The story is about the relationship of Takaki Kono and Akari Shinohara, but focuses more on Takaki kun. The two became the best of friends since they share the same interest, Takaki thought that they'll be together for a longer time, however the unexpected move of Akari's parents due to work, when they are about to go to middle school made them realize how much they meant to each other. Not wanting to part but have no choice they kept in touch by writing letters and hoping one day they will be able to see each other again.
It's a story about their long distance love.
Released on 2007 by Comix Wave Inc.
Directed by Makoto Shinkai
The film won the Lancia Platinum Grand Prize and a few more awards.
Movie soundtrack listing can be found at A.V.A.L.O.N Project site.
One More Time, One More Chance lyrics - English translation and piano sheet (Scroll down to Byousoku 5 Centimeter and click on no. 10)
Another story from Director Makoto Shinkai, as expected of this Japanese Director the scenery are superbly drawn and details are taken into consideration. Story is a bitter sweet, as some love story in reality goes, yet the way it was narrated leaves an impression in your heart.
Two boys became good friends with a girl over the course of summer, seemed like a typical story but this has a more interesting twist - the promise they made to each other during that summer will save the world from destruction.
Hiroki and Takoya are child prodigies, they are in their ninth grade, and secretly building a ship, so they can fly it to the Hokkaido Tower, which is visible from their current location. The two was excited about the upcoming summer so they can do summer jobs and speed up their money building so they can buy parts for the ship.
In one of the scenes, Takoya and Hiroki are discussing about girls and if they would actually go and date one, Hiroki mentioned to Takoya that he has a crush on Sayuri Sawatari also a child prodigy and their classmate. And as luck would have it Takoya bump with Sayuri in one of the bookstores, they got to talk while waiting for their train ride and he invited her in their summer workplace. Where the three of them got close and made the promise, the promise that three years later would save the world.
Released on 2004 by CoMix Wave Inc and License by ADV Films
Directed by Makoto Shinkai
Won numerous awards
It took awhile for me to understand the story since at the start of the movie, the setting was already on the parallel universe, my mind set was, it was still in present Japan, the dialogues can get you lost if you don't listen or pay attention, specially on the talks of parallel universe and Quantum physics. You might want to watch this movie more than once to pay attention to the details of the story.
Again landscapes is superbly presented in this anime.
Footnote: An interesting site I found while doing research for this anime:
Visit KAF for anime music/anime OSTs, forums, and more!
The story started with a couple with a cat, where the man was offered a job to do in India, but ends up living there, while they were on discussion about the offer, the scene shift to 3 shadow puppets who are discussing about India's origins, and about the Ram's family, which is base on the Ramanaya. The 3 shadows continue to narrate the story about Rama, and the couples scene is inserted during the narration.
Produce by Nina Paley and directed by her
Released on 2008
Garnered a lot of awards.
The story is quite interesting since it is told in a funny way, the animation is different and the songs are quite entertaining. I thought I won't finish this movie since the animation was a little weird, but the narration and dialogues was quite entertaining, I actually find myself watching the entire film.
And the very surprising part about this anime is, the owner decided to release this film for free and is only asking for donations, do please go to this site, to see the film. Questioncopyright.org
This anime did got some controversy as a group of people in India did not like the way Ramayana's tale was portrayed in this anime.
If you are familiar with the Rapunzel story and love that fairy tale, then you might enjoy this movie, as this is base on that story, but Walt Disney studios made a lot of changes to it.
The story began with a narration of drop of sunlight falling to the ground and became a flower, legend has it that it heals all kinds of sickness, however a witch named Gothel found it and kept it for her own selfish gain. That when she sings a certain song to the flower it restores her youth.
One day, the Queen who was pregnant became ill, desperate to save her, the Kingdom looked for the magical flower in order to save the Queen. As Gothel was using the flower she heard the guards approached, and as she was in a hurry to leave, the flower's cover was knocked over, leaving it expose and was found by the King's guards, they took the flower and fed it to the Queen, who was healed and gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Rapunzel. Gothel sneaked in the castle to take a look at the baby, seeing that the baby's golden hair she recognized it as the flower's magic. She cut a handful of the baby's hair to bring it with her, but the hair would turn brown and lose it's magic. Wanting the magic badly, she stole the baby and hid her in her tower, keeping the magic all to herself and raising the baby as her own.
And so the King and Queen continue to lit a lantern every year on her birthday, letting it float to the sky with a hope that their baby can see it and return.
