Animation
1) The Summit of the Gods Review
This movie highly reminds me of the Alpinist. Many of us outsiders often ask why climbers take such risks climbing, often doing it without any ropes, assistance, or oxygen. “What you’re doing is risky.” “There be no point if it wasn’t”. To the climbers, the challenge, the risk is the sole reason for why they do them. When they are climbing knowing that any small mistake could lead to their death, nothing else matters. The joy and thrill to them is in the climb, not the view they get at the peak.
2) Spirited Away
This is the fourth time I watched this movie and I still have trouble fully understanding it. On the surface, it is about the journey of Chihiro in the spirit world. In the beginning, she is a naïve, scared girl who latches on to her mom's arm constantly. Throughout the movie, she becomes more confident and empathetic as she works in the bathhouse and stands up for herself and her friends.
The movie looks beautiful with hand-drawn animations and painted backgrounds. I also love the small moments of no dialogue as Chihiro moves from place to place after finishing a challenge. Whether its her taking the stairs or using the elevator, we are given time to both reflect on her journey and her growth alongside the opportunity to observe the world around her.
There are also lots of metaphors about one's name and identity, Japan's rapid growth into a culture of consumerism and capitalism, and environmental awareness.
Overall, it's a good animated movie I highly recommend.
3) Attack on Titan Series
This is my second favorite anime series after Cyberpunk 2077 Edge-runners. I binged watched it from start to finish in 10 days, and read the last 4 chapters. I love it. It's a masterpiece. The story feels complete and connected from the 1st chapter to the 139th chapter (end). Even though the story started 13 years ago and ran for 11 years, it all feels like it was written in one take. Everything makes sense from start to finish. In some other mangas and animes, you often get overwhelmed by all the extra characters, arcs, and worlds they keep adding as the protagonist progresses through the story. AOT doesn't feel like that. It also saves you the pain of remembering almost every character's name by killing them off at some point. It maintains focus on the important things which is the main conflict, the protagonist, his close friends, and the enemies.
I also love that it's intended for a mature audience. It's bloody and fucked up with all the deaths and fights all the characters go through. I highly recommend this anime series to everyone. I will also apologize beforehand if it ends up traumatizing you.
4) Suzume
Written 10/29/2023
It is my second favorite Makoto Shinkai movie with Your Name in first place. His movies are always a 10/10 from a movie critic's standpoint. The animation and beautifully drawn backgrounds are always beautiful to look at. Whenever they show the starry sky with the rich purple and blue colors, I just fall in love with it. For me, the whole movie is about coping with loss and learning to move on.
5) “Look Back” Movie by Tatsuki Fujimoto
11/11/2024
I watched this movie yesterday night with my best friend Canyon Tyler Castillo.
After the movie ended, there was a lot to think about. On the surface, it is a movie about coping with loss. In look back, you reminisce about the past, all the good times, all the regrets you had, and wishing for a different timeline where things ended up differently. Yet, we can’t do anything except learn to live with happened.
We are forever changed and we will never fully move on from our past experiences.
On one hand, the happy memories fill me with sadness reminding me that they are over. In the other hand, it also fills me with optimism that if those happy memories exist, then it’s also possible to create new happy ones as well.
A important question came up during our discussion: why do we create memories in the first place?
=we remember and look back because those experiences mean a lot to us. They make up a core part of who we are today. I don’t want to forget the good times I had with my friends nor the pain and heartbreaks I had with girls. All of them helped me grow and learn about the human experience.
There is always a part of me that wishes I had done things differently. I wish that I could have spent more time with my friends doing new things rather than staying alone in my room. I wished that I had gone for the kiss in my first relationship. I can’t change the past, I can only learn from it as I look back.
