Tag: Gackt

Blazing Fists or Blue Fight, Takashi Miike’s Latest Is No Bloodsport!

Takashi Miike brings flashes of his trademark energy to Blazing Fists, but this sports drama works better once its gangland edge takes over. While uneven in pacing and emotional payoff, the film still lands a solid message about friendship and brotherhood.

Blazing Fists Movie PosterWell GO USA

Although Takashi Miike is best known for his gonzo work in films like Full Metal Yakuza, and his lighter fantasy fare like The Great Yokai War, I was curious to see how he would handle extreme sports in Blue Fight: The Breaking Down of Young Blue Warriors. In North America, this movie is retitled Blazing Fists and it could have easily become a vanity project for mixed martial artist Mikuru Asakura, but instead it centres on Ikuto (Danhi Kinoshita), a young man with very little to hold onto and even more to lose.

After defending Ryoma (Kaname Yoshizawa) in a street fight, Ikuto quickly forms a bond with him. The two become fast friends and begin chasing a shared dream of appearing on the televised competition Breaking Down. A cameo from Asakura helps fuel that ambition, and soon both young men are fighting for a chance to be seen.

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The Entanglements in Fly Me to the Saitama II, From Biwa Lake With Love Can Spell Disaster, If Rei Isn’t Careful!

It’s tough to be original in Fly Me to the Saitama II, From Biwa Lake With Love. What’s added on top is a romantic triangle which only makes this work more llike a Broadway style spectacle than anything else.

Fly Me to the Saitama II Movie PosterFly Me to the Saitama II, From Biwa Lake With Love is one of those mixed genre types of film where viewers will get to see Shōjo, fantasy, cosplay, rom-com all mixed into a vaudeville style stage show.

When I first saw the full title, I had thoughts of Macross running through my head (mostly because the word, “Love” is often used in many subtitles). And I had to remind myself about how the conflict began by looking at the first film again (movie review can be read here). It’s basically a story about the citizens from a specific prefecture wanting to be free from Tokyo’s political wrangling and Rei Asami (Gackt) led the party.

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Fly Me to Saitama and Let Me Play Among the Stars

When put to live action, this movie does not hold back. Fly Me to Saitama film delivers a tale straight out of a Charles Dickens novel. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…”

Fly Me to the Saitama - Movie PosterPlaying at Fantasia Digital Film Festival 2020 On Demand till Sept 2. Buy your virtual ticket here.

Fly Me To Saitama does more than take inspiration from a certain Frank Sinatra song. This film easily extols why Japanese anime and manga content producers are in love with the Baroque. The Rose of Versailles anime and manga is perhaps the most well-known example. The extraordinary detail in the art and acute sense of grandeur is part of the style which spanned from the 17th-18th century. When realized in live action, you can’t help but marvel at the attention to detail in the costume and set design.

Traditionally, the term is used to describe art and music more than society (where the plot lays). The lifestyle is not about flamboyance, but rather exuberance. The hubris lays with how people changed in an era which followed the Renaissance. Societal norms were being challenged, and there was an awakening.

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