World Shakuhachi Discussion / Go to Live Shakuhachi Chat
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I know that some folks will laugh, but I do enjoy watching certain action cartoons still. I think they take over from when I used to collect comic books as a kid. My wife and other members of my family think it is pretty juvenille, and I imagine it is.
Most recently, I tivo'd the Inuyasha series that plays, or at least used to play, on Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. I found it pretty addicting. Every once in a while you can catch a shakuhachi phrase or note giving emphasis to a certain scene or line. It is usually a dai kan note that seems to relay a sense of isolation and/or dire consequences. Upon researching a little Japanese language, I was surprised to find one of the main characters, a lecherous monk that often hoodwinks folks into paying him for bogus exorcisms of demons that don't exist, is named for Matreya, the Buddha to be born. His name is Miroku. I liked how the most lecherous character was named for the Buddha. It is kind of funny and puts all of our petty little sins into perspective. Sorry, moving away from the Buddhism junk now. Anyway, I wondered if others enjoyed other anime series or movies and if they noticed the Shakuhachi, as well as the Koto or Shamisen, in them.
Now, I feel like a wicked big nerd. :-B
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lowonthetotem wrote:
I know that some folks will laugh, but I do enjoy watching certain action cartoons still.
Now, I feel like a wicked big nerd. :-B
Ahem... You're not alone. I used to watch Adult Swim with some regularity. I still think Space Ghost and Sealab were hilarious.
As to shakuhachi in anime - check out the kitty komusos in Studio Ghibli's "The Cat Returns".
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Elliot K wrote:
lowonthetotem wrote:
I know that some folks will laugh, but I do enjoy watching certain action cartoons still.
Now, I feel like a wicked big nerd. :-BAhem... You're not alone. I used to watch Adult Swim with some regularity. I still think Space Ghost and Sealab were hilarious.
As to shakuhachi in anime - check out the kitty komusos in Studio Ghibli's "The Cat Returns".
Our family anime addiction started with "Witch Hunter Robin" on Adult Swim. Now we have walls full of manga and anime DVDs...
I'm embarrassed to have missed (or forgotten) the komuso cats in "The Cat Returns", despite having watched it several times. Um, with our 8-year-old. Heh.
There are tengai-wearing characters in an episode of "Samurai Champloo", but they're just used for concealment.
There's a great deal of shakuhachi in the music for the mega-popular series "Naruto."
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Yup. I'm pushing 50, and watch anime...
I work with at risk youth, and it is a great ace to have up your sleeve when you are trying to make connections!
That's where I first was exposed to shakuhachi in a cultural musical context - except for all of the cheesy shakuhachi samples that they layered on with a trowel in the top 40 music of the 80's. That was just annoying.
Last edited by Taldaran (2009-04-28 22:06:31)
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Oh no, I too shall now have to divulge my secret obsession. I haven't taken notice of Shakuhachi in anime up until now though.
Shameless list of some of my favourite anime to follow:
naruto, inuyasha, dragon ball (& z & gt), lain, vampire hunter d, blood the last vampire, samurai 7, texhnolyze, otogi zoshi, rorouni kenshin, samurai x, twelve kingdoms, wolf's rain, hellsing, saiyuki, samurai champloo, haibane renmei. Avatar is definitely worth checking out, not japanese anime though.
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This is quite slow moving, and viewable online only (Flash animation), but it thought it was beautifully constructed, decent story, great soundtrack.
Perhaps not up to the mark for the hard-core anime mavens among us, but worth a look, I think:
Ninjai: The Little Ninja
http://www.ninjai.com/
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I like most bizarre comedy or horror anime. Anime is also the only genre i'll really watch any kind of sci-fi (Aside from movies like Sunshine & Event Horizon, both psycological thrillers)
Has anyone seen Atama-yama? (Mount Head) It's part of Mike Judge's Animation Show.
It's about a guy who has a cherry tree growing out of his head and is narrated (sung) in Japanese on a Shamisen. It's a short film, but very good.
