GYO--- The Anime!

People have asked me from time to time, why do I like anime so much.  While I can’t speak for the entire Otaku Community, for me it is great stories.  It was that itself that attracted to me to anime back when I was a little boy and I didn’t what anime was.  I just knew that the TV shows had a continuing story arc, or the move had an epic feel that set it from other animated shows or movies.  Soon I noticed that these shows and movies I liked had a certain visual style so I kept my eyes out for that because if it had that “look” most likely it was going to be cool.  Back then there wasn’t much of it in America, so every anime I found was a treasure.

            Now Anime is plentiful, some of it great and some of it not so--- But every once and awhile there comes an anime that is so incredible, it just slaps in the face, grabs you by the collar and screams, “THIS IS WHY YOU BECAME A FAN OF ANIME IN THE FIRST PLACE!” Gyo is one of those anime. It is strange, horrific and captivating at the same time. 

            Gyo literally means “the fish” and the fish have risen from sea and are invading the land.  They can do this because they have bizarre mechanical legs attached to them. The fish are accompanied by revolting smell.  Kaori, the female lead, describes it as the stench of death.  It is an accurate description, because the fish are dead.  Makes sense, Fish have gills and can not breathe on dry land.  Although the fish are “hard wired” into their mechanical walkers, it doesn’t seem like they have a breathing apparatus.  Since the Fish are dead then why are they moving?

            Koari is on a trip with 2 of her girlfriends, when the fish epidemic starts.  She is worried about her Boyfriend Tadashi, who is still in Tokyo. Unfortunately, things are just as bad in the city as they are on the shoreline, Kaori soon discovers as she travels to Tokyo to find Tadashi.  The city is overrun.  The mechanized sea life is everywhere and come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny guppies to sharks. To make matters worse, there is a mysterious disease that is spread by contact with the fish. What is the secret behind the walking fish?  How do the walkers operate?  Will Kaori re-unite with Tadashi?  I could tell you but then I would be a horrible spoiler.

            First off, I want to say that the animation is truly beautiful (even if the subject matter is not).  I am pretty certain that is an example of digimation.  That is when you draw the characters but instead of animating them on film, you scan the drawings into a computer and animate it through the computer instead of using animation cells.   I haven’t read about the making of it so I could be wrong.  It also uses 3D CGI animation, and while many films have combined traditional animation with CGI, I think it works better in this film than any other.

            Now I knew this was going to be good because I had read the manga it was based on.  When I saw the anime, I thought, “Is that what I think it is? “ and it was.  Gyo is based on the manga of the same name and is written by Junji Ito.  Ito is one of my favorite Mangaka. His stories are always  very creepy and extremely bizarre.  He also has an amazing art style.   His stories are often gory and graphic. Several of his mangas, Like Tomie and Uzumaki have been made into live action films.  While I think Ito’s art style is incredible, I think this might be the first of his works to be adapted into an anime.

            Now, I could get on my fanboy soapbox and complain about the changes that were made from original manga to the anime adaptation, but I wont because I really enjoyed  the anime.  Whenever something is adapted from a book or comic there are often changes made along the way.  Some are flawless transitions and some are not.  For the most part, I think Japan does a better job of adapting books into movies than we do in the west. 

I knew there were changes.  The obvious one being that in the manga the main character was Tadashi not Kaori.  Their roles are somewhat reversed from manga to anime.  It was also updated.  A lot has changed from 2001, when the manga was released.  So it had to be updated to make it more contemporary.  Smart phones didn’t exist back then, nor was the internet such a major part of our lives.   There are several characters in this anime that didn’t exist in the original manga.

But the tone of the anime was the same as the manga.  Both are bleak.  All the key elements are there, from the invasion of the walking fish, to the breakdown of human society.  The secret behind the walking fish is the same in both..  Both versions have the ultra creepy Citrous Circus. But the changes didn’t bother me to point of not enjoying the movie.  In fact I enjoyed the movie so much I decided to re-read the manga . (Which I will be doing  as soon as I post this blog!)   Gyo is one of the best animes I have seen so far in 2012. It is available on Japanese Blu-Ray. While both Japan and the US are the same region code the Blu-Ray has no English subtitles.   I am hoping this film gets a English subtitled release because it is awesome! Check out the trailer below !:

SAYONARA SMASH

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It has been close to a fortnight, since I viewed the final SMASH.  It was a great show.  I really enjoyed it…. But at the time it didn’t hit me…that it was over.  I was stunned when I heard the announcement on February 10th that Tajiri was breaking up SMASH. At first I didn’t believe it, but then I saw the press conference and I knew it was true.  It was announced shortly before SMASH.25 which was to be their biggest show. Still for me it was a long way off.  I was still very excited about seeing the previous show (WE ARE SMASH) where the main event was Kana vs Tomoka Nakagawa.  It had happned on January 19^th and it wouldn’t air on TV for a month.  So for me at least I still had SMASH to look forward to.

