ghibli – Page 2 – Otaku Ohana

‘The Wind Rises’ tickets go on sale

I was shuffling between the Mililani Town Center gazebo and a Jamba Juice store on Monday — why, exactly, is not really important to this discussion (*cough*takingoverIngressportals*cough*) — when I spotted something in the window of the Mililani Stadium 14 theaters that I’ve been waiting to see for a while now.

There was a poster for The Wind Rises, director Hayao Miyazaki’s feature film swan song (or maybe not, who knows) and Oscar-nominated animated historical drama about airplane designer Jiro Horikoshi.

And a sign underneath: “ADVANCE TICKETS NOW ON SALE.”

Indeed, for those of you who like preparing ahead for such things, tickets are now available on Fandango for screenings starting Friday, Feb. 21, at least through Sunday, March 2, at most theaters. The bulk of the screenings available are for Feb. 21-27 at the Consolidated Ward Stadium complex, but shows are also available Feb. 28-March 2 at the aforementioned Mililani theaters as well as Consolidated’s Pearlridge West and Kahala 8 theaters and the Regal Dole Cannery 18 complex. Consolidated’s Kaahumanu 6 theaters in Kahului have tickets available for Feb. 28-March 6.

For the first week, at least, the Ward theaters will be switching between the English-subtitled and dubbed versions, so for those of you who don’t care about Joseph Gordon-Leavitt’s take on Jiro and would much rather prefer to hear the voice of Evangelion director Hideaki Anno in the role, you’ll have the option to watch that version. Catch the dubbed version at 10:45 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. or the subbed version at 1:40, 7:30 and 10:25 p.m. daily through Feb. 27.

It’s unknown as of now whether the subtitled version will make an appearance at the other theaters, but here’s the rundown of screenings available. Unless otherwise noted, the times shown cover the weekend of Feb. 28 only:

Mililani: 11:05 a.m. and 1:50, 4:40, 7:30 and 10:15 p.m.
Pearlridge: 11:15 a.m. and 2, 4:45, 7:30 and 10:15 p.m.
Dole (Feb. 28 only for now): 11 a.m. and 1:50, 4:40, 7:30 and 10:20 p.m.
Kahala: 10:45 a.m. and 1:30, 4:15 and 7 p.m. (9:45 p.m. showing on Feb. 28 and March 1 only)
Kaahumanu: 10:45 a.m. and 1:30, 4:15, 7 and 9:45 p.m. (Feb. 28-March 6)

Here’s the official trailer to get you ready to see it, where not a single word is spoken. See you at the theater.

Fire prevention a la Ghibli

About a month and a half ago — Sept. 7, to be exact — a bunch of artists gathered on the Civic Center grounds during the First Responders Fair to paint art boards for Fire Prevention Month, using the theme of “Prevent Kitchen Fires.” One of those artist groups was MangaBento, the anime- and manga-inspired young artist group featured regularly in this space.

Those boards have been up at Oahu’s fire stations this month. Probably will be up for a few more days, at that. And where did MangaBento’s board end up? At the corner of Leoole and Leonui streets in Waipahu, sitting near what’s formally known as Honolulu Fire Department Station 12, you’ll find … this.

And here’s the board close up.

The Totoro cast plus Howl’s Moving Castle‘s Calcifer, advocating fire prevention? Yeah, that’s a message I can get behind.

Ota-cool! October, part 2: The “Wind Rises”-less guide to HIFF

Let’s get the lead item out of the way: The Wind Rises, one of the Hawaii International Film Festival’s showcase Opening Night films and the Studio Ghibli production that is purportedly Hayao Miyazaki’s filmmaking swan song, is sold out online.

That’s not to say that you’re completely out of luck. It remains to be seen how many “rush,” or standby, tickets will be available, or whether there will be any encore screenings later in the festival. There’s also the prospect of sometime around next February, when Disney — picking up Ghibli film distribution again after letting From Up on Poppy Hill go to GKids — will likely send the film to theaters in wide release. (Just, y’know, prepare yourself for the two leads, Jiro and Naoko, to be played by the young stars or relatives of stars from current Disney Channel programming, like Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas in Ponyo or Bridgit Mendler in The Secret World of Arrietty.)

But Wind Rises aside, there are other films to keep local otaku happy, some with anime/manga roots, others that just seem … interesting. Here’s what’s on my list of highlights. Tickets are still available for all of these; hiff.org has information on how you can pick them up, whether online or in person. Unless otherwise noted, all films will be screening at the Regal Theatres Dole Cannery 18 complex:

Animation Maestro Gisaburo: Gisaburo Sugii has worked in the anime industry for longer than many (if not all) of you reading this have been alive. Consider this: He was an in-between animator for Hakujaden. Hakujaden, which was released in Japan in 1958, was the first Japanese feature-length animated film in color. And when Globe Pictures localized it as Panda and the Magic Serpent in 1961, it became the first anime to be screened for American audiences.

So yeah, he’s been around for a long time. He’s had a hand in directing installments in a number of notable franchises over the years, including Captain Tsubasa, Lupin III, Glass Mask, Street Fighter II and Touch. His latest movie, Guskou Budori no Denki, was released in Japan in July 2012. And this movie chronicles all of his career highlights. If that doesn’t make for a fascinating documentary, I don’t know what does. (Pair it with Night on the Galactic Railroad for the optimal Gisaburo weekend experience.) Screening Oct. 20 at 4 p.m.

Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo: Shinji, NERV and the Angels are back in the third of director Hideaki Anno’s planned quadrology, and they’re doing what they do best: giving fans reasons to buy more variations of Rei, Asuka and Makinami toy figures fueling another round of Shinji x Kaworu yaoi fanfics bringing us one step closer to finding out if this version of Evangelion will give fans the definitive ending they’ve been looking for since 1996. Looking at HIFF’s promo images and this line of the synopsis:

Trapped in a harrowing cycle of death and rebirth, Shinji continues to courageously battle the angels, even as the world hurtles towards what could ultimately be its tragic end.

… it looks like we’re firmly in original-canon Evangelion: Death and Rebirth territory. You know, the movie that a Newtype USA reviewer once summarized as “Asuka goes crazy, Rei gets big, everyone dies.” And there’s still one more movie to go! Monday at 9 p.m. and Oct. 20 at 1:45 p.m.

The God of Ramen: Stick a steaming-hot bowl of freshly made ramen in front of tag-team partner in fandom Wilma J., and she is one happy gal. Stick a Japanese documentary about food in front of me — see Jiro Dreams of Sushi — and I’m definitely up for seeing it. So a film about a longtime ramen shop owner which plays out, as HIFF’s synopsis says, “like a 90-minute episode of Soko Ga Shiritai“? Yeah, we’re in for that. (It also helps that our schedules are such that we can actually clear time to watch it.)

I’ve also included this film in this guide because it’s the only one that’s screening for our neighbor island friends on Kauai and Hawaii island. (Yes, Parv, I saw your lament in the Ota-cool! October part 1 comments. I feel your pain.) Tuesday at 6:15 p.m., Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. at Consolidated Koko Marina, Oct. 19 at 5 p.m., Oct. 26 at 11:30 a.m. at Waimea (Kauai) Theater and Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. at Palace Theater in Hilo.

Harlock: Space Pirate: When director Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed, “The Package” in Halo Legends) was a guest at Kawaii Kon in 2010, he screened some super-spiffy CGI footage of this movie. Three years later, we’re finally getting to see his take on Leiji Matsumoto’s iconic intergalactic pirate and crew and their quest, aboard the battlecruiser Arcadia, to restore humans’ rightful place on Earth. But will he be able to overcome the corrupt Gaia Coalition standing in his way? Friday at 9 p.m. and Sunday at 8 p.m.

Hentai Kamen: Forbidden Superhero: It’s been about 10 years since I first began writing about anime and manga for what was then the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. I’ve seen a lot of weird things in Japanese live-action movies along the way — killer sushi, murderous baseball teams, giant wrestling cephalopods, a Lolita and a biker befriending each other, Hibari Misora appearing in a musical about a tanuki princess 16 years after her death, mecha-geisha assassins, stuff like that. And yet, taking all of that into account, here I am, marveling over how I never thought I’d ever be writing something about a sadomasochistic superhero who wears women’s panties as a mask and thong suspenders as a costume. Yup, this is Hentai Kamen. It’s based on a six-volume manga by Keishu Ando, published by Shueisha in Weekly Shonen Jump(!) in 1992-93, never formally translated for U.S. audiences (probably for very good reasons). Just … hide the children. Oct. 19 at 9:30 p.m. and Oct. 20 at 4:30 p.m.

Night on the Galactic Railroad: Back in 2001, Central Park Media released this 1985 Gisaburo Sugii-directed film on DVD. You probably missed it, because, well, if CPM stuff actually sold at retail in the early 2000s, they’d probably still be around today. Besides, CPM stuff didn’t exactly have visual pop sitting on retail shelves — have a look at that cover at right for proof. I certainly missed out on it. Which is too bad, because the concept behind it — boy with a fractured family life and a tough social life is invited to come aboard a universe-traversing train — certainly sounds interesting. Almost Galaxy Express 999-ish, if you will, just without Maetel. The film has a fresh remastering sheen to it, too, so if anything, it’ll probably look better than that DVD release. Oct. 19 at 1 p.m.

Nuiglumar Z (Gothic Lolita Battle Bear): I’ve repeatedly said in my HIFF mini-previews that it takes a lot for a movie from Noboru Iguchi — the man responsible for those killer sushi and mecha-geisha assassins I alluded to above — to be upstaged in my pantheon of what-the-heck-ery. Yet Hentai Kamen managed to do just that this year. Still, a movie about a gothic Lolita superhero — played by cosplay/singing idol/blogger Shoko “Shokotan” Nakagawa — battling hordes of zombies with her teddy bear is still a pretty wacky concept, even if it doesn’t seem to reach the pulp-fiction heights of Iguchi’s previous works on the surface. Oct. 18 at 9:30 p.m., and Oct. 19 at 9 p.m. at Consolidated Koko Marina.

Rurouni Kenshin: The anime and manga versions of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s story of a former assassin-turned wandering protector is fairly well-known among longtime fans. And if you loved those, you’re probably going to head out to see this regardless of what I say about it, just for the sheer curiosity factor to see how well Takeru Sato and Emi Takei pull off Kenshin and Kaoru. So here’s my Rurouni Kenshin story: Whenever I think of the anime, the Judy & Mary song “Sobakasu” always pops to mind, mostly because I learned of its existence after the Tiggy song “Freckles,” part of the DDR MAX soundtrack. “Sobakasu,” as I learned, translates into “freckles.” The translated lyrics of the former are quite different from the English lyrics of the latter, though. Saturday at 9 p.m. and Sunday at noon.

