Podcast Episode 2: Taste the Kon!

V

VivisQueen

Adventurer
In episode two of the Nakama Britannica podcast, we discuss Satoshi Kon. People might be wondering, in light of his recent death, and the subsequent slew of media covering him, whether we have anything new to say about the life and works of a much-missed anime director. The answer is 'No, but we have a bloody good title to go with it!'

Well, okay, we tried to be a little innovative by coming at it from an angle others might not have considered. Even if he is much-celebrated and much-missed, his works are known for being damn unusual. The question arises, has Satoshi Kon got anything to offer the 'average' anime fan, that is, the person who is normally satisfied with their little girls and giant robots? Hopefully we convince you that the answer is 'yes'. Link below:

http://www.mediafire.com/?pv5s82v4435p1ki

PS. Thanks to Alan for a great job editing. We owe you one.
 
Yay, I've been waiting for this! Even if it was just mainly for another dose of Profs smooth vocals....lol I'm only joking (well, I'm not really..) I can't wait to hear what all three of you have to say about Kon. I'm clearly a Kon fan as you can tell from my avatar. First Miyazaki now Kon, you pick your topics well!

Although I may be a little slow here, but I don't actually get your title "taste the Kon"?
 
I ended up staying up and listening to the whole blasted thing when I realy=ly needed sleep. Great stuff as usual, its alwasy fasinating hearing three intelligent peoples opinions on Kon.

I think my favourite bit though was when vivi started daydreaming over Miyazaki and then siad "Wow, how did we get to this" then there was silence and then the other guy(sorry I've completely forgot you name) was like "mmmm", sounding like all three were in a momentary trance casued by Miyazaki's hunkiness. Don't worry guys I do exactly the same thing over Ken Watanabe.....mmmm.....

Anyway good stuff guys......and Prof, you take care of those silky smooths cords of yours until next time.....mmmm...
 
You guys will loooooove the Nakama Britannica Christmas Album, then, featuring Alan as lead.

And don't worry about the title. Probably something subliminal.
 
I just finished listening to it and I have to say you guys were brilliant. Loved the comments (although I disagree with your indifference to Roujin-Z which is hilarious), critiques and music cues.

Great effort.
 
Genkina Hito said:
I just finished listening to it and I have to say you guys were brilliant. Loved the comments (although I disagree with your indifference to Roujin-Z which is hilarious), critiques and music cues.

Great effort.
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This.

Oi Vivi, you and me might have beef over the complete lack of love Roujin Z was shown.

People don't believe them, its actually really good. I saw it when I was 12 and loved it and I still love it now.

I thoroughly approve of your bashing of Ghiblis Earthsea in both Podcasts (Hopefully you could continue this trend and try to squeeze in a dig at Earthsea in every podcast?) but bashing Roujin is just out of order.
 
Genkina Hito said:
I just finished listening to it and I have to say you guys were brilliant. Loved the comments (although I disagree with your indifference to Roujin-Z which is hilarious), critiques and music cues.

Great effort.
Click to expand...

Not had a chance to hear the podcast, but I must diagree about Roujin-Z - it's an underrated gem I my view.
 
Thing about Roujin-Z is that I could see the irony (trying to put old man out of the way but old man turns into mega-destructive machine... which is a subtle (lol) way of saying ageing population will be Japan's downfall) but the humour totally fell flat for me. I don't like slapstick and the stream-of-consciousness flow of the plot just didn't work for me.

Besides, if I remember correctly (haven't listened to the podcast myself yet becaue I hate the sound of my own voice) most of my 'criticism' was simply that I wasn't seeing Kon's usual attention to detail in the backgrounds. I mean, one of his early works, so I'll give him a break, but still... it just doesn't seem to match what he does today.... DID, what he DID.
 
Just gonna comment and update as it goes on, or I'll forget by the end.

So pleased to hear the amount of love for Perfect Blue, it is the film that got me into Kon and it just absolutely blew me away in terms of its directorial style, all the meshing of reality and jump cuts were just amazing.

Also, I've read Paprika (I'd like to read Perfect Blue too, but it's not been translated and I think the title is different too, it's Yume something I think, there was a live-action adaptation made in japan which was apparently 100% dire) and Kon's touch really brings together an otherwise rather dark plot.

It gives it a sense of fun and humour which I think is lacking in the novel, or rather, the humour in the novel is much blacker and more twisted, or maybe just more japanese so it wasn't as easy to pick up on or relate to.

The books is very well-written, and technically, a very interesting book in terms of the psychology etc. but I prefer Kn's more light-hearted vision, which is rather ironic considering Perfect Blue and Paranoia Agent =P

As to Paprika's ending, I agree, both with the abruptness and the lack of characterisation, they're both true of the novel too. I'm not saying Kon couldn't have corrected it or making excuses, but the novel isn't much fleshed out either.

It's funny you comment on Konikawa's character being more fleshed out because that's more or less all Kon. He is in part an amalgamation of Konikawa from the novel and another character, but the cinematic background is all on Kon really.

And yes there are Dream Machine references in Paprika, all the robot mascots at the theme park are pretty much the main characters of TDM, I even made a post on it on this very forum somewhere. "Paprika foreshadows Kon's next film" or something
 
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VivisQueen said:
Besides, if I remember correctly (haven't listened to the podcast myself yet because I hate the sound of my own voice)
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This is something I have heard from other people I know who do things such as podcasts and commentaries - but your voice is wonderful! I can't believe you would have a problem listening to it.
 
^
I agree, you have a great voice to listen to. So in combination with the other two(especially Prof) it makes for a very easy on ears podcast.

I hope you were serious about that Christmas album!
 
VivisQueen said:
Thing about Roujin-Z is that I could see the irony (trying to put old man out of the way but old man turns into mega-destructive machine... which is a subtle (lol) way of saying ageing population will be Japan's downfall) but the humour totally fell flat for me. I don't like slapstick and the stream-of-consciousness flow of the plot just didn't work for me.

Besides, if I remember correctly (haven't listened to the podcast myself yet becaue I hate the sound of my own voice) most of my 'criticism' was simply that I wasn't seeing Kon's usual attention to detail in the backgrounds. I mean, one of his early works, so I'll give him a break, but still... it just doesn't seem to match what he does today.... DID, what he DID.
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Fair points. As you say it was one of Kon's early works and to be fair Kitakubo directed so I bet his influence showed. As far as your voice goes Vivis, it is cool and intelligent sounding. As Vashdaman says it is a nice contrast with the two Scots.
 
Another good one guys keep up the hard work! Any chance you guys can start doing ones where you talk about different shows that you have been watching or something simlar?
 
You're all very kind, we'll certainly do our best to keep the episodes coming.

Most worrying though is how quickly my thought process went from "wait, what - Christmas album?", to "do I even know all the lyrics of Ai wo Torimodose?"... >.<
 
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