Remembering 今敏 (Kon Satoshi)

今敏 -- 1963年10月12日 - 2010年8月24日

Satoshi Kon -- October 12, 1963 - August 24, 2010

Satoshi Kon, the famous anime director, died from pancreatic cancer this Tuesday, that is, August 24, 2010, at the age of 46. His work has always been some of my favorite, so I have decided to give a brief recount of his work in memory of him. I do not know much about his work as animator or other roles, so I will focus on his directorial work. To be even more specific, I will discuss his work which I have seen; this includes everything except the 2004 series Paranoia Agent.

Perfect Blue (1997)

Perfect Blue was Kon-sensei’s directorial debut. Based on a novel by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, this film is a psychological thriller that can cause quite a shock. This film is not for the weak-hearted. There are some pretty disturbing things in this movie: its story revolves around a pop star who decides to become an actress, but then she begins to be stalked by a dangerous person. Kon-sensei’s films often have a way of bending reality, and Perfect Blue does so by including the main character’s seeming second personality. The movie can be a bit confusing at times, and there are some fairly disturbing scenes in it, but it’s a well-made and fascinating film. I’d personally give it probably an 8/10.

An interesting fact about this film: it was a prime source of inspiration for the film Requiem for a Dream. In fact, it was so inspiring that the director of the previous-mentioned film, Darren Aronofsky, bought the rights for Perfect Blue so he could recreate one scene, shot-for-shot, where a character is sitting in a bathtub, sticks her head underwater, and screams silently, releasing a flow of bubbles.

Millennium Actress (2001)

Kon-sensei’s sophomoric directorial effort is, in my humble opinion, a brilliant film. Unlike the previous work, which was adapted from a novel, Millennium Actress is an original story created by Kon-sensei, who (as in many of his works) helped write the screenplay. It tells the story of a pair of reporters who get an exclusive interview with an old former actress as a memorial to the company she usually worked with, which was closing its doors for good. The actress explains her life story and her acting roles; the two mesh together so well that it can often be difficult to tell if you’re watching her life or one of her movies. That’s how Kon-sensei messes with reality in this film. It’s a beautifully-made and powerful film (which is sadly the only of Kon-sensei’s films with is out of print, even though I think it won the most awards). The animation is a large step up from Perfect Blue (a 4-year gap can allow that), and the music is wonderful. Susumu Hirasawa, a somewhat eccentric Japanese musician whose music is best described as electronic, was signed on to create the music for the film, and his style fits perfectly with Kon-sensei’s (which leads to his work on another of his films later on). This film also offers much food for thought on the topics of infatuation and love, along with some bits about fame (which is a more prominent theme in Perfect Blue). I need to watch it again, but I’d probably give Millennium Actress a 10/10. I have a feeling many will remember it as Kon-sensei’s best film.

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

This, Kon-sensei’s third film, is my least favorite of his works, but it’s still a good film. Another original story, Tokyo Godfathers follows a trio of homeless people as they try to return a lost baby to its parents on Christmas Eve. It’s the only of Kon-sensei’s films to not involve some twisting of reality (which I think is what draws me into his work the most). The animation is a step up from his previous work (since animation technology grows more advanced each year), and the music was composed by the same man who composed the soundtrack to the classic Super Nintendo game Earthbound (I prefer Susumu Hirasawa’s music, though). I’m not really sure why this film did not connect with me as much as his other works (unless it was due to lack of reality-bending, as I mentioned earlier), but even so, it’s still a good film, one I’d give a 7/10.

