The Anime Thread

[Savonarola]

Laputa was the first Miyazaki movie that I saw, and it is still my all time favourite.  The soundtrack is beloved in this corner of the world.  Restaurants here play the OST all the time.

Interestingly, Princess Mononoke was the first Miyazaki movie I saw and, as I mentioned, is still my favorite.

My wife's favorite (so far) has been "Whisper of the Heart," which Miyazaki wrote but didn't direct.

[Monoriu]

It's the same everywhere in the world no?
By the time you're that age you should have a good idea of what you want to do.  Even if it's totally wrong and destined to be changed completely.

I can only speak for myself, but my experience is a lot less formal than what the Japanese do.  According to the anime that I have seen, the Japanese ask the students to fill in forms.  Students need to fill in their first, second, and third choices for their future.  As I understand, these can be university studies, jobs, or joining the family business.  Teachers counsel individual students. 

I am not aware of anybody using forms or anything like that in HK.  Here, every time somebody dies in an industrial accident, teachers, parents, relatives and adults will say, that's your fate if you fail your exams.  I did get some impromptu comments from teachers occasionally.  Usually these mini-talks are like: Want to be a blue collar worker?  Sure, lose your limbs in horrible accidents, be abandoned by your sweethearts, risk the paymasters disappearing and not getting paid after you have done the work, worry about getting work after 50 because there are younger hands, can't sleep at night because you aren't sure if you will get work next week, not being able to put food on the table for your children, bring shame and dishonour to the family etc.  If you are happy with all that, go ahead. 

If not, these are the pros and cons of being a doctor, lawyer, accountant, engineer, architect, banker, professor, etc. 

[Josquius]

It's the same everywhere in the world no?
By the time you're that age you should have a good idea of what you want to do.  Even if it's totally wrong and destined to be changed completely.

I didn't have a college major picked out until late in my senior year of high school.  I don't think that was unusual, at least not in those days.

Unusual.
High school is very generalist in the US right?
In the UK you have make a big change at 16 to go to college, either taking a practical course to do with a future job or narrowing down your studies to 4 subjects.
I know in Japan there's a bit of this in having to choose which high school to go to - academic, technical, commercial...
I think in most of Europe serious choices of educational track are even earlier.

No idea about forms in Japan. I've never worked in a JHS. For sure though the first year high schoolers I worked with mostly all had a at least general idea.

[Valmy]

You will have to take a diverse course load in both High School and University. When I went back to school for my engineering degree I had to take Theatre and English Literature.

[Savonarola]

You will have to take a diverse course load in both High School and University. When I went back to school for my engineering degree I had to take Theatre and English Literature.

Theatre?   

Anyhow I'm surprised that your first degree didn't take care of all your gen-ed and humanities credits.

[Savonarola]

Porco Rosso (1992)

A story about a man who has turned into a anthropomorphic pig.  He still battles air pilots on the Adriatic Sea, earning their ire.  So they find a hot shot pilot to shoot him down, and while that is indeed a tragic scene; everyone agrees that it was the best BLT they had ever had.   



Okay, that didn't really happen.  The film is unusual for anime due to its world-weary tone.  It's not my favorite Hayao Miyazaki film, but I don't think anyone else but Miyazaki could have made it work.

[Monoriu]

Porco Rosso (1992)

A story about a man who has turned into a anthropomorphic pig.  He still battles air pilots on the Adriatic Sea, earning their ire.  So they find a hot shot pilot to shoot him down, and while that is indeed a tragic scene; everyone agrees that it was the best BLT they had ever had.   



Okay, that didn't really happen.  The film is unusual for anime due to its world-weary tone.  It's not my favorite Hayao Miyazaki film, but I don't think anyone else but Miyazaki could have made it work.

I became a Miyazaki fan after seeing Laputa and Nausicaa.  Still, I said 'pass' when I read the premise of that movie. 

