A ’90s psychological thriller like Satoshi Kon’s Excellent Blue and a modern-day comedy like Spy x Household didn’t appear to be they’d a lot in widespread, till J-pop star LiSA related the dots for us.
In a second of serendipity, I wore a Excellent Blue T-shirt to my interview with J-pop rock icon LiSA, a powerhouse Japanese singer celebrated for her dynamic vocals and greater than 30 anime opening/closing themestogether with the worldwide hit “Gurenge” from Demon Slayer. The shirt organically triggered a dialog about Satoshi Kon — Excellent Blue is one in all her favourite motion pictures. LiSA instructed me she finds Kon’s motion pictures “merciless and darkish,” however thinks he’s wonderful at depicting “one thing you realize (I’ve) deep inside.”
Satoshi Kon was a visionary Japanese director, screenwriter, and animator recognized for mixing actuality and phantasm in psychologically complicated narratives. His main works — Excellent Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathersand Paprika — every discover id, reminiscence, and notion by placing visible storytelling and layered characters. Kon regularly blurred the boundaries between goals and actuality, typically critiquing media, fame, and the fragility of self. Although his profession was minimize quick — he died in 2010 from pancreatic most cancers, at age 46 — his affect on international cinema stays profound, with a number of scenes and themes from his motion pictures recreated in Hollywood movies by Darren Aronofsky and Christopher Nolan.
“(Kon’s movies) resonate a lot demon-like emotions, and in addition the battle between, like, ‘I wish to be human. You wish to be good, but additionally I might be darkish,’ LiSA stated. “And that form of battle, it resonates with me a lot.”
Excellent Blue is a psychological thriller following former girl-group pop idol Mima Kirigoe, who quits music to develop into an actress, however faces a terrifying id disaster as she’s stalked by a fan and haunted by a model of her previous self. As the road between her actual life, her roles, and her on-line persona blurs, Mima begins to lose grip on who she actually is. The movie explores how media, fame, and obsession distort notion — not simply how others see us, however how we see ourselves.
LiSA admits that being a public determine performs a component in why she enjoys Excellent Blue. “It’s a narrative about how a lot she needs to be liked,” she defined. “Or how a lot she needs to be acknowledged. These are true emotions inside which can be actualized within the characters. And typically I really feel I can establish myself in these characters.”
We additionally wound up chatting about what she’s presently watching on TV. After all, a star who’s efficiently crafted so many anime songs enjoys watching anime, however she says she usually reads manga extra. When her favourite manga will get animated, although, she “pays respect to the animators who do a tremendous job.” One of many reveals she’s most blown away by is Spy x Householdparticularly as a result of she adores Anya, a playfully mischievous 5-year-old telepath.
Photograph: Esther Kim/Crunchyroll
And actually, Anya is the guts of the present. Spy x Household follows a grasp spy named Twilight who should construct a faux household to infiltrate an elite college. He adopts Anya with out understanding she’s telepathic, and marries an murderer (Yor) with out realizing she’s a contract killer. Because the trio navigates their secret lives, they kind an actual bond, regardless of the whole lot they’re hiding from one another.
A pop idol spiraling into an id disaster and a spy faking her position in an ideal residence appear to be radically totally different tales, however each revolve across the common reality that folks lengthy to be seen, accepted, and liked. For somebody like LiSA, who lives between the highlight and the self, the connection between Excellent Blue and Spy x Household is crystal clear.