Paprika (2006)

Paprika is my favorite of Kon-sensei’s films, hands down. It’s based on a 1993 novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, a novel including many real dreams of the author. The story revolves around a device called the DC Mini that enables one to enter someone’s dreams for the purpose of psychoanalysis. When one of these devices is stolen, havoc erupts (to summarize the rest of the film very vaguely). Much of the film takes place within dreams (to an extent), which means that the film lends itself to extreme surrealism. Sometimes the dream events can go to the point of being psychologically disturbing, at least to some of my friends who have I watched it. I found it more intriguing and fascinating than anything else. This film has some of the best animation I’ve seen, especially with its mixture of 2D and 3D animation to create some of the dream worlds. The music is absolutely phenomenal: Susumu Hirasawa returns again, and the combination of his unique sound and Kon-sensei’s surreal film create a one-of-a-kind experience. Though the plot can become incredibly obfuscated (I’m not sure if it’s actually possible to understand it all), the film is all in all an absolutely breathtaking and mind-blowing experience. I’d definitely give Paprika a 10/10.

There’s also lots of interesting trivia facts about this film. For instance, the novelist voices one of the characters in the film, one half of a pair of butlers. And guess who voices the other half? Kon-sensei himself! This is his only voice acting role, and it gives viewers a chance to hear the late director’s voice. Another thing about the film is that it was a big influence on the recent American film about dreams, Inception. Also, Wolfgang Petersen, director of such popular films as The NeverEnding Story, Air Force One, and Troy, is currently working on a live-action adaptation of Paprika (an adaptation of Kon-sensei’s film, not the original novel directly).

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All in all, then, Kon-sensei was an astounding director. His films explored human psychology in depth, and they twisted reality in novel ways. His films are each one-of-a-kind, and he put his heart and soul into each one. They often took longer to make than originally predicted because Kon-sensei would spend so much time storyboarding each shot of each scene; he also worked on art direction for most of his films, besides just being a director (to top that, he often worked on the screenplay as well). His directing was much more than just telling people where to go: each film was a specific vision of his that he worked diligently to turn into reality. The world of anime has suffered a great loss with his passing. He left strong, though: in his last blog post, “さようなら” (Farewell), posted in his behalf today, he ended with these words:

With feelings of gratitude for all that is good in this world, I put down my pen.
Well, I'll be leaving now.
Satoshi Kon

Rest in peace, Satoshi Kon. Blessed repose and eternal memory.


Nota Bene: All images are from Google Image Search. Thanks to Wikipedia for background information on these films.

芳野祐介 (Yoshino Yuusuke)

"This is the best gift I can give you right now. A formless gift called memory. I don't have money. I can't buy you anything with form. Even so, even without form, a memory will last forever! I believe that it will."

Yoshino Yuusuke is a recurring minor character in Clannad. Though he appears sparsely throughout the first series, he becomes much more important in After Story, with his backstory being explained in Episode 12. Once he achieves this level of importance, around Episode 10, he appears in almost every episode of After Story.

Personality

Yuusuke is a rock-star-turned-electrician who can act a bit odd and mysterious at times. He has a penchant for the dramatic (and somewhat cheesy): bold, idealistic statements are his trademark, such as the one above. His idealism can be a bit of a problem at times, diverting him from facing reality. When he is not living with his head in the sky, though, he is very professional and serious: he takes care to make sure jobs are done right and that lives are lived right. Though it can sometimes border on the unrealistically hopeful, his advice is in copious supply, especially for Tomoya. When it's more down to earth, this advice can be extraordinarily helpful. Overall, then, Yuusuke is known for mixing the serious with the over-dramatic, in the end to good effect. His first scene shows this intriguing personality balance well.



Story

Yuusuke first appears somewhat randomly. Tomoya is walking down the street when an enraged man pulls him into an argument. The man claims that Yuusuke, an electrician, dropped a tool while working and dented his car. Yuusuke calmly responds that he did no such thing, eventually monologizing grandiloquently about love. As the angry man stands in shock, Tomoya inspects the car and deduces that a fat cat (a very fat cat) jumped on the hood and dented it. This is proven when the cat walks by. Yuusuke thanks Tomoya for helping to diffuse the situation, and he gives him his business card. Later on, speaking with Sunohara, Tomoya learns that Yuusuke used to be a famous rock star, who both Sunohara and Mei love.


