan Committee “Vaccines for the World’s Children.” The initial auction raised ¥4,001,000 (about $46,900 USD). A second sets of parts will go to auction on September 13.

Honestly, I’m not so sure I’d want a piece of 1/1 Gundam Groin. I mean, I realize that without Gundam Groin, Gundam no walky. But I’d much rather go for a fin from the helmet or an vulcan cannon or a piece of thumb or something. Still, I think it’s pretty cool that the 1/1 Gundam loves us enough to save Shinjuku from colony drops and raise money to save the children of the world.

Source: Anime News Network

On the one hand, I absolutely love that Studio Ghibli has never made a direct sequel to its films. They are all special little moments in film wonderful to behold and completely unique. However, if sequels are to be made, let them be made of awesome things. Which is why the rumors sent over from Angry Zen Minion Jeff Posey of Hayao Miyazaki considering a sequel to Porco Rosso are so exciting! The new film would be entitled Porco Ross: The Last Sortie and would feature an older Porco and take place during the Spanish Civil War. We don’t have much more as far as details go, but in an interview with Japanese Cut Magazine, Miyazaki has been working on the background for the story.

Whether or not Miyazaki gets to make his Porco sequel depends largely on the success of Ghibli’s next two films. So, bottom line, if we want to see more Porco (and I’m pretty sure we do), we have to support Ghibli’s next two films (which is difficult here in the U.S., but somewhat doable).

Source: Slash Film

Today we have an awesome treat for Gundam Wednesday! Angry Zen Minion Elliot Fox got his hands on the new Master Grade 1/100 PMX-003 THE-O and sent along some unboxing photos! Photo dump attack, GO!

I absolutely love this splash image on the box. Bandai is really uping is box art game.

The box is so big, it needs its own handle.

Parts? We got parts! Two freaking boxes of them!

Runners runners everywhere.

Those are some biiiig feet! You know what they about mobile suits with big feet, don’t ya?

I believe those brown/red circle thingies make up those sectional pipes you see on The-O’s waist and forearms.

Holy wow! Thanks Elliot! I can’t wait to see you put this bad boy together. There’s so much fun surface area on those armor parts that are just waiting for some awesome custom paint jobs. If these photos temp you to get your own O, you can grab one from HobbyLink Japan.

If they haven’t already, I believe Boing Boing has won the internet with their Yakuza 3 review done by actual Yakuza. Three Yakuza sat down with a Boing Boing editor and a teenager to show them how to play the game. They evaluated the game based on environment, depiction of the Yakuza, fashion, fight scenes, and story.

This exchange is my favorite:

M: I like the fact that you power up by eating real food. Shio ramen gives you a lot of power — CC Lemon, not as much. It all makes sense.
S: The breaded pork cutlet bento box is like mega power. More than ramen. That’s accurate.
K: If they had shabu (crystal meth) as a power-up item, that would be realistic. It’s a yakuza game.
S: They have sake!
M: Kiryu is an executive, right? We all know the guys at the top don’t drink or do speed.
S: Yeah, not anymore.
M: Can you smoke in the game? I forget. That should be a power-up.
S: Cigarettes and shabu should be in every yakuza game.

Overall, the three Yakuza guest reviewers enjoyed the game. They felt that while it did kind of stereotype the Yakuza life style, it turns out that a lot of the stereotypes are true. The fighting bits are the least realistic part of the game, but overall, it seems like the developers really did some decent research. I love the fact that the three reviewers felt like they knew some of the characters in the game. So awesome.

Source: Boing Boing

Holy shit, you guys! Gundam SUPAH EXPOH!!!!!

Gundam Super Expo 2010 is going on RIGHT NOW in Tokyo, Japan, until the 19th of the this month! Maybe it’s a good idea I’m not there because I can’t think of any reason why I would ever leave. It’s like a gigantic Gundam porn convention! Just look at all those glorious mobile suits!!!!!!!!

Ngee Khiong has a nice photo dump from the expo. I want all of those things, but especially the super cute Mono Eye Gashapon Capsule Toys:

Zeon suits make the best SD figures, especially Acguy and the Z’Gok. Actually, the SD Z’Gok is my very favorite SD kit ever! I should pick up a bunch and do custom SD Z’Goks forever!!

Angry Zen Minion Ward McCaul send along news that instead of trying to blend in with human society, Skynet now plans to creep us the fuck out. This crazy pale slug of a robot is Telenoid R1 designed by Hiroshi Ishiguro, the insane mind behind the equally creepy female android Gemnoid F. Telenoid R1 is intended as a communications device which mimics the movement of a person using a webcam. The idea is that you would have this creepy thing in your living room and when your friend calls you, this slug of a robot would mimic your friend’s mannerisms so that you’d feel like your friend is right there in pale, creepy, slug form.

Um… why not just look at your friend through video chat?

It’s clear to me that Ishiguro san is a robot disguised as a human. Only a robot could conceive of a society where people would want to talk to a limbless slug representing a person rather than a real person on a video chat. It seems that after all its research and evil scheming, Skynet still doesn’t understand us all that well. There’s hope for us yet.

Source: Daily Mail

My friend and AZM Ally Mike Dent produces some of the most entertaining audio plays I’ve listened to. After years of working on his own podcast/audio play R5 Central, Mike is ready to kick up his game and take on a project of epic proportions, an audio adaptation of The Great Adventure of the Dirty Pair. Mike’s been holding auditions and recording some scratch audio. He sent over an early cut for me to listen to and as a big fan of audio plays, this one is gonna be a lot of fun. I know it’s hard to hype something up without giving you something to listen to as well, but if you’re a fan of those old time noir radio shows like Johnny Dollar or The Adventures of Philip Marlow, Mike’s Dirty Pair has that same noir feel with much better sound quality and effects. So if you’re a fan of the Dirty Pair and audio drama, please drop Mike a line and let him know you’re interested in the project. He needs all the support he can get.

Source: Justice Ace

What’s it like defending Shizuoka from a colony drop? This amazing timelapse footage of the 1/1 scale Gundam sent along by AZM Ally deepfreeze gives us a glimpse at a day in the life of our friend, RX-78-2. Absolutely stunning.

This quote from JackgarPrime is the best description of what you are witnessing:

This video was not edited in any way. This is how real sumo is. Every other sumo video you’ve ever seen has been edited to protect the secret of just how powerful sumo really are.

Indeed.

Source: The Daily 23