bahringer.pierre - 2013-11-17 06:02:08

Video Review:

WRITTEN REVIEW:

INTRO:

Hey everyone! Goat Jesus here! I gotta say I finally made it up the hierarchy and into the D ranks, even though it hasn’t been calculated yet! I couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you guys. Seriously! Thank you! In celebration of my lack of life, I decided to do a review of my namesake and make one of a little known movie called Arashi No Yoru Ni, or in English, One Stormy Night. It’s kinda’ a guilty pleasure of mine. Sexy goat...fucking hell…wouldn’t I love to lick your fucking arash-

SYNOPSIS:

The story of Arashi No Yoru Ni is a quaint one. It starts off in a barn one stormy night where a Goat (Mei) and Wolf (Gabu) meet. Soon after, they trigger a relationship that causes stir amongst their respective clans and have to deal with the prejudices of their peers.

STORY:

Arashi no Yoru ni was based on a picture book series of the same name by Yuuichi Kimura. It was directed by Gisaburou Sugii who had a hand in directing the original Astro Boy and a Lupin III movie.

As said before, the film is quaint. Which is honestly a breath of fresh air--for me at least. Arashi isn’t going to challenge your mind in any kind of way. It’s about the struggle between memetics and genetics in a societal conflict between interspecies relationships as they fight racial segregation. Reflective of such literary classics as Romeo and Juliet -- the movie brings to mind modern philosophies of sexual consent and overcoming barbaric religious propaganda to seek a new age of enlightenment by using a Disney esque fairy tale as a base of deconstruction. Same old, same old.

All that aside, I really do love this movie for its simplicity. It’s something to sit down to with some peppermint hot chocolate and relax, letting all the feels wash over you. It’s like something I would have watched as a kid, but for me it surpases a lot of the old classics like the Fox and the Hound. It has none of the stigmata that anime holds these days. For once, no harems or moe or boobs or gore...wait... Weirdly enough, aside from Ghibli I can’t think of many children’s movies that are good. I think that’s something very important to note. This is a wholesome, funny, occasionally dark story about friendship.

In terms of plot, there’s really nothing for me to complain about. Given the nature of it’s story, there isn’t really any room for plot holes. There are a few things tonally that are a bit jarring though, like how the first few minutes are incredibly grim considering the slapstick nature of the following scenes.

One thing I did like though is how there doesn’t really seem to be a single villain. Sure, you can label the wolves in this movie as being the bad guys and I guess they are--but the goats aren’t much better. And considering Arashi is an allegory for the differences and similarities we share and overcoming social stigma, I think that’s important to have and is fairly well executed. It’s also worth mentioning the last third of this movie is actually very very good in terms of emotional impact. It only is the tiniest bit rushed, but honestly, I was quite surprised.

CHARACTERS:

There’s not a whole lot to say about the characters in Arashi. Gabu the wolf and Mei the goat are obviously the highlights being the leads. They aren’t the deepest around but they get the job done. The nature of their relationship is the interesting part. Gabu’s struggle to get over his predatory nature in order to see Mei for who he is. Mei himself, who’s blissfully ignorant of everything to a fault. They’re certainly not super multi-faceted, but they’re very charming and lovable. I think the weakest aspect though is the side characters. None of them are touched upon in the slightest. They serve more to represent their respective classes more than to define any of them as legitimate characters.

ANIMATION:

The animation is somewhat of a mixed bag, but for the most part looks stunning. The constant standout has to be the eye porn backgrounds. For a 2005 production, this is really great looking. Group Tac was responsible for putting this film onto the screen and the only thing I could find worthy of note that they did was collaborate with Madhouse on Texhnolyze. Either way, I could gawk at the artistry that went into a majority of these scenes. Colors play key roles in setting a tone. The depressing blues of the snowscape and the vivid oranges of sunset stand to really give this movie a flavor. The water colored characters and individually animated hairs also were impressive.

