Nemo and Ponyo Cosplay at Otakon 2012

 

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Photos from Otakon 2012, last weekend at the Baltimore Convention Center.

 

DIY Totoro Highlights at Anime Boston’s Artists Alley

There’s never a shortage of Totoro crafts at Anime Boston! This years DIY Miyazaki highlights are featured below: A hand-painted (and home-sewn) kimono by Hanabi Kimono, and plushies by Sam and Rae Crafts.

Handpainted on gingham nursery cloth. Note the soot sprites on the belt!

Wonderful flair on the left hip.

Totoro is my spouse's spiritual guide

All of them eminently huggable.

Disney’s Anime Connection: Hayao Miyazaki

Kiki's Delivery Service cosplayer at Anime Boston 2009

Why yes, the advent of anime con season has got me a little more anime-obsessed than usual! So it’s not surprising that this week’s Jentasmic! at StudiosCentral encourages Disney fans to explore the works of Hayao Miyazaki. Disney has released several Miyazaki films, including production of the English dub tracks, providing a real service to those of us who frequently introduce others (especially families) to anime.

Tears for Japan: My Neighbor Totoro

Whatever I might write here about the ongoing devastation in Japan, the situation will have changed by the time you read it.

All I know is that I think of the Japanese rural areas affected by the quakes, the tsunamis, the radiation releases, and I can only imagine Totoro weeping.

My Neighbor Totoro is a sweet film about two girls living in rural Japan, their parents, and the forest spirits who watch over and protect them. Nothing happens quickly in this film, and nothing should. It is a meditation on love, on family, and perhaps also on animism, one of the basic principles of Shinto, a significant religion in Japan. It tells a story about fear, and love, and joy, and being comforted and helped by spirits that perhaps nobody else can see, or understand.

Totoro may not be the sort of spirit one would pray to for intervention. While he occasionally does step in to save the day, he’s more the type to give quiet comfort, to roar and fly and pull full-grown trees quickly from the ground. He’s whimsical, and childlike at times. Umbrellas confuse and delight him. He doesn’t always seem to understand how large he is (look how he tries to protect himself from the rain in the movie poster pictured here).

I’ve heard from a couple friends in the Tokyo area, and they both tell the same story: Stranded after the earthquake, impossibly long walk home, difficult logistics, continuing aftershocks, new challenges. And the situation in Tokyo doesn’t compare to the level of devastation nearer the epicenter.

I think of Totoro, and his quiet comfort, and I hope something like that is with the people of Japan today.

Miyazaki’s “Ponyo” in US Theatres August 14, 2009

Doing anything August 14, 2009? Well, if you’re in the US you could do worse than to go Ponyo, the latest Hayao Miyazaki film, just announced for release in US theatres that day, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.

If you’ve read much about John Lassiter, you probably know already that Miyazaki has been a huge influence on him. And if you’ve watched a single Miyazaki film, you know the animation is stunning, the storytelling superb, and the cultural references often a tad confusing for American audiences (I had to watch Spirited Away a couple times before the Shinto really started to sink in).

Hat tip: Blue Sky Disney.

Adorable Totoro Bento

Can you imagine opening up your lunchbox to find this grinning Totoro? I’m not sure I could eat it! It’s too super-kawaii!

Lots more cute Bento are at Ai Bento. Hat tip: BoingBoing.

My Favorite Stormtrooper

Look, matching ears!

I met this awesome kitty-eared Stormtrooper at ConnectiCon, where members of both Alderaan Base and the 501st New England Garrison were out in force, with plenty of Star Wars costuming goodness from both sides of the Force.

The dashing fellow even had a long, orange tail to match.

I also briefly spotted this fabulous Catbus costume, which should look familiar to any Miyazaki fans (my apologies that the picture’s not better, but I just couldn’t resist sharing it anyway):

There appeared to be just one person in the Catbus costume, which must have made for rather back-breaking locomotion!

Save the Totoro Forest! Charity Auction at Pixar Campus

Have you seen the most-recent Disney DVD release of My Neighbor Totoro, a Hayao Miyazaki tour de force? No? Well then, get thee to Netflix or BestBuy or your DVD procurement method of choice. My Neighbor Totoro is a sweet, gentle, engaging movie about forest spirits that come into the lives of two young girls. Fans of Spirited Away will see similarities in imagery, and a similar Shinto tone.

(My reference to the Disney release is not gratuitous…it’s actually quite important. You don’t want the Fox DVD release, which is a pan-and-scan. This is a gorgeous movie, and you need every single pixel, I swear to you.)

The very-real Sayama Forest, which provided inspiration for the spiritual and aesthetic grounds of the movie is now endangered. The Totoro Forest Project, a non-profit organization, is working for its protection, and is having both a special exhibit at the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum and a charity auction at Pixar Animation Studios Campus. Dude, I cannot tell you how badly I would like to be at both events!

Tip o’ the hat: Collateral Damage, aka Mr. Broke Hoedown.

Night of Rowdy Debauchery?

Now, here’s something that’s just sat in my blogreader for days, because I couldn’t figure out what to make of it. Mousevine posted last week that the Night of Joy Christian music event at Walt Disney World is being moved from Magic Kingdom to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Not a big deal to me . . . my fondness for Christian music is pretty much centered in Bach chorales, Gregorian chants, and similar golden oldies. So, what caught my eye was Mousevine’s commentary on the event itself:

. . . some who have attended previous NOJ festivals, as well as Cast Members who’ve worked it, claim that of all the separate-ticket events held at the Magic Kingdom, it’s the most unruly. Tales abound of the Magic Kingdom overrun by mobs of drunken teens, petty thievery in the shops, as well as an overworked security dealing with fights among the crowds of young concert attendees. Not exactly the kind of behavior one would expect to find at a Christian music festival. The discussion then devolves into those who swear the stories are true and those who accuse people of being anti-Christian posting their false stories.

It’s hard to assess the veracity of the tales of debauchery involving NOJ unless one witnesses it for themselves. I have read of one Disney fansite who had members attend the concerts to see if the stories were true or if it had become another Disney urban legend to add to the pile. And for the most part, the group found the stories to be true. And it’s hard not to believe the stories when you read the accounts by cast members who’ve worked NOJ and the majority are negative.

Wow, I had totally missed this Disney fan controversy! Almost makes me want to attend NOJ and see for myself. (But hey, it doesn’t take much to make me want to go to Disney World, now does it?)

Mash-up: Spirited Away/You’ll Be in My Heart

Kudos to Larkiepants! This mash-up is so good, it almost makes me like Phil Collins. Almost.

Spirited Away is easily one of the best films I’ve ever seen, and I’m not just saying that because ConnectiCon just renewed my obsession with anime (though I can blame ConnectiCon for the fact that my Netflix queue is now full of Bleach and Neon Genesis Evangelion). I’m saying that because Hayao Miyazaki is indeed a master storyteller, and this mash-up reminded me just how deeply touched I was by the story of this little girl finding her courage and strength. And if you’re intimidated by anime, and averse to subtitles, you’ll be relieved to hear that John Lasseter and company did a fine job with the English dub.