Fantasy Archives | Otaku No Culture

The Deets Are In Masaaki Yuasa: Five Films. Celebrating the Magic!

If you haven’t seen this visionary’s films, then this package coming at the end of the year is for you! Masaaki Yuasa: Five Films is coming soon!

Release Date:
Dec 19, 2023

Best known for his trademark blends of inventive visual artistry and emotion-packed, sharp narrative, the visionary animator and director Masaaki Yuasa boasts a captivating library of films that is beloved and acclaimed all over the world. Now from the ingenious filmmaker comes the exquisite collection Masaaki Yuasa: Five Films, by GKIDS with distribution from Shout! Studios.

Widely regarded as one of the most imaginative and influential filmmakers working in animation, Masaaki Yuasa’s energetic style has been compared to Tex Avery and Max Fleischer. He is one of contemporary anime’s most prolific auteurs and has lent his humour and dynamism to genres as diverse as psychedelic thrillers, transcendent rock-operas and sweetly subversive teen romances.

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Top 5 Genre Picks Playing at the Vancouver International Film Festival

This year’s Vancouver International Film Festival is looking terrific with its variety of genre films that’s being offered!

The Vancouver International Film Festival has started, and they’ve added more genre films to their programming! It’s terrific that there’s more representation, but to stay true to their mission, it’s not anything that looks good, but it’s visions that can show the best genre movies can represent from an artistic perspective.

There’s not enough to form a top ten picks out of the thirteen titles, so what I offer is my top five, beginning with:

The Boy and the Heron Japanese Poster

The Boy and the Heron

Spirited Away director Hayao Miyazaki returns from retirement with an enchanting swansong, the story of a young boy, Mahito, growing up in Japan during WWII, who must venture into a fantasy world in order to save his new stepmother.

For those unable to attend these film festival screenings, there’s no need to worry. This movie is making it’s theatrical debut December 8, 2023 and it’s sure to sell out!

6:30 pm Fri Oct 06 Vancouver Playhouse
12:00 pm Sat Oct 07 Vancouver Playhouse

Robot Dreams

Living a solitary existence in Manhattan, Dog is tired of being alone, and builds his own friend: Robot. Their friendship blooms while exploring 1980s New York. This enchanting 2D animation brims with love, loss, and friendship.

6:00 pm Mon Oct 02 The Rio Theatre
3:45 pm Sat Oct 07 International Village 9

The Animal Kingdom

In a world where mysterious mutations are gradually evolving humans into animal hybrids in an unpredictable and frightening way, a father tries to protect his 16-year-old son who is starting to acquire beastly characteristics.

9:00 pm Sun Oct 08 The Rio Theatre

Bitten

Françoise wakes up from an ominous dream that seems to foreshadow her imminent death. Not wanting to waste a minute of her remaining time, she consults her crystal pendulum and convinces her best friend Delphine to attend a mysterious costume party.

6:30 pm Fri Sep 29 The Cinematheque
8:30 pm Wed Oct 04 Vancity Theatre

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

Meet Sasha, the world’s most compassionate young vampire. Her family is at their wits’ end with her refusal to embrace their lethal traditions and threaten to cut her off–until she meets a brooding boy hoping to end his life, and strikes a unique deal.

9:00 pm, Sat Sep 30, The Rio Theatre
8:15 pm, Mon Oct 02, International Village 9

When There’s Nothing Left. What Can The “Lonely Castle in the Mirror” Offer?

Had this home video release included a featurette interviewing directors Keiichi Hara and Takakazu Nagatomo explaining the film, I’d appreciate Lonely Castle in the Mirror a lot more.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror Blu-ray Cover — **Available to purchase on Amazon USA**

Now Available on Home Video
Shout! Studios & GKIDS

Fans of Mizuki Tsujimura‘s Japanese fantasy book are more likely to purchase the animated adaptation of Lonely Castle in the Mirror than others, and honestly, I feel it shouldn’t be avoided. It deals with a difficult narrative in how to deal with life when it deals you lemons. It’s not just about bullying. And what’s taught here is that there are ways to find empowerment.

Although what’s shown doesn’t get deep into self-improvement, perhaps I should look at Tomo Taketomi’s manga instead. This movie follows the misery Kokoro (Ami Tôma) faces daily. She’s been teased, intimidated and perhaps more. With nowhere to retreat, how she manages at home is equally isolating, and it’s a shame.

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When Alls Not Well in Heaven and We Need Jiang Ziya. Creation of the Gods 1: Kingdom of Storms, A Movie Review

Fans of the Chinese high fantasy will like Creation of the Gods 1: Kingdom of Storms despite its long running time and overuse of weak CGI.

Creation of the Gods I Kingdom of Storms (2023) Well GO USA
Coming to Theatres Sept 22
(Please check local listings)

When considering a lot of films have been made based on some part of the epic Chinese novel, Investiture of the Gods, it should not surprise me that one day, someone would attempt to adapt the entire text. Creation of the Gods 1: Kingdom of Storms attempts to tell the entire story and when there’s a total of 100 chapters, to bring it all to screen will require more than one film!

I’m glad director/co-writer Wuershan is attempting this project. I’m rather fond of his work in Mojin: The Lost Legend, and he’s on the right track. Hopefully the advice he got from James Schamus‘ (who gets credit as script consultant) isn’t for naught. He is best known for being one of the co-writers of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Even though I know bits and pieces through the various animated films released in prior years, it’s cool to see how it all comes to head in this magnum opus. There’s Jiang Ziya (Bo Huang) working with two other immortals to stop the Great Curse that’s threatening the Shang dynasty.

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5000 Space Aliens is Coming November 21st! Are You Ready to Have Your Mind Blown?

Scott Bateman believes movies should do other things as well, and still be fun and entertaining to watch. He said, “With 5000 Space Aliens, I set out to create an entertaining, non-narrative film.”

5000 Space Aliens Publicity Still Director Scott Bateman & Producer Lucas A. Ferrara are excited to share the trailer for their new genre-bending animation, 5000 Space Aliens, which is coming to digital download worldwide from 21st November.

Imagine meeting a space alien. Now imagine meeting one space alien every second. This is what happens when what Bateman presents is found footage, vintage photo studio pictures from Venezuela and Romania, scraps from a 100-year-old psychology textbook, and more into 5000 one-second shots of animated characters. Instead of a typical narrative, 5000 Space Aliens is more like a ride: You just let the hypnotic rhythm of images wash over you. This one-of-a-kind animated extravaganza was made by just one animator, director Scott Bateman.

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Remembering the Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon 40 Years Later, and a Full Review of the Action Figure Release

The 80s Dungeons and Dragons cartoon is beloved by many, and it’s about time there’s toys for it! But are they worth the price?

Available to purchase on Hasbro Pulse

It’s tough to say if Hasbro release of the action figures for the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon was produced out of full respect for its anniversary or to say thank you for the fish. This series debuted Sept 17th, 1983 and back then, it was credited to TSR Inc. as the proprietary owners. Eventually, that company was sold to Wizards of the Coast in 1999, which in turn would later become part of this mega toy manufacturer’s family.

Just how well either company markets material that isn’t part of the game is worth researching. Here, instead of releasing these figures closer to the day of, they have been out since April 2023 with very little advertisement. I never saw anything on network television or in the pop culture online magazines I read. I knew of this product only because of industry news. As a result, the likelihood to see further products is very slim.

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