This seems like just an interesting random occurrence until Tomoya is in a conversation with Fuko. When explaining her sister's marriage, she says that Kouko is engaged to Yuusuke. Later on, as they're visiting Kouko, Nagisa and Tomoya congratulate her on her engagement to Yuusuke, at which point Kouko is flabbergasted: she'd never told anyone except Fuko about her engagement, much less it being to Yuusuke. Tomoya quickly sidesteps the true cause by saying it must just have been rumors escalating.

The events of Fuko's arc play out without too much involvement from Yuusuke, except for the wedding, of course. Yuusuke is, obviously, at the wedding, energetically professing his vows to Kouko, and he stands on the sidelines as Fuko says her congratulations to her sister.


Following the wedding, Yuusuke, like Kouko, mostly reverts to the background. He doesn't really appear again until the After Story baseball game. After an amusing Yoshino Call instigated by Sunohara, he joins Akio's team. He's shown at bat twice; the first time, he tries to make an inspiring speech as he is tagged out. The second time, he calls a time out, and delivers the following inspiring speech (which I excerpted for the opening quote):



Following this fun (and inspiring!) instance, Yuusuke returns to the background for a few more episodes (including during Shima and Misae's backstory), until Tomoya graduates from high school. Tomoya starts off his adult life working at the Furukawas' bakery, but he realizes he needs a job of his own. As he walks past Yuusuke working on a lightpole, an idea clicks in his head, and he races to Yuusuke, begging for a job. Thankfully, Yuusuke agrees to help.


Yuusuke's experience (and possibly an inspiring speech or two) lands Tomoya the job at Hikarizaka Electric Company, and he becomes Tomoya's trainer. There's a bit of a learning curve for the young man (especially with his injured shoulder), but Yuusuke is persistent and also kind in his corrections and advice. Soon it looks like Tomoya is becoming a fine young electrician, and he's also beginning to look up to Yuusuke, which is when the former asks for the latter's life story. And the latter responds (albeit hypothetically).



A young man (read: Yuusuke) had a natural talent for playing guitar and being a singer-songwriter, so he decided to pursue that course of action after high school. During high school, he met a charming young teacher, and he grew enamored with her, and she became fond of him. As he was leaving to become a famous rock star, he promised her that he'd take her on a date when he returned as a pro. At first he seemed to be on the road to glory. His songs were well-received, his concerts were packed, and his albums sold like hotcakes.


His life started to change, though. A group of kids suffering from many hardships (and I think some terminal diseases as well) informed him that his music kept them going and gave them strength. This struck him with an overwhelming sense of responsibility, and he took a break from his idealistic songwriting. During this sabbatical, though, another man committed a crime he could never recover from, due to the lack of the rock star's music. This young rock star then turned to drugs.


As the musician's addiction grew worse, so did his music; eventually, his concerts were barren and his music was removed from the shelves to be replaced with better selling music. Everything he had was gone. So he returned home, an empty, broken man. And as he stood at the bus stop in his hometown, he saw the woman he had loved, and he collapsed. He realized she was the one he should have been writing songs for the whole time, not anyone else. She was the one who was supposed to be his goal. It was all about her.

And there Yuusuke's story abruptly stops. He tells Tomoya that's it, and they move on with their job.

Yuusuke continues to be a wise mentor for Tomoya in the coming months, encouraging him when he is offered the new position outside of town, supporting him as he gets married, offering him sage advice (and a new rock album!) during Nagisa's pregnancy. He's there as Tomoya enters his years of depression following Ushio's birth and Nagisa's death, although he can't help the new father out, no matter how hard he tries. He's even there after Tomoya and Ushio are reunited. And when Tomoya quits his job to care for Ushio, Yuusuke doesn't let him go that easily: he has the two friends and coworkers exchange screwdrivers, so that Tomoya will have to return to work eventually.



This exchange is Yuusuke's last major role before the final events of the series occur. We last see this rock-star-turned-electrician playing his guitar for his coworkers as he sits in the back of his work truck: a fitting final image of a man such as this.

