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dragons have fur For the first time in months I watched some Japanese animation this evening with the movie Spirited Away being my choice. Not knowing much about the movie before I saw it, I was mildly impressed, but had to wonder what was lost in the translation. Since most of the characters are from Japanese folklore, they were unknown to me, but I suspect would be more familiar to a Japanese audience. Even though my reaction to the movie itself was lukewarm, I really liked the making of segment that was included on the second disc. For example, there was a scene where the director is telling his animation staff how he wants a dragon to fall. He asks if any of them have ever seen a snake fall from a tree and gets blanks looks from around the room. He then describes how he wants a character to insert a magic pellet into the mouth of a dragon. To him this would be like feeding a pill to a dog. Once again this is met with blank looks, because it seems that none of them have ever owned a dog. I guess that not many people in Tokyo own dogs. Maybe there isn't enough room for them amongst the crowded apartments, neon lights and vending machines, but that might just be a stereotype and not reality. |