Monday 17 December 2012

Just finished: Fujiko F. Fujio no Parallel Space

This series of six short stories was broadcast in 2008 but only recently subbed by Unsolved Cases. Each one is a curious tale with interesting ideas. At least the first four are. No idea what happened to the last two.

Episode one is the most interesting, based around a camera that tells you the true value of things when you take a photo. It's shot in a very un-naturalistic style, taking its framing and composition directly from comic strips.



Episode two is about a journalist who is sent to report on an old friend who claims to have invented a time machine. The end of this story is so quick, that its easy to miss how cleverly structured this story is, and it definitely deserves to be seen twice.


Episode three is a peculiar one, about an actor who never stands up for himself and never seems to express any anger (or happiness) at the result of his inactions. This is a little confusing and I'm not sure I really understood it, but interesting nevertheless.


Episode four is about a dentist who owns a pair of glasses that allow you to see if someone is truly beautiful, or just superficial. This has Aso Kumiko as the dentist, and while the ending may be obvious, it's still a good story.


Then there are the final two episodes, where the quality suddenly drops. Episode five is about some aliens studying human behaviour and finding it baffling. So what? And the last is something about a childhood game of setting up a republic that'll only have nice people in, and how easily the dreams can be ruined. Or can they? Very ordinary, and why do so many Japanese writers think the worst thing that can happen is to move to America?

But four out of six ain't bad.

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