Effect on the Main Plot

Yuusuke's biggest role is his mentorship of Tomoya. If it weren't for that, he would just be a minor character, just the husband of a minor character. He really supports Tomoya in his adult life, which is a big help: being an adult can be a scary thing, especially when getting married and having a child so soon into it. Having a knowledgeable and wise (and idealistic) mentor is a big plus for new adults. So that support is crucial for Tomoya: without it, who knows how he would have developed?

As mentioned in previous posts, he can be seen as a foreshadowing of Tomoya in a way, like Kouko is to Nagisa. They look similar (come on, they share a hair color!) and both have the same job (through the influence of one of them, though...). They both have to learn to overcome hardship and the collapse of their life plans in order to realize what's really important (for Yuusuke, that's Kouko; for Tomoya, that ends up being Ushio). Could Tomoya have ever ended up coming to his senses without this example? I don't know, but I'm guessing Yuusuke's story was definitely helpful, at least. In the end, I don't know if Tomoya could have survived the adult world without Yuusuke's help (although other people's help was crucial as well).

Themes

Of course, family's a theme. But from what we see in the show, Kouko is the only family Yuusuke has. His backstory never mentions his family, and he never mentions it; his only family is his wife and his sister-in-law (Fuko). But there is more to it than that: he's sort of like an older brother for Tomoya. You could almost compare it (maturity-wise) as if Sunohara is Tomoya's younger brother and Yuusuke is Tomoya's older brother. Yuusuke corrects him, advises him, and supports him: all things a good older brother should do.


There's also perseverance, or, you could say, the effect of a lack of perseverance. Many of Yuusuke's speeches mention perseverance or family, but in his actual story, it's more a lack of perseverance. When he finds out that all these people depend on his music, he doesn't keep writing; instead, he takes a break. When a man commits a crime due to a lack of his music, Yuusuke doesn't keep making his music to stop such things from happening again; instead, he starts taking drugs, and his music goes down the drain. In the end, he realizes his real problem was that he didn't focus on Kouko, that girl of his dreams he'd known since high school. If he had persevered in writing music for her sake, maybe it all could have turned out differently. I think the example of what happens without perseverance helped form him into the wise man he is at the present day.

Yuusuke also shows a bit of breaking out of conventions: who would think the strange, idealistic electrician is actually a formerly famous rock star? And who'd imagine an electrician that releases an rock album? It just proves the famous adage: you can't judge a book (or a man) by its (his) cover.

Reflection

First off, does anyone else think that Yuusuke sort of looks like Roy Mustang in this picture?


Anyway, Yuusuke is just a great guy. I'm a bit of a sucker for these inspirational speeches, as long as they aren't too sappy. Yuusuke's speeches hit the perfect balance between sappy and true, I think, which is completely amazing. All his speeches hold gems of wisdom in my eyes, so I'd recommend watching all of them (for instance, this one).

He's more than just a guy with pithy and sappy speeches, though: he's also a hard worker who knows what's important in life, and he supports his friends and family. By the end of the show, I think Yuusuke grew to be one of my favorite characters (although Akio still tops him for me; more on that later). There's just something about a guy who's idealistic (like me) and makes mistakes, but knows how to learn from them and live through them (something I need to always keep in mind). Plus he knows how important friends and family are, and he supports them whenever he can. In some ways I think Yuusuke could be the epitome of a great friend; so when you're wondering how to be a friend, take some tips from him: offer advice and support whenever possible. It can only help.


Thanks for reading. God Bless, and peace.

Nota Bene: All clips are from the Clannad Central YouTube channel run by the Clannad (クラナド/Kuranado) fan page on Facebook. All character themes and other music from the show can also be found on said fan page, in the music player. My gratitude to them and all the work they do.

伊吹公子 / 芳野公子 (Ibuki Kouko / Yoshino Kouko)

"If you continue and don't give up, your wish will be granted."

