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A Quiet Life (静かな生活, Juzo Itami, 1995)
“One person is not a tool for another” the heroine of Juzo Itami’s 1995 melodrama A Quiet Life (静かな生活, Shizukana Seikatsu) eventually writes in her diary quoting her…
デブ活 [debukatsu]
It’s unavoidable. From time to time, we have a turning point. How many turning points do we have? Okay let’s see…select school you enroll, job hunting, and spouse hunting…ye…
生成AIの台頭と知的活動の隔絶の心配
AIが発達しても好奇心旺盛な人間、自己顕示欲が強くこだわりが強い創作者、頭の良さがずば抜けている人たち、天邪鬼、変人、狂人は創作や研究において頭角を現し続けるであろう。これは変わらないと思う。しかし頭のねじが壊れていない、その他大勢の方々は知的探求において受け身に甘んじたり思考が単純化しそうで怖い。 趣味の世界で没頭できる余裕がある人は大丈夫だろうけど、駆け出しの十代や日々の生活でかつかつな人たちからすればじっくり研究したり徐々に技を磨く工程が「贅沢な道楽」となってしまうのではないだろうか。 努力せずともそこそこ面白い想像や探究が可能とするAIだが、思考や論理組み立ての基礎が脆弱な段階からAIに依存するとカンペだよりと同じ結果になりそう。計算機を使う前に基礎的な計算方法を知らないとミスが発生しても対応に苦慮するのと同じである。計算機やAIをけなしているのではなく、それを使いこなす教育の不十分さと人間の怠慢さを危惧しているのだが…… また創作や研究への情熱を理解できない人はその重要性を「有効性」「生産性」や「人気」でしか図ることができなくなり、ますます人間の特権である遊び心の領域が退化する不安が先走る。杞憂であればよいのだが。 そもそも知的作業を営む人間の数がごく一部になってしまい、最先端にいる人とその他大勢の間に大きな隔たりが生まれると中世ヨーロッパのように「ラテン語の出来る人とできない人」のように認識能力においてかなり決定的な差異が発生しかねない心配をしている。 中世においてラテン語ができれば古代の知識や遠方の人間との交流を可能とする学術の言語だった。ラテン語ができれば自らの研究が共有されやすく、他者の知的探求を認知しやすくなる。いっぽうラテン語ができない人間は他者（権力者その他）による解説に依存することにある。 これまで人は創作や研究における競争が行き過ぎると、その内容ではなく人格攻撃やプラットフォームでの上げ足取りや人気取りの小手先を重要視する傾向がある。もちろんこれは兼光の個人的な印象でしかないが、日米を比較したり、これまでのメディア業界の歴史を振り返るとそのような事象が目立つのだ。巨大な統一プラットフォームでの勝ち組負け組形成による不均衡の増大より、複数のプラットフォームで色々な競争があったの方が文化は豊かになると思っている。 プラットフォームの集約と生成AIの問題は別だが、片方がもう片方を悪化させる可能性は否めないのではないだろうか。 すごい作品ばかりが立ち並ぶ領域にいきなり立たされると人は委縮しやすい。最初は身近な箱庭がいい。家庭の中で、学校で、同人誌即売会の中で――ローカルで技を磨き、やがて本当に上を目指す人はより大きなステージへ。 しかし生成AIから手軽に研究・創作できると最初からグローバルでの競争となるために、気軽に身近な場所で下手の横好きから創作・研究が始められず、挫折する人が増えそうな気がして仕方ない。 これがすべて50代中盤のおっさんの身勝手な心配であればいいのだが……
The Living Koheiji (怪異談 生きてゐる小平次, Nobuo Nakagawa, 1982)
An irresolvable love triangle between childhood friends seems set to echo through eternity in Nobuo Nakagawa’s haunting final feature.
Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World Re：ゼロから始める異世界生活 Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu
A hikkikomori, fit, single-child boy who stopped going to school one day after failing to make friends, experiences nausea after leaving a convenience store and the world distorts.…
Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの)
Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの) is the third volume of Miyuki and Yuuko doing absolutely nothing and I’m pleased as punch about it.…
Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの)
Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの) is the third volume of Miyuki and Yuuko doing absolutely nothing and I’m pleased as punