Hydra Japanese Film Thoughts(2019)

 

    Hydra is a 2019 indie film directed by Kensuke Sonomura who's know for a film called manhunt(a film I've never seen.) The film tells the story of a killer who gives up that life to work in a back alley bar. He's life is interrupted when a girl that he swore to protect on her father's dying breath becomes a target of a murder organization...... The film stars Masanori Minmoto, 

   The film itself has more plot to the script than martial art fights. I quite liked the feel of the film as it was in an artsy indie atmosphere, yet the film was shot like it could have been a mainstream production. A lot of the scenes are just story building up has you get a feel for the characters who work at this bar together. One of their biggest mysteries if the bar's cook who doesn't show much emotion but is a genius at reading people. They all just lie their lives in a happy bliss under Tokyo's neon lights. Under the same lights, people's pasts loom in the dark until they make their way into the bar. I wouldn't call this film the best but it does it's job keeping the viewer in touch with the characters as the film progresses. Some flashbacks might be a bit confusing if you don't have the gift of comprehension. Plus the stab scar was on the opposite side that he was actually stabbed on in his flashback...... I'll let that slide though. [INSERT ME LAUGHING..] 

  I'm always in love with cityscape shots. Especially ones that show the transition between night and day. Speaking on other things captured by the camera, the fight scenes weren't anything ground breakingly different. Even the attempts at being violent were fun yet not eye opening.... My favorite scene was the one in the laundry mat where the main character has a conversation with a man from his past. There was some great acting there that wasn't there throughout the whole film. The film still takes an overused theme then wraps it all up well. 

Gentle Grape(葡萄不憤怒) - My Hopeless Hope(我無可救的執念) Mando-Rock Album Thoughts

 

 I sadly don't know much information about this band called Gentle Grape.... Their music was on a site where I listen to Mando pop music regularly and I decided to give their music a try. My Hopeless Hope is their newest album but it seems they have other releases. The band also seems to be more on the independent indie side of the Taiwan music industry. You will find a ton of good music from Taiwanese artists that started out by themselves.....

Track List:

01.Intro

02.酒精計劃

03.世紀開心園

04.墨菲定律

05.歡迎來到這裡

06.紅色海

07.我以為

08.最後一個日落

09.帶我去你的星球

10."26“歲的玩笑

11.我無可救藥的執念

   Gentle Grape sounds like the Canadian and American bands that took the music industry by storm in the early to late 2000s. Bands such as Sum 41, Simple Plan, Yellow Card, etc defiantly come to my mind when I listened to My Hopeless Hope for the first time. Their music take infectious melodies that mend the problems of the youth. Maybe even tell what young people go through so older people understand that they once went through the same problems too. The album's defining style is pop punk rock with a bit of ballad influence because of course, this is East Asia we're talking about. They love a good emotional love ballad. This doesn't come at the expense of calling this album a rock album. Inside this sound you will find a lot of different themes that change the band's sound from loud to soft. Acustic guitar gives the vocalist a chance to be raw yet venerable, while tracks where the band plays all out are more headbangers to make you dance. I enjoyed all the tracks even if this isn't a new sound for Taiwan. I do think that they do the style well enough to be rememberable among all the other bands out there.

   Gentle Grape has a vocal that probably would sound good live. I'm not going to lie, a lot of the bands that were out in America during the 2000s had vocalists who didn't sound too good during live performances. Grape's vocalist has different sides to his voice depending on the dynamics of the songs he sings.  Most rock singers like to have a growl to their singing. It gives rock music a certain grit. 

The Great War of Archimedes(アルキメデスの大戦) Japanese film thoughts(2019)

    

   The Great War of Archimedes is a 2019 Japanese film starring Suda Masaki, Tachi Hiroshi, Hamabe Minami, and Emoto Tasuku. The film was directed by Yamazaki Takashi but the script took much of its content from the manga adaption written by Mita Norifusa.

  A fictional account of the creation of battleship Yamato months before the events of pearl harbor's attack in the 1930s. One student uses his mathematical skills to battle the military's plans on building a new battleship to take on American forces. 

