The first annual New York Anime Film Festival was held from Friday to Sunday, October 6-8 at the Director's Guild building located in Manhattan, New York City. BANDWIDTH was on hand for Saturday's event. Like most festivals, some movies were great, and one was worth more than two thumbs down. We'll get to all that later. Other than the movies, there were several guests on hand to provide some breaks in between the long marathon of movies.
Guests on hand included, Yoshitaka Amano, creator of Vampire Hunter D, Peter Chung; creator of Aeon Flux, Neil Gaiman; Sandman creator, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa; president of Production IG and producer of Blood, Ken Iyadomi; Bandai Entertainment executive vice-president, Jon O'Donell; founder and head of Central Park Media, and more. They participated in several chats with the fans, and also signed autographs for those who were interested. But other than them, the movies were why everyone was there. The Sci-Fi network proudly sponsored this event, which was a tremendous success. Awe inspiring animation, excellent stories and adrenaline pumping action. We can't wait until next year.
1,001 Nights was the worst film of the bunch; confusing, without a story and a big snooze. That is all the space I will give this film.
This was an artistic film, like those on PBS. It was a film put to classical music. From what I gathered from the film it was about an Asian prince and princess who had an evil being who wanted to break them up. It sought to seduce both of them with temptations in their dreams. A little Jinn and fairy strove to bring them back together. The film had many asian cultural themes mixed into it. It was a bit long but very beautiful.
The Aurora was on the border of being really great and being really bad. The story, involving a digging team's search for oil could very well one day be reality based. The Earth is running out of oil, so a team digs for oil far into the Earth's crust. One woman tries to stop them before they unearth six million year old bacteria that will sap the planet's oxygen supply.
The story is extremely well done, containing such complicated elements as cloning, organ transplants and loneliness. A cutesy young girl adds humor to the story, which also contains mystery and some emotional scenes that would rival any non-animated tearjerker. The artwork is fantastic, using 3D CGI graphics, but without a major villain other than the bacteria, this story moves rather slowly, leaving the watcher wondering when it will end.
The Aurora could have been one of the movies of the night, but it missed in several areas that made some of the other movies of the night kick ass. And one of those movies that kicked ass was Blood: The Last Vampire. While most people were looking forward to the two feature events, Escaflowne in the day and Vampire Hunter D 2000 that night, it was Blood that nearly stole the show.
Blood: The Last Vampire was given a special showing earlier in the day. Only 75% in English and the rest without subtitles, no one seemed angry, as the animation told the story well enough. Blood is about Saya, the last original, as they call it. She is a no-nonsense, take no prisoners, tough ass that will kill an innocent if they stand in the way of her prey. Carrying nothing but a sword, no vampire stands a chance against her.
The story is mysterious. There is only one person who seems to know anything about her. He's in charge of Saya, and seems to look after her like he would a daughter. Only she's been alive since the 1800's. He and his partner, a "Men in Black" style team, give her a target and without question, she swings into action. Her mission in this film is to infiltrate a school and hunt down three vampires before they wreck havoc on the innocents. Not much for words, she doesn't join any groups, or make friends to discover information. She lurks in the shadows, and saves a nurse before two of the vampires can kill her. Of course, the nurse becomes involved in the story as the action intensifies, never stopping and leaving the audience wanting more.
Blood is a beautifully animated film. Right from the opening scene, you know you are in for an exciting journey. This has got to contain one of the most realistic train scenes ever drawn. I felt like I rode one of those trains. Looked just like the #5 line in New York. Not only is the animation excellent, but the action is as intense as any movie I have ever seen. You have to see her escape certain death to really appreciate this film. I couldn't believe it!
Blood is complex as well as mysterious. Saya has this thing against religion, but you are never told why. She barely says anything and just what is an original anyway. Is she an original vampire or what? These are questions to be answered in later films. And there are more films. Unfortunately, we were unable to see Blood: The Last Vampire II, which was shown the next day, but plan on buying both as soon as I can.
I liked this movie. No, I really liked this movie. It reminded me of something I would have seen on the Independent Film Channel on some lazy Sunday afternoon. A*LI*C*E is about a young girl from the year 2000 who is sucked thirty years into the future on her trip to the moon. Alice finds that the future is anything but wonderful. The world has changed tremendously. One man by the name of Nero has built a supercomputer that has taken over the world. Mysteriously the world went from the whopping five billion in 2000 to a mere one billion in 2030.
To top things off, A*LI*C*E finds out she is wanted by Nero's henchman, and a group that opposes him. Why she would be their subject of their hunt is beyond her. But it becomes apparent the A*LI*C*E is somehow connected with Nero and his supercomputer. A*LI*C*E luckily has some companions to help her; a boy named Yuan and her flight attendant from the moon mission named Mary. Alice names her that because of her uncanny resemblance to a statue of Mary the Mother of Jesus A*LI*C*E had seen once.
