Oh! Demons Loving

Because of Kishi Keisuke's "Ministry of Mystic Machines" (Check out Archangel, 1997 at the Japanese Media Art Festival)

Furin, 1998

I was promptly reminded of:


which I had wanted to catch looooong ago. Cel shaded animation - no shit.

I finally did this morning, and boy. What demonic fun. All the characters are lovely; the children:



Especially digging the demons:

Kimotori (肝取り, Kimotor) The liver taker

Chitori (血取り, Chitor) The blood taker

My favorite:


Aburatori (油取り) The oil taker.

Small packages do pack mean punches. , Abura)) thhe

<sup>I love how the characters are at the same time, distinctively Japanese (think Edo Ancient Japan) and yet, displaced and futuristic.(check out their names in Katakana - Japanese alphabet that is usually reserved for foreign names, which at once suggest the children's alien origins.) Very "Japanese ethos" if you will, given the unique and recurring combination of the old and traditional with the modern and scientific. A theme that is not just visited in Kakurenbo, but across all animation, like Howl's Moving Castle for e.g. Of course the modern and scientific is often the main staple in alot of Japanese animation: Chobits, Steam Boy, Ghost in the Shell, Gundam etc etc. Given the dominance of that particular running theme, it is no surprise that Kakurenbo takes on a similar track. Like all of its predecessors, the effect is all at once, schizophrenic, creepy and very entertaining.

Character design is dope lar. So is the very complicated technique of cel shading. Ya la, you just got to give it to the 3DCG artists.

Watch it already!

Next on the must do list - oh the deadlines the deadlines - Tekkon Kinreet and Mind Game. Watch Tekkon if you haven't. It re-defines the meaning of "visual porn". Paprika doesn't even quite cut it. -smirk-</sup>