Anime

[Mr Sausage]

I can’t remember, but does the anime make it clear that the doctor is Japanese? I think that might address some of the problems at hand. Certainly I always felt that these aspects of the story made sense as a distinctly Japanese person having difficulties working within a foreign culture with a lot of the later persecution being in part from xenophobia.

No, it doesn't address them, at least not in the first two episodes. He could be German and nothing would need to change. Everything is assigned to other motivations: Tenma is lauded for politicking well and told that's the real way to success in the hospital, not merit, and by a character who is later revealed to be on the outs for similar reasons.

If I’m reading you correctly it seems like you missed something important about this scene. That doctor is assuming that Tenma got his success through politicking, but in reality he did not. The doctor is asserting the toadyism of the system onto Tenma.

I can’t know precisely what that doctor means by politicking, but I took it to mean Tenma does what the director tells him to do, which is indeed what we see. He did it so naturally he didn’t seem to even notice. It took the mother beating on his chest and screaming at him for him to notice exactly what was being asked of him and why. Tenma was a toady, one whose inexperience and naivety led him to assume that those whom he’d taken as guides were themselves guided by firm moral and ethical principles. The moment he exercised his own conscience against the will of the Director, he was out. That tells you exactly what he wasn’t doing before.

The episodes seemed rather bluntly about how people end up abdicating their own moral and ethical responsibilities in order to reinforce group norms.

[knives]

In the manga at least they make it explicit in the scene that he’s referring to Tenma being engaged to the boss’ daughter.

[Mr Sausage]

Well, in defence of Tenma, he isn’t shown to be venal and careerist like the rest, and he is genuinely surprised that politicking is how to get ahead and that his fiancee is a fickle gold digger. He’s more naive and unconscious about his submission to authority. Hence he needs the chest-thumping wake up call from the grieving mother.

I’m going to guess the show is partly a fall from innocence into experience.

[jazzo]

There are moments of disillusionment and self-doubt for sure, but I wouldn't jump to any conclusions! He's an Urasawa character through-and-through.

[Mr Sausage]

How's Takahata's pre-Grave of the Fireflies work? Worth checking out?

[therewillbeblus]

I’ve only seen the Go Panda Go! movies and they’re forgettable but short

[Michael Kerpan]

I’ve only seen the Go Panda Go! movies and they’re forgettable but short

Mr S and TWBB --

I actually like Panda kopanda (Parent panda and baby panda -- basically) a LOT more than Ponyo (as something aimed at little children).

Gauche the Cellist -- based on a story by Kenji Miyazawa (one of the most beloeved cultural figures of Meiji era Japan) is fantastic. Jarinko Chie (Chie the Brat is the not quite right English name) was both a series and a movie. I think the series is finally slated for subbed release. A very "coarse" show compared to Ghibli stuff -- about lower class Osaka folks, using lots of Kansai dialect. I find it pretty enjoyable all the same (based on watching the unsubbed movie version). Akage no An (Anne of Green Gables) is one of the best of his TV series for World Masterpiece Theater -- and Miyazaki worked with him as staff on this. No English subbed version that I am aware of -- but if you read (and memorized) the book (like my wife) you won't need subtitles. Its physical depiction of Prince Edward Island is fantastic (better than any live action adaptation). Our family had a sense of deja vu when we visited PEI. Takahata and Miyazaki worked on a good number of early episodes of the Lupin the Third series. I have not seen any of Takahata's earlier series. Takahata's first movie The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (with Miyazaki as a key staff member) was an artistic triumph (though a bit simplistic) modeled somewhat on Soviet animated movies like the Snow Queen (1957). However, it was a flop in the eyes of its studio (and Takahata would not be given the chance to direct another movie for quite a long time). Takahata also made a live-action documentary -- the Story of Yanagawa's Canals. I found this interesting but it is quite different from his animated work.

[colinr0380]

I am still working my way through the 152 episodes of the Fist of the North Star TV series (only three episodes from the end now!) and just got to the part which completely recontextualises the ending song, which has seemed rather schmaltzy for the previous forty or so episodes in which it has played under the end titles, dealing with the now adult Lin's unrequited obsession with Ken from childhood. Where at the beginning of the final battle of the series (major spoiler):

SpoilerShow

The main villain of this arc, Kaioh, who has been holding Lin hostage for much of this section of the series, shows how much he despises the notion of "love" by striking one of her pressure points that wipes out her memory of and love for Ken, then sends her off on his horse to fall in love with the first man she lays eyes upon when she wakes, however much of a villain he may be!

That's a great moment that both (perhaps for the best) removes Lin's obsessive neediness for a much older man that has itself gotten a little old over fifty episodes, and also turns her into a ticking timebomb for the moment when she wakes up, especially now that she is in the clutches of your generic for the series group of ne'er do wells and their little regional boss, all trying to get her to wake up to become his bride! And suddenly makes that end credits song go from what felt like some iffy unrequited unhealthy mooning on Lin's part to almost unbearably heartbreaking now that it is climaxing every episode!

(If she doesn't get reunited with Bat at the end of this series and wakes to reaffirm their love at some point, this show will have really missed an opportunity!)

[ianthemovie]

Are Discotek's Blu-rays usually pressed or no, and is there any way to tell this from the listings on the Crunchyroll store?

I ask because I was interested to see a pre-order listing pop up for the 1970s anime version of The Little Mermaid, with a release date of March 26.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Always pressed with very good transfers.