Anime: Drawing A Revolution
This review isn’t about an anime, it’s about a show about anime. How meta is that? Starz did a special about anime called Anime: Drawing A Revolution as part of their Starz Inside series of specials. There is violence and the language get’s pretty rough, as well as a few scenes of nudity and even sex. Parents should check it out before letting their kids watch it.
There’s a lot of talk about The Matrix. A lot. That’s understandable since anime was a large influence on the movie. I would have liked it a bit better if the focus had been more on the anime that influenced it, rather than The Matrix itself. There were some great examples of the anime influence with scenes from The Matrix and Ghost in the Shell running side by side.
All in all it was pretty cool, but take what they say with a grain of salt. I spotted a few mistakes when watching it. That kinda bugged me because I no longer had much confidence in that information presented that I didn’t already know. It puts a damper on things when you’re wondering if they’re lying to you or not.
A Few Problems
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was listed as an anime. It’s not. It was created by two American guys sitting around brainstorming new comics and what they came up with is TMNT.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was shown while the subject being discussed was Hentai. That’s a bit misleading. Haruhi is a little ecchi at times, but it’s not hentai. There is a difference.
The choice of guests seemed a bit odd to me. A lot of Hollywood types, some comic book folks and a few anime/manga personalities. I was wondering why some of those people were even on there.
Verdict
This would be great to show your friends that aren’t into anime as a way of explaining what it is and why it’s so darn cool. You’ll get a little bit of anime history, and a glimpse at a possible future, but it’s nothing really detailed. This is a Starz special, not a Ken Burns documentary.
Anime, Reviews, Documentary, Starz, Starz Inside, Anime: Drawing A Revolution, Ghost in the Shell, GitS, The Matrix, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Ecchi, Hentai
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