Aloha, Toys N Joys (and other Ota-cool calendar additions)

It took a few weeks for me to confirm the news, but now that all the players have been properly notified and the signs printed, I can now type this with authority: Both Toys N Joys stores — the store in Kaimuki, as I noted in the September Ota-cool Incoming! calendar, and the Aiea store, at 98-150 Kaonohi St. in the Westridge Shopping Center — will be closing on Sept. 23.

The Aiea store hasn’t been around as long as the Kaimuki store — 25 years compared to Kaimuki’s 30 — and it only had a fraction of the selection, but it’s always held a closer, more cherished spot in my heart. Part of it is because it’s physically closer to where I’ve lived all my life (central Oahu represent!). But it’s mostly because back in the days before one-click Internet shopping and a GameStop in every large neighborhood, it was the place to go to feed a budding local otaku’s ever-growing hunger for video games (both domestic and import) and anime collectibles. There’s a clerk there, Steve, who’s also been there for what’s seemed like forever. I don’t think he’s been there all 25 years — kinda hard to remember who was behind the counter when you’re 11 or 12, which is how old I would’ve been when the store opened — but it’s most assuredly been a long time. Friendly smile, always chats with me whenever I come in … great guy to know, really. I wish him and the other staffers nothing but the best in their future endeavors.

Here’s the current Aiea clearance sale breakdown:

All toys 25 percent off (plushies 50 percent off)
All video games 10 percent off
All DVDs 15 percent off
All Airsoft guns 20 percent off
All replica swords 25 percent off

There’s a good chance that the percentages will go higher the closer we get to closing day, so if you want to gamble on your preferred item of choice still being around for an extended period of time, it’s your call. You aren’t going to find anything super popular — it doesn’t seem like the merchandise mix has been updated for several months — but hey, you can think of it as your last chance to have a vintage otaku treasure hunt of sorts.

After the jump: some additional notes on events in September and October that have hit my radar after I published that Ota-cool calendar.

Continue reading “Aloha, Toys N Joys (and other Ota-cool calendar additions)”

“Poppy Hill’s” subtle seeds

Let’s get the news out of the way first: From Up on Poppy Hill is going into its seventh week of screenings at the Kahala 8 theaters. From Friday through next Thursday, it’ll be showing there daily at 11 a.m. It’s now managed to outlast the local theatrical runs of Scary Movie 5, The Big Wedding, and some movie called Peeples, and it’s lasted more than three times as long as Goro Miyazaki’s previous Ghibli film, Tales From Earthsea, did at the Ward theaters.

I’ve had the … privilege? … of watching Poppy Hill on my own dime four times. I’d hoped that at least one of those times would be in Japanese, but nope … always in English, every single time. For those of you keeping score, that’s a whole lot of repeat viewings of the trailers for Epic (meh), Despicable Me 2 (yay Minions!), Monsters University (yay Mike and Sully!), Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 (yay colorful, imaginative venues!) and Turbo (which I believe pushes the tally of CGI family films released by Hollywood this year to 500 bazillion).

When you see it as often as I have, you start noticing subtle things here and there, neat little details that make the movie that much cooler. I’ve shared some of my favorite bits below. Suffice it to say there are numerous spoilers for those of you who haven’t seen the movie yet, but if you have, they’ll make for some neat things to look for in a repeat viewing, whether at the Kahala or later this year on home video.

1. Ooh. Girls. Dur hur hur hur.

It’s pretty obvious from the first time that Umi and Sora set foot in the Latin Quarter that girls have been a rare sight there for quite a while. The two Astronomy Club boys out in front comment on it, and Shiro, the student council president, offers to accompany Sora out when Umi and Shun decide to stay back for a while. Umi eventually leaves when the various clubs are called to a meeting on the first floor. As she’s heading out the door, though, just before the scene changes, you can barely hear someone say, “Hey, look! X chromosome!”

2. If at first you don’t succeed, squeak and honk ’til you do

Sure, there’s quite a bit of important dialogue that goes on between Umi and Shun in the Archaeology Club/Latin Quarter Weekly room. But if you listen carefully to the background noise during their first meeting, you can also hear two people — one on a xylophone, one on a recorder — practicing musical scales. The highest note, though, seems to be elusive for that poor recorder player, the clear top tone on the xylophone followed by a high-pitched squeak that doesn’t quiiiiiiiiiite reach the same heights. Persistence does pay off, though, as in a later visit, we finally hear the notes match … and even later, if you listen carefully to the music mix on “The Indigo Waves,” the song that everyone sings in the Latin Quarter, you can hear a recorder providing some of the instrumental backing.

3. The eating machines of Coquelicot Manor

Umi’s younger brother Riku, as we see in the movie’s opening minutes, is a growing boy with an appetite to match. Sachiko, the boarding house’s resident starving artist, is always happy with a plate of food in front of her (even if her spaciness does cause her to misidentify things every now and then, thinking the bag of beef jerky that Umi’s mom brings back from America is a pork product). Put them together, and you get a situation like the one during Miki’s going-away party: A new platter of something — I’m going to assume it’s some lovely sashimi slices, although it’s really hard to say — arrives, and Sachiko hurriedly switches out the empty platter in front of herself and Riku with the full one. But for every one piece Sachiko snags with her chopsticks, Riku manages to sweep up five or six.

