Forum - View topicNEWS: Mirai Wins Japan Academy Prizes' Animation Award
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2628 Location: Germany |
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Meh. DBS Broly and especially Penguin Highway i could have gotten behind. Watch Penguin Highway you all.
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Jayhosh
 Posts: 972 Location: Millmont, Pennsylvania |
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Good, finally justice was done. I’m sorry y’all, spiderverse was great and all but for my money Mirai was the best animated film of last year. Glad to see Isao Takahata and Yasuo Otsuka got some honorary awards as well.
Also DBS: Broly being more deserving than Mirai? Don’t make me laugh lol. It was good, not that good. At the end of the day it’s still just dragon ball. Penguin Highway I could see the argument for. Still not as masterfully executed and emotionally resonant as Mirai, however. |
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Gemnist
Posts: 1762 |
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Screw the Oscars. This is what anime fans REALLY need to pay attention to.
Even though Hosoda wins every single time he’s up (love the guy, but it’s the truth). |
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HoboSoup
Posts: 361 |
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Going to disagree here. I love anime, but Spiderverse was easily the best animated movie of the year, in my opinion. Also completely deserving of the Oscar. I watched Mirai and enjoyed it, but barely anything happens in it and this is coming from someone whose favorite genre is Slice Of Life. The entire plot is a minor subplot of so many other stories, spoiler[sibling is jealous of new sibling getting more attention, they end up liking each other and becoming proper family by the end of the film.], I don't need a nearly 2 hour film dedicated to this premise. That's just me and I respect your opinion even if we disagree. The other factor is having the movie focus on very young children is often grating, since they're usually very loud, throwing tantrums, crying. Which I get is part of the point of the film, with raising a family, but it's not something I enjoyed. |
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El Hermano
 Posts: 450 Location: Texas |
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Dragonball and Conan had good movies last year, but unless it's a really, really good entry that stands out from it's franchise, a movie based on a TV anime shouldn't really win in my opinion. An example would be the Crayon Shin-chan movie The Adult Empire Strikes Back which is universally considered the greatest Shin-chan movie ever made, and stood out in the industry upon it's debut because of it. Broly was basically more of the same Dragonball story, and didn't really do anything interesting or new, it just updated the Broly lore to fit Super's continuity. I'm okay with Mirai winning out of these nominations.
You could say the same thing about Spider-Verse. Miles Morales is literally just another Peter Parker story of a kid struggling to balance his superhero life with his personal life, but with some multidimensional shenanigans. At least Mirai was an original production. |
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HoboSoup
Posts: 361 |
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I knew this was going to be the response I was going to get. Yes I know Spiderverse isn't completely original, neither is Mirai, nothing is. But in terms of art and animation the production of Spiderverse was really good. I just think it was far more expiremental than Mirai and it was finally a Western animated movie that bested Pixar and Disney, finally Disney loses the Oscar. Yet people still complain simply because "anime didn't win". Spiderverse is something that we really needed to win in the West. By western standards I think it was groundbreaking, and hopefully it will help the Western amination scene grow. Mirai wasn't anything ground breaking when it comes to Anime, plus I vastly preferred Walk On Girl The Night Is Young, which I saw in the US last year but maybe it came out in JP in 2017. You're free to disagree with me and tell me how amazing Mirai is compared to Spiderverse. I saw both and I simply think Spiderverse was a lot better, even if I'm the only person on ANN that thinks so I'm confident in my opinions. Edit: Again for clarity I did like Mirai and thought it was good. |
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Jayhosh
Posts: 972 Location: Millmont, Pennsylvania |
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Don't misunderstand me, I really enjoyed Spiderverse myself and think it was deserving of its win. But I think Mirai is the more well put together work overall, at least conceptually. Mirai is essentially a collection of thematically connected vignettes, and in a way Spiderverse is as well. But whereas Mirai has a razor-sharp and to-the-point focus that never falters and that focus is always Kun and his emotional growth, Spiderverse is much more complex. It clashes a bunch of pre-existing universes together and does an extremely admirable job at supporting all of that competently while also developing Miles and Peter's characters. The other cast members kinda fall by the wayside but that's to be expected with such an expansive group of characters. The thing is though, Spiderverse as a result can feel like a collection of thematically related but ultimately narratively unconnected setpieces that masquerades as a traditionally structured plot. And I think a lot of people overlook that just because of its admittedly astounding visual presentation. Which is indeed commendable (it should have been nominated for best special effects/cinematography), but I don't think that inherently makes