Today's train read to wrap up Scotland Loves Anime is my first time reading Ayako by Osamu Tezuka!

Written by Tezuka in the 70s and published by Vertical as a 700-page behemoth, it tells the story of Japan's troubles and fate post-WW2

With Scotland Loves Anime done, I'm gonna try and turn my this here Bluesky account of mine into an anime/manga/Japan posting account for talking about the things I like!

I suppose I'm looking for a batch of new ppl to follow now 🗿

Anyone who likes posting about anime hmu

The Animatrix

As with all anthologies, a very mixed bag! A few I really loved (noir detective, skateboarding kid and kids playing in the glitch) the others were less good for me

Ironically my favourites were all the Studio 4°C shorts hehe

Phoenix: Reminisce of Flower

What a fantastic experimental piece from Studio 4°C - poignant, beautiful and evocative. Lovely film with some fantastic art!

Phoenix can be adapted in a lot of ways and 4°C did a wonderful job - the direction from Shojiro Nishimi on his theatrical debut was incredible

Macross Plus The Movie

Beautiful film! incredible aesthetics, lighting and art; personally needed more time with the characters and the plot felt underdeveloped in the movie -- maybe the OVA series develops and expands this. I'm down to watch it!

Galaxy Express 999

I love old, interesting and different anime and i really really enjoyed this

Is what I would love to say until the final 20 minutes

Just... stop it at the Count Mecha conclusion thank you I didn't really need the conclusion with Maetal

Komada - A Whisky Family

I was less into this than I expected and than I wanted to be? I'm not sure who the target audience is, and the narrative and drama felt kinda forced and a tiny bit contrived to me

not my favourite P.A. Works adult piece to my disappointment (cont.)

#SLA2023

Blue Giant

An absolute treat to experience; stunning direction, one of the greatest soundtracks, and incredibly endearing writing and characterisation

I'm a sucker for a labour of love about a niche (especially one of music) and my word did it smash it

The Concierge

What a sweet and charming film! Loved Akino as the lead, a really fun cast of side-characters and the little moments of comedy were delivered very well!

Lonely Castle in the Mirror

Enjoyed it less and less as it went on; I found it super predictable not because it was a particularly good story but bc it did every silly thing I imagined -- and a couple of glaring "???" moments (why was Kokoro allowed back in after hours?)

Also if anyone on bsky is at Scotland Loves Anime hi I'm here too :-)

Tekkonkinkreet

Last watched it seven years ago; it was nice to see it again on a big screen!

Fantastic style and amazing visuals but -- sorry! -- terribly slow pacing and terrible length holds it back imo

MFKZ is everything Tekkonkinkreet is but (imo) better -- try MFKZ if you didn't gel with it!

Summer Ghost

Second time seeing it in cinema, first time seeing the mind behind it--Loundraw-- tell us in person about its creation!

A fantastic and beautiful short film; the art direction he brings is always on point, and his character drama hits everything right.

Got a copy of Pancreas signed 😍

Gold Kingdom and Water Kingdom

What a sweet film -- a little too much Gold Kingdom and not enough Water Kingdom but I loved the characters and just how lovely it was!

Madhouse were a little bit wasted on GKaWK and isn't their usual work but they certainly didn't detract!

Going to pull my Scotland Loves Anime commentary from the other site to here!

Very excited for the weekend's films - particularly the jazz drama Blue Giant and the whiskey distilling Komada 👀