Hana Yori Dango translates roughly as "Flower-Like Boys". It is
a girl's manga about what happens to a group of young adult friends. I
don't read the manga, and I didn't discover the time slot for the TV
show until one week after seeing the movie. From the TV show, I can't
tell what the story is. In the movie, everything takes place in a dance
studio in New York. The characters are all superficial and shallow.
The heroine works as a cleaning woman at the studio, and she wishes to
be accepted as one of the dancers, but she has no real training, and
lives by herself in a trailer near the river. The rest of the female
dancers all treat the heroine like scum, and the male dancers basically
just ignore her.
The character designs in this movie differ a lot from the manga (based
on the cover artwork), but are the same as in the TV show. The faces
are fatter, longer, and lack shading. The dance sequences are very
tricky, and way beyond the abilities of the animators. The backgrounds,
though, are fantastic, and the effects work (reflections in water, weird
lighting effects) are the only redeeming features of this film.
The storyline here is very streamlined. The heroine is working at the
studio, and practices on her own after hours. The leading female dancer
gets injured from a falling stage light, and the lighting man gets
fired. The heroine gets the chance to try out for the star's job, but
she lacks the resolve to keep fighting after she falls down during one
dance move. She doesn't realize that the problem is within herself, and
thinks that the rest of the troupe dislikes her mainly on principals.
However, the male lead dancer knows that the heroine has talent, and
eventually, he bashes that idea into her head. Finally, she becomes the
female star of the troupe.
Basically, because Hana Yori Dango is aimed at young girls, it
doesn't appeal to me. And, the animation falls apart when the dances
get too fancy. Hana Yori Dango is not a BAD movie, it's just one
that I'm not interested in seeing twice (and, I can't stand to watch
the TV show for more than 5 minutes at a time.)
"Gegege" is the sound one makes when very frightened. And Kitarou is a
spirit that looks like a young boy. When human children are menaced by
monsters or ghosts, they can send a letter to Kitarou, begging for help.
He has several weapons: His hair can be shot out like porcupine needles;
his wooden geta (clogs) can be kicked off like guided missiles; his vest
has its own powers; and his gourd-whistle can be used as a sword.
Kitarou's left eye socket is empty -- that is where his father ("Old
Eyeball Man"), spends some of his time. Kitarou's friends are mostly
creatures from Japanese legends, plus one human girl.
The manga has been around for years, and there have been several seasons
of the TV series. I enjoy the TV show, but the manga can be hard to
wade through. This movie is based on one of the earlier manga stories,
with a few changes. The animation is at least as good as the TV series,
and sometimes better, and the closing credits are exactly the same as
for the TV show.
The story is very simple. There is a legendary "demon bat", that can
allow one to hit home runs all the time. But, it sucks the life from
whoever uses it, and they eventually die. Kitarou had taken the bat,
and returned it to a grave where it belonged (because it isn't something
meant for humans to use.)
Enter Japan's worst amature baseball team (The Blue Team). This group
of kids can't hit the ball, much less get a run. The opposing team (Red
Team) consistently wins 25-0. One of the loser's is considered really
bad, and gets kicked off the team. On the way home, he runs into Nezumi
Otoko (Mouse-Man), who helps the boy locate the home-run-hitting demon
bat. At the next game, Red Team is shut out, and Blue Team's captain
latches onto the bat without letting go. Kitarou discovers that Nezumi
Otoko is running another scam, trying to make money by managing this
new, out-from-nowhere winning team. Since Blue Team won't turn over the
bat, Kitarou challenges them to a game. If they win, they can keep the
bat; if they lose...
Kitarou's team consists of the standard cast (Neko Musume, AKA "Cat
Girl", is perfect for chasing down the ball, and returning to 1st Base
to tag out the humans,) plus a few other demons. The bat doesn't work
when used against ghosts, so the humans have to rely on their own
skills. Both sides are really bad, and the game is tied 0-0 as it runs
into (many) extra innings. Finally, when Nezumi Otoko taunts Neko
Musume, Cat Girl turns to claw Mouse Man's face, and accidently hits the
ball so hard that half of it goes out of the field, the other half
doesn't. The Blue Team is about to lose 1/2 to 0, and they beg for one
more chance. The game goes one more inning, and the original loser is
the last human up to bat...
