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today i'm finding solace in the fact that leaves still find a way to reflect the sun after their home, the sanctuary of the forest, is ravaged by storm. that they shine as brightly as they do under constant threat of the formless wind, an untamed, unpredictable, and godlike force that directs their every movement. a shining breeze is the pure synthesis of leaves, rain, and wind - a beautiful marvel of nature but…

Forgetting is normal

It's nearly impossible to quantify a work as densely layered as this but taken merely as a portayal of adolescent grief it is deliberately jagged and volatile, essentially two hours of Miyazaki peeling back his typically more disguised pathos to reveal the unflinchingly naked emotionality behind it; the sense of childlike innocence, wonder, and imagination I would associate with virtually every Miyazaki film from my childhood has been upended here by a protagonist confronted with loss and…

We do nothing for the society

What society? We are the society.

Tam utilizing every pop styling available to construct this beautifully apathetic and elementally blissful fantasy of four youths living out a teen dream separated from any notion of class or politics, but only to show that their entire being—even their love games—are part of a global reality much larger, unfathomably brutal, and more complex than they understand, maybe one they never will. A cruel story of youth wherein…

This isn't our world anymore

That Woo's contributions to Heroic Bloodshed are all exercises of melodrama in action is hardly worth mentioning at this point but I dunno, nobody can understate to me how much of a melodrama his first work in the genre—and perhaps the most important one in its evolution—really is with a soundtrack like this. Woo would gradually excise the usage of cantopop ballads in later films, and while their emotions remained palpable and utterly direct they…

I took you to kindergarten every day. I bought a bus and went with you. Every single day. For three years. You'd cry when I left so I waited outside until kindergarten was over. For three years! I love you so much. Do you love me? Do you still love me like I love you? You never say so, but...

It’s practically impossible to capture a person’s entire life in forty minutes, but this "diary" does a fantastic job…

This had me in its grasp until the last three episodes. I wouldn't say that any of those episodes are outright bad, but I found the conclusion to be a waste of the series tense buildup. In concept I actually like the twisty reveal; it works thematically with Satoru's search for a father figure, and that man becoming the fallen angel of the narrative. However, I do not think it was developed particularly well. I predicted it all probably too…