   Archimedes has a story that could be similar to a wolf in sheep's clothing. I went in viewing this film while not knowing anything about the manga or plot. Suda Masaki was is always a good enough reason to check out a film so I did. What I mean by a wolf in sheep's clothing is that this film is not what I believe many people will think that it is according to the cover. You look at the cover and think "war film", which this film deals with war. However, if you come to watch this film thinking that you will witness a bunch of battle scenes, you will be highly disappointed. The most action you get is the opening scene of the film that's VERY well done but this scene is only there to give viewers a sense of the times the characters live in. Other than that, most of this film deals with a college student who was kicked out of his school and has given up on Japan. He ends up being caught up in a plan to build a ship that is suppose to be the ultimate pride of Japan's people. The military has their own way of wanting to create this ship but their plan had flaws. So this student and his friends go up against the military using his smarts in mathematics. Yamoto's creation as well as the underdog working toward something extraordinary. War not being the main focus doesn't ruin the film in anyway. If anything you get instead a good film about perseverance in the face of uncertainty. 

  Suda Masaki ate his role up in this film. Japan has been making these war films for years and each time a talented actors has to step up to the plate. Suda does this with heart as a character who seemed lost in the beginning.  I could talk about the older actors too... They just pretty much mirror Suda's performance since he stole the show like I knew that he would.  I loved how his character saw the beauty in objects through math. 

  The Great War of Archimedes is a normal Japanese film about never giving up on what you love. This film has a lots of emotion that drives the message home. It's not an overly patriotic film either.

 

Blue Flag(青のフラッグ) Japanese Manga Thoughts

   

   Blue Flag is a Japanese manga written and illustrated  by KAITO. The manga has a total of eight volumes. The manga's English release was met with rave reviews and the series was a finalist for The Los Angeles Book prize. It also made the list for best graphic novel of 2020 for teenagers. 

    Two best friends have know each other since youth. Now they're in high school where one has become a popular baseball player among his peers while the other is a nerd who only has a small group of friends. One would like to think that they aren't as close as the use to be since they exist in different social circles but their friendship never changed due to buried feelings brought to light when a girl asks for help getting close to his childhood friend.... High school has never been a breeze that blows a flag easily in the wind. 

   Blue Flag is a high school slice of life manga down to it's core. The target audience is actual males since the manga labeled under Shonen(which typically is a genre of manga that's geared toward males.) I know this might surprise some readers as there's a debate that Blue Flag is a LGBT or BL manga. To me, Blue Flag has LGBT elements in it's story however, I wouldn't consider Blue Flag Yaoi(Usually sexual gay themed manga geared toward females.) because the manga doesn't take the effort to make a big deal out of the subject of being gay. What's seen has a bigger conflict in the story is the miscommunication, thoughts of what other people will think, and keeping secrets from loved ones. Blue Flag simply glosses over the whole "showcase of gayness" that other manga tend to make into a slight mockery. Instead this manga highlights the growing pains of owning up to who you are in the face of a Japanese society that's extremely judgmental inwardly. You watch as most of the characters are at a lost when met with the decision to be who they want to be on matter what. A lot of the times the main character had the most negative thoughts about the outcome of a situation that I was screaming at the pages, "JUST GO AND TALK TO THAT PERSON FOR GODS SAKE!". It's never a good idea to avoid a person as this causes the problem to fester over into something even worse than what it was originally. This creates misunderstandings when you could have gotten all your feelings out in the open no matter the reaction of the other person. At least there won't be any confusion with where your feelings stand. Most of the series shows situations like my example above indepth detail through the main character's though process. He learns soon after all his mopping around that everyone has problems. The so called popular kids included. Everyone attempts to work through their problems mostly using preachy dialogues in debate format. I liked the arguments brought to the table in these moments of the manga but this won't be for everyone. If you want a manga that's just life as we know it then give this a read. The final chapter was as real as you would  get with the story. Time waits for none. Feelings can change in time too. Only time will tell. The final few pages was this message in a nutshell and  I loved it. 

   Let's talk about the art of Blue Flag, shall we? The pros are that the covers for each volume are absolutely gorgeous! This alone makes the series one that you would want to collect on your shelf at home. I wasn't too big a fan of the art on the inside during the comedic panels. Marshmallow heads and bodies all around does't appeal to me, nor did I really laugh when reading this Manga. There was an essence of maturity in the serious panels latter on in the story. Gotta love how Tomo is bigger than all the other characters in the story. On top of that the character appearance changes along with the character development which I liked. Without giving too much away, One volume shows a whole three sixty of a side character who I didn't like at first but ended up loving her in the end. Her who monologue about the expectation but on females who just want to be friends with guys but are seen in the wrong light by others was golden content. I believe that was my favorite volume of the whole series. I'm not female either.

  Blue Flag is a manga that will stick around in your head after you finish it. It makes you think about social norms that maybe shouldn't be so normal if it means that people are afraid to be who they are. life can be hard to face in your truth. It's even harder to face inside the confided walls of high school.