it the better film. But I guess that all depends on what you value in considering what films are the "best" of a given year. Inventive visual design? A well constructed script/presentation? Or a bit of both? Barely anything happens in Mirai on a world-altering level, yes. But that's not its goal and I think it's weird to make that an issue it has. Films have different goals. Spiderverse is larger scale, yes, but that doesn't make it inherently more valuable or "important" to me. Because ultimately the point of that whole film is that "anybody can be a hero and to embrace your flawed humanity," and that's a very good theme to be sure. But for me Mirai's message of family and appreciating one's lineage and how that brought them to where they are in life was just as if not more inspiring. Also Mirai is only about 90 minutes. Nobody "needs" a feature length work to express a theme or message to them. But it's how that message is imparted to its protagonist and guides their development that makes it intriguing to watch films. To me, Mirai was just as inspired on a thematic level as very few films are willing to tackle the idea of family so genuinely with warts and all. Regardless, I think it's unfair not to give Mirai any credit in regard to visual ambition. Beyond its stellar character acting (which people really don't appreciate or give enough credit to compared to flashier animation), the entire tension-packed finale in the mostly CG-rendered train station was stunning and certainly an unusual sight in a mainstream anime film. The conductor's design in particular was quite fascinating. The way the CG animation mimicked paper mache cut-outs was so inspired. And regarding children as protagonists, I get that they're a mixed bag. But in Mirai that realism is tempered by the various experiences he goes through constantly humbling him and making him aware of his own selfishness. Yes, he can be grating at times. But Kun can also be full of empathy, love, curiosity, and ambitions as high as the clouds. And this is what makes real children so admirable and wonderful to raise. Hosoda clearly is a parent himself and brings all of this love and consideration into the film. And personally, as someone who takes care of their nephew often who is of similar age to Kun, this resonates very strongly to my own experiences. And yes, its those personal experiences that perhaps make it work more for me than you. |
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HoboSoup
Posts: 361 |
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That's fine and we're entitled to our opinions, neither of us are wrong we just disagree is all. One thing I'll say is I'm not bashing Mirai for it's simple plot, as I said I love Slice Of Life. Lots of cute stories where people are just being families. I just personally didn't "love" the plot of Mirai. I wanted maybe more focus on the family as a whole, make them the "main character", instead of Kun being the main focus. So the sibling rivalry would have just been a subplot, as we watched the whole family grow together, for me that would have been more satisfying. I know it was a fairly realistic depiction of children but it was often grating, with all the tantrums, screaming, crying, so fourth. I can say that it's a well written amount of realism in a story about having kids, but I don't think it's an enjoyable one, if that makes sense? I can see the whole picture and what you're talking about, but I have a different perspective on it than you do. I loved Spiderse for a ton of reasons. Not just the animation and art. But I don't I think we need to go into it more? We've throughly gone into matters and it'd be best to move on to a different topic now. Hopefully an anime film eventually wins an Oscar, that's a closing note I think we can all agree on. Thanks for the interesting discussion, good night everyone. |
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xyz
Posts: 243 |
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I really wanted to like Mirai but it was really boring.
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Jayhosh
Posts: 972 Location: Millmont, Pennsylvania |
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Well I never tried to tell you you were wrong for preferring one over the other. You replied to my take on it expressing your preference after all, not the other way around. I of course realize that we're entitled to our opinions and neither are right or wrong. But that doesn't mean I won't do my darndest to shill the film that clearly is in need of more of it out of the two. Everyone already loves Spiderverse (including myself), why not give some love to the film that IMO is equally stunning for completely different reasons? I can see why some people wouldn't be able to get into Mirai because essentially nothing happens in the film (Hosoda himself has stated this) but to me its true-to-life, loving ode to family and growing up is unparalleled in film and someday, hopefully, more people will look back on it and view it as one of the stronger titles in Hosoda's filmography. I think film buffs and critics have already seen there's something special in it. Sure GKIDS backing it definitely helped boost its exposure and award eligibility, but keep in mind the company released plenty of other acclaimed anime films by auteur directors in 2018. I think the fact that most ceremonies chose to include this quaint little story says something to its benefit. |
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Alestal
 Posts: 605 Location: Dallas, Texas |
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Loved this movie! Did anyone else think that some of the directing style was influenced by Satoshi Kon works? Specifically, the scene spoiler[ where Kun rides on the bike with his grandfather]?
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