Paprika (パプリカ)

The story started with a dream, as it ends, we see that the dreams belongs to a Detective named Konakawa, and a girl named Paprika was helping him in his dream, Paprika can joined the Detective in his dream and recorded it with the help of the device named DC Mini.

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As Paprika is travelling to some unknown destination we see that she changes, and we see Doctor Atsuko riding her car and going to work. As she reached the elevator and the door opens a big fat guy was stuck there and asked for her help, also warning her that the DC Mini was stolen.

She contacted their Chief to tell him about the DC Mini being stolen and their worst fear is, it is an inside job.

Who stole the DC Mini? And why?


Released on 2006 by Sony Pictures
Directed by Satoshi Kon
Animated by MadHouse Studio
Won Best Feature Length Theatrical Anime Award at the 6th annual Tokyo International Anime Fair.




Soundtrack listing is available at wikipedia.org

Lyrics for:
Byakkoya no Musume - english and romanji
Pareedo - romanji and Kanji, english

Official site is at sony.

Observation:
This is again another film on the possibilities of dreams and what's the future for it. Looking for evidence in our dreams for the possible answer which is linked to our reality, and implanting dreams, to either help or destroy an individual.

What is also fascinating about this anime is, the story was very well written that even you get confuse if the characters are in reality or dream state. You can't hardly tell the two apart.

Some say that the American movie Inception would have gotten the idea from this anime. For me, it could be a possibility.

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Tangled

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.

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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:



Lyrics | Mandy Moore - Healing Incantation lyrics

Official site can be viewed at Disney site.


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!

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Waltz with Bashir (ואלס עם באשיר‎)

A documentary anime about the Massacre in Lebanon in the Year 1982.

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A dog suddenly appears on the screen, as it runs, it was slowly joined by other dogs, they ran through a bunch of people but did not harm them, it was running with a purpose, then the dogs stopped infront of a white building, where they were angrily looking up to a window where a person appeared, and saw them.

A person was narrating that story, as it was his dream, he was narrating it to his friend who was a filmmaker, the exact same person who made this anime. This is their story.

Released on 2008 by Sony Pictures Classic
Directed by Ari Folman
Won Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language





Soundtrack of Waltz with Bashir can be found at IMDb.


It has always made me sad to think a certain group of people would try and erase a group of race, I thought when the Nazi war was over this would not happen again, coz I believe that the human race would have learned their lesson, but I was wrong, and to think this still happens to day. It seems humanity as a whole is still greedy, too self centered and lesson not learned.

I wonder when will human beings stop this kind of act?

Here is a few list of the Genocide that occured-Genocide in History.

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Princess Arete (アリーテ姫)

A Princess who was confined in the castle's tower to wait the right Prince for her, asked that the suitor with the most interesting magical item to offer will be the one who can have the princess hand in marriage. During the long wait, unknown to the King and guards, the Princess was sneaking in and out the castle using the secret passages. One day, as Princess Arete was sneaking back in the castle, she did not noticed that a person was following her and manage to get in the castle also.

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That night, the mysterious person gave the Princess a visit, she was a witch who came to the kingdom to look for her missing magical item, but Princess Arete told her she hasn't seen it. So she left her alone.

The next day a sorcerer came to the kingdom to asked for the Princess hand in marriage, off course the advisers didn't want this, but they found the Princess missing, and the soldiers found her at the gate, as she was carrying the book. As she was reprimanded by the King, she refused to go back to the tower, and walked out, but the sorcerer stop her, and transformed her to a obedient Princess. The advisers and King saw this and decided to accept the sorcerers request and marry her to him.

During the wedding preparation, the witch disguise herself as one of the Princess maid in waiting, told her that the sorcerer was one from her land, since she is too weak to help her, the witch gave her a magical ring to aid her to save herself and left. As she is still under the sorcerers magic, she has no will of her own to defy the sorcerer. How can she save herself? Will she be able to get out of the sorcerer's magic?

