Ghibli-a-thon 1: Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro

To prepare for my upcoming trip to Japan (and visit to the Studio Ghibli Museum), I've decided to undertake a marathon of Ghibli/Miyazaki films. While I've seen a lot of them, there are many that I just never got around to viewing. So, I'll be taking a look at what's readily available and I'll try to do it in chronological order. First up, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro.

The Castle of Cagliostro was released in 1979. While not a Studio Ghibli film, it was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and I wanted to take a look at some of his earlier works.

Lupin III is an iconic anime character who got his start in a manga by Monkey Punch. He is a gentleman thief and the subject of several TV series and movies. Please note that I am not familiar with Lupin and so can only enjoy it as it is, out of context from other Lupin works. The film is currently available at Hulu

Our film begins at the end of a heist. (In)famous thief, Lupin III and his cohort Diasuke Jigen are running out of a casino in Monte Carlo, their bags bursting with bills and the police in hot pursuit. Almost immediately, Lupin realizes that the bills are forgeries. So, they decide to head to Cagliostro to investigate the origins of the counterfeited money. While there, they find a princess in dire need of rescue from the evil Count of Cagliostro (who is behind the counterfeiting).

All in all, I consider the Castle of Cagliostro to be a fun caper. Lupin is a fun character to helm the adventure with some help from his friends and his frenemy, Inspector Koichi Zunigata. Oh, and the completely awesome Fujiko Mine. The extra characters, mainly the count and the princess, are not entirely original and I'd say the weakest point in the movie for me is the princess.

First of all, her name is Clarisse. The first thing I think of when I hear that name is Silence of the Lambs.

"Hello Clarice"

Clarisse is the Fanny Price to Fujiko's Elizabeth Bennett (preferably the version from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Where Clarisse uses a chair to try to break a window, Fujiko opts for a grenade. So Clarisse = boring in my opinion. While her would-be suitor is cartoonishly bad.

The film escalates to a rousing climax, complete with a battle in a clock tower that puts me in the mood for The Great Mouse Detective, a cringe-worthy end to the villain and an interesting twist in the finale.

The animation shows its age, but isn't overly unpleasant and the dub was decent. I found the actual storyline to be well constructed and tightly edited. Up next: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

The Guild

A few weeks ago, I quickly became addicted to a little show called The Guild. It is an online web series show with each episode lasting about 5 minutes. This means you can take in an entire season in one enormous binge. Which I did. For 4 seasons. The fifth has just premiered, though I think I'll wait until it's all out. I am not a good waiter.

The Guild is about a group of online gamers (a guild) and how they interact IRL. The main character, Codex (played by Felicia Day), is an unassertive young woman who is often overwhelmed by the hijinks of her fellow gamers. The show is hilarious and usually after my binges I start to sour on my former addiction. Not so with this one. I eagerly await the next installment. Watch the rest either on the show's homepage or on hulu.

Special Delivery!

Just dropped off 10 bags of cat and dog food at the local Humane Society pet food bank. Somehow, I managed to leave without company. Was going to take a picture but forgot the camera, so trust me that it was a beautiful pile in the trunk of my car.

And Done!

The Last books with my final counts at the bottom. Next up: Bed. Sweet, wonderful and beautiful bed. Though I do still have so many books that I did not get to this weekend.

In Too Deep by Jayne Ann Krentz. A solid addition to Krentz's Arcane Society Books

Hitalia: Axis Powers Volume One by Hidekaz Himaruya. A strange graphic novel that personifies each country in the world during World War II as young men. Hilarious.

Land of the Blindfolded Volumes 1-2 by Tsukuba Sakura. The first two graphic novels in a series about a girl who can see the future of whatever she touches and a boy who can see the past. Cute, but a pretty typical shoujo manga.

Hot Gimmick Volumes 3-4 by Miki Aihara. Another shoujo manga about a girl who has attracted the interest of her father's boss's son. The artwork is attractive and the relationships between characters would do an American soap proud (all but a case of amnesia, I'd say).

