Okay, I just finished watching Metropolis again. I love the song that plays during the climax. One thing that is actually really clear in the film that I didn’t pick up the first time I saw it, is that Metropolis is not in Japan; the first time, I assumed it was. But only Detective Shunsaku and Kenichi are from Japan. I imagine Metropolis is in the United States, which would explain why all the signage is in English. But the politics strikes me as more European or South American. Eh, who knows.
I’ve got the Metropolis DVD! But I’m going to have to save it for tomorrow, because tonight it’s Crest of the Stars!
I caught a tiny preview of CotS last night, but it’s not enough to make a real informed opinion yet. A couple teeny observations: It’s dubbed, not subbed and the artist tries way too hard to give the vassals cleavage. But Bizarre Breasts are nothing new to anime, and I’ve learned to be forgiving 
I did a little poking around on the web today, too, and it turns out tonight TechTV is showing episodes 5 thru 12. So I won’t get to see the beginning or the end tonight; maybe next Friday 
I am not sure how much sense it will make if you have missed the first few episodes. Here is a very brief synopsis: The Abhs are the dominant civlization of the galaxy. They dominate inter-planetary space but generally leave the planets to their vassals. In the first episode they are shown conquering Jinto’s home planet. Jinto’s dad who is the leader cuts a deal with them and gets to stay in power. His son gets to be an Abh nobleman and in episodes 2-4 he is sent to training school for that purpose. He meets Lafiel, who is a Abh princess, who shows him around and introduces him to the Abh way of life. On the way to training school their ship is attacked by the rebels and Lafiel and Jinto are sent away on a smaller ship to escape harm. The rest of the series is about their adventures on the way to the main planet and their evolving friendship.
The Jinto-Lafiel relationship is the heart of the series. Unfortunately you have missed episodes 2-4 where it is introduced but hopefully you should be able to pick up the basic story.
There should be various more detailed synopses floating around the web.
I saw the “making of” feature on the second mini-DVD today. It was interesting to find out that Tezuka had refused to give permission to make the movie and the filmmakers were perfectly frank in saying that if he was alive the film would never have been made. Also it turns out that the score was composed by a Japanese musician; I had imagined that they were old American jazz pieces.
So Gr8Kat, did you see Crest of the Stars? What did you think?
Ack, be careful with those links! Some of us surf from work.
But it’s art! Sorry, I didn’t think.
Metropolis: I just finished watching it about an hour ago and I’m still trying to absorb it all. The visuals were stunning. I’m usually one of those people who whines about how CGI is taking over and no one draws by hand anymore, boo hoo hoo, but really, it was wonderful. And I thought the 2D blended with the 3D very well. I enjoyed the retro, art deco, jazz-era design. It gave the city more personality and depth than the typical futuristic sterility we’re used to in science fiction. Political intrigue and dirty dealings usually leave me a little befuddled, so it may require a second viewing for me to appreciate some of the subtleties of the story, but overall I get it. On the incomprehensibility scale, I give it a 1.5
Crest of the Stars: Thank you, Cyberpundit, for the background info. I was able to pick most of that up. I think TechTV is showing the final episode next Friday at 10:00 PM and again at 11:30 PM. I don’t know when or if they plan to reshow the series or if they’re going to move on to another one. It looks like they have shown, or are planning to show, Ghost in the Shell, Serial Experiment Lain (which is in my Netflix queue), Betterman, Silent Moebius, and Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure.
Anyway, I enjoyed it, for the most part. The dubbing was not great. A lot of the time, dubbing really doesn’t bother me. I even have a few favorite voice actors I listen for. But these performances were sub par. And I swear they broke for commercials every three minutes. But that’s not the fault of the animé. But it was good. It was definitely interesting and I’ll have to see about renting it one of these days.
Have you seen Banner of the Stars? Is it as good?
No I haven’t seen either the second or third seasons of the series.
Shame about the dubbing. The series is character-driven and both the Jinto and Lafiel Japanese voice-actors are excellent. If the past anime dubs I have heard are any guide half of the drama and charm of the series will be lost.
For instance one of the best scenes is the dinner exchange between Lafiel and the Baron who is holding them captive in where Lafiel really shows what a formidable customer she is. I suspect most of the drama of that exchange is lost in the dub. The same probably goes for the lighter exchanges between Lafiel and Jinto on the planet. In general I am curious: which scenes were effective in the dub?
