Yōko Ogawa’s 2004 novel Burafuman no maisō (Brahman’s Funeral) is a story about the lonely caretaker of an isolated artist’s retreat who adopts a forest creature of indeterminate species. Though this short novel features many of the tropes common in bestselling stories of animal companions, it was awarded the Izumi Kyōka Prize for literary fiction… Continue reading ブラフマンの埋葬 →
Contemporary Japanese Literature
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のだ
A subtle but important tip for written Japanese - How to Japanese - August 2023
のです
Mixing direct and distal styles - How to Japanese - December 2024
Children of the Beehive: What Happened Next (その後の蜂の巣の子供たち, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1951)
In an interesting piece of meta docufiction, Hiroshi Shimizu revisits the Beehive a few years later to find out how the orphans live now.
Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫, Hayao Miyazaki, 1997)
A young man from an exiled clan tries to make peace between the natural world and the industrial in Hayao Miyazaki’s landmark 1997 animation
生成AIの台頭と知的活動の隔絶の心配
AIが発達しても好奇心旺盛な人間、自己顕示欲が強くこだわりが強い創作者、頭の良さがずば抜けている人たち、天邪鬼、変人、狂人は創作や研究において頭角を現し続けるであろう。これは変わらないと思う。しかし頭のねじが壊れていない、その他大勢の方々は知的探求において受け身に甘んじたり思考が単純化しそうで怖い。 趣味の世界で没頭できる余裕がある人は大丈夫だろうけど、駆け出しの十代や日々の生活でかつかつな人たちからすればじっくり研究したり徐々に技を磨く工程が「贅沢な道楽」となってしまうのではないだろうか。 努力せずともそこそこ面白い想像や探究が可能とするAIだが、思考や論理組み立ての基礎が脆弱な段階からAIに依存するとカンペだよりと同じ結果になりそう。計算機を使う前に基礎的な計算方法を知らないとミスが発生しても対応に苦慮するのと同じである。計算機やAIをけなしているのではなく、それを使いこなす教育の不十分さと人間の怠慢さを危惧しているのだが…… また創作や研究への情熱を理解できない人はその重要性を「有効性」「生産性」や「人気」でしか図ることができなくなり、ますます人間の特権である遊び心の領域が退化する不安が先走る。杞憂であればよいのだが。 そもそも知的作業を営む人間の数がごく一部になってしまい、最先端にいる人とその他大勢の間に大きな隔たりが生まれると中世ヨーロッパのように「ラテン語の出来る人とできない人」のように認識能力においてかなり決定的な差異が発生しかねない心配をしている。 中世においてラテン語ができれば古代の知識や遠方の人間との交流を可能とする学術の言語だった。ラテン語ができれば自らの研究が共有されやすく、他者の知的探求を認知しやすくなる。いっぽうラテン語ができない人間は他者（権力者その他）による解説に依存することにある。 これまで人は創作や研究における競争が行き過ぎると、その内容ではなく人格攻撃やプラットフォームでの上げ足取りや人気取りの小手先を重要視する傾向がある。もちろんこれは兼光の個人的な印象でしかないが、日米を比較したり、これまでのメディア業界の歴史を振り返るとそのような事象が目立つのだ。巨大な統一プラットフォームでの勝ち組負け組形成による不均衡の増大より、複数のプラットフォームで色々な競争があったの方が文化は豊かになると思っている。 プラットフォームの集約と生成AIの問題は別だが、片方がもう片方を悪化させる可能性は否めないのではないだろうか。 すごい作品ばかりが立ち並ぶ領域にいきなり立たされると人は委縮しやすい。最初は身近な箱庭がいい。家庭の中で、学校で、同人誌即売会の中で――ローカルで技を磨き、やがて本当に上を目指す人はより大きなステージへ。 しかし生成AIから手軽に研究・創作できると最初からグローバルでの競争となるために、気軽に身近な場所で下手の横好きから創作・研究が始められず、挫折する人が増えそうな気がして仕方ない。 これがすべて50代中盤のおっさんの身勝手な心配であればいいのだが……
![Featured image for Episode #72 (S10E1) – Princess Mononoke [ もののけ姫] (1997)](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20240131/1706688971.78398.116105.jpg)
Episode #72 (S10E1) – Princess Mononoke [ もののけ姫] (1997)
We kick off Season 10 with one of the most internationally renowned animated films of all time. Derick McDuff of the Underrated network returns to discuss Studio Ghibli’s…
Nosari: Impermanent Eternity (のさりの島, Tatsuya Yamamoto, 2020)
An ore ore scammer’s cynical worldview is challenged when he finds temporary harbour with an elderly woman in Yamamoto’s touching indie drama
Under the Turquoise Sky (ターコイズの空の下で, KENTARO, 2021)
An aimless young man embarks on a spiritual journey after being sent to Mongolia to look for the daughter his grandfather left behind 70 years previously in the…
Death Within the Evil Eye / 魔眼の匣の殺人
It’s difficult to succeed genius. Chrono Cross isn’t as good as Chrono Trigger , Bioshock 2 isn’t as good as Bioshock , and National Treas...
