Posts Tagged ‘Anime’

Sweet, sweet eye candy from start till end, Nomura Tetsuya’s Final Fantasy VII : Advent Children is the ultimate culmination of the brilliant CG work conjured up by the artists at SquareEnix ( formerly SquareSoft ), dating back to the then revolutionary Squall Leonheart character in 1999. This time round what sets Advent Children apart from 2001’s FF Spirits Within is not so much the faithfulness it stays to the game’s original material, but more the presence of impossibly, devastatingly neat characters. Top that with sleek Anime style editing, photography and beautifully animated fight sequences, Nomura has created a film tailor made for FF fans, with none of that sanitized Hollywood treatment in sight. This is the definitive, bona fide Final Fantasy.

Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli, the birthplace of revered animation pieces like Mononoke Hime and Spirited Away, is located in Koganei, Tokyo, a quiet suburban neighbourhood about 15 minutes trainride away from Shinjuku. Hidden in a peaceful corner surrounded by typical Japanese households, its identity is only revealed by the studio sign in front of its front porch, no totoro statue, no Ohmu figurine, as unassuming and modest as it can be. On its side entrance a meeting room with glass windows reveals original Miyazaki artwork hanging on the walls. Entrance into the actual building is strictly for staff members only, but I was already more than awed to be in such close quarters where some of the world’s most wondrous animation pieces were created.

Next stop, Ghibli Museum, Mitaka Tokyo.