Influences from Punk, Hip Hop, Jazz, and other subcultures
It’s obvious that I am a bit of an otaku, but I try not to beat my friends over the head with it. Nonetheless, if you are here on my blog page, it’s obviously for a reason, no? I happened to grow up with a lot of these influences and it was fun to point them out in some of my favorite anime series. Not to mention rant and rave about them. So without further ado, here are some series I think are very worthwhile, especially if your knowledge of Japanese animation is merely Pokemon or Sailor Moon. *mentally wincing.
Cowboy Bebop
The anime for people who hate anime, not only will I pimp this series until I die, it is funny with humor that is geared toward an older audience. You can watch this and not actually be embarassed that you found it. Yes, it is that good. The character designs are realistic and there are pop cultural references abound, with a great soundtrack from an amazing composer named Yoko Kanno (she should do live movies, I think), taking elements from the blues, bebop jazz, country, funk, and classical music. I have the entire set on DVD, but in my opinion the best one to get is the Perfect Sessions which comes with a butt load of goodies.
It tells the story of a group of futuristic, post modern bounty hunters out in outer space with shady pasts. Each episode is standalone feature in itself, instead of having the storyline thrust into those nerdy ass sagas of which non-fans hate. No crappy Dragon ball Z antics here! Even still, it’s so engaging that you will want to see the entire series. The character development is better than some of the best award winning live-action movies, I kid you not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_Bebop
It has spoilers! So don’t read too far, the end is tear-jerking, and it takes a lot to make me cry.
The inspiration for the main character:
...and stir in some Bruce Lee
Akira
Two words: cyber punk. Look them up.
It’s psychological, action-packed, and more than a little existential. Fast and furious indeed.
“Kaneda is a bike gang leader whose close friend Tetsuo gets involved in a government secret project known as Akira. On his way to save Tetsuo, Kaneda runs into a group of anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader. The confrontation sparks off Tetsuo's supernatural power leading to bloody death, a coup attempt and the final battle in Tokyo Olympiad where Akira's secrets were buried 30 years ago.” From Amazon.com
The Bike!
Ghost in the Shell
Screw the series on Adult Swim at night. If it wasn’t for this movie, the thieves otherwise known as the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix) wouldn’t be rich right now. But it also has similarities to the film Blade Runner, which is pretty popular in Japan. This is for thinking people only.
“The year is 2029. The world has become intensively information oriented and humans are well-connected to the network. Crime has developed into a sophisticated stage by hacking into the interactive network. To prevent this, Section 9 is formed. These are cyborgs with incredible strengths and abilities that can access any network on Earth.” Amazon.com
Samurai Champloo
Some consider it the “spiritual successor to Cowboy Bebop” because it is from the same creators and the main character is seemingly indestructible with b-boy/capoeira inspired martial art moves. He also bears a strong resemblance to CB's protagonist. Samurai Champloo is so whacky and clues you in to the Japanese director/writers warped mind quickly. There is this anachronistic theme going on through out the entire 26 episode series, so much so that I think they really wish hip hop was made in Japan. Fucking LOLS.
The fighting scenes are the bomb-diggity though, with top notch animation. I would expect nothing less from the studio that created Bebop. And the soundtrack is entirely underground Japanese hip hop, a first in the genre.
Now what I want to know is, when is the creator going to get on with some more Cowboy Bebop?!
Daft Punk-Interstella 555
“The Animated House Musical”
Damn those crazy Frenchies. Daft Punk is one of the few worthwhile things to come out of France, along with Amelie. I am not a big fan of the French, their horrible food, or their post-imperialistic, whimful, prissy assed ways.
That said, the duo of Daft Punk are pretty talented at amalgamating the sum of their influences in music and art, infusing them into their own trademark blend of French house/electro-funk. There is a reason Bustah Rhymes (the SELLOUT) sampled that hot track “Technologic” for his #1 single, “Touch It.” See? Silly ass fool didn’t even changed the title song that much! Damned Fool! I’m sorry, I was subjected to that awful damned song too many times. That goes for you too Missy Misdemeanor Elliot! Your new stuff BLOWS.
Anywhoodles, the French funk twins teamed with an awesomely famous anime director, Leiji Matsumoto, the guy behind the Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999. There is no dialog and little audio besides the music, which is in perfect sync with the animation. Beautiful!
The storyline involves 4 unfortunate blue-skinned space aliens who play in a band on their home world are kidnapped by this evil corporation’s army from earth. Their memories are replicated and they are disguised as humans, implanted with mind devices that make them play music mindlessly like automatons! Needless to say they become a smash hit on Planet Earth. Naturally a friend from the home planet sets out to save the four and they together resolve to defeat the evil corporate record boss, who has kidnapped many a hapless alien before.
The first part of the musical, with One More Time, Aerodynamic
It’s free fools!
Here are these poor aliens, minding their own damned business and wham, they get kidnapped. For flipping shame. And the poor guitarist tried to jet, but those mean ole' Earthlings wasn’ t havin’ it!
Part 2
To the rescue!
This is the part of the film where the four go back to try and put some whoop ass on this fool. They apparently learn that the corporate boss Earl de Darkwood’s grandpa was a great alchemist who found out about the existence of the alien’s world, and stole many aliens who served as history’s greatest musicians on Earth.
Seriously though, Mozart was a midget space alien? Anachronism at it’s finest.
Man, Matsumoto and Daft Punk are on some neon space crack, and I want it!
Note the corporate space patrol flunky army, and the cult freaks in the robes.
People really think that secret organizations like that don’t exist. Now I’m not saying that someone like Ray Charles or Jimi Hendrix was a space alien, but you get my drift. David Bowie would have you believe he is from a different plane of existense, but really, his eyes look like different colors because he was socked in the eye by a childhood friend.
I guess I’m also kinda glad the Black guy isn’t all thuggish ruggish, but he still fits the pretty magical stereotype. But then again, all four of them are, so what are you going to do. They had to keep with the 70's Bowie futuristic theme, so there you go. Cartoon Network ran this entire movie at night as a 4 song Daft Punk set back in 2000-2001, when they still had that doofy, annoying robot Tom as a mascot.
You can find more of these great animes on the wonderful world of youtube if you give a damn.