Growing boy, indeed.

4. A quiet Giant homage

Poppy Hill is a cinematic love letter to the Japan of 1963, with the era’s architecture, the run-up to the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and Kyu Sakamoto’s “Ue O Muite Arukou” — the song we know here in the U.S. as “Sukiyaki” — being the most obvious nods. There’s also a more subtle tribute, though: When Shun comes home from Miki’s party, his dad is watching a baseball game. Listen carefully, and you can hear the play-by-play announcer describing an at-bat where a player named Nagashima, batting for the Giants, strikes out. Later, as Umi, Shun and Shiro are waiting outside the Tokyo office of the high school chairman, Tokumaru, three men walk by talking about Nagashima and his MVP potential. (One guy’s a bit confused, though, saying he’ll score a lot of goals.)

It turns out this Nagashima guy was a big deal in Japan in 1963. In fact, he’s Shigeo Nagashima, the Yomiuri Giants’ other big star during the time that another player who may be more familiar to hard-core baseball fans, worldwide home run leader Sadaharu Oh, played for the team. Looking at that Wikipedia article I linked with his name as well as this Japan Times article from last month, when he and more recent baseball star Hideki Matsui were announced as this year’s joint recipients of the Japanese prime minister’s People’s Honor Award, you can see just how much of a big deal he was over his career — 1958 Central League Rookie of the Year, six batting titles, five Central League MVP awards, five Japan Series MVP awards, 13 Central League championships and 11 Japan Series championships. It was in 1963 that he snagged one of those Central League MVP awards and Central League and Japan Series championships.

Oh yeah, I should also mention that he retired in 1974, took over as Giants manager and won five more Central League titles and two more Japan Series titles. Makes you wonder what he could have done major leagues in the U.S. had the Japanese exodus — the one that’s included players like Hideo Nomo, Ichiro Suzuki, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Yu Darvish — happened during his era instead.

5. The parting shots

So everyone’s sung “The Indigo Waves,” Tokumaru’s announced that the Latin Quarter will be preserved, Umi and Shun are about to get the definitive final words about their fathers, and we’re heading headlong toward our “happily ever after” ending. But there are two things of note in the closing minutes. First, when everyone’s celebrating over saving the Latin Quarter, one of the things that gets tossed up is a daruma, that round, red doll typically used to wish for a certain goal. And second — and I’m giving tag-team partner in fandom Wilma J. credit for spotting this detail before I did — there’s a certain plaque on the Koyo Maru, the ship captained by Onodera, that the camera lingers on for a few seconds.

The plaque has one word on it.

“GHIBLI.”

The Cel Shaded Report, 5/17: Rock the cosplay or comic vote

Ahhh, Anime Expo. Largest anime convention in the U.S., usually held Fourth of July weekend in Los Angeles, tons of people lining up for everything, enough that I’ll probably never go to it (Fanime’s probably the largest show I’ll ever willingly visit, thankyewverymuch … and after last year’s experience, even that is a bit iffy now).

This year is AX’s 22nd year, and along with the usual pre-con activities — guest announcements! Room expansions! Preregistration deals! — they’re currently hosting a cosplay photography contest on their Facebook page. The winner will receive $250 and a badge for AX 2014 and have their photo reprinted in the AX 2013 program guide, while the top 15 photos will be on display at this year’s convention.

Normally this wouldn’t be of much interest save for the hardest of hard-core AX devotees, but there’s a local angle to this contest: The fourth picture in the gallery was taken at Kawaii Kon, with a bunch of local cosplayers, in the Hawai’i Convention Center parking garage. Here’s the picture and the listed description:

Photographer’s Name: Chris Kwock
Photo Title: Wolf Pack
Cosplay Model’s Name: Kim Mazyck, Jon Minami, Shaughnessy Birgado, Gina Maeda-Caluya, Anthony Ragil, Jolene Kanesaki
Character and series: Bertha, Beltway, Spectre, Lupo, Vector, Four Eyes / Resident Evil

As of Thursday night, when I was writing this post, Team Wolf Pack was running in 11th place with 251 votes — 15 behind Kirito & Silica from Sword Art Online in 10th, 24 ahead of the Onceler from The Lorax. Now, I freely admit that this blog can’t muster up enough votes to push Team Wolf Pack into the top spot, with this Diablo 3 Demon Hunter already at 1,241 votes. We have only a few dozen loyal readers, plus I’ve had experience pushing for something in the past, only to have it fall way, way, way, way, waaaaaaaay short of its goal. But if this post can help nudge our local cosplayers up a space, I’ve done my job.

To vote, just go to the contest page on Facebook — I’ve direct-linked the photo above to their page, or you can click here — and “like” it. You have until May 22 to vote, so have at it.

Meanwhile, over in the world of kids’ comics, Audra Furuichi’s nemu*nemu is up for a pair of awards in the 2013 Kids Comic Revolution comic awards: “Favorite Webcomic” and “Special Award for Excellence in Drawing Delicious-Looking Food” (the latter for the Phantom Ice Cream Truck strip in February 2012). Babymouse and Squish artist Matthew Holm — in town a few months ago as a guest at McCully-Moiliili Library — is also up for a few awards, including “Favorite Graphic Novel” (for Squish volume 4), “Favorite Cartoonist/Author” (with his sister Jennifer) and “Cutest Comic Character” (Babymouse).