[Savonarola]

I became a Miyazaki fan after seeing Laputa and Nausicaa.  Still, I said 'pass' when I read the premise of that movie.

The weird thing is the fact that he's a pig has no bearing on the plot whatsoever.  Miyazaki could have made an identical movie if the main character had been a human being rather than a pig.

Allmovie describes the film as a Warner Brother's 40's era picture (the era of Bogart and Bacall) or a 70's homage to 40's Hollywood (the "New Hollywood" era.)  I thought that was apt; not really the stuff for Anime, but, had the lead not been a pig, it could have been a decent movie.

[Valmy]

You will have to take a diverse course load in both High School and University. When I went back to school for my engineering degree I had to take Theatre and English Literature.

Theatre?   

Anyhow I'm surprised that your first degree didn't take care of all your gen-ed and humanities credits.

Funny story: my arts credit was actually doing art. I played music for a couple semesters. At UT you had to have a classroom credits, actually doing arts did not count. So I had to take a class about theatre, we read plays and stuff. I placed out of English but since they wanted Engineers to be able to write that did not count. I had to take a Literature and a Rhetoric class. I also had to take six hours of government, my private school did not require that the first time around. Oh and I also had to take a class on Engineering soft skills as well.

[Josquius]

I became a Miyazaki fan after seeing Laputa and Nausicaa.  Still, I said 'pass' when I read the premise of that movie.

The weird thing is the fact that he's a pig has no bearing on the plot whatsoever.  Miyazaki could have made an identical movie if the main character had been a human being rather than a pig.

Allmovie describes the film as a Warner Brother's 40's era picture (the era of Bogart and Bacall) or a 70's homage to 40's Hollywood (the "New Hollywood" era.)  I thought that was apt; not really the stuff for Anime, but, had the lead not been a pig, it could have been a decent movie.

Yes. I never got the reason for that.
They wanted to fantasise it given the otherwise uncomfortable fascist Italy setting?

[HVC]

You will have to take a diverse course load in both High School and University. When I went back to school for my engineering degree I had to take Theatre and English Literature.

Theatre?   

Anyhow I'm surprised that your first degree didn't take care of all your gen-ed and humanities credits.

Funny story: my arts credit was actually doing art. I played music for a couple semesters. At UT you had to have a classroom credits, actually doing arts did not count. So I had to take a class about theatre, we read plays and stuff. I placed out of English but since they wanted Engineers to be able to write that did not count. I had to take a Literature and a Rhetoric class. I also had to take six hours of government, my private school did not require that the first time around. Oh and I also had to take a class on Engineering soft skills as well.

What's engineering soft skills? What did you learn? How many thousands of dollars did these classes cost you?

[Savonarola]

My Neighbor the Yamadas (1999)

The first Studio Ghibli production to be entirely digitally rendered; it had to be in order to give the animation the water color look.  The story is a series of vignettes about a quirky family (based on a Japanese comic strip.)  This might have worked better as a television series rather than a feature film; but the animation is still fantastic.

[Valmy]

What's engineering soft skills? What did you learn? How many thousands of dollars did these classes cost you?

Writing proposals, documenting research and progress, giving reports. That sort of thing. It is hard to say how much those classes cost me because UT Austin charges classes weird. The more credits you take the cheaper each credit becomes.

[Monoriu]

My Neighbor the Yamadas (1999)

The first Studio Ghibli production to be entirely digitally rendered; it had to be in order to give the animation the water color look.  The story is a series of vignettes about a quirky family (based on a Japanese comic strip.)  This might have worked better as a television series rather than a feature film; but the animation is still fantastic.

First time I heard of this. 

[Savonarola]

My Neighbor the Yamadas (1999)

The first Studio Ghibli production to be entirely digitally rendered; it had to be in order to give the animation the water color look.  The story is a series of vignettes about a quirky family (based on a Japanese comic strip.)  This might have worked better as a television series rather than a feature film; but the animation is still fantastic.

First time I heard of this.