My Neighbor Totoro

This week we are showing My Neighbor Totoro

Akira!

Last Friday we watched Akira! For those who are not familiar with it, here is a brief synopsis of the movie:

In the year 2019, thirty-one years have passed since the outbreak of World War III. In Neo-Tokyo, all authority is waging a never-ending struggle against the underground that virtually rules the shattered city. A top-secret child with amazing powers of the minds breaks free from custody and accidentally gets a motorcycle gang involved in the project. The incident triggers psychic powers within one of the members, Tetsuo, and he is taken by the army and experimented on. His mind has been warped and is now on the path of war, exacting revenge on the society that once called him weak.

Welcome back from winter break!  BAS will be screening Ponyo on the Cliff this Friday at 9pm!  It is a Studio Ghibli (and Miyazaki) film released in 2008 with a very simple art style that is an acknowledgement back to the beginning years of Japanese animation.  It has been called one of the most adorable Miyazaki films of all time.  Ponyo tells a story of a goldfish named Ponyo who befriends a five-year-old human boy, Sōsuke, and wants to become a human girl.  Very Little Mermaid-ish.  If you are a fan of Miyazaki’s work, or have a soft spot of sickeningly sweet movies, come and join us this week!

During the late 1930s in Chicago, the transcontinental train, Flying Pussyfoot, is starting its legendary journey that will leave a trail of blood all over the country. At the same time in New York, the ambitious scientist Szilard and his unwilling aide Ennis, are looking for missing bottles of the immortality elixir. In addition, a war between the mafia groups is getting worse. On board the Advena Avis, in 1711, alchemists are about to learn the price of immortality.
(Synopsis from MyAnimeList)

Baccano! will be screened on November 11 in Searles 315.

Criminals, violent gangs, misfits – what more could you want? Baccano! is an amazing anime series with a good balance of drama, action, and comedy. The technical aspects of the series is also outstanding and not lost in the development of the storyline. If you enjoy Baccano!, please leave a comment here with your favorite moment in the series!

November 4
Searles 315
9:00pm

That’s right! It’s Death Note time! BAS didn’t get a chance to screen Death Note earlier in the semester during the Mainstream theme but now it will be showcased and all of those L and Kira fans can get their fix! Bwahaha!

For those who are unfamiliar with Death Note, here is a quick synopsis from Wikipedia:

The main character is Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook, the “Death Note”, dropped on Earth by a god of death, or a shinigami, named Ryuk. The Death Note grants its user the ability to kill anyone whose name and face they know, by writing the name in the notebook while picturing their face. The series centers around Light’s attempt to create and rule a world “cleansed of evil” as “God” using the notebook, and the efforts of a detective known as L to stop him.

For those who HAVE seen it…here is your chance to geek out about it! Feel free to talk about anything you’d like, or answer any of the following questions to start a discussion!

1) Who is your favorite character?
2) What is your opinion of Misa? Do you like her or hate her?
3) L or N? Or Mello? Who is the better investigator in the quest to take down Kira?
4) What do you think of the live-action films? Do you think they do a better job of telling the story than the manga?

It’s almost Halloween~!

BAS is taking a short break from the psychological/experimental theme to explore horror for a week in celebration of Halloween. It was a huge debate on whether to screen Higurashi no Naku koko ni (also known as When They Cry or The Moment the Cicadas Cry) or Elfed Lied. Both are known for their horror and gore-y ness, but it seemed like Higurashi would be more audience-appropriate. Well okay, Elfed Lied has more gore and bloodshed whereas Higurshi is more of a murder-mystery type of series.

Anyway, Higurashi. It was first a game developed by 07th Expansion with a total of eight games, released between the years 2002 and 2006. Afterwards, a manga and anime based off the game were released in 2008 and 2006 respectively. The series has had three tv series thus far and a live-action adaptation was released a couple of years ago.

An introduction to the tv series (meaning the first several episodes) is being screened on October 28th, 2011. Here is a quick synopsis about Higurashi from MyAnimeList:

After moving into the quiet town of Hinamizawa, Maebara Keiichi spends his days blissfully in school often playing games with his local friends. However, appearances can be deceiving. One fateful day, Keiichi stumbles upon news of a murder that had occurred in Hinamizawa. From this point on, horrific events unfold in front of Keiichi, as he soon learns his close friends may not be all that they seem.

Since it is based off of a mystery game, the tv series doesn’t have just one straight-forward ending. In fact, the story is told in a series of different scenarios. So after every 5-6 episodes, the story will reload with new characters, a new scenario, and new perpetrator. It’ll make the screening at anime club a little weird but hopefully it will be understandable to all!

If you’ve seen Higurashi or Elfed Lied before, or if you just watched it with BAS, feel free to leave some thoughts and comments here!

Tonight Anime Society screened Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone. Thank you to everyone who came and saw it! For those of you who are not familiar with the series, below is a quick synopsis from MyAnimeList.net:

After the second impact, all that remains of Japan is Tokyo-3, a city that’s being attacked by giant creatures that seek to eradicate the human kind, called Angels. After not seeing his father for more than eight years, Shinji Ikari receives a phone call in which he is told to urgently come to the NERV Headquarters, an organization that deals with the destruction of the Angels through the use of giant mechs called Evas. Shinji’s objective is to pilot the Eva Unit 01 while teaming up with the Eva Unit 00 pilot, Ayanami Rei.

Got any lingering thoughts after watching it? Comment below!