Can I ask you a personal question? Ever been to the Shinjuku Wald 9 theater before? I ask because it looks like they are showing Adieu Galaxy Express 999 (i.e The Greatest Anime Movie Ever Made) until Friday. That catch is, it only screens during the extremely taxing hours of 11:50pm to 2:10am when my abilities to appreciate epic battles between "freedom fighters" and immortal machine men are at their lowest (see also: jetlag). Largely, I'm terrified they are going to show it in ghetto digital, which tends to happen a lot these days with revivals. Either way, I'm kinda tempted, ota-tempted...so how about it, Mr. Harrison?
The first few minutes of that film were great, but after he catches the train it sort of all goes downhill from there. People tend to diss Yoshinobu Nishizaki, but I wonder if the pressure from him made Matsumoto do better work on the Yamato series? Call me a die-hard Star Blazers fan, but the other Matsumoto work never quite measured up to me. I think the best he ever did on his own was the first Harlock series, which I enjoyed watching back in the day on WNJU.
Posted by: Fanboy | February 21, 2007 at 01:57 AM
Gee, I haven't been to the Shinjuku Wald 9 since...EVER! Ha! But...
I would go to this. I would think about all the second guessing I would do over NOT going. I loves me some big screen anime. The though of MAYBE them hauling out a beat up 35mm print, with reel change marks and splices all over makes me giddy. Oh, sure, I love to watch a movie that's perfect, but there's something...emotional about watching a somewhat used print. There's a connection with the past somehow.
I say down a bottle or two of Liptovan (or that V drink Ahhnald promotes) and solider on!
If I were there? I would SO berate you if you didn't go.
Look, don't you want to see with your own eyes who ELSE shows up for it? Call it research if you must.
Posted by: Steve Harrison | February 21, 2007 at 08:08 AM