Akira - Reactions From an Anime Amateur

Scanning through the blogs of my classmates, I quickly see I am in the minority.  Yes, I will admit it, my knowledge of anime/manga is close to zero.  And by 'close to zero' I mean I have maybe 30 episodes of Pokemon under my belt.  Sidenote - is Pokemon even considered anime, even though it was very mainstream?

Brock was a shoo-in for young Kieran's favorite character - calm, collected, and loyal.

But, anyways, it was with this staggering breadth of an anime background that I attended the program viewing of Akira on January 19th.  Boy was I in for a surprise.  Below are brief thoughts on the cult classic Akira, from the perspective of a hopeless amateur to the genre.

The movie starts off easy enough to follow - post-nuclear Tokyo, biker gang turf wars, an authoritative government with an incredibly militarized police force.  But then the audience is introduced to a toddler character who I can only assume is an albino Benjamin Button.

And it's with these characters called the espers that I got lost.  Explosions, elaborate CT scans, a god-like being housed in seven test tubes.  A culminating scene where the protagonist (or was it antagonist?) turns into a skyscraper-sized fetus.  I think Akira is a movie that certainly needs to be watched more than once.  That being said, even in my confusion I still had a great time.  The animation was incredible, even more so considering the movie was made in 1988.  Another highlight of the film for me was Shijo Yamashiro's soundtrack, especially during the bike scenes.  In researching it after the viewing I found that Yamashiro relied heavily on 'gamelan' in his scoring, which seem to be large wooden xylophones.  The gamelan, along a chanting chorus, contribute to a very primitive sound, which is interesting since it contrasts the sci-fi tech driven environment of the film.

A gamelan - like those used by Shijo Yamashiro in scoring Akira

Last Tuesday was my first real experience with anime, and I definitely learned it takes a little bit to get used to!  Looking forward to the next movie night - じゃまた !

Who Am I? And Why Am I Here?

Hello and welcome to my Japanese I blog!  My name is Kieran Kelly and I am a sophomore in Keenan Hall.  I am a statistics major and a part of the Navy ROTC program here at Notre Dame.  In addition to fulfilling a language requirement, one reason I am interested in taking this course is due to the US Navy's large presence in Japan, including major ports in Sasebo and Yokosuka.  Considering that there is a chance I could be stationed in Japan in the future, I figured I would take the opportunity to learn the language so as to be better prepared if a deployment in the Far East is in the cards.

Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka

On a more casual note, I am drawn to Japanese language and culture through my love of baseball.  I follow the sport closely, and so does a significant population of Japan.  Although sumo wrestling may traditionally be regarded as the national sport, baseball certainly is the most popular.  Baseball's version of the World Cup, Japan has won the World Baseball Classic twice in its three iterations.  The country's domestic league, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), is regarded as one of the top-tier international leagues and has produced MLB stars such as Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, and Hideo Nomo.  Maybe someday I'll be able to watch a broadcast of an NPB game and understand the commentary! Until then, じゃまた !

Ichiro Suzuki, 2009 World Baseball Classic