Last edited by Vevolis (2009-04-29 10:06:03)
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I've been watching anime since Voltron in the early 80s! Of course I was just a little girl then! I still love anime, my favorite is Dragonball Z, my husband HATES it! I"ll admit I really don't like inuyahsha at all! Actually I hate that show, but thats just me I know its actually pretty popular, or at least it use to be. I use love Tenchi, I had a friend who referred to it as the sienfield of anime hehehehehe, he was so right!
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Was Speed Racer, Astroboy, and Marine Boy back in the '60's anime? After I got used to the big eyes and cartoon style I loved those shows.
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I watched Speed Racer when I was a kid and loved it, but having seen it more recently, have to admit it's really not that good. But not as bad as the recent movie, which was horrible. I once wore a Speed Racer t-shirt to a Japanese restaurant, and it was a huge hit with the waitress.
I don't know anime, but I like cartoons. My kids (5 & 7) and I like The Tick (There's an episode titled "The Tick vs The Big Nothing") and Samurai Jack, which has lots of drumming, but no shakuhachi, at least not that I've noticed.
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Vevolis wrote:
I like most bizarre comedy or horror anime. .
I am really fond of the Ayakashi series.
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I started out with anime in the 80's--without subtitles. It was sometimes a little difficult to know what was going on. I still like Akira a lot. I have enjoyed Macross (yeah, and Robotech after school), El-Hazard, all of the Miyazaki films, and various other fun stuff (Lupin). Oh, and A Chinese Ghost Story, which I think is actually Chinese animation.
an amazing, slow, artistic, wordless anime of the 80's: Angel's Egg. Incredibly lovely and poignant.
I have always wanted to write a script, anime or not, where a shakuhachist in full tengai and all takes on a bunch of samurai (demon samurai, of course, with glowing red eyes) with a huge honkin' shakuhachi. Then, of course, the shakuhachi player takes off the tengai and it's a girl...look, I didn't say it wouldn't be cheesy!
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Lupin
I haven't seen a Lupin episode in a few years. I loved that one. Cowboy Bebop is cool too, in a cheesy sort of way that is common to most science fiction.
I"ll admit I really don't like inuyahsha at all!
I have to admit that I don't enjoy every episode, although I am fairly sure that I have seen most of them, if not all, at least those adult swim has to offer. I think there are a couple of movies, which I have not seen. The series never resolves itself, storywise. I think that happens in the movie/s.
I have always wanted to write a script, anime or not, where a shakuhachist in full tengai and all takes on a bunch of samurai (demon samurai, of course, with glowing red eyes) with a huge honkin' shakuhachi. Then, of course, the shakuhachi player takes off the tengai and it's a girl...look, I didn't say it wouldn't be cheesy!
I think it sounds pretty cool, but I am biased in favor of women. Of course the sound track would have to be 100% shakuhachi; well, maybe some ensemble pieces. I wonder how I would set music to a battle scene as opposed to a walking/journey scene. And, it would be cool to mix original scores with more traditional pieces. Plotwise, you'd have to reconcile why she was hidden away in the monastery as a babe. No doubt to save her from the same demon samurai that murdered her folks. She masters the flute as an instrument of meditation as well as combat fighting off the advances of less than reputable adepts and monks. Bitchin'
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Yeah, it has to be the ol' hidden away because she's a princess or something. Naturally her twin sister was then raised by Hattori Hanzo ninjas.
I should get on that script.
Has anyone else enjoyed the silliness that is "Project A-ko"? Part one only; the other parts are no good.
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I was doing my weekly check for anime in a store yesterday and came across one of my old favourites, Sailor Moon. Just love that show.....not quite sure why!
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I Tivo'd "Ghost in the Shell" yesterday, the animated movie that is. I haven't gotten a chance to watch it yet though. I am thinking it is set in the future, so the chances of hearing some shakuhachi on it are slim.
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