A*LI*C*E was CG-animated. The film was directed by Maejima Kenichi known for the work Galactic Heroes and written by the famed creator of Shenmue for the Dreamcast unit, Toshimoto Masahiro. If I tell you anymore about the movie I will be giving it away the whole story!
As my friend Tiana would say, "That's a negative." This movie is a no-no. If you are a fan of the series Escaflowne, I guarantee you will not like the new Escaflowne movie Girl in Gaia. I had read about the Escaflowne movie in Animerica Volume 8 Number 8 there was a whole review on the original series and the movie, and the differences. And from that I knew I would be disappointed. I just did not expect to be this disappointed.
I am not like other people. I do not like an anime just because it is anime. I work hard for my money to like anything that unconditionally. I expect quality for my money. I did not care that the animation was superior to that of the series. I did not care that the action scenes were well done, and that killing scenes were some of the best I have seen since X (see BANDWIDTH's review of X in this issue). No. What made Escaflowne, the series, good was the interaction of all of the characters.
The movie revolved around the relationship between Hitomi and Van, and boy that was no real excitement. Hitomi is the chosen one to save Gaia, and she is just so tragic. She wants to be dead she hates her life. I like my Hitomi, the girl who loved life, loved track, and was caring about all those around her. Van is just hungry to kill and fight. Not the misunderstood, hurt child, forced into manhood-I have grown to love-Van-sama!
The worst part is characters like Allen have been totally written out the script. And Dilandau who is such a good bad guy. He is such a bastard you want him dead, but in this movie I just didn't feel that level of hate toward him, and that made me MAD!
But what enraged me further was the fact that there were no Guymelefs with the exception of Escaflowne. I enjoyed watching the Guymelefs battling in the series. Nothing like a little death and mayhem to add some spice to a series, but don't expect it in this movie.
I also did not like the character designs, Allen was horrible looking (other than Tamahome, he is the best looking male anime character). I like the whole romantic twisted use of the middle ages, future, mecha, Atlantis look of Escaflowne. It was so romantic, so eventful, so sad, so happy, just a good story. This movie was cold and rushed. I did not like this movie at all.
This is why I hate to watch anime movies, because they usually just summarize the series to make some cash off the popularity of the series, and we the fans like rabies victims thirsty for more, just fall into the studio's trap. Why didn't they just make a continuation of the series set in the future when Hitomi is an adult? Didn't Fox Kids do a bad enough job slaughtering the series, now the creators have to do this themselves. Oh, the humanity!
The main event of the night was the sequel of Vampire Hunter D. The cult classic movie based on novels created by Hideuki Kikuchi.
D is a half-breed, half-human, half-vampire known as a dampiel. He has been around for hundreds of years, hunting vampires down and trying to suppress his own blood lust. D is armed with a sword and a very powerful talking hand that also provides some comic relief and give D the power to suck things into an abyss in himself.
The vampire hunter is a legend in the anime industry. More than just a cult following when it was created 15 years ago, Vampire Hunter D has been re-released on video and DVD, by Urban-Vision. D destroyed all opposition in the first film, saving a young rancher, Doris, from the clutches of the vampire Magnus Lee. The film is considered a classic by many anime fans, many of who were ecstatic to see a sequel being made after all these years.
If you liked the first film, you will love the sequel. The fans clapped for every big scene and went nuts just seeing the title screen come up. This movie by far blows the original out of the water. This time D is joined by other bounty hunters, each armed with cool weapons that totally kicked ass. Stealth arrows, twirling blades, and more make for a vampire's worst nightmare.
In fact, the story opens during a time where there are fewer vampires than ever before. Searching for survival, the last thing any of the vampires want to see is Vampire Hunter D. In fact, these new bounty hunters aren't too happy to see that D, who is stiff competition for any mortal vampire hunter.
The new story centers around a young woman captured by a dashing vampire. Her family wants her back and hires a group of bounty hunters and D to find the young woman. Whoever finds the young woman firsts wins the money. But a problems arise when it is suspected the young woman wanted to be taken away.
The story is exciting, well drawn, and well written. D isn't in the story as much as previously, but he steals the show with every scene he was in. His interaction with the female bounty hunter makes for compelling drama and an excellent story. Even the so-called bad vampire has a sensitive side to him, adding many layers to the story.
Vampire Hunter D 2000 is way better than the original. Don't believe me? Ask the fans who couldn't stop cheering throughout the hour and a half-long film. If not the best Vampire Hunter film, this movie was by far the best of the festival.