Conde - Perfect Blue Violence

Ahh..Perfect Blue.. there really is too much to say about this film. I can honestly say that this may possibly be one of the most confusing animes that I have ever watched. It jumps in and out of reality so much that if you are not paying extremely close attention to it, you can easily find yourself getting lost. There are many moments in the movie where you have to kind of think about what is going on, more than usual.

The story starts off with the main character Mima. She is dancing on stage with her popstar group and she is a famous popstar that everyone loves, she wears very kid-like clothing that looks very girly and innocent. One thing that it seems that most animes do is mix the elements of young innocent girls, but put them in serious situations. Yes, the story takes Mima's innocents and turns it around by making her willing to do whatever it takes to become an actress. She slips into a darker side of herself and has no problem with doing rape scenes and scenes that are not something you would expect of her. She is seen taking nude photos from a photographer.

Other than just the sexual aspects that take her innocents and destroy it there are multiple scenes where she gets into fights and completely destroys her enemy. I think that perfect blue did this very well because it was completely unexpected the first few times that it happened. In particular, the scene, that I talked about in class is my favorite. Not because it is her constantly stabbing the photographer (which dont get me wrong, i found very interesting), but because it is so unexpected. It really shows the character change once that happens, and you can completely tell that Mima has gone crazy. Having these moments in the film like this really increases how interesting it is. Yes there are brutal fight scenes in almost every anime made today, but Perfect Blue was somewhat unique in the way that they had such a random attack come from such an unexpected attacker.

I really enjoyed it actually. When it started off I did not think that I was going to like it because of the art style but it got interesting. The fact that the plot was so dynamic in their delivery makes it very interesting. It makes you have to think about it, and there are a lot of moments in that movie where my mind was just completely blown. And as much as I want to leave you a video..all there is on YouTube are Perfect Blue AMV's..so no.

Conde - Botchan and Student Days

Watching these films this week somehow made me do a lot of thinking. These films in my opinion were not very good artistically and some of the plots to me were kind of week, but when you look a little deeper past that you start to realize that the Anime's display some real things that happen in both Japans society and America as well.

Starting with Botchan..

Botchan takes a teacher and puts him in a situation where he has to teach kids that he is unfamiliar with and he is very different from. Because of this, the way the students react to him are not like how they would react to another teacher that they maybe have known for a longer time or have more similarities with. This is something that happens very often today in society, and many of us know tat from just experience in the classroom. In high school when there is a new teacher, students usually treat them worse. When it's a new teacher, students have the attitude like "Oh he's new, he hasn't been here as long as we have so there is no way that he can be the boss of me." That attitude is shown very well in Botchan because these kids that the man has to teach are completely rebellious and they do not want to listen to anything. I think that the creators of this film did a very good job of capturing the image of what REALLY goes on in an all boys classroom. I went to an all boys school myself and I know for sure that this is very accurate, even at the age that I am.

As far as student days..student days even though in a very poorly done manor, they take a concept that is very serious in all communities today and display it, suicide. Even though in this film, the student that commits suicide overreacts it still captures reasons why suicide happens today. Suicide for young people usually happen over relationship issues, problems at home, stress from school and other problems that they have to deal with. Usually, it results from a mixture of all of these things combined, when someone feels they have been pushed so far over the edge and they have so much to take care of that they can no longer handle it anymore. These issues today are serious and it is a very sad thing, but they do happen. I think that student days does do a good job with this, even though considering I do not think the art style of the anime was very good or interesting, they do take concepts that are recognizable today and use them to make the story a little bit better. That is done for both of these films and I am able to see how they are classics because of it.

Conde - Ninja Scroll - Character Development

A couple days ago my first time seeing Ninja Scroll, I did not really know what to expect. When I first heard the title I thought to myself "Oh wonderful..another anime about a ninja..no ones ever done that before." But in actuallity I really enjoyed it. In comparison to Akira, I actually liked it more than Akira, even though it was on a much smaller budget when made.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about it was the character development in the film. I like the way that they gave all 8 demons different themes and skills. This is something that many animes do today but i'm sure Ninja Scroll was not only one of the first to do it but they did it very well. Instead of just normal hand to hand/weapon to weapon combat, pretty much everyone in the film had something unique about them that aided them in battle..which adds a lot to the scenes.

Although he did not stay on screen for very long, and really only had one appearance in the film, one of my favorite characters was Mushizo, the first character in any anime that i have scene with a beehive mutated into his back.

As strange as he may be, he is a prime example of how unique the creators of this anime got when creating the characters..and being able to successfully implement them into the plot. Especially since this is one of the earlier animes that started to do things like this. This anime does a good job in taking character's and giving them distinct personalities, which can sometimes be difficult when dealing with a film like this. The fact that there are 8 different demons all on the similar side, the creators had to make sure that they were all unique and different, but at the same time were able to tie into each other in the end, which they successfully did.

I think that Ninja Scroll did these things a lot better than even some of the newer animes do today. Occasionally you will see an anime where the characters are very similar and there's no clear distinction to who is who..other than looks, which still sometimes can be similar if the creators are not thorough and careful. In conclusion Ninja Scroll is a great anime and I suggest it to anyone who hasn't seen it. 

Conde - Akira - Style

Before watching Akira this past week I had already seen it once before. Watching it a second time made me pay attention to smaller details that I missed the first time. Now, when I watch older anime I start to pay attention to the art style a lot more and the things that they do now that they stopped doing a long time ago, or the other way around. I found that in Akira you can tell they spent a lot of time working on details when creating the scenery and the different spots used in the movie. We have lost this in a lot of animes today because now when anime is created, plots are usually made to last through multiple episodes. We do not get as many Anime movies because creators of the anime often want to continue their series. I believe that in these longer series they use art styles that are not too complicated but are still interesting to watch. Backgrounds often have no movement and are still pictures. In Akira you can really recognize the movement and detail that the creators put into the background.

 Here's an example of how you can see parts in the background that are almost just as detailed as some of the information in the front. Occasionally even more detailed.

Akira also does a great job in creating mood within the atmosphere of the scene. In this picture, it is clear that the scenery is supposed to be run down and unclean. Different elements are used to create this feeling for the viewer which is all something that adds to the plot in the finished product.


You can tell by looking at it that it's older. The lines are not as sharp as they usually are in newer shows/movies . Other than looking at just the art style, the clothing that characters are wearing and the scenes that are created are all indications of an older film style. Considering when this film came out, and considering the technical advances that we have today, this film has done an amazing job.

Conde - My Life

Helloooooo. To introduce myself, my name is Tyler, and I spend much of my time making artwork..which has had me very busy for the last couple of years.

My senior year of high school I was lucky to have some of my work shown in the Ogden Museum in New Orleans and then different work shown again at the Ogden for White Linen Night, which is basically a night showing appreciation for art in the City of New Orleans. I was also able to win the "Congressional Art Competition" for the New Orleans District and was appointed to fly to D.C to meet the congressman. I am thankful for all of it but now I am studying at Loyola University in New Orleans to hopefully further not only my education but my skill in Visual Arts.

Congressional Art Competition Drawing:

 

And here's a few more..