CG unfortunately is very much hit or miss. Sometimes it blends well with everything else and looks great, while other times looks really out of place.

Movement is generally very good and fluid, but sometimes can look stiff. Also, character models can look warped and inconsistent at time. That being said, our two leads look really well designed. Mei is just the mostest adorable thing ever! But some of the side characters can look just plain bad. Freaking transvestite wolves… And asian goat.

SOUND:

The sound is just plain good in this movie. The sound effects can be a little bit underwhelming early on, but generally have impact. But the music! Dear god the music! Is just amazing! Definitely one of my favorite scores ever. As usual, it’s been in the background this entire review for you guys to key in on what it’s like. It’s very Joe Hisaishi, with violins and drums, choir and trumpets and oh. I am such a sucker for this kind of thing. Am I dead? Because this is musical heaven. Honestly! This and FLCL’s soundtracks are ones I burned to CDs and listened to them on loop to go to sleep a couple of years ago. Is that weird? Either way, I love it. The song used in the credits, Star by Aiko is amazing as well capping off the experience.

Voices in Japanese are fantastic. Standouts being the main two. Mei the goat’s seiyuu, Hiroki Narimiya is generally unknown having played no other anime roles before or since Arashi. But he’s just too damn sexy for his own good. The suave way he delivers his lines and the gentle sweetness would make the more emotional scenes so much more convincing. There was maybe only one or two lines in the entire film which could have had more energy and that’s it.

As for Gabu the wolf, he’s played by Shidou Nakamura whose most well known for his role as Ryuk in death note. He does a fine job as well, especially with keeping up the vocal texture he has consistently throughout the film and getting that energy spot on when he needs to.

The rest of the Japanese cast does superb job as well! But they aren’t in it enough for me to really focus on it too long.

As for the dub...well… There is one… Sort of. The circumstances are strange to say the least. It’s like a glorified fandub? Does that make sense? The guy behind it, Tustin Gilmer MacAfee was a diehard fan (furry) who got legal permission from Studio TAC to do a dub of it--but not distribute it? It’s weird. I don’t even understand all the nuances myself. All I know is that we got one of the funniest dubs, I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. Seriously guys, this shit is hilarious. You’ve got 95% of the characters being played by this one guy who doesn’t have the range to pull it off.

That being said, I really do respect the dude. It takes a lot of time to put something like this together, and I don’t doubt Tustin didn’t have many voice actors at his disposal. I do have to say though, his mixing is impeccable coming from a voice acting background myself. But in the end we got drunk Mei and chainsmoker Gabu. That’s worth something I suppose. Watch it in Japanese then go ahead and re watch it in English for the full effect.

CONCLUSION:

Yes, this is very much a guilty pleasure of mine. After taking Japanese classes, this was the movie I decided to watch without subtitles and I understood everything. It was also the perfect age for me, being around fifteen. It was right when I was just starting to long for my childhood again and appreciate the simple things. Lately, I’ve forgotten a lot of what I’ve learned, but that doesn’t change how much I love this movie. I know it’s for kids and all. But seriously, if you need a blast of the past that’s right here in a glass--then look no further. Arashi no Yoru ni is a fantastically atmospheric film and a charming one at that. Yes, it’s not an epic anime series like you guys are used to, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Far from it. Despite it being one of my all time favorites, I gotta rate this one objectively. In the end, it gets a 7.5 with me encouraging you all to see it if you got some time to spare and are in the mood. It’s a hard movie to hate. So take that as you will. If you want any recommendations, I would probably have to recommend the Korean Flash animation There She Is!! As well as the made for TV movie, You Are Umasou, both of which feature very similar themes and styles. Thank you all for watching and thanks so much for getting me 500 subscribers. You don’t know how much this means to me. Thank you all and have a good day.

STORY- 7

CHARACTER - 6

ANIMATION - 8

SOUND - 9

OVERALL = 7.5