Presentation PA #67

La Vita e Bella, a la ARGENT SOMA (Life is Beautiful a la Argent Soma) -- Are you enjoying the TV broadcast of The Big O in North America? Then we here at Protoculture would like to introduce you to Big O director, and rising star, Kazuyoshi Katayama’s new series Argent Soma. With a total of 26 episodes which ended in March 2001, this brand new anime gives a different atmosphere and storytelling technique than his previous works, waxing lyrical with human feelings springing from the words of Shakespeare. Certainly there has been no anime show of this nature before. The story starts as if it’s about main character Takt Kaneshiro cum Soma’s revenge, but as the story progresses it goes far beyond a simple premise, investigating many mysteries and secrets. All characters are suffering psychologically due to mishaps and tragedies in their past, such as losing loving parents, a lover, wife, etc. A bit like Roberto Benini’s Life is Beautiful (more than in title alone) -- many go through horrible events, but realize they are responsible for their own happiness. Life is beautiful when they try to live optimistically. Many shows seem to use revenge as motivation for fighting and characters see this as spiritual nourishment. In this show, however, Soma finds absolutely nothing in the end, only memories and regrets. What is the point of revenge anyway?

This show, as it progresses, tells us the importance of word usage. Soma find out that words are the key to human communication. It may sound really simple to all of us, but choosing and saying the right words isn’t easy sometimes. He also finds out that there is no time to waste and no reason to close our hearts. In order to make life beautiful we must keep living no matter how hard things become. Outwardly, Argent Soma is science-fiction, but to me, through those wounded characters, it surely gives us the message that we cannot live without our painful past. All we need to do is to decide what makes us happy and to be ready to embrace everything that happens to us.

So, please enter the world of Argent Soma. You’ll be amazed to find a show so rich in many deep emotions.

Miyako Matsuda

The summer was really busy. We did lots of moving around & clean up, gardening, watched lots of movies at Fantasia (I’ve seen about 30 movies and I am now watching some more at the Montreal World Film Festival), etc. Through all this (and the scorching heat!), we worked hard and did our best to minimalize any delays in the production. This was not a small task (and it is certainly not a small issue: 72 pages, nearly 50,000 words, over 350 illustrations, about fifty reviews and presenting ten anime titles!!!). Despite our effort, we were a little late on our schedule. But we were not the only ones to be busy: our printer was so busy that they could print the magazine only several weeks after we gave it to them! Now, it is really late, but I am sure you will appreciate it even more: it has never been so full of information! It only reflects the fact that, this summer, the anime industry has also been quite busy: I’ve never seen so many title acquisition annoucements! Our anime world is getting bigger and more complex every year. It only makes an otaku’s life more beautiful!

This issue is offering a spotlight on the classic TV series Gatchaman (aka Battle Of The Planets, announced for release this fall from Rhino Home Video) as well as a short feature on Blood: The Last Vampire and an introduction to the original series of Mobile Suit Gundam (now airing on Cartoon Network). It also features “Anime World” articles (Conventions reports on SakuraKon, Anime Central, Animazement, Anime North & Fantasia, Anecdotes from Utena’s Director Kunihiko Ikuhara, artists Shimpei Itoh and Mio Odagi, an Interview with Fred Ladd and The Modern Japanese Music Database Part 11), an avalanche of short overviews on recent anime shows (“Anime Stories” on Ai No Awa Awa Awaaa, Argento Soma, Gakko no Kaidan, Genso Maden Saiyuki, Gundress, Tri Zenon, and Vandread !), the usual Reviews (of the latest Anime videos, Manga, Books, live-action movies and Model Kits), and the latest news! Enjoy!

Next Issue: the second part of our coverage on the classic TV series Gatchaman, along with several convention & festival reports (particularly on the FantAsia Film Festival and the Montreal World Film Festival), the usual “Anime World” articles, reviews, and latest news. But above all, this issue will offer tons of overviews on new anime titles to introduce you to Japanese animation of all styles (yaoi, boxing, car racing, drama, comedy, children, psychokinesic, etc.): Descendants Of Darkness (Yami no Matsu-Ei), Gravitation, Final Fantasy, Hajime no Ippo, Initial D, Karakuri Kiden Hiou Senki, Magic Camp Guru Guru, Marco, Metropolis, and Millenium Actress. Another incredibly informative 72-page issue! Coming late October! Don’t miss it! (And tell your friends about it!)...

Claude J. Pelletier