Anime Alert!

Yesterday was a good day. I finally got around to watch Satoshi Kon's Sennen Joyu, or Millennium Actress.



Millennium Actress is an epic love story, made like marvelous poetry where reality and fantasies merge seamlessly; it's a story of Chiyoko, a girl born in Japan at the brink of WWII who became an actress for the sole purpose of searching for a man, an anti-government painter. For the full treatment of the story, get it here. **spoiler alert**

Why did I enjoy the story? I am mostly captivated with the way the simple storyline was fleshed out in such vibrant tableau of storytelling mediums. It was artistic without the drowning the storyline, and the novelty never dulled. As the pace of the movie smoothly builds up, we see Chiyoko growing up in her movies from a young naive girl to an actress in her prime. Her emotions also evolved along the years; her simple determination to return the key to the man slowly blossomed into a complex longing love for him, despite the fact that she has never seen his face or known his name.


Fateful Meeting



Running after the Man



Chiyoko's first Movie


One of the more memorable scene for me was in one of Chiyoko's movie where she played the teacher. Her students teased her about her boyfriend, oblivious of their teacher's shaky smiles, and asked her if he's handsome. Chiyoko's character (but more so of Chiyoko) burst into tears suddenly as the pain of the years seeped through the cracks. She had never seen his face, nor can she remember how he looked like after so long.


He's in Kyoto! I'll go to him!



Growing up in her Movies



Still searching



We must rescue my lord!


Similar to this, we see Chiyoko's mother nagging her to get married, as her daughter will not remain in her prime forever. I had to applaud the seiyuus for the superb voice-acting. Chiyoko's voice actually cracked and she hid her face behind her hands, muffling her replies. She said that the man is still alive, and that she will find him, and all this is amidst quavering courage in the face of very real fears.

All these very tangible emotions jump off the screen and grab the audience. All this accomplised with uncomplex dialogues and intricately-designed scenes that comes off as "of no importance" to the viewer. I am at awe with the writers with all this deceptively common scenes, sometimes portraying Chiyoko in normal day-to-day activities, wearing normal clothes that normal people at that era would wear. Also, kudos to the design team for not making her eyes too sparkling or huge, nor gave her gargantuan boobs. I'm happy to report that I'm pleased with what I see. Some of Chiyoko's outfit makes her look dull and complacent, which is how people look in reality no matter how glamourous they may be in front of the screen.

If you're a big anime buff, or if you're into artsy-fartsy flicks (like WongKarWai's 2046, for instance), you should catch this. It is an entirely beautiful experience watching the Millennium Actress. My only complain is the ending, as it is slightly unsatisfying and sad. In the end, I also disagree how Chiyoko expressed that she actually loved the journey of chasing after the elusive man. How could that be true, when she was so depressed and upset all her life? Especially when she actually believed that she was cursed forever to burn in the flames of eternal love. That's pretty hard to understand, if you ask me.

But anyway, it was a very good day yesterday as I said. I'm going to hunt down Tokyo Godfathers and Perfect Blue now.