Fast forward eighteen years later, we see 3 thieves stealing the missing Princess tiara from the castle, as they were being chaste, Rapunzel was at the same time asking Gothel's permission that she be allowed to go outside to find out about the floating light which she saw every year on her birthday. But Gothel refused reminding her of the bad people outside who would recognize the magic in her hair and take it from her. She then left Rapunzel to do some errands.
Back to the 3 thieves, they were beginning to lose the King's soldier, however Maximus, the horse of the Captain of the Guards was determined not to let them go. Flynn one of the thieves was planning to steal the tiara from his partners and he succeeded when he left them behind to be captured and he hid to the tower. Unknown to him that it was Rapunzel's tower.
What will be Flynn's role in Rapunzel's life? Will she be able to see what the lights is really about?
Released on 2010 by Walt Disney
Directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard
Won in Animation category in the National Movie Awards
Tangle Soundtrack can be found in St. Lyrics with lyrics
Below is the incantation being song to start the magic:
Observation:
One of the best scene's in this movie is the one when they went out on a boat to watch the lanterns being released. This is one of the best ideas to do on a birthday release a lot of floating lanterns or any special events, or you can do this on Christmas or New Year.
I've been looking for some instructional videos on how to do this, but so far this is what I found:
Hope you have a fun filled holiday releasing this lanterns!
A director named Genya Tachibana is doing a documentary of the life of Chiyoko Fujiwara, who was a famous actress during her time. He found her in a remote place, far from any contact with the outside world. Before they could start the interview a mild earthquake occurred and Chiyoko thought it was a good way to start the interviewed as she was born after an earthquake.
Then a director found her and tried to ask for her mother's permission to have her in his film which will be shooting in Manchuria. But her mother refused, and she ran out, while outside she took out her frustrations by throwing snowballs at the wall. Then as she left the spot, she met a man who was running away from the law enforcement, and surprisingly she helped him hide from the authorities. Then as they were talking one night, they talked about the canvass he was carrying, and he talked to her about his dream as to where to finish the drawing, then he showed her a key, which to him is the key of important things. And asked her if can guess what the important things were, and she asked him if she can think about it for the night, that they will see each other again tomorrow. However the following day, it seems the man's hiding place was found out, Chiyoko saw the key, she picked it up, and when she was told that he manage to escape, and was at the train station, she quickly ran, hoping to catch the man and give back the key to him. Unfortunately she didn't made it, the train left without her. That was the reason why she insisted to her mother that she be allowed to act and go to Manchuria, as the man previously told her that his friends was there fighting. Hoping to be able to return the key to the mysterious man.
Released on 2001 by Studio Madhouse
Directed by Satoshi Kon
Awarded with the Grand Prize in Japan Agency of Cultural Affairs Media Arts Festival, tied with Spirited Away and a few more awards.
Soundtrack title listing of the movie is found at teslakite site.
Lyrics for Rotation the ending theme is found at anime lyrics site.
The story started out ok, as it keeps you interested as to who this actress is, but as it gets to the middle, it gets a little boring, but finally picks up at the end. However it will make you feel a little depressed afterwards, as you see the twist in the story.
This anime is the last of Mr .Satoshi Kon's work which he completed before passing away. Below is a short clip about Mr. Kon.
And some readings on his interview: midnight eye site
A story about a young teen age girl who got the skill to leapt through time. She knew about it when she met an accident and was about to die. During that time she somehow manage to go back a few minutes before the incident and manage to dodge the accident. She was quite surprise and went to her Aunt to discuss about it, which her Aunt deduce that she could leapt through time.
Finally figuring out how to do it again, she started to redo her mistakes in school, ace the exams, go back in time to enjoy a karaoke, or enjoy a dinner again. When she went back to her Aunt, she was warned that while she was having fun someone might be suffering from what she has changed in time. And true enough the consequences started manifesting itself. She tried to correct this by again going back in time. Then one day she found a tattoo on her arm, and the number change each time she made a leap, which meant her time leap was numbered.
One day after hooking up her bestfriend, Kosukewith a girl, she almost figure out how she got the ability to time leap, when Kosuke text her that he was borrowing her bike to bring his girlfriend home. Then realizing that the bike's brakes was damage, she ran after Kosuke. Arriving at the train crossing, Kosuke was no where in sight, thinking that Kosuke had cross safely, talked to her bestfriend Chiaki over the celphone. During the course of the conversation Chiaki asked her if she could time leap. Not wanting to answer his question, she used her last time leapt to avoid the question, only to realize that Kosuke has yet to cross the train tracks after her conversation with Chiaki. How can she save Kosuke now?
