Blog Archives

All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)

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Posted on September 5, 2008 by Deni

From the opening scene, the green rice fields and blue sky filling the screen, the main character standing alone, cut off from the world and cocooned inside the headphones feeding music by his favourite pop star Lily Chou-Chou straight through to his soul, this is a film about teenage isolation and the pain it spawns. It is by degrees dark and disturbing, light and humorous, painful, challenging and ultimately deeply affecting.

Partially inspired by Canto-pop phenomenon Faye Wong, a cross-cultural … (read more)

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Burst Angel – Infinity (2003)

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Posted on August 11, 2008 by Samson

Burst Angel – Infinity is an OVA prequel / side story of Burst Angel the series. It reveals where the characters Jo and Meg came from, what happened in their very first adventure, and how they got started in their guns for hire business. So how does Infinity compare with the rather average anime series?

In the West Land District, a psychopath is out to kill innocent and defenceless people. When committing one of the crimes, he seriously injures … (read more)

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xxxHolic – A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2005)

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Posted on August 10, 2008 by Deni

xxxHolic is Clamp’s other anniversary series. Created side by side with Tsubasa Chronicles and intersecting frequently, xxxHolic is a little more frivolous, more fun, like afternoon matinees with a supernatural twist. In it, Watanuki Kimihiro is a more-than-average high-school student working for a mysterious woman Yuuko. Yuuko as she appears in the premiere episode of Tsubasa is known as a dimensional witch, however her day job consists of fulfilling the wishes of others.

This isn’t a euphemism, despite the way … (read more)

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Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)

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Posted on July 27, 2008 by Tom

When big films get released, the studios releasing them will often look for different ways to market their new product to get as many people to see it as possible. The usual way is to release trailers and posters to tempt people; a newer unusual way to do things is make a tie in animated film. This was done with The Animatrix and the release of The Matrix Reloaded. So with the release of The Dark Knight sequel to … (read more)

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Vexille (2007)

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Posted on July 27, 2008 by Eugene

I must admit that of all the films being shown during Reel Anime 08, Vexille is perhaps the one film I knew nothing about. Appleseed I managed to catch at SIFF; Girl Who Leapt Through Time has been on my radar for at least a year now though I never got around to actually watching it and Batman… – well Batman is Batman isn’t it? How much do you really need to know about Batman that, as an internet-browsing, … (read more)

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Anime Classics (3 Feature Collection) (2001)

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Posted on July 27, 2008 by Samson

This Anime Classics collection contains three feature films, which could not be more different in both content and style. The first is the Gothic tale of a vampire hunter at war with himself. The second is a film showcasing non-stop action in a fight to save the world from extreme evil power. The third is a touching story of a young girl’s search for eternal love. All three films have been previously reviewed here at Heroic Cinema, but with the … (read more)

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One Piece the Movie: Adventures in Alabasta (2007)

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Posted on July 27, 2008 by Samson

As most of you would know, One Piece is a very popular manga and anime series. The main character is Monkey D. Luffy, the leader of a group of pirates known as the Straw Hats. Luffy’s dream is to find One Piece, the world’s greatest treasure, and become a pirate king. There have been a number of movies based on the manga/anime, Adventures in Alabasta being one of them. As the title suggests, it tells the story of the Straw … (read more)

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Hell Girl (2005)

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Posted on July 15, 2008 by Andy

Japan has always understood the value of its folklore. Its cultural subconscious has provided a rich vein that writers continually return to constantly finding new ways to explore, reinterpret and repackage. In the late nineties appeared the Ring, films attaching modern technology to its urban legends creating the J-horror genre. It’s as if Japanese storytellers inherently understood that folk tales required a modernisation pass. Cautionary tales about the dangers of wearing red and visiting grandma in the forest lacked contemporary … (read more)

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