
Library Reviews
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The Sea is Watching
A “new” Akira Kurosawa film!

Obviously the tagline above comes with some asterisks. The Sea is Watching was one of a number of screenplays by the legendary director that had yet to be filmed prior to his death. The script was completed in 1993 making it somewhat penultimate compared to After the Rain (1999) even though that film ended up being produced first.
Director Kei Kumai has created a film lashed with nostalgia. The setting is in familiar Edo village surrounds that are easily evocative of classic Kurosawa period films. Camera work is very undynamic and mostly of fixed angle and solid still framed scenes. Even the palette and special effects are intentionally old fashioned. Colours are vivid but imitate a black and white film that has been retouched. There’s also an instance of moving backdrop or rear projection that would hardly be expected of a 2002 film.
The story and characters are somewhat unusual for a Kurosawa work. The main characters are sex workers of a village pleasure quarter. Male characters are all patrons of some kind. There are plenty of cliches and tropes and the story oscillates between saccharine and downtrodden. It is enjoyable nonetheless and keeps in tone with the production as a whole. Despite the setting being what it is, nudity is restrained, mostly of bare backs and the odd side or topless glimpse.
Akane-banashi
Akane is a fervent rakugo performer in training. Enraptured since childhood, she has been preparing for longer than most people, including the teacher in charge of her career guidance, realise. She exudes an unflappable attitude and bottomless energy to go with her two-toned hair. Part of the fuel for her impetus is the burning unsolved mystery of why, her father and a cohort of his fellow rakugoka, were expelled on the occasion of their promotion performance.

Akane-banashi goes into a lot of detail about the lore of rakugo and the culture surrounding it. Some of it is explained in world and so readers are learning along with Akane.
Manga like Akane-banashi and Blue Period share the characteristic of containing a lot of real world explanation. Infotaining for want of a better word. Just as isekai and RPG gamified worlds are so recurrent that they are now recognised as genres, there ought to be a term for the kind of manga that conspicuously explains niche concepts and facts that are extraneous to the story but also impart a lot of depth. Golden Kamuy ゴールデンカムイ is a treasure hunting action adventure but also packed in a massive amount of historical facts, Ainu culture and cuisine. Such factainment isn’t limited to real world or historical manga either. The same style can also be found in heavily fictional manga such as Delicious in Dungeon (ダンジョン飯).
Blue Period
Yatora is the kind of talented adonis whose deficiencies would be the envy of mere mortals. Labelled something of a delinquent, he nonetheless is a high academic achiever, rebelliously popular and loves goofing off with a circle of like minded friends. He does have the self awareness to know that it is all rather aimless and he is merely working hard at going through the motions instead of believing in what he is doing.

It’s no surprise when this tousle haired dandy (re)discovers that he is also good at drawing. Except that Yatora does surprise himself when the chance exposure to his school art club awakens something of a drive that he hadn’t possessed before.
Exploiting a visual medium of manga, Blue Period features credited artworks by real artists whose efforts stand in when the needs of the plot call for them. The illustration of the main story and panels all recognisably follow manga conventions but these are interspersed with art school knowledge and detailed renditions.
Manga like Akane-banashi and Blue Period share the characteristic of containing a lot of real world explanation. Infotaining for want of a better word. Just as isekai and RPG gamified worlds are so recurrent that they are now recognised as genres, there ought to be a term for the kind of manga that conspicuously explains niche concepts and facts that are extraneous to the story but also impart a lot of depth. Golden Kamuy ゴールデンカムイ is a treasure hunting action adventure but also packed in a massive amount of historical facts, Ainu culture and cuisine. Such factainment isn’t limited to real world or historical manga either. The same style can also be found in heavily fictional manga such as Delicious in Dungeon (ダンジョン飯).