Now, I would say to go out and vote for Audra and Matt just as I voted for them, but there’s just one small problem: I’m not a kid. Perhaps my mental age is such, what with all these anime and manga and video games and other firmly-young-adult material surrounding me at the moment, but physically, I haven’t been a kid in years. And that’s the thing: The Kids Comic Revolution awards can only be voted on by kids. And I’m not sure if anyone regularly reading this blog — save, perhaps, the librarian faction — has access to anyone in that valuable voter demographic. But if you do know any kids, send them over to mlatcomics.com/krc/kcrawards13 to vote. You can also find a PDF version of the ballot there, which you can fill out and mail in; details on where to send it are available on the site.

Poppy Hill: The saga continues

Yup, From Up on Poppy Hill is still here, screening for a sixth week at the Kahala 8 theaters and a second at the Koolau Stadium 10. The question is whether you’ll be able to see it in Japanese; your friendly neighborhood anime/manga blogger tried on Wednesday, visiting both the Koolau theaters and the Laie Palms Cinemas, and the net result is that he has now seen it four times in English. It’s probably a good thing that Anime News Network reported on Thursday that Amazon has listings for DVD and Blu-ray/DVD combo packs from Cinedigm, the home video branch of Poppy Hill distributor GKids. (Main takeaways: Release date is Sept. 3; retail price is $29.95 for the DVD, $34.95 for the combo pack, but you can save 30 percent by preordering now; and if you’re a Blu-ray guy or gal, while you’re at it, why not throw in orders for Howl’s Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro, out on Tuesday.)

On the bright side, watching it that many times, one starts noticing certain subtle things about the movie. More details on that after the weekend.

Fandango showtimes!

Kahala
Friday-Saturday: 11:45 a.m.
Sunday: 12:30 p.m.
Monday-Wednesday: Noon

Koolau Stadium 10
Friday-Wednesday: 11:05 a.m. and 1:05 and 3:20 p.m.

And as always, you can buy your tickets in advance here.

Ota-cool incoming!

Comic Jam Hawaii: This group of collaborative cartoon artists meets every first and third Sunday of the month at Pearlridge Center; locations within the mall may vary. Visit www.facebook.com/groups/ComicJamHawaii (Facebook login required). Next meeting: 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Anime Manga Society at UH-Manoa: Meetings during Summer Session 1 are every Friday starting May 24 through June 28. in Kuykendall Hall, room 306. Screenings TBA. 5:30 to 7 p.m.

MangaBento: This group of anime- and manga-inspired artists usually meets every second and fourth Sunday of the month at the Honolulu Museum of Art School (1111 Victoria St., room 200). Visit www.manga-bento.com. Next meeting: 1 to 4 p.m. May 26.

Tomo-E-Ame: Friends-Drawings-Candy: We’re now in the submissions period for MangaBento’s 2013 exhibit at the Honolulu Museum of Art School, with 2-D piece that are 11 inches by 17 inches or smaller now being accepted during MangaBento meetings. Larger 2-D pieces and art in other media will be accepted on June 9 in the art school’s mezzanine gallery. As for the exhibit itself? That’s June 16-July 14.

Summer Reading Program at public libraries: Register. Read books. Win prizes. Yay! I’m pretty sure more details will emerge about special programs at the various branches in coming days, but if I may just offer this initial thought: McCully-Moiliili branch manager Hillary Chang’s already claimed the prize for coolest regular Summer Reading Program incentive EVER. LOOK AT THESE:

Five nemu*nemu pins. Exclusive designs. Exclusively at McCully-Moiliili. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant. General program runs June 2-July 6, with registration beginning May 28; check your local library for exact dates.

Future attractions

Taku Taku Matsuri: A summer festival with an anime/manga slant at Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha-Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu. Aug. 25.

Oni-Con Hawaii: With guest Yuko Ashizawa, a fashion designer with Atelier Pierrot. Also featuring the Cosplay Chess Brigade and Yu x Me Maid Cafe & Host Club. Preregistration open now; $35 for a three-day pass. Artist Alley applications also being accepted (it’s $110 per table, which includes two three-day passes). Hawai’i Convention Center, Nov. 1-3.

Kawaii Kon 2014: Guests include voice actors Michael Sinterniklaas and Stephanie Sheh. Preregistration open now; $37 for a three-day pass for children ages 5-12, $42 general admission. Hawai’i Convention Center, April 4-6, 2014.

The Cel Shaded Report, 4/26: Shirt tales

One of the things I was sadly negligent in talking about in this space in the past few weeks was the nemu*nemu custom Gelaskins order that Kimonokitsy Studios — artist Audra Furuichi and husband Scott Yoshinaga — was running. I actually bought a few — some for technology I don’t even have yet, but which I’m planning to buy in the next few weeks! — and threw one of ’em on when it arrived earlier this week, and then … well, if you saw what happened over on Facebook when the nemu*nemu plushie foursome arrived at the office, you can kinda guess what happened next.

Yes, Anpan and Nemu got their paws on a Gelaskinned Nintendo DSi XL.

And yes, that’s the camera app that they’re playing with. Here’s the proof from their perspective.

… and yes, I am such a dork for taking the time to take pictures like this. But that’s okay. My inner child and I have been BFFs for … well, pretty much my entire otaku journalism career.

The reason I bring up this story is because Audra and Scott are gathering orders for another custom print job — not Gelaskins this time, but Spreadshirt T-shirts. That design above, their “7th Anniversary” style? That’s the newest design to be added to a stack that also includes King of Pizza Anpan, Danish Donut King Nemu and Galaxy Explorer Enchilada. Those join several other online-exclusive designs in a variety of colors, in styles for men, women, children and toddlers. So you definitely have options.

Group orders will be accepted through May 3; visit ow.ly/ksUwn for details on how to order. In case you’re reading this post after May 3, you can order directly at nemunemu.spreadshirt.com.

The last days of ‘Poppy Hill’

I’ve been talking about From Up on Poppy Hill for several weeks now, encouraging people to go out and see it before, well, they can’t, considering the only legitimate home video option for the film to date is a Region 2 DVD with English subtitles, currently selling for about $47 on CDJapan. (Then again, considering how much Aniplex USA wants $89.98 for the Madoka Magica movies on Blu-ray at Right Stuf and Namco Bandai wants $54.99 for each one of three Idolm@ster games on iOS, perhaps that’s a relative bargain.)

We’re heading into week 4 of Poppy Hill screenings at the Kahala 8 theaters, and given the sharp cutback in the number of screenings, I feel fairly confident in saying that these will probably be your last chances of seeing this movie for a while. There are only 14 screenings over the week — less than half the number we saw these past three weeks — and if you were hoping to catch it at night, it looks like you’ve missed that opportunity.

Courtesy of Fandango, here are the showtimes:

Today and Saturday: 10:30 a.m. and 12:40 p.m.
Sunday: 12:40 p.m.
Monday through Thursday: 12:30 a.m. and 2:40 p.m.

As usual, here’s your online ticket link. I’m running a bit short on time in writing this post, so my full reflections on Poppy Hill and where it stands in the grand Ghibli canon are going to have to wait a few days. They are coming soon, though! (I hope, anyway. If office workloads are favorable. Fingers crossed.)

Ota-cool incoming!

Monster Drawing Workshop: April has been the month to learn how to design your own manga characters (courtesy of Hachi Maru Hachi artist Tara Tamayori) and how to add manga faces to them (courtesy of MangaBento). To put a neat little bow on things, perhaps you’d like to learn how to create your own monsters to harass your manga creations (or befriend them, because hey, it’s your story)? Comic Jam Hawaii has you covered in this free workshop at Aiea Library. Paper, pencils and crayons will be provided, or bring your own art supplies if you wish. Recommended for ages 8 and older. 1 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Anime Manga Society at UH-Manoa: Meets every Thursday and Friday in Kuykendall Hall, room 305. Catch Cyborg 009, Kuroko no Basket and Hanasaku Iroha on Thursdays, or Magi, Psycho Pass and Toriko on Fridays. Social time/announcements 4:30 p.m.: screenings 5 to 7 p.m.

Free Comic Book Day: The name pretty much says it all. Full details coming in next week’s Cel Shaded Report, but for now, let’s just say that there will be costumed characters aplenty, possibly at a library near you. May 4.

Future attractions

Maui Matsuri: Annual Japanese festival held on the University of Hawaii-Maui College campus. May 11.

Tomo-E-Ame: Friends-Drawings-Candy: MangaBento’s 2013 exhibit at the Honolulu Museum of Art School, June 16-July 14.

Taku Taku Matsuri: A summer festival with an anime/manga slant at Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha-Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu. Aug. 25.

Kawaii Kon 2014: Guests include voice actors Michael Sinterniklaas and Stephanie Sheh. Preregistration opens Wednesday. Hawai’i Convention Center, April 4-6, 2014.

Kahala showtimes for “Poppy Hill” go live

Quick update on From Up on Poppy Hill, the newest Studio Ghibli film localized for the U.S., covered in my last post and heading to Consolidated Theaters’ Kahala 8 complex on Friday: As of today, showtimes have finally been posted! Yay! Via Fandango (which I simply can’t read the name of anymore without thinking of this guy), here they are:

Friday and Saturday: 10:40 a.m. and 12:50, 3, 5:10, 7:20 and 9:30 p.m.
Sunday: 10:40 a.m. and 12:50, 3, 5:10 and 7:20 p.m.
Monday through Thursday: 12:45, 3, 5:10 and 7:30 p.m.

That’s 33 showings over seven days. If you’re the type who orders tickets online, have at it. As is customary with these movies, there’s no way of knowing how long a run Poppy Hill will have in Honolulu beyond one week, so seize the moment if/when you can. Oh yeah, and be sure to visit the Barnes & Noble store nearby, too, because who knows how much longer that’s going to be around …

The Cel Shaded Report, 3/30: “From Up on Poppy Hill” comes down to Kahala

Roy Chang — Aiea Intermediate art teacher, MidWeek cartoonist, Cacy & Kiara and the Curse of the Ki’i author and friend of the blog — visited San Francisco while on vacation for a few days last week, making me (and no doubt a good number of his Facebook friends) supreeeeemely jealous by posting pictures of his Bay Area adventures. One of the pictures he posted was the one you can see to the right: a From Up On Poppy Hill poster on a light pole in the SoMa district.

Poppy Hill is the newest film from Studio Ghibli to be localized for U.S. audiences, and the first to arrive under the umbrella of GKids Films. Ghibli, of course, is the production house of My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away, The Secret World of Arrietty, Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle and many, many, many other quality films over the years … and Tales From Earthsea. The less said about Earthsea, the better. It’s worth noting, though, that Poppy Hill is the first time since Earthsea that Goro Miyazaki, son of Ghibli superstar Hayao Miyazaki, has directed a feature film … and critical buzz has actually been good. (Hayao Miyazaki contributed the screenplay.) The story, set in Yokohama in 1963, follows Umi and Shun, two teens drawn together in their efforts to save a rundown clubhouse at their high school from being demolished … and eventually drawn closer with the bonds of budding romance.