Release on 2006 by Madhouse and distributed internationally by Bandai
Directed by Mamoru Hosada
Won a lot of awards
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time OST title listing can be found at AvaxHome.
To listen online for some sample go to timeleapost.
Lyrics for the following songs:
Observation:
The choices we make indeed makes a difference, even in the everyday life of a teenager, how she handles school, her friendship and relationship, there is a love story in this movie though I have not mention in the summary above, so not to spoil your viewing pleasure, yet it's quite touching to see and so true, that if we have the choice to undo the things we mistakenly did in the past and especially for the one we love, we would do it.
Anyways, time travel has always been a coveted ability human wishes for a number of reasons, and if you search the internet about it, the articles and resources are vast, here's a few example.
A timeless tale that is more enjoyable to watch with Disney's version of this story.
If you are a hopeless romantic, you wouldn't want to miss this one. Disney has inserted some very good storytelling in this movie. You would want to see it time and time again.
Soundtrack in this movie is also superb. Really warms your heart to the story.
If you are unfamiliar with the story, here it is:
A young prince cursed by a witch due to his attitude towards her, that he was given a magical rose, that will bloom till his 21st birthday, by then he must find someone who he can love and who will love him back inspite of his looks in order to break the spell, or remain a beast forever.
After how many years has passed an old man lost in the forest stumbled upon his castle, the old man was given shelter but when he was about to go home he picked a rose in the garden, which made the Beast mad, and was imprisoned. His horse manage to escape and return to the old man's cottage where his daughter Belle, was waiting for him. Distraught to see that her father is gone, she rode the horse back to the castle. Where she asked the Beast to let her father go in exchange, she will remain in his place. And here is where their romance started.
As the magical rose was nearing it's expiration date, Beast arrange a special evening for the two of them, so he can propose to her. But when he asked her if she was happy with him, she revealed that she misses her father. Giving her the enchanted mirror it was revealed that her father is out tirelessly looking for her. Shocked, she requested the Beast to allow her to go to the old men. Since the Beast is already in love with her, he couldn't deny her request, knowing full well his time is almost up.
Belle, upon reaching her father, took him home and assured her father that she was treated very well by the beast. Unfortunately a former suitor named Gaston whom Belle turned down before, posted a friend to inform him once she is back. This person immediately informed Gaston, and he stormed her house. Belle's father hoping to save her daughter from the Beast, told everyone about the Beast. And Gaston used this to blackmail Belle and enrage the town people to kill the Beast.
Now the town's people stormed the castle where the Beast resides and during the battle, the Beast was fatally wounded. Belle rushing to his side, revealed her feelings for him just as the last petal fell from the stem. And the Beast was turned back to a human being.
First animated movie to be nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture and won.
Also garnered the Globe awards and many more.
Released in 1991 by Walt Disney pictures
Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise
Beauty and the Beast Movie Sountrack can be found at wikipedia.org
To listen to some of the music.
Lyrics for the soundtrack can be found at fpx.de
Wallpapers are available at free-extras.com
What is the most amazing part about this movie is the ballroom dance between Beauty and the Beast, as they move the view of the camera to a 360 degrees sweep of the ballroom giving you a feel of a 3D effect, while focusing to the two figures. An impressive view and very intricate details.
The English title means different from the Japanese title, the Japanese word means "If You Listen Closely".
The story is about a 13 year old girl's first love and finding a dream to pursue in life.
13 year old Shizuku Tsukishima is very fond of books, she would borrow as much as she can in the library, one night, while looking at her checkout cards she noticed that the name Seiji Amasawa is on all of the checkout cards and ahead of her. She begins to wonder about Seiji Amasawa.
The next day, she met a boy who read her lyrics by accident and commented it was corny. She again met the same boy the following day when she left her Dad's lunchbox in an antique shop. Also leaving her a negative comment that she ate a lot since the luncbox was quite big for a girl. And both times made her extremely irritated with him.
An incident in school made her extremely sad and as she was walking to chase the blues away, she found herself in front of the antique shop again. There the boy who teased her twice from an earlier incident found her, and invited her in, as Shizuku was looking for the Cat statue named Baron Humbert von Jikkingen which was introduced to her the first time she came there. It was at this time also that she got to know the name of the boy, and what a surprise, his name is Seiji Amasawa.
Released on July 1995 by Studio Toho in Japan
Directed by Yoshifumi Kondo, unfortunately this was the last film he directed.
Whisper of the Heart Movie soundtrack can be found at Hayao Miyazaki
Download theme song in your cellphone.