SMASH was my favorite wrestling promotion.  One of the many things I loved about SMASH was Tajiri booked the women as well as he booked the men.  Unlike the WWE and TNA, the Joshi (women’s wrestling matches for those you not in the know) often got multiple matches on the card.  Quite often they were the main event. Many of those matches were as long as men’s matches and were given the same build up.  The thing is while I like women’s wrestling, I also like men’s wrestling.  Usually if I want to see a great women’s match I would have to watch a woman’s promotion… it was great to be able to watch a promotion that had both.

I actually 1rst discovered SMASH almost by accident.  I was trolling for torrents and a stumbled upon a Download for SMASH.4  I knew it was Tajiri’s new promotion and I was excited to see Tajiri.  I am a huge Tajiri fan and I was excited to see a new Tajiri match.  AKIRA (whom I knew from new Japan) had a match on the card.  So did Isami Kodaka.  He competes in crazy deathmatches…so you know that his match was going to be good. And the main event of the show was Kana vs Syuri!  I was already a fan of Kana so this was a win/win for me.  Several matches featuring guys I like, and a main event match with my favorite Joshi.  And although I didn’t know it at the time, I would also discover 2 other Joshi that would become my favorite---Lin Bairon and Syuri! I had to download it.  It was the best wrestling I saw that month.  

--> Still, as I live in America… it was difficult to get… but I was hooked.  I already wanted to see SMASH.5   I found out where and when it aired on TV and I discovered website that posted shows recorded from that station and I also discovered places that rented Japanese TV shows on DVD-Rs. And SMASH seemed to get better with every show.  Many of my other favorites like Sabu, Ultimo Dragon, Makoto, Tomoka Nakagawa, Serena Deeb, Finley and SuperCrazy joined SMASH.  And I became a big fan of StarBuck, Hajime Ohara, and Michael Kovac. By the time SMASH.10 happened I had worked out a system where I was confident I would not miss any SMASH.  I started scanning the website.  I would like to say reading the website…but I fairly illiterate when it comes reading Japanese and often times google translate gives you gibberish at worst and at best you get Engrish…but I followed the website anyways.  I watched the press conferences on youtube.  I even read the results a (tried not to spoil myself but I often couldn’t wait) and went to the SAMURAITV website to find out when it would air on TV.

I discovered SMASH at a time when my frustration with the WWE and TNA were at there highest.  I often felt at that time (and unfortunately I still do today) that watching RAW is a chore.  But there was a time when I was so excited about the WWE that I couldn’t wait for the next episode of RAW to air.  While WWE nor TNA didn’t excite me in that way---SMASH did.  I literally was so caught up in the storyline I couldn’t wait to see the next SMASH. And when you consider that my Japanese is only so-so it speaks volumes of how well the show was put together.

I knew SMASH was over when I talked to Kana at SHIMMER...but it didn't seem over to me as I had yet to see the show. I watched it on 3/21 and enjoyed it...but it is today when I am hit with the realization that SMASH is done :( How will I get my monthly fix of Kana, Tajiri, Makoto, Lin Bairon, Hajime Ohara, Jessica Love, StarBuck, Syuri, AKIRA, and Ultimo Dragon :(  At least Tomoka Nakagawa and Mio Shiria are heavily featured in OZ academy. (Which like SMASH is another show I have grown confident I can catch each episode of.)

The final SMASH match was AKIRA and Tajiri vs Starbuck and Ohara.  After the match was over, Tajiri announced his intention of starting a new promotion. I am anxiously awaiting more information on this.  I hope that I will enjoy this new Promotion as much as I enjoyed SMASH. I hope that Tajiri brings in all my favorites into this promotion I hope I am able to find video of it as easily I did for SMASH.  Time will tell. So, goodbye SMASH.  I will miss you.  WE ARE SMASH FOREVER!