Released on 2001 by Studio 4 degrees C
Directed by Sunao Katabuchi
Awarded for excellence in New Century Tokyo Intl Anime Fair 21





Soundtrack and lyrics can be found at Anime Lyrics.
Translation for the lyrics on Kin'iro No Tsubasa can be found at painters-colic site.
Wallpaper can be downloaded here.


Magical items are so coveted not only in the movies but so much more in games, as they would give you the needed leverage to win the game. They are thousand of magical items mentioned in movies, tv and games that when you search for magical items online you'd be overwhelm with the results you get.

This made me wonder, which is preferable? Magical items or spells?

While looking for some magic trick, I found this interesting clip:

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Millennium Actress (千年女優)

This narrates about a life of an actress. Though the story is a bit dragging in the middle, it has a good wrap up of the story.

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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

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Toy Story 3

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The film began with a playback of some of Andy's playtime with his toys as a kid. But the present time shows that he is all grown up and will be going off to college, and his Mom is asking him what his going to do with his toys. As he was very fond of them, he does not wish to part with his toys and decide to 
place them in a trash bag and keep them in the attic, unfortunately, when he left the trash bag at the door of his room, his mom thought they were to be thrown out, and decided to give the toys to a daycare.

The toys thinking they were in a good place where kids will again play with them, realize that they were given to the kids who plays rough with their toys. Finally wanting to get out of the day care center they device a escape plan however they soon realize that the place was heavily guarded by the big cuddly bear named Lotso and his goons. Will they ever get out? And find a new home?

Released on 2010 by Disney-Pixar
Directed by Lee Unkrich
Received numerous awards, including Best Animated Feature in the Academy Awards




Toy Story 3 OST can be viewed on cduniverse.com site.
If you wish to sing along with your favorite soundtrack, lyrics can be found at metrolyrics.com site.
Wallpapers can be found at EntertainmentWallpaper.

Official site of Toy Story is at Disney.

Ok, so here's my thought on the movie, it is true that as we grow up we outgrow our toys, though sometimes there is a particular toy that would stand out and we would keep that and not let go. I have one I kept, it was a Japanese toy from one of the Japan Expo my father brought home, it was a cute blue chubby thing, with a brush as it's feet, so when you turn it on, it will sweep the floor as the toy moved around the house. Really nice and cute, unfortunately during the time we move to a different house it got lost.

So what do most people do with their toys anyways? Here's a site that answers just that: Miss Bankrupt

Anyways, I found a site related to toys, but most toys registered here I think are from the US. Take a look at the long list of toys categorized per year.  Thisoldtoy site.

And a site for Tonka toys.

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Sword of the Stranger(ストレンヂア 無皇刃譚)

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This is definitely a samurai film, the anime timeline is Sengoku Era.

A prophecy, made a life of a little boy in danger,  chased by the government, he met a stranger while hiding, and lucky for him that he did as the Ming soldiers found out his hiding place, and he needed someone to defend him from the skilled swords men.

How is the boy linked to the prophecy? Who is the stranger? And will he helped him?

The motion of the characters are really fluid, try not to blink or you might just miss out on some moves,  but be warned there is a lot of blood in this anime. Definitely not for the kids.

Released on 2007 by Bones
Directed by Masahiro Ando
Nominated in numerous events, but won Best Animated feature in Brazil at FANTASPOA




Soundtrack of this movie is really appropriate to the scenes and it will quicken your heart to the emotion of the action in the film.

OST titles can be found at Anime-OST site.
Soundtrack can be found in cdjapan site and you can listen to it online also.

Official site can be found at Bandai.

Breathtaking scenery can also be found in this movie.

It's like looking at a painting sometimes.


It is sad that the Samurai's no longer exist in our age, though there are descendants but the skill sets will never be the same, I hope the technique was passed on from generation to generation.

As I was doing research on this, found this very interesting video:




Unbelievable skills, wonder if coupled with a another swordsman, will they show us a good technique like in the anime movies?

If you like to further view more of this man's skill. Click on this link: Syuushinryuu

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