Asian Cinema Archives | Otaku No Culture

Ninjago Dragons Rising. The Magic is Back in Season Two!

A lot of repeat watches of Ninjago Dragons Rising were required to figure out where the series is going.

Ninjago Dragons Rising Poster When the lives of many winged reptiles are in constant danger in Ninjago Dragons Rising, just who can save them will require new and old heroes of the realms uniting. That premise defined season one, and it made for a decent continuation. It wasn’t all that memorable or standalone very well since it had to deal with establishing why old fans should care about Arin, Sora, and Wyldfyre. When I wanted to see the old team and only learn they’ve been individually sent across the multiverse, I got worried!

Thankfully half the team manage to find their way home. They’ve reunited in The Merged Realm and are the new masters to teach the new team some tricks. While I didn’t get much from the first season, I still appreciated the fact there is some continuity between the various series. What’s presented isn’t trying to recon. But in order for the series two to excel, it had to delve into why Dragons are suddenly very important. What fans get to learn is that these dragons are the embodiment of ideas Greek theologians would speak of–had they been aware of the big bang.

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Top 12 Animated Films to be Excited For in 2022

The following 12 Animated Films are organised according to release date from specific to general that I’m excited to see.

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Every year, I’m more excited about what new animated films are coming. This medium offers more storytelling potential than live-action and the budget to realise it shouldn’t be as expensive as trying to create it in live-action. Not every work has its plot known, and for the sake of not spoiling, I won’t go into a lot of detail unless absolutely necessary.

The following 12 Animated Films are organised according to release date from specific to general.

Belle: The Dragon and the Freckled Princess
January 14

This anime about a shy high school girl who finds freedom in virtual reality will certainly speak about today’s obsession with this technology. But as for whether she’s ready depends if she can break free from that digital world and be herself.

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How to Celebrate Hungry Ghost Festival Aug 15th

Superstitions aside, some fans of horror cinema may opt to get into the mood with a few films to celebrate Hungry Ghost Festival.

A Chinese Ghost Story (Animated) — Buy the Animated Movie on Amazon USA.

Ghost Month will reach its perigee on August 15th. At the Hungry Ghost Festival (盂兰盆节), these once human souls are permitted to visit the living world and some may visit their descendents to see how they are doing. On this day, we venerate them with happiness and acknowledge their existence. We save the first row in any performance venue for them to sit there. Anyone who tries may well feel a chill!

This time of the year is a different sort of Halloween. As for what believers can do in preparation is to beware of certain practices lest the spirit attaches itself. This can range from avoiding wearing clothing that is red or black to not killing insects crawling around–they may be someone’s grandparents reincarnated. The best thing to do with the latter is to catch and release the critter outside.

Superstitions aside, some fans of horror cinema may opt to get into the mood. Instead of scaring ourselves silly, we may opt to look at supernatural comedies. My choices have to fit the criteria of how the spirit world interacts with reality. Instead of a top five, I have six on my list. In my culture, we consider this number lucky. Amongst my favourites that are distinctly Asian and PG-13 in tone are:

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Dead Pigs is Not Your Typical Chinese New Year Movie

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Dead Pigs may sound like an unusual title for a movie to kick off Chinese New Year on its Victoria Film Festival screening Feb 4th, but it’s a well-meaning work which looks at the idiosyncrasies behind a dysfunctional family trying to survive in a modern China. In Shanghai, Candy Wang (Vivian Wu) and her elder “Old Man Wang” brother (Yang Haoyu) do not see eye to eye over their old family home. It is destined to be torn down because everything else in the old neighbourhood is gone. The Golden Happiness Project claim to improve the lives of everyone, including the impoverished, for the better is falling on a lot of deaf ears–but at what cost? Money cannot buy everything, especially when concerning preserving memories.

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Changing Faces with Asako I & II

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Remaining shows at the Victoria Film Festival
February 5 | 9:15 PM | Capital 6
Victoria, BC

Presented by The Japan Foundation.
Tickets available online or at the door.

Idealized romances are a figment of the Hollywood imagination. To find that one true love is a subject for plenty of films, and in Asako I & II, this strange title suggests the title character (played with naïve innocence by Erika Karata) will see plenty of change in her life. She’s a doting figure who falls for Baku (Masahiro Higashide) like the best romantic tale from the golden age of cinema, complete with fireworks, and this drifter gives this film a plot.

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