Seven Weeks (野のなななのか, Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2014)
“A death is a history” in Obayashi’s intensely moving tale of the interconnectedness of all things, love, death, war, and memory.
からだの美
Yōko Ogawa’s 2023 collection からだの美 brings together sixteen short essays on the theme of bodies and physicality. The three primary topics are sports, performing arts, and animals. The…
Replaceable Summer / 夏のレプリカ
In the opening paragraph of my Illusion Acts Like Magic review, I described how Moe met her high school friend Tomoe Minosawa, and then nev...
アニメ制作の昔話 ー 竹内孝次のインタビュー
The post アニメ制作の昔話 ー 竹内孝次のインタビュー appeared first on Full Frontal.
August in the Water (水の中の八月, Sogo Ishii, 1995)
How does the world, or perhaps the cosmos, attempt to communicate with us? As Douglas Adams once did, August in the Water (水の中の八月, Mizu no naka no Hachigatsu)…
The Floating Castle (のぼうの城, Isshin Inudo & Shinji Higuchi, 2012)
A provincial castle’s division to stand up to an invading army sends shock waves through the feudal order in Isshin Inudo & Shinji Higuchi’s lighthearted historical drama
While Yet a Wife / 妻の日の愛のかたみに / Tsuma no hi no ai no katamini (1965)
Obscure Japanese Film #141 Ayako Wakao Chieko (Ayako Wakao) and Kitahara (Eiji Funakoshi) are country schoolteachers who get married and a...
I Live in Fear (生きものの記録, Akira Kurosawa, 1955)
An elderly man’s nuclear paranoia threatens to tear his family apart in Kurosawa’s post-war social drama.
Gold Kingdom and Water Kingdom (金の国 水の国, Kotono Watanabe, 2022)
After centuries of conflict, two feuding countries finally begin to put the past behind them to work for a common future in Kotono Watanabe’s animated fantasy romance.
A Hen in the Wind (風の中の牝鶏, Yasujiro Ozu, 1948)
A wife makes a fateful choice to save her child while her husband is away at war only to be resented for it on his return in an…
傘の下、ふたり
Author & Artist: ぢゅん子 (Junko)Released March 2012 by Kaiohsha’s Gush ComicsGenre: Drama, Romance
５２ヘルツのクジラたち
５２ヘルツのクジラたち is a bestselling novel by Sonoko Machida that won the 2021 Japan Booksellers’ Award Grand Prize. In March 2024, the story was adapted into a feature film…
Crystal Pyramid / 水晶のピラミッド
Crystal Pyramid is a grand, larger-than-life mystery that is perhaps a bit too grand and larger-than-life. Souji Shimada’s recurring detective Kiyoshi Mitarai investigates a murder that occurred at…
She is me, I am her (ワタシの中の彼女, Mayu Nakamura, 2022)
A gentle sense of haunting echoes through four tales of pandemic-era Tokyo in Mayu Nakamura’s ethereal anthology.
On the Edge of Their Seats (アルプススタンドのはしの方, Hideo Jojo, 2020)
It’s only natural to be a little anxious in the last year of high school but a collection of his school students are in danger of giving up…
The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭 Kotonoha no Niwa) is a 2013 Japanese...
The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭 Kotonoha no Niwa) is a 2013 Japanese anime film produced by CoMix Wave Films and directed by Makoto Shinkai. Garden of Words [Blu-ray]
The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭 Kotonoha no Niwa) is a 2013 Japanese...
