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How animation should be done

I grew up in a household of animation. By that I mean that animation was never "cartoons" and never just for kids. My dad worked in film in the San Francisco. For a brief while he owned and operated a small production company. His notable productions were a series of ads for Rice-a-Roni -- which meant we ate lots and lots of Rice-a-Roni for a while -- and a multi-part syndicated history of California.

But his first love was animation. His closest friends and colleagues all worked in animation, either as producers, artists, or animators. I worked with him for close to 10 years and was a very crackerjack animation stand operator. Given a little more ambition and willingness to travel (i.e., to Los Angeles) I might have made it a career. Alas, it was not to be.

I mention all that by way of preface. Because of all that, I love a good animated show. In the United States, unfortunately, this almost always means kids' flicks. In this country we maintain the prejudice that if it's animated it's a cartoon and cartoons are meant for kids. The rest of the world doesn't agree with this, especially Japan.

"Anime" is the name often given to animated films coming out of Japan but I find the name vaguely derogatory. Anime, as a term, seemed to surface as a response to the flatly insulting "Japanimation". Japanimation, in turn, was genuinely lousy animation. Oh, it could be very pretty to look at but the actual animation, the movement, was terrible. Anime was an attempt to improve the product, to improve the animation while maintaining the art. As a term it also was used to separate the Japanese product from its American -- and elsewhere -- counter-part.

But because it came from that entire pit of Japanimation, "anime" always carries with it a certain veneer of cheapness. Anime fanatics will now attempt to murder me in my sleep, but sorry, that's just how I feel. If it makes you feel any better, that's not how I feel about the actual products, the films themselves.

For me, the revelation of anime came with Akira. Real long-term Japanimation/anime fans might point to an early film but for me (and, maybe, most others) Akira is the eye-opener. Released in 1988 it is mostly the result of 100% hand animation. There's nothing computer-generated, though a computer might have been used to calculate some of the actions. Using classic painted animation cels, Akira is a thing of beauty and wonder that earns its R rating the old-fashioned way, by being violent and profane. It's about as far from a kiddie cartoon as a film can be.

And it's animated.

More films followed along, including the Ghost in the Shell films and TV series. The latter rivals any season of 24 yet it's all done with voice talent and drawn images. I'm not enthusiastic of every animated project that oozes from Japan, and some of their shows that are actually aimed at kids are downright awful, but the films, the stuff for the big screen, are just marvelous.

Since winning the Oscar for Spirited Away, most publicity seems to focus on Hayao Miyazaki, but lately I've come to admire the genius of Satoshi Kon. His trifeca of films -- Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and Tokyo Godfathers -- demonstrate the talents of a man who loves to make motion pictures. His production timelines are more in line with regular film productions (taking a couple of years as opposed to, say, the 10+ years production schedules that Akira director Katsuhiro Ôtomo took for something like the marvelous Steamboy). Indeed, Satoshi makes regular yet brilliant films; he just happens to use animation instead of actors. Perfect Blue is film in the Hitchcock tradition of psychological thrillers, while Millennium Actress is an exploration of motivations and desires.

As good as those two are, and Perfect Blue is excellent, Tokyo Godfathers is the stand-out. The set-up is simple: Three homeless bums discover an abandoned infant. From that discovery, Satoshi spins a tale of reconciliation and redemption, all so appropriate since it happens on Christmas Day. As is appropriate for the season, there's even a miracle or two. Laced with humor throughout, Tokyo Godfathers nonetheless packs an emotional wallop of the sort similarly themed films desire but never achieve.

And so, since the powers that be never saw fit to release Satoshi's latest in a theatre even remotely near me, I am in anticipation of November 27, the official release date for the DVD of Satoshi's latest, Paprika. This film delves straight into the world of science fiction and the power of dreams and, as with his other films, probably could have been made with live actors working in a CGI world. He remains true to his roots, however, and I anticipate a wild and entertaining ride as a result.

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