Yoshino Kouko (originally Ibuki Kouko) is a recurring minor character in Clannad. Though she has no backstory of her own, she's involved in Fuko's story (she's present in Episode 6 to 9 of Clannad) and in her husband Yuusuke's backstory (shown in Episode 12 of After Story). She appears a few other times as well (such as the show's final scene).

Personality

Kouko is a soft-spoken woman who is often smiling. She's optimistic, and she does her best to support all her friends and family, most especially Fuko and Yuusuke. Her love for others is powerful, to the point of almost foregoing her marriage to be able to better take care of her comatose sister. Her patience and encouragement of others served her well during her years as an art teacher at the high school. Maturity and politeness are values she wants to stress, particularly for Fuko (who can at times be lacking in both). Overall, then, Kouko is a woman who thinks positively, cares for others, and pushes them to be the best they can be. You can see this when Nagisa and Tomoya invite her to the school's Founder's Festival:



Story

Kouko is first seen as one of the customers of the Furukawas' bakery, who Tomoya meets as he watches over the store following on of Sanae's bread breakdowns. Later on, Tomoya learns that Kouko used to be the art teacher at the high school; even more importantly, she's Fuko's older sister, the one whose wedding Fuko is promoting. In another twist of coincidence, it turns out her fiancee is none other than Yoshino Yuusuke, an electrician whom Tomoya met during a random encounter on the street. (He's also a musician the Sunoharas love.)

After learning that Kouko is Fuko's sister, Nagisa and Tomoya visit her multiple times. She remembers Nagisa from her last year of teaching (even though Kouko stopped teaching the year before the story began, since Nagisa is repeating a year, she had her as a teacher). Nagisa and Tomoya learn Fuko's backstory: she was a girl who often played by herself and didn't make many friends. At one time, Kouko tried to force Fuko to get friends by giving her the cold shoulder, but that wasn't very effective. On her first day of high school, Fuko was hit by a car, and she's been in a coma ever since (three years). Kouko visits her often and does her best to take care of her. She even ponders foregoing her marriage to Yuusuke (which is a secret that Fuko informed Nagisa and Tomoya of) in order to take better care of her sister.


The two convince Kouko to come to the school's Founder's Festival in order to talk with her sister, but it's to no avail: she can't see Fuko. Thankfully, though, they're able to convince Kouko that what Fuko would want is for her to get married, and she decides she wishes to be married on school grounds. Nagisa and Tomoya go to Koumura for assistance there as people begin to forget Fuko.

Soon the day of the wedding arrives, and it goes off perfectly: it's held on school grounds, and countless guests are there thanks to Fuko's starfish. As the newly wedded couple comes to Nagisa and Tomoya, by a supernatural happenstance, Fuko is able to tell her sister congratulations on her wedding, just as she wanted to. (Kouko appears at about 3:45 in this video.)



After this, Kouko is basically relegated to the background until After Story. Now known as Yoshino Kouko instead of Ibuki Kouko, she appears with her husband at the baseball game. She next appears during Shima's arc. While Shima is dressed as a girl, he runs into Kouko in the halls (since she's an art teacher), and she allows him to see Misae at the student council meeting.


Her next main role appears when Yuusuke is telling Tomoya his backstory. He was a student when Kouko was a teacher, and they grew close. After he graduated, as he was heading off to become a musician, he swore he'd become famous, and he asked if she'd go on a date with him when he returned. She accepted his offer. During his tumultuous time as a rock star, he eventually hit bottom and returned home, only to serendipitously run into her outside the train station. He realized that she was the one he should have been focusing on, and he collapses into tears in front of her. She encourages him and offers him support, telling him to persevere and not give up, and that eventually led to their dating and getting married.


She next appears again 7 episodes and 5 years later. Tomoya and Ushio are walking by a park and see her and (lo and behold!) Fuko, woken up after all these years. She introduces herself to Ushio and tells her she'll grow up to be cute and strong like her mom. She then introduces Fuko as well, leading to an interesting friendship between her and Ushio.