The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭 Kotonoha no Niwa) is a 2013 Japanese anime film produced by CoMix Wave Films and directed by Makoto Shinkai. Garden of Words [Blu-ray]
『戦国魔神ゴーショーグン 時の異邦人（エトランゼ）』のあとがき
『戦国魔神ゴーショーグン 時の異邦人（エトランゼ）』のあとがき
アニメ業界の今とそのこれから – NAFCA代表ロングインタビュー
The post アニメ業界の今とそのこれから – NAFCA代表ロングインタビュー appeared first on fullfrontal.moe.
The House of Hanging (病院坂の首縊りの家, Kon Ichikawa, 1979)
A legacy of familial trauma engulfs a once noble house in Kindaichi’s final and most complicated case
Those Who Submerge Like the Water Spirit / 水魑の如き沈むもの
And so one we come once again to a spooky murder mystery with Genya Toujou. I find it funny how for both series I review on a set…
Those Who Sneer Like the Mountain Fiend / 山魔の如き嗤うもの
Another Genya Toujou book, another series of bizarre murders in a remote village that are entangled with the local folklore. Those Who Snee...
Rei (莉の対, Toshihiko Tanaka, 2024)
As the opening title cards of Toshihiko Tanaka’s Rei (莉の対, Rei no Tsui) somewhat paradoxically explain, Rei is a kanji character that has no real meaning on its…
Jigoku Hanazono (地獄の花園)
Jigoku Hanazono (地獄の花園) is absolute trash, hilarious and unforgivable, and probably puzzling to anyone who isn’t deeply interested in girl-gang lore. It’s a movie tailored almost …
Umibe no Cain (海辺のカイン)
For those of us interested in Yuri, the name Kimura Minori might not be the first one of the Magnificent 49ers who comes to mind, but like so…
Uyanotsuki, Volume 1 ( 雨夜の月)
Saki loves piano. Or does she? She loves taking lessons with her teacher, she’s sure of that. But her teacher is leaving… In Uyanotsuki, Volume 1 ( 雨夜の月),…
となりのメタラーさん
Author & Artist: マミタ (Mamita)Released April 2020 by Tokuma Shoten Publishing’s Chara ComicsGenre: Romance, Drama
幻の光 OST - Ming-Chang Chen
Maborosi [Maboroshi no Hikari] Directed by: Hirokazu Koreeda 1995 Download
Kalanchoe (カランコエの花, Shun Nakagawa, 2017)
The truth is, most people genuinely mean well but they often make mistakes. They make them because they don’t think things through, fail to consider perspectives outside of…
Girls in the Orchard / 花の中の娘たち / Hana no naka no musumetachi (1953)
Obscure Japanese Film #109 Mariko Okada Toho’s first feature film in full colour concerns the Ishii family, who live in the rural area of ...
The Deer King (鹿の王 ユナと約束の旅, Masashi Ando & Masayuki Miyaji, 2021)
A lone survivor comes to represent both salvation and destruction in Ando & Miyaji’s fantasy adventure.
アニメ業界のロックンロール – ウェブ系としてのりょーちもロングインタビュー
The post アニメ業界のロックンロール – ウェブ系としてのりょーちもロングインタビュー appeared first on fullfrontal.moe.
Yakuza Graveyard (やくざの墓場 くちなしの花, Kinji Fukasaku, 1976)
A maverick cop finds himself sympathising with noble yakuza when confronted by entrenched corruption in Kinji Fukasaku’s jitsuroku-esque gangster drama.
Those Who Cast a Curse Like the Headless / 首無の如き祟るもの
And so we arrive at the third book in the Genya Toujou series . The previous two books provided a wonderful blend of J-horror, murder myster...
Leaving on the 15th Spring (旅立ちの島唄～十五の春～, Yasuhiro Yoshida, 2013)
“How many of them will come back?” a man on the shore ominously asks as he watches the young people of his island ship out to pursue their…
レポート 『ちびねこトムの大冒険』のThe Beacon劇場、シアトル上映
何かの奇跡で『ちびねこトム』がまた米国で上映することになった。
Movie Review: A Silent Voice (聲の形)
Based on a popular manga comic, Japanese director Naoko Yamada’s (K-On) affecting drama about the tempestuous relationship between a boy who hears and a girl who doesn’t; this…
Suzaku (萌の朱雀, Naomi Kawase, 1997)
Changing times and economic malaise slowly encroach upon the lives of an ordinary rural family in Naomi Kawase’s Caméra d’Or winning feature debut
Double-Headed Devil / 双頭の悪魔
They say two heads are better than one, but I suppose it depends on whose heads we’re talking about… Maria Arima, having witnessed the bruta...