The Wind Rises (cartoon!)

I thought the use of vocal sound effects to be really innovative – it seemed to me that the only thing that wasn’t done this way was the engine sound of the A5M at the end.

Excellent thread. It’s interesting to see how an aviation topic can reveal an appreciation of a particular art form here. I may be wrong, but my earliest exposure to Anime may have been ‘Marine Boy’, a Seventies cartoon (that’s what it looked like, anyway) with a distinctive drawing style. It featured characters with over-large ‘western’ eyes, repetition in sound and frame selection, and vivid colours. Pokemon seems to be an example of modern Japanese animation, is this anime or have I got the wrong genre?

I was interested in what sounds to be the use of human voices for engine noise in ‘The Wind Rises’ . Certainly not for financial reasons, it must have been considerably more expensive to ‘score’ and produce such a choral accompaniment. Very haunting. Is this an example of what makes this film noteworthy, in your view? The skyscapes were quite breathtaking, as was the scene of what appeared to be structural failure leading to break-up of, was it a Claude?

Standing by to be corrected/educated.

Porco Rosso is excellent, if a little surreal as has already been mentioned.

‘The Wind Rises’is the name of an animated film (cartoon!) That’s all!

We watched it last night. Very good film.

That thread title is almost meaningless to me. Care to decipher?

Anon.

Ta, recording it now as I had forgot!

wind rises about zero is on now film 4 hd 315 and and 316 at 725pm

for those that discussed but missed it a heads up.

Anime, cartoon, call it what you like but it was/is a bloody good film and I learnt (‘learned’ to the yanks) a lot about the role Germany played in the rise of Japan.
Damn good show, as the Brits would say.

Another good one is The Sky Crawlers original aircraft designs but they look great!

The aircraft in this film resemble developed Dornier 335’s and gull-winged Mustangs. The story, about a never-ending conflict, is quite philosophical in tone as these things tend to be. Well worth a look.

It’s very interesting to read a discussion about anime on an historical aviation forum!

I’ve not seen the film but would love to at some point. I have however seen a few of the studios other works and enjoyed those.

Beermat. You are right in a sense and language is most certainly fluid but I think ‘cartoon’ jars to describe this film. ‘Cartoon’ is a term that’s evolved as you mentioned. Once used to describe preparatory drawings (Leonardo drew cartoons) and then later for still image drawn caricature, cartoon is now a term to describe short form drawn animated films mostly for children with exaggerated elements. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used to describe longer length animated films. I think most animators would wince at it being called a ‘cartoon’….. Then again, they’ll live!

At the end of the day it is a story and it doesn’t matter how it is made if it grips you!

You’re quite right, Beermat.

I dont think Disney would go anywhere near some of the subjects covered by Anime lol. Porco Rosso is a great film, in fact I dont think I’ve seen a bad studio Ghibli film.

True, but in this specific case, note the surprising bottom line:

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Stepwilk, it’s not personal, and I don’t wish to condescend. From my own experience of dealing with overly-pretentious ‘arty types’ in a previous career (and being condescended to by them) I do perhaps over-react sometimes. Technically, though, a cartoon in the context of film is a work using animation techniques to photograph a sequence of drawings rather than real people or objects. … – exactly what is meant by ‘anime’ in Japan. The fact remains that the words mean the same thing.

It’s a bit like calling food from a classy restaurant ‘nourriture’ to indicate its higher quality. But language is fluid, and anime has also come to mean what it has come to mean. My only point was not knocking anyone calling this film a cartoon, because that is (also) what it is.

It is patently obvious that the quality is different between the average ‘Western’ animation and this Japanese output – though early Disney works, such as ‘Fantasia’, are frequently lauded by critics and film historians now that they are so far out of cultural context that they can be seen without prejudice as artistic creations in their own right.

For those of us who don’t know, what’s the functional difference?

Moggy

They´re exactly the same – you know, like a Spitfire is exactly the same (functionally) as a Zero.

Interesting that the Zero is on screen for exactly 30 seconds, at the very end of the film. Much of the Mitsubishi-related part of the film deals with the development of the A5M Claude…

Yeah, it’s a great film, but when folks read “… about the designer of the Zero” they should really be reading “…about the designer of the Zero.”

I found it most interesting not only for all the fiddly aircraft and engineering porn — but also for providing a glimpse of Japan of the period, the national tumult, transformation, insecurities, etc. As well as the social commentary, there’s more philosophical stuff too, about the nature and purpose of creation, etc. I particularly liked the resonance between the A5M as a harmonious expression of ideas that is turned to violent and tragic ends, and the character of Nahoko, [SPOILERS] a beautiful but sickly woman who takes leave of her husband so that he should not have to witness her degeneration.

So yes, it’s a great film for aircraft lovers, particularly of the period, but it’s much more than that too. I was also impressed at how Miyazaki made good use of the fantastical potential of anime to explore such a comparatively ‘grounded’ theme. There are any number of scenes in the film that would’ve been all but impossible to pull off in a traditional live action production.

Interesting that the Zero is on screen for exactly 30 seconds, at the very end of the film. Much of the Mitsubishi-related part of the film deals with the development of the A5M Claude…

If its an animated film whether its hand drawn or CGI its still a cartoon, as far as I’m concerned

I dont think Disney would go anywhere near some of the subjects covered by Anime lol. Porco Rosso is a great film, in fact I dont think I’ve seen a bad studio Ghibli film.
Another good one is The Sky Crawlers original aircraft designs but they look great!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_Rises

This is a good cartoon, like Michelin starred food is good grub.

It’s not a cartoon. A cartoon is a simple, exaggerated drawing. Miyazaki’s work is anything but that. Please stop, those of you who are doing it, being so archly condescending.