Geraci: Princess Mononoke

Taken from genjipress.com 

Princess Mononoke has a variety of complex characters. San, for example, has intense emotions that are never hidden away from other people. She does not even try to hide her intense hatred for humans. I think that is because she was raised in the forest among the wolves. When she grew up, she was probably taught not to hide away her emotions because cutting off a part of herself would endanger her life. There is a good and evil going on inside of San. There is good and evil going on inside all of us, but San is more in tune with every aspect of herself, and she is able to freely act upon what she feels without second-guessing herself. San grew up in the forest, it is and will always be her home and the only place she feels comfortable. She loves the forest and every animal and plant in it. She respects the life and death of every creature, except the humans. The good in her is heavily over-showered by the blinding hatred she feels for the humans. Her hate is not something that could ever fully disappear. Her hatred runs deep in her veins and she is not afraid to show it to those she does not like. The evil inside her can not be scrubbed away by Ashitaka's love and kindness. Perhaps, in time, she would be able to trust the humans.

Lady Eboshi is a completely different story. She is a woman of the city, of modern advances, and of tough opposition. Lady Eboshi cannot afford to be seen as weak in front of her enemies. She hides away her emotions and embraces her life with statue-like grace. One cannot tell whether or not she is feeling vindictive, elated, or concerned. She keeps up a tough front so her enemies would think twice about messing with her. She took the women out of prostitution and put them to good, honest work, she had the men do hard labor, and she gave the lepers care and jobs. All that good is also over-shadowed by her hatred for San, the wolf tribe, and any part of nature that gets in the way of her city's improvement. Ashitaka told her a few time that she has a demon inside her. I believe that demon was greed and hatred. He had to keep telling her about her demon because she could not recognize it inside her. She is not in-tune with every aspect of herself, so she would have never been able to see how the evil inside her was taking over the good.

Geraci: Grave of the Fireflies

Taken from laurenbuckley.com

Grave of the Fireflies is the most heartbreaking and sad anime that I have ever seen. The contrast between the playfulness of the children and the seriousness of the war that was going on around them was shown throughout the movie. When Seita and Setsuko go to their aunt’s house, they try to keep their minds off the bad that was the war, and all the death that went with it, and have some fun, so they would not be swallowed up by depression. When they are playing the piano, they are trying to regain some semblance of normality, but their aunt scolds them for being cheerful in a time of war. She kept saying how hard her family worked for the war effort, however, I think they were just using school or work as a way to distract themselves from the horror. Seita and Setsuko had no other means to do that because their school was bombed. When the aunt told them to make their own dinner, Seita tried to keep up a good attitude for Setsuko, and tried to make it fun for her. When they finally left, Seita worked really hard to keep Setsuko’s life happy and carefree. When the playful atmosphere was forcibly stripped away, they had to face the ugliness and cruelty of the adult world; a world where the people who were supposed to look out for you, did not even spare you a glance. The adults would just brush off Seita and Setsuko like they were not even there. The adults are responsible for Setsuko and Seita’s death. It was through their carelessness that brought about the starvation of both these children. Their deaths were not fair, but most deaths are not. It is a reminder that in war, not all casualties are found on the battlefield.

I forgot to read the article. 

Geraci: The Harp of Burma

Taken from Animenation.net 

   The Harp of Burma, is not like any anime I have seen recently. The animation is low budget, the characters are not cleanly cut, and the story line is relatively simple. The setting of this anime is in Burma around when WWII ended. The group that we follow has learned how to sing from their leader so when they are low on morale, they can sing away their troubles for a while. The character who can play the Burmese Harp, Mizushima, is a good man with a strong sense of duty. This sense of duty leads him to stay behind to bury the people who were killed in the war and whose bodies were left out in the open where animals can get to them. Death is a big part of Japanese culture. Americans tend not to put death as a major role in television, especially suicide. In Japan, suicide is a major part of history. There are two distinct types of suicide, and they way they are looked at is different. The respected suicide is the type that is to regain honor or in battle, i.e. suicide missions. These types of suicide are regarded very highly. In Letters to Iwo Gima, a group of soldiers commit  suicide because their superior ordered them to. I think he did this to ensure none of his men would be treated brutishly by the American soldiers. The other type of suicide is when someones kills themselves over a lost love or not doing well in school. This type of suicide is looked down on and is not considered honorable at all. Americans, most of the time, see suicide as sin because of or Judeo-Christian beliefs. Committing suicide is killing God's creation, and that is a sin. The Harp of Burma is about taking care of the dead who fought with honor. It is a peaceful movie with a positive message about humanity.