BTW if you haven’t seen episodes 1-4 and the last episode, there is a particularly dramatic sub-plot you have probably missed about Lafiel’s family which provides a couple of the most effective moments of the series.
So if it’s available on Netflix I suggest you get the DVD’s at least for the episodes you missed.
Unfortunately, Crest of the Stars isn’t on Netflix yet.
It’s hard to say. To me, the two performances that really fell flat were Lafiel and Jinto’s. Lafiel’s voice in particular was done so emotionlessly. I know the Abh were regarded by the United Humankind as being little better than machines, and that Lafiel in particular was supposed to be cool as a cucumber in tough situations, but the actress made her sound downright chilly. Her performance made me think of a teenage girl who got a part in the high school play because she has a clear voice that carries well and she can read her lines without faltering, but she just can’t act. Or she thinks that talking in a snooty voice equals “acting.” And the guy doing Jinto’s voice wasn’t any better. Their light moments didn’t sound particularly light.
Plus they seemed to be talking very slowly and deliberately with odd pauses at inappropriate moments. I guess they were just trying to match the lip flaps, but it made the characters sound half asleep, ponderous, and dumb.
That’s not to say that the program wasn’t enjoyable. Overall, I’d still rate it highly. I’d love to see it again from the beginning, and I’ll keep an eye open for it on Netflix. I like that DVD gives you the choice between sub and dub. I watched Metropolis twice, the first time sub, the second time dub. I think I maybe enjoyed the dub more because I could relax and take in the visuals without missing any of the dialog.
[sub]P.S. Please forgive the lateness of my reply.[/sub]
“To me, the two performances that really fell flat were Lafiel and Jinto’s. Lafiel’s voice in particular was done so emotionlessly”
Yes it definitely sounds like yet another mess with the English dub. I remember listening to bits of the Evangelion English dub and some of the voice-actors were so awful I doubt I would have made it through one episode. Particularly the Rei Ayanami voice-actor who was really well-played in the original. In general it appears the quality of dubs in relatively high-profile movies like Spirited Away is decent but not in the TV serials.
The English dub in Metropolis is OK. Unfortunately the weakest actor is the one who plays the girl-robot ,arguably the most important character. Though I suppose the movie is not that dialogue-heavy so it doesn’t matter too much. Incidentally I noticed that the French dub is better. Maybe non-English-speaking countries just have more experience with dubbing since they import so many American films.
I started watching it with English subtitles, but I realized that I was paying as much attention to the dialogue, reading it, as I was to the visuals. And that’s really not what this movie is about. So I switched it to English dubbing so that I could pay attention to the scenery. I rather some of the English voices. Shunsaku’s especially rounds out his character of a cartoonish detective. I also like Pero’s English voice better than his Japanese - it sounds like something a robot might have.
Okay, I’m watching Metropolis again, and I noticed something odd. Just before the revolution falls, President Boon and his aide, the Broadly Smiling Man, are slain by the military. As BSM is shot from the back, a lit candle appears over his right ear, for a few frames, then disappears. It’s fast, but it seems very out of place. What the heck is up with that? Is it just a mistake, or some anime convention signifying… something? [Screenshot]
Interesting. Didn’t notice this myself but I googled and found this:
http://animeworld.com/reviews/metropolis.html
“In the scene where the minister, Lamp, is dying, a candle briefly appears over his head as he falls to the ground. This is a reference to Tezuka’s various manga; the same character appears in different roles in several of Tezuka’s other stories. It is a running joke (based on his name) that extreme emotion sometimes causes this character to sprout a candle from the back of his head.”
I saw the subtitled Metropolis in a Lower East Side theater last year, and found it strangely disturbing…
I’m not sure if it was anything to do with the robot-child-in-jeopardy aspects of the film itself or that it reminded me of watching Astro Boy as a tot. Duke Rock looked like he walked right out of a black-and-white 1962 Tezuka film. What a schnozzola, eh?
CyberPundit: Ah, thanks for the link. I was wondering if it was akin to the light bulb above someone’s head you see in cartoons, and I guess so. But since it’s the only place in Metropolis something like that appears, I was skeptical. I also could not find the character’s name anywhere.
Ukulele Ike: I wasn’t sure if you were talking about Rock or Duke Red at first, but that schnozzola comment gave it away.