Mind Game (Studio 4C)

[aran]

Looks... interesting.
http://www.mindgame.jp/trailer/index.html

Here's a translation of a Newtype (July 10, 2004) Masaaki Yuasa/Shin'ichiro Watanabe/Koji Morimoto interview about it:

Morimoto: We'd been thinking of doing Mind Game at Studio 4C for a while when I saw Cat Soup, and I knew right then and there that Yuasa was the only man for the job. It was like a marriage made in heaven. (laughs)

Yuasa: My reaction was: Are you sure you want ME to do it?? Hey, so long as you're sure, I'll do it. But just don't come crying to me afterwards! (laughs) The original manga has a really improvised feel to it, like someone just wrote it in one sitting without thinking it out ahead of time. I wanted to transfer that feeling into the movie. To keep the images really loose and unpredictable, almost slapdash. Like I just decided to throw in some live action here, some CG there, without any thought, just for kicks. (laughs) That's what I hope the movie feels like when you're watching it, sort of unfinished, improvised, like a brainstorm in progress.

Morimoto: Rough drawings can have a lot more charm, but it's hard to make them work in a film. On the other hand, if you worry too much about how a drawing will look on the screen, it comes out looking too clean, without any life, without zip. It's hard to find the right balance between the two.

Watanabe: Just because you go and draw a half-assed picture doesn't mean it'll look "rough" on the screen. (laughs) You really have to calculate every line to get that rough feeling right.

Morimoto: The tension was palpable over in Yuasa's section. The two of us were next door working on Animatrix, and it looked like they were having so much fun over there. (laughs)

Watanabe: What with all these bizarre pictures they had pasted up all over the walls, it was like, what the heck kind of a movie are they making over there?! (laughs) I read the manga and it was great. But I thought, it would be such a shame to put just your everyday ordinary movie music for a manga like this! That would ruin it! (laughs) But nobody seemed to know who to get to do the music, so I sort of elected myself to the post of Music Producer. (laughs)

Yuasa: It's funny, I only heard about that much later. (laughs) One day they say to me, "Oh yeah, by the way, Watanabe's taking care of the music." "He is!?" (laughs) I had a certain idea of what I wanted, but I just didn't know who to turn to...

Watanabe: Yuasa-san had made a sort of compilation tape of songs to give a sense of what he wanted... and man, it was just all over the place! (laughs) From one scene to the next you'd jump from one song to something wildly different. Really not the sort of thing a normal person would request. (laughs) So I thought the only person for the job was the almighty Seiichi Yamamoto, the king of the alternative music scene. He'd done just about every sort of music imaginable. And his music has just the sort of rough-edged feeling that would fit the film. Plus they're both from Osaka! (laughs)

Morimoto: The music was perfect, it was just amazing. You know, my kids were watching the film the other day, and my wife turned it off at a certain point. It was the sex scene. She was pissed. "What the hell are you showing our kids!?" (laughs)

Yuasa: Aw, it's not that bad. (laughs)

Watanabe: That's an incredible scene.

Morimoto: I was amazed you'd reveal so much about yourself on the screen like that: "So this is the kind of sex Yuasa-san has!" (laughs)

Yuasa: No, trust me, I haven't revealed anything. (laughs) I'm much more... (pauses)

Watanabe: Not like that. (laughs)

Yuasa: I'm hoping the film is good entertainment, that's all... If people leave the theater feeling they had a good time, then I'll be satisfied. With a little luck maybe they'll see the world a little differently afterwards, but basically it's good, old-fashioned entertainment to appeal to the whole family. (all three burst out laughing)

Watanabe: I wonder... (laughs)

http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/index.php?p=64

Robin Nishi, Seiichi Yamamoto and Takeshi Fujii are involved in the production of it as well.

[MadModBassist]

I was searching for some new anime on anime.mikomi and I found a movie called Mind Game. I read about it and...what in the world is this?

Needless to say my curiosity is piqued as usual, but...wow, this looks insanely insane and pretty sexual, so I'm not sure if I'd like to watch.

Have any of you guys seen or heard of it? Look for it on Wikipedia if you want; it's under Mind Game (film). It's won a major award, so that means it must've done something right, even though it sounds like something so horribly wrong.

I dunno; I'd like to see it, but I'd like to hear some reviews on it first if any of you guys have seen it.

[Mueti]

I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't. Just watch it - you (hopefully) won't be disappointed.

It's great.

[roriconfan]

Yeah, it's insanely fast paced and weird. Plus it has a lot of sexual content. And the ending needs interpetation on your own. Worthy mindscrew.

[ragnarokr]

It's unusual anime for unusual anime tastes. It all depends how much do you enjoy your share of unusual anime.

From your comment, I guess you're not familiar with this type of anime. Go ahead, Mind Game might be the one to open your eyes for the genre.