The boy strikes out, and begs Kitarou to spare the rest of the team, and
just take him. He's the one that wanted the bat so badly in the first
place. Kitarou spares everyone. Later, Kitarou and Neko Musume are
watching Blue Team playing against the Red Team, and the Blues are
actually hitting the ball now. (The movie gets real preachy, saying that
the entire problem was that the humans wanted an easy way to win, rather
than knuckling down and practicing.)
This is a really fun movie, and I recommend highly. There's a lot of
sight-gags, and great animation.
Gozen 0-ji Nuubee Shisu!!
Nuubee Dies at Midnight!!
50 Minutes
Jigoku Sensei Nuubee translates to "Nuubee, Teacher from Hell".
The manga has been running in Shonen Jump magazine for years, and is
still going strong in 1997. The TV series started at the end of 1996,
and follows the manga fairly closely. I've never read the manga all
that much, so I can't tell if this movie is based on one of the stories,
or if it's original for this film. However, the TV series is actually pretty
good, and I think that the opening theme song from the J-Rock band
Feel So Bad, is fairly kick-ass, although the lyrics are silly.
Nuubee is a teacher in Japan, specializing in mythologies. A few years
earlier, he was forced to protect one of his students against a demon.
He was aided by his former teacher/protector, who had been drawn into
hell many years before. Nuubee essentially killed his beloved teacher
as part of the steps required to defeat the demon. Ultimately, Nuubee
pulled the demon into his own body, and it now takes the place of his
left hand. When Nuubee needs to draw on the demon hand's powers, he
releases the seal on his glove, removes the glove, and becomes nearly
invincible.
The stories are normally based on Japanese myths, as they apply to the
lives of Nuubee's modernized students. Many of the monsters are made up
by the manga artist, and few of the stories last more than one episode.
The best part of the TV series is that the better monsters can get
pretty gruesome and scary (10 times over that of the original Johnny
Quest show, if you want to know what this can do to a young child's
mind. Remember, this movie was viewed by many Japanese kids under age
12.)
This movie starts out with a boy named "Jun", who is a big fan of a
circus clown named "Pierot" (translates to "circus clown".) Jun is being
transferred to a new school, and he complains that he can never make
friends. In fact, Pierot is his only friend. A ghost on the other
side of the mirror agrees. Jun gets transferred to Nuubee's class, and
he shuns the advances of Nuubee's students. The class bully takes Jun's
Pierot pin, and Jun cracks. Pierot, who is a spirit trapped in the
mirror world, decides to play on Jun's feelings, and gives Jun a clown
mask.
The mask is supposed to make Jun popular, and it gives him the ability
to predict events that will happen to his classmates. However, Pierot
is actually causing bad things to happen to the other kids, in an attempt
to make Jun very desperate. Jun decides to trade places with Pierot,
and the spirit decides that because Nuubee is a threat to his freedom,
Nuubee must die. Pierot puts clown masks on Nuubee's students, and
forces them to act like circus performers as they try to kill their
teacher (one scene went by very fast, but it looked like Miki's attack
was to hit Nuubee in the face with her breasts.) The battle is vicious,
but also very funny.
Pierot thinks that Nuubee is dead, but discovers that if his victims cry
in dispair, it breaks his spell. That's what happens. Later, Nuubee
shows up to fight Pierot outright. Unfortunately, Jun is a part of
Pierot now, and if one dies, so does the other. Nuubee can't act, and
Pierot dices him up with his knives. Jun is watching all this from the
mirror, and he finally grabs Pierot and both of them become trapped in
the mirror world. Pierot could only escape if Jun took his place;
having both of them inside the mirror world causes the world to break
up, threatening to kill them.
Nuubee uses his demon hand to enter the mirror, and save Jun (this
includes some really good animation). (Again, the movie gets really
preachy. Jun is told that he couldn't get friends because he never
tried to reach out and BECOME friends with anyone. Nuubee tells him to
smile more, and everything becomes better.) The ending consists of a
bunch of stills showing Jun interacting with the rest of the class.
Ignoring the cliche'd ending, there's some great scenes in this film.
The acting is good, Nuubee is better, and a lot of the animation is
great. I recommend this movie to anyone that likes the TV series.