Finally, Kouko appears for the last time during the final scene. She's walking with Fuko to the hospital to get a check-up (after being in a coma for about 10 years, you'd need check-ups too!), and they're having a cheerful walk, Fuko being childish as ever. Suddenly, Fuko glances into the forest and starts up a strange conversation that Kouko can't make heads or tails of. Eventually, Fuko just runs into the forest, leaving Kouko confused and dumbfounded.

Effect on Main Plot

Kouko helps Nagisa and Tomoya's relationship in a few, kind of indirect ways. For one, she provides the goal for Fuko's starfish quest; without her, Nagisa and Tomoya would have never met Fuko, and their time with her is a big help in building up their fledgling relationship. Kouko is also the one who supported Yuusuke; without her support, who knows what would have become of him? His being supported his a good thing, because he is a wonderful mentor for Tomoya in After Story. She also (re)introduces Fuko to Tomoya and Ushio. This provides Ushio with what appears to be her first real friend, which must make Tomoya glad (I have a feeling that having a friendless child would make you worried for her).

Kouko is also an effect in an even less direct way: she's somewhat of a foreshadowing of Nagisa. Liam Francis Traveller drew my attention to this aspect in his post on Fuko's arc: Kouko is a strong, caring woman whom Nagisa knows and who sort of looks like Nagisa. Both her personality and looks bear some resemblance to Nagisa (Liam says she looks like an older Nagisa, and the resemblance is definitely more blatant when looking at Nagisa at the end of the show). It's interesting to see that this woman who resembles Nagisa also have some aspects of her relationship with her husband resemble Nagisa's: she's an older woman who helps support a guy with some delinquent tendencies and inspire him with self-confidence and courage. There are definitely some interesting correlations between Kouko and Nagisa.

Themes


Once again, the big theme is family. Most of the times we see Kouko are because of her connection with Fuko. Her familial love with Fuko is a two-way street, even if it might not seem like to Kouko for a while. Kouko cares for her comatose sister for over two years with no sort of loving response from her (because it's simply not possible). Even with no possible encouragement from Fuko, Kouko still goes to visit her and care for her; she perseveres in it (and it's self-sacrificial as well). Through that supernatural occurrence, though, Kouko is able to receive a loving message from her sister; all the work that Fuko puts into making the wedding a success could almost be viewed as her thank-you gift to Kouko for all the caring she has had over the years, even if Fuko doesn't consciously talk about being in a coma.

Kouko also offers Yuusuke the advice to persevere, as the quote that started this post attests to. (The inspiration of others with advice such as this seems to be a common event in Clannad, even from the very first scene.)

Reflection

There's only so much to say about a character like this. She has no real backstory: she just plays parts (at times crucial ones) in other people's backstories, like Fuko and Shima and Yuusuke. Sometimes she just seems like an accessory to Fuko: if Fuko weren't there, she wouldn't be there. It's almost like Kouko is a contingent character, depending on Fuko and Yuusuke to exist (in the show). Actually, Yuusuke almost seems like a contingent character dependent on Kouko (would anything have come of that random encounter with Tomoya if he weren't Kouko's fiancee?); so one way to say it would be that Yuusuke is dependent on Kouko, who is in turn dependent on Fuko. So it all rests on Fuko: that just goes to show how important of a character she really is.

That's mostly all I have to say about that: Kouko is sort of a support character for Fuko and the gateway (and sometimes a support character) for Yuusuke, plus she's also a bit of an alternate Nagisa. But above all, she's Fuko's sister, and a antithetically mature one too (she's sort of the Mei to Fuko's Sunohara, in a way).


Thanks for reading. God Bless, and peace.

Nota Bene: All clips are from the Clannad Central YouTube channel run by the Clannad (クラナド/Kuranado) fan page on Facebook. All character themes and other music from the show can also be found on said fan page, in the music player. My gratitude to them and all the work they do.