Studio Madhouse
Satoshi Kon
Satoshi Kon loved dealing with the abstract, surreal, and fantastic. All of his movies have at least brief nudity and violence, and are thus not recommended for children. The plots of his works also often become complex quite quickly and you may not have an entirely enjoyable experience with his movies if you don’t possess a moderate intellect or the ability to suspend your disbelief and be absorbed into the universes that he creates. Satoshi Kon died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 46 on Aug. 24, 2010 before finishing his fifth anime movie Dreaming Machine that due to financial issues is slated to be completed and released within the next five years.
Perfect Blue (1998)
Pāfekuto Burū (パーフェクト・ブルー)
Buy on DVD: Amazon | eBay
Buy on Other Region Blu-ray: Amazon | eBay (a Region Free Blu-Ray Player is required)
The plot of this surreal movie follows pop-star Mima Kirigoe as she tries to leave her childish singing career behind her and get into the world of acting. The oddities come primarily from the creepily devoted fan-base that she built while she was a singer. Certainly worth the watch and nowhere near as straight-forward as it sounds. Not for kids, but required viewing for everyone else.
Millennium Actress (2001)
Sennen Joyū (千年女優)
Millennium Actress‘ main theme is one of unrequited love, but in a way that I wouldn’t really put the shojo label on it. Most of the movie is spent in flashbacks of the past as an elderly actress, Chiyoko, reminisces about her life to a pair of journalists. They are all very literally transported into these memories and essentially experience her stories first-hand. Her memories tend to dwell on her unfortunate love for a man that she only briefly met. It’s a great anime film, so watch it already.
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
Tōkyō Goddofāzāzu (東京ゴッドファーザーズ)
Buy on DVD: Right Stuf | Amazon
Tokyo Godfathers is surprisingly more grounded in plausibility than all of Kon’s other films. I wouldn’t suggest this as your first Satoshi Kon experience though, as the subject matter was more-or-less designed to make its Japanese audience of the time a little uncomfortable. The plot follows a hobo, Gin, a transvestite (okama) Hana, and a runaway girl, Miyuki as they try to figure out how to return a baby that they found to its rightful mother. The unorthodox characterization and slightly watered-down Kon nature of this movie are enough to put it on the figurative back-burner until you’ve seen at least one of Kon’s other works, but overall it’s a good movie with a lot to give if you are prepared to reach out and take it.
Paprika (2006)
Papurika (パプリカ)
Buy on DVD: Right Stuf | Amazon
Buy on Blu-ray: Right Stuf | Amazon
This is Kon’s last anime, and also my favourite of the bunch. The animation is simply breath-taking. The plot is hard to explain, but involves a woman named Paprika who has the power to enter other people’s dreams through the use of a device called a “DC Mini”. Essentially, she is charged with stopping someone who is destroying the barrier between reality and the world of dreams. This anime is enchanting and a definite recommendation to anyone old enough to see an anime quite rightfully rated R (in the US, it’s PG in Canada for some reason).
Kitaro Kosaka
Kitaro Kosaka is primarily known as an animator with deep ties to Studio Ghibli. Having directed or supervised key animation for such lofty Ghibli titles as Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Grave of the Fireflies, Pom Poko, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo and From Up on Poppy Hill (among others) and non-Ghibli titles like Akira and Metropolis, it’s no surprise that his most well-known anime films borrow liberally from what would normally be considered Studio Ghibli’s unique animation style and character design.
Nasu: Summer in Andalusia (2003)
Nasu: Andarushia no Natsu (茄子 アンダルシアの夏)
Buy on Blu-ray: Amazon (NO English dub/subtitles on disc)
Nasu (Japanese for eggplant) is a movie that well lives up to its impressive pedigree. Helmed by the Oscar-winning Kitaro Kosaka, it follows a Spanish professional cyclist named Pepe Benengeli as he competes in the real-world Vuelta a España race, his tribulations therein and how his family is there to lovingly support him even though it’s his brother’s wedding day. Light-hearted at its core, Nasu still manages to deal with more mature themes than you’re likely to see in many Ghibli movies, even while borrowing heavily from their unique animation style and character designs. I found Nasu‘s depictions of the lively Spanish culture to be a little lacking, seeming more like a clinical Japanese impression of the culture than one that truly understood and felt the heartbeat of the nation. With that said, and also considering the movie’s meagre 47 minute length, Nasu is a bright, enjoyable anime movie recommended for anyone looking for a pleasantly safe anime experience with a unique setting and premise. This movie also has a longer OVA sequel which you can read about in the OVA Guide.
Takeshi Koike
Takeshi Koike has been working in the anime industry (primarily as an animator) on feature films since 1987. His directorial debut for anime feature films was Redline which easily stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the best productions from Studio Madhouse’s more popular directors. Koikesan has a very promising future as an anime director and is set to very handily outshine his mentor, the anime director Yoshiaki Kawajiri. For the record, almost none of Kawajiri or Koike’s movies are appropriate for family/child viewing.
Redline (2009)
Reddorain (レドライン)
Buy on DVD: Right Stuf | Amazon
Buy on Blu-ray: Right Stuf | Amazon
In spite of the praise that was heaped upon Redline, I was not actually expecting it to be this good. The movie’s over stylized and exaggerated characters brought Yoshiaki Kawajiri (incidentally a mentor of sorts for the movie’s director, Takeshi Koike) immediately to mind, and I have never appreciated Kawajirisan’s work. Within the first 20 minutes of Redline, though, all of my reservations were blown away. The movie, which seems to be at least partially based on Kawajiri’s similar “Running Man” segment from Neo Tokyo, follows a car racer named “Sweet JP” as he competes in two large races, the Yellowline and then the Redline. The Redline race happens to be held on a planet that doesn’t want it, so the Redline racers have to dodge not only each other’s artillery, but also that of the entire planet’s military. While the characters are mostly light on meaningful personality, and the story is little more complex than “he’s in these two races”, the movie turns out to be a flashy action ride that should not be missed. Fairly late in the movie the story does take an Akira-style turn for the bizarre, but with all the other weird and crazy things assaulting your senses it doesn’t seem as out of place as it otherwise might. Do yourself a favour and catch Redline on Blu-ray some evening and enjoy a ride that you won’t soon forget.