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Presentation PA #72Spirited Away And The Power Of Fantasy. Spirited Away has become the biggest Japanese anime (and even Japanese film) industry success in its history and its wave will soon arrive in North America and abroad (in fact, it is already playing in France and should start on U.S. screens on September 20th). As I also watched the super hit movie Harry Potter, based on the fantasy novels by J.K. Rowling, I begin to feel that today many children and adults from all over the world are really seeking Fantasy. Especially after Sept. 11, I really believe that Fantasy has the power to save people, particularly children, who feel even more helpless when things are tough and reality is ugly. When children (and even adults) have to face too many hard realities and difficulties, they feel mentally stressed unless they have somewhere to escape to, at least, for a while. Kid heroes, like Harry and Chihiro, do have the power to make things better for stressedout people. Some film makers (and anime creators) have their own way to express themselves and choose to show "reality" instead, but when things are not so nice in reality and lunatics like Osama Ben Laden and his idiots from Al- Quaeda are on the loose, I think Fantasy is a very good way to forget for a while. As I watched Spirited Away and Harry Potter, I felt that both creators (Director Miyazaki and writer Rowling) seemed to want to teach children about the difficult and delicate challenges we face every day of our lives and how to find our own places in this existence. Chihiro is forced to say "Please let me work here" in order to survive. Easier said than done, and we, adults, know that entering into an organization (such as school, the workplace, etc.) and find ourselves recognized are not easy. How can we teach children, in a loving manner, how to be civil and productive members of society? I have no doubt that children who watch Chihiro in Spirited Away would be stronger psychologically and, hopefully, become productive people. At first, Chihiro is a girl who does not know anything and has not seen much of the world around her, but she is forced to learn how society works. In fact, in this show, there are no good or evil characters, even when the Gods are concerned. They are just like us, everyday people. Even Yubaba, who is a witch, is not evil, although she looks mean. She is the owner and administrator of the bath house. In other words, she is also working hard in order to survive. She has to take care of her workers, she has a baby of her own to look after and is tormented by her own desires and jealousy. And yet, when Chihiro does a good job, Yubaba praises her and speaks highly of her in front of the other workers. I heard the anecdote that Director Miyazaki tries to praise Ghibli workers. Then these workers become happy and work even harder! So please, sit down and watch Spirited Away when it becomes available in North America. I am sure that it will make you cheerful! We surely need positive feelings these days! Miyako Matsuda * * *This special issue is a condensed guide to Hayao MIYAZAKI's universe. It offers a 30-page article on Miyazaki, the man, his work and his world! It is covering all the major movies he worked on (particularly his latest: Spirited Away), the first TV series he directed (Future Boy Conan), the last TV series he worked on (Sherlock Hound), his manga (Nausicaa, Shuna no Tabi), some little known works (On Your Mark, Little Nemo), his museum, and his collaborators (Isao Takahata, Joe Hisaishi). It is not exhaustive, but it provides the essentials, just to introduce you to the subject and interest you in researching it more. We hope you will find this spotlight useful. This issue also provides our usual overview of the Anime World (an interview with voice actor Angora Deb, reports on conventions KatsuCon and Anime Central as well as the Modern Japanese Music Datanase Part 16), many reviews (of books, live-action movies, manga, model kits and anime) and the latest news. There are no Anime Stories, but they will be back in next issue. As always, we worked very hard to continue to provide you with the best guide to anime culture, so do also your part and don't forget to send us your comments on the anime world, give some feedback on our work and your suggestions of anime & manga titles to cover. I also want to apologize for the fact that PA#71 was so late (nearly two months!). Unfortunately, it was due to the exceptional cumulation of various problems (computer & printer problems, late ads, distributor screw-ups, etc.) and a backlog of numerous administrative tasks that needed to be cleared (accounting, running after late paying advertisers, planning future improvements of the magazine -- like better paper & printing quality, etc.). We were often late in the past, but we have improved the regularity of our (for now bimonthly) schedule. Our statistics show that, in the past four years, PA#71 is the ONLY issue to have been that late. I admit that we still are often late, but just a little (a couple of weeks). Producing such a magazine with a limited staff is difficult and those little delays are unavoidable. But we are working on improving that too! Anyway, stop complaining! The improvements that this issue (hopefully) shows are the proof we are working hard! Enjoy it! Next Issue: a focus on Char's CounterAttack, with Anime Stories on Cosmo Warrior Zero, Cowboy Bebop Movie, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Natsu He no Tobira, Project ARMS, Sakura Wars Movie, Scryed, Slayer Premium, and more! Don't miss it! Claude J. Pelletier |