Time spent reading: 46 hours, 9 minutes
Blogging: 1 hour, 21 minutes
Grand total time: 47 hours, 30 minutes
Total books read: 11.5
Pages read: 2901
Donations: $145 + 5 bags of Dog/cat food

Many thanks go out to friend/co-worker Kristin for the chocolate chip cookie bars (still need that recipe) and introducing me to this wild and crazy weekend thing. As well as my boss who provided delicious (and much needed) coffee and English muffins. And my fellow readers for their support (any comments to this post will continue to contribute to my donations until the 48HBC is over). And of course, to Mother Reader.

Hour 34ish

I think I have more coffee running through me than blood right now. Anyways, on to the books!

1. Finished Resenting the Hero by Moira J. Moore. This was one of those sneaky looks like a fantasy novel but is actually more science fiction once you know the world's back story (ala Anne McCaffery's Dragons of Pern Series), which did disappoint me a little. I prefer magic to science as an explanation in my fiction. Resenting takes place in a world beset by countless daily natural disasters that can only be turned back by teams of pairs called Sources and Shields. Sources and Shields form a life long bond as they protect the people on their planet. Dunleavy Mallorough, a newly minted Shield, is about to be Chosen by her Source. To her dismay, she is bonded to Lord Shintaro Karish, the most legendary Source of their generation. All in all, a fun bit of fluff and I intend to read more into the series (this was the first). The characters were fun and the world had much to explore. The only weakness I found was that Dunleavy's issues with Taro were not exactly fair. He was a playboy, yes, but he never exhibited the qualities that she disliked him for.

2. In the end, I only finished The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter so that I could stretch it upon the rack and flay it with my criticisms. But I will be kind and limit my extreme dislike of the book to two points. A: I did not care for the story. and B: The heroine fell under the category of too stupid to live. Really, if someone was trying to kill you and had killed others, would you open a strange, unmarked Christmas present while mocking those who warned against it? Which actually brings me to a third issue I had with the book: Greek gods + Christian themes should NOT mix IMO. After reading Abandon by Meg Cabot, I have to say I truly dislike Persephone/Hades retellings. Dude was a grizzly old man only after a pretty young thing in the myths. I guess Hades is now the new sparkly "Princes of the Night" style vampire (which I also detest). Wow this review was cathartic!

3. I am 93 pages into Love and Rockets edited by Martin H. Greenberg. It is an anthology of Science Fiction Romance short stories that is unfortunately more in the Science Fiction camp than the Romance. It is a nice break, however for other books.

Up next: ehhh... I'll surprise you.

Hour 24 (!)

I have a small confession to make. I took a walk with my audiobook (Lucky Streak by Carly Phillips) and spotted a cat from a Missing Pets poster. I had been going for the full 48 hours, but how could I not take the time to call Matilda's family and make sure she had been found? Luckily she had so it was a wonderfully happy ending (:-)) And I do intend to keep trucking along.

I have a delicious cup of coffee in hand now and am ready for the next 24 hours.

That said: So far, I have finished American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, a critically acclaimed graphic novel. The artwork was bright and colorful and I enjoyed the way the separate storylines came together at the end. It was a great story about a Chinese boy's experiences in public school and being torn between his Chinese and American heritage.

I am also about halfway through Resenting the Hero by Moira J. Moore, so that should be done on my next post. After that... we'll see what I grab.

Still Slogging Along...

Just finished Chime by Franny Billingsley. Set in a boggy area of England during the reign of Queen Anne, Chime is about Briony, a girl with a terrible secret. In a world caught between technology and tradition, she is a witch. She has done terrible, awful things. But then Eldric arrives. Handsome and kind Eldric (a Peeta of the past if you will). Then everything changes.

Loved the story. Loved the author's use of words, some of which are Billingsley's own creation (reminding me of The Jabberwocky), with a sense of humor reminiscent of Oscar Wilde. High Praise indeed, eh? Definitely recommend this one.

Up Next: American Born Chinese