Here, have a trailer.

Our Bay Area friends have been enjoying Poppy Hill since Friday, but the question was whether the movie would cross the Pacific and make its way to a theater near us. On the same night that Roy posted his picture, I checked GKids’ theater listing and was pleased to learn that the film will be screening locally … Consolidated’s Kahala 8 complex in Kahala Mall, to be exact. And it’s opening next Friday, April 5.

And that is pretty much all I know about the movie’s local release at this point. I’ve been watching Fandango over the past few days to see if there have been any links to advance ticket sales or showtimes posted; none exist as of yet. (I’d expect movement on this around Tuesday or Wednesday, which is when screenings over the next week usually are added to the database.) Unless there’s some special dispensation, I’m also expecting that the version that will be screening will be the English dubbed version, as seen in the trailer above; the subtitled version seems to be appearing only at select film festivals. It’s good that the film’s even showing up here in the first place, though, so please, no complaining.

Want to learn more about Poppy Hill? Visit fromuponpoppyhill.com.

Ota-cool incoming!

“Journey of Heroes” graphic novel: If you have yet to pick up this this manga-style book chronicling the achievements of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Infantry Battalion in World War II — and you really should get it; author Stacey Hayashi and artist Damon Wong did a great job with it — it’s available for sale at the Bishop Museum gift shop. It’s a tie-in with the exhibit “American Heroes: Japanese American WWII Nisei Soldiers and the Congressional Gold Medal,” which also looks like it’s worth checking out. Over at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii gift shop (2454 S. Beretania St.), you can also get the book ($10 general, $9 JCCH members), some spiffy exclusive “Chibi Wear” aloha shirts for men and women ($75, $67.50 JCCH members) or, for you DIYers, pre-cut yards (36 inches by 44 inches) of any of the three available fabric styles ($20 per yard, $18 JCCH members). Bishop Museum exhibit on display through April 17.

Manga character design workshop: Learn the basics of human anatomy and character design (and how to break those rules to develop your own style) from Tara Tamayori, the artist whose two-chapter story “Eternal Blade” is featured in the Hachi Maru Hachi anthology. Workshops will be held at the Honolulu Museum of Art School (1111 Victoria St., room 200) Cost: $15 per session, payable to the instructor at the beginning of each session. Designed for ages 12 and up. Special note: There’s already a waiting list for these workshops, so email peninkinfo@gmail.com or call the art school at 532-8741 if you’re still interested. April 7 and 14, 1 to 4 p.m.

“How to Draw Manga Faces”: If you can’t figure out what participants are going to be learning at this workshop at Treehouse (250 Ward Ave., suite 233) presented by MangaBento, you’re really reading the wrong blog. Recommended for ages 8 and older; cost is $10, art materials included. Feel free to bring your own, too, if you prefer. And yes, this is the same workshop that was supposed to be held March 9 but canceled due to lack of interest; here’s hoping for more interest this time around. Details and a link to register are at treehouse-shop.com/how-to-draw-manga-faces-workshop. 2 to 3 p.m. April 20.

HIFF’s Ghibli jubilee and other anime-related delights

I know it’s become a tired cliche to say that an event that brings a bunch of wonderful things for a certain set of fans is like Christmas in [FILL IN MONTH HERE, AS LONG AS IT’S NOT DECEMBER, BECAUSE THEN IT WOULDN’T MAKE MUCH SENSE], but I’m going to say it here anyway: The Hawaii International Film Festival’s getting started in two days, and when it does, it’s going to be like Christmas in October for fans of anime and Japanese cinematic pop culture. And all you have to do, dear otaku, is buy your tickets from www.hiff.org or the HIFF box office near the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 theaters, make your way over to that theater complex (save one case, which I’ll get to in a little bit), get whatever snacks you’re craving, and enjoy.

The big anime-related event at this year’s festival is the Studio Ghibli Retrospective, a six-pack of classics from throughout the anime studio’s storied history. All of them are the original 35mm prints, in Japanese with English subtitles; there’s a nice cross-section of the studio’s work represented in these films, with four directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Porco Rosso, My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away); one by Isao Takahata, with Miyazaki getting screenwriter and executive producer credits (Pom Poko); one rarely screened in the States and never released on home video here (Ocean Waves … although Australia and the United Kingdom both got English-subtitled DVD releases, those lucky ducks); and none from Goro Miyazaki (sorry, those of you hoping for From Up on Poppy Hill). Your screening time roundup:

Totoro: 11:30 a.m. Saturday
Pom Poko: 2 p.m. Saturday
Ocean Waves: 11:45 a.m. Sunday
Spirited Away: 2 p.m. Sunday
Porco Rosso: 11 a.m. Oct. 20
Nausicaa: 1:30 p.m. Oct. 20

That’s a potential Ghibli double-feature on Saturday, Sunday and Oct. 20. If you’re really feeling adventurous, though, you could turn Saturday into a Ghibli triple play, watching three movies for the price of two. You’ll have to leave Dole Cannery after Pom Poko to do so, but it’s certainly worth it: HIFF will be screening Spirited Away at Kakaako Makai Gateway Park for the low, low price of absolutely free. The “Pop-Up at the Park” gets underway at 5 p.m. with Eat the Street organizers Street Grindz rallying a bunch of food trucks to satisfy all your noshing needs, and the film unspools starting at 6 p.m. Cosplay is also encouraged, and there will be prizes for people decked out in the finest Ghibli-inspired gear.

It should be noted that the site’s changed from the original location of Mother Waldron Park, which is not what’s currently shown on HIFF’s event page. (10/10 update: It’s been fixed! We don’t believe in radically changing posts once they’ve gone up, though, so the original text of this post follows.) This is the image that you currently see there. If you go there on Saturday, what you see here in this picture is all you’ll see — no film, no food trucks, no cosplay, nothing. (There are some rather lovely wall murals, though.)

Here’s the new, actual location, as seen from Google Street View, looking makai from Ilalo Street.

That’s the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center to the left and Kakaako Waterfront Park waaaaaaay in back. The University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, not pictured, is to the right.

Pray for nice weather (or at least weather that’ll clear out this stifling vog we’ve had blanketing the island lately, ugh), and come on down.

The rest of the festival is certainly no slouch, either. My picks for fellow otaku cinephiles:

The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki: Director Mamoru Hosoda has been on a roll in recent years. I never did see, nor have I ever have any inkling of seeing, Digimon: The Movie in 2000, but his take on The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in 2006 was good, and Summer Wars, which screened at HIFF in 2010 … well, that was one of the best, if not the best, film I saw that year. His latest film follows Ame and his sister Yuki, two half-wolf, half-human children who lose their wolf-man father in an accident and subsequently move with their mom to a rural village. Now, both children are faced with the choice of whether to embrace the wolf or the human side of their heritage. Ame’s leaning one way; Yuki, in the other. And, of course, mom Hana has her own issues to deal with as well. 9 p.m. Oct. 17 and 12:30 p.m. Oct. 21.

Dead Sushi: Director Noboru Iguchi has been on a roll in recent years as well, but for a completely different genre of Japanese film: the 1,000 percent what in the WORLD am I watching and WHY?!?!? genre. For your consideration, the following trailers, which should not be viewed at any time except, perhaps, in a darkened room in the middle of the night:

The Machine Girl: A normal high school girl with a normal family and a normal life has it all taken away by a ninja yakuza clan … so she straps on a machine gun to replace the arm that was neatly and oh-so-visceral-sprayingly was chopped off, as well as a drill bra and other assorted weapons of maximum carnage, to gain her revenge. Blood goes spraying, limbs go flying, sushi with fingers as a topping get consumed, and females get scantily clad.
Robogeisha: “Geisha is … Japanese girl. Geisha is … beautiful. Geisha is … wild. Geisha is … robot.” Normal geisha with normal lives get transformed into cyborg assassins … so they use their mouth chainsaws and katanas and guns protruding from pretty much every natural orifice and tank-transforming abilities and battle it out. Blood goes spraying, limbs go flying, fried shrimp gets impaled in someone’s eyes, and females get scantily clad.

And now we have the trailer for Dead Sushi, featuring the same creepy Engrish narrator from the Robogeisha trailer and starring delicious slabs of rice and seafood that have themselves turned carnivorous and seeking human flesh. And you guessed it: Blood goes spraying, sushi do something at the end that I can’t even describe lest this blog go from a PG rating to somewhere between R and NC-17, and females get scantily clad. Give it to Iguchi: The guy knows his niche. 9:15 p.m. Saturday and 9 p.m. Sunday.

Thermae Romae: The first two-volumes-in-one omnibus collection of the manga by Mari Yamazaki is due from Yen Press next month, but local audiences will get a chance to see this film adaptation first. The film, like the manga, follows the adventures of Lucius, a harried architect in ancient Rome who finds his calling in life when he’s sucked through a drain doubling as a time portal, ends up in modern-day Japan, takes what he learns about bathhouse design, returns to his time and builds the most fabulous bathhouse in all the land.

Yes, that premise would probably be the craziest were it not for Dead Sushi’s presence in this year’s film festival. But hey, if you wanted normal, go pick up Jiro Dreams of Sushi or something. 9 p.m. Saturday and 9:15 p.m. Monday.

Eight Rangers: In a future world where Japan is teetering on the edge of ruin (if it’s not there already), the only thing standing between relative order and absolute chaos inflicted by a terrorist group is a ragtag bunch of ordinary citizens dressed in colorful costumes rallied by superhero Captain Silver. Sounds a bit cliched to me at face value, but you never know for sure what delightful twists and turns lie beneath the surface, so who knows? It could be worth a look. 3 p.m. Oct. 19 and 9:15 p.m. Oct. 20.

Ultraman Saga: Speaking of costumed superheroes, this year marks the 45th anniversary of one of Japan’s most enduring heroes: Ultraman. To celebrate, here’s Ultraman — or to be more specific, the Ultraman Zero version of the hero — like you’ve never seen him before: battling alongside members of super-popular J-pop girl group AKB48. In a future world where Tokyo’s in ruins and multiple dimensions are in danger, the only thing standing between relative order and absolute chaos inflicted by an invading alien force is a ragtag alliance formed with the AKB48-staffed Earth Defense Force Team U, Ultraman Zero and a defense team pilot named Taiga. No sign of the Eight Rangers, though. 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

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