Full moon wo sagashite

Well I just have to discuss another Japanese anime. This one is called 'Full moon wo sagashite'.
It's about a 12 year old girl who has throatcancer and will only have one more year to live. Two 'Shinigami' (kind of people who take you away from this world when it's your time) watch over her but something strange happens. This girl 'Mitsuki' can see the Shinigami (Takuto and Meroko) and she becomes friends with them. Mitsuki's dream is to be a famous singer but because of her age she can't do audition and because of her illness she can't sing. An other important storyline is her love for Eichi. He is in America to become an astronaut and she wants to reunite with him.
Those Shinigami cast a spell and turn Mituski for one year into a girl of 16. Now she is old enough to enter the auditions and she is given a record deal. I won't tell too much of it's story...it has many different aspects. It deals with an impotant matter in life. Maybe she can recover completelythrough surgery but there is a big chance she will loose her voice forever as a result of the surgery. Singing is Mitsuki's love, if she does loose her voice, would life be worth living for?
Takuto seems to fall in love with Mitsuki, Meroko won't allow it so there is competition between them too. Where is Eichi? can Mitsuki find him? Will she really die? Those questions will be answered if you watch the serie!
In the beginning Full moon wo sagashiteseems to be a bit childish but just continue to watch some episodes (52 in total) you will be lost in it's story. You can also loose yourself in it's beautiful music. The song 'eternal snow' is so beautiful!!! It's played very very often but it never gets boring, I still play it often. Thos story will catch you and make you care for the characters, you really wanna see the end but in the way you don't wanna know the end cause it will be over after the last episode!

Some great Japanese anime series

Well today I want to introduce some Japanese anime series. I won't tell much about it now.. just go and watch it as soon as possible!
The first one you just have to see is Honey and Clover! It's about students of an art academy, about their lifes and the difficulties they face..about love and unreturned love ans also about a soul searching trip to find yourself again!

Another great one is Elfenlied...though it's very violent. It's about the creation of a superweapon that looks like a girl. the opening tune is already fantastic!!

At the moment I am watching Full Metal Alchemist (FMA). I've only seen 8 episodes but I understand why it's called the best ever made. You can't play for God, there will be consequences if you do. More i won't tell...it would spoil the pleasure of watching it.

Maybe the very best of all is haibane remnei. This serie deals with girls who have wings wings and a halo. They seem be be born from some cocoon and live together. Where do they come from, why can't they just leav. You have to discover the questions yourself. A beautiful anime with backgrounds that look like oil paintings. A serie that starts a bit childish but becomes a complex story of sorrow.

The road home

This low-budget film, directed by Zhang Yimou, doesn't have a complex storyline. It's all about one thing, love. The movie starts with a man who returns to his home where he grew up. He returns cause his father died. When he is there again and helps his mother to with the traditional funeral he remembers the memories of the love between his mother and father.
When a new teacher arrives at a small village, one girl (Zhang Ziyi) falls in love with him the moment she sees him. She tries to get his attention in different ways. Well...about the story... that is it.
This movie is so beautiful because it's pure filming. Many filmshots just show the face of Zhang Ziyi (perfect casting! She is so very beautiful and acts wonderfully. She gives true feeling for the innocence of a child's love), with some peaceful music too. Nature plays an important role too, those camera shots will give you a peaceful feeling.
It's a peaceful movie of love and beauty, worth watching!

Millennium Actress

Miyazaki's 'Spirited Away' is probably the best known Japanese cartoon movie and I have to say it's is just fantastic. Maybe I will review that movie some other day. But another Japanese cartoon movie is less known: Millennium actress, directed by Satoshi Kon. Does this mean that it wasn't a very good movie?Well my answer can be short can clear; no!It is really worthy to watch this one. Not only because of the beautifull drawings but the story is great too. A movie director is going to make a documentary about the life of a famous Japanese actress (Chiyoko). He also wants to give her somtething she almost forgotten about, a famous key. Now the story/interview starts. It's starts with a young Chiyoko who accidently meets a man, a mysterious Manchurian artist, who gives Chiyoko a key. Chiyoko wants to know what this key is for but the only answer she gets is 'it's the key of the most important thing in the world'. The man is a fugitive and leaves suddenly. From that moment on it's Chiyoko's task to return the key to it's owner and discover it's true meaning.But.... the story isn't this simple. The story is also about a famous actrice who plays in many movies. While she plays in all those movies we see 1000 years of history of Japan at the same time. What is real and what is not...it's not imporant in this movie. It's called a trompe L'oeil, a French word for 'to fool the eye'. There is not a clear storyline but different storylines which are running through eachother with no beginning or end. You can't distinguish reality from fiction and present from the past, it's all blurring together.It probably sounds like a weird movie but don't be afraid to watch it. Prepare yourself to watch something stunning. It's a complex, smart and breathtaking journey through time, a journey through Japanese cinema, a journey to find the one you love, a journey to discover what it's all about.