Arcadia of My Youth

In my experience, one of the indicators of good storytelling is a well done portrayal of true friends. When executed correctly, friendship in stories is creates a feeling of empathy that no other feeling comes close to matching. Perhaps it is this is due to the fact that friendship can bring out both the best and the worst attitudes in us. A true friendship will not only have the good times, but the more irritating ones as well. While they might make us laugh and glad to be where we are with them, they also can irritate us like no one else. There are countless examples in manga and anime, some of my personal favorites include Lupin, Goemon, and Jigen from the Lupin III stories, Spike and Jet from Cowboy Bebop (perhaps one of the best points in the entire series come from their final scene together) and most recently, Eikichi and Ryuji from Shonan Junai Gumi.
It is during the quest to understand and find one's own sense of self that he or she inevitably finds their true friends along the way, admiring in others what is sought for in their own self. At the core of Matsumoto Leiji's classic film Arcadia of My Youth, are these two universal themes, the bonds of friendship, and the search for one's own identity.
The film opens with the distant ancestor of Captain Harlock narrating his memoirs which depicting his attempt to fly past the most dangerous pass on earth in a small plane. Inititally admitting defeat, Phantom F. Harlock decides to attempt the deed, by greatly increasing the risk after dumping his surplus fuel, but also granting him a possibility to greatly increase the reward.
Flash forward to centuries in the future, a battered and defeated battleship, captained by the enigmatic man Harlock returns to Earth, and is forced to submit to the new rule of conquering forces. But this is merely the beginning. Harlock who has seemingly lost all that he once fought for, begins a rebirth, or perhaps his true self emerges. The film moves to show the events that move Harlock from a defeated man, to an identity of true resolve. His resolve is most prominent in his sense of honor, which manifests itself in both fierce loyalty to those he calls friends, and intense wrath anyone who would do him or his friends wrong.
This sense of honor is further brought forward later, when a leader of the power controlling Earth, the Illumidas Empire, seeks to challenge Harlock to a duel, not as members of opposing forces, but as two men. A subordinate of the leader questions this choice, and takes aim at Harlock. Upon seeking agreement from him the leader simply responds to the subordinate, "You're the one who aimed your gun. You finish this" leaving him to take responsibility for his own actions.
If there are things that particularly stand out in Arcadia of My Youth which is already an amazing film on the whole it would be the following two things. After their initial encounter, it is revealed that ancestors of Harlock and Tochiro were friends at the end of World War II, making it seem as if the two were destined to become friends, a concept that works well to show the nature of friendship. Many of us have those friends who not longer after meeting, seem to be simply feel like they were meant to be our friends.
The second would be the Matsumoto's meaning for the use of Skull and Crossbones as a symbol by which Harlock lives. It is not meant to induce fear. Rather it is a symbol of living by one's own ideals, and not simply adhering to the conventional or enforced norm. Harlock is a pirate because he chooses his own path and fights for what he feels to be just and worth contesting.

Overall Rating: 10/10

"At the end of their lives, all men look back and think that their youth was arcadia."
-Goethe

Ayashi no Ceres [Anime]

Watase Yuu's greatest talent in her method of storytelling is knowing how to make the proverbial shit hit the fan for her characters. Yet, the twists and turns are done in such a way that it's not simply sending the plot into melodrama, or such that we come to expect everything to go bad. The stories keep moving along.
My first exposure to Watase's work was Fusghigi Yugi, almost four full years ago. I found myself enthralled with the fantasy of the story and attached to the characters in the plot pretty quickly. I think my record was 10 straight episodes of the series in one day. Since then however, I'd only heard the names of a few of Watase's works, never actually watching them. I am glad to say that recently I fixed this error.
Thanks to a loan from a fellow Anime Boston staff member, this past week I went through Ayashi no Ceres, [Ceres, Celestial Legend]. Not long after starting the series, one question came to mind, "Why didn't anyone who knows this series insist I watch this?" Watase's mix of lighthearted comedy, shoujo romance, and intense action make Ceres a story that grabs a hold of you quickly, and doesn't let go until the very end.
The story starts off in what just seems to be some typical days of in the lives of a brother and sister pair of twins, Aya and Aki Mikage, as they reach their sixteenth birthday. Aya and Aki seem to be just normal kids, living a happy existence. All that comes to a screeching halt as Aya seems to miraculously escape a near-death experience and the pair is instructed to come to their grandfather's mansion on the day of their birthday. Things go from strange to downright mysterious as the two note all the adult relatives in their extended family are also gathering at the house as well.
Before they understand what is happening, mysterious powers awaken in Aya, and the family moves to protect Aki, and shuns Aya, even going as far to try and kill her; and that's just the beginning of the intense plot of Ceres. Past lives, searches for love, amazingly intense action, and all sorts of events continue to move the plot of the Ceres along. Little can be taken for granted in this twenty-four episode anime. All that can be expected are incredible twists and turns that showcase Watase's ability to really make her characters ordeals both vividly imaginative as well as believable. If one thing in the entire story of Ayashi no Ceres that shows Watase's storytelling talent better than her amazing twists and turns; it's her ability to bring all these twists back around at the end, giving her story proper closure.

"When the sixteen stars and moons come around, you will know where your fate would lead you. When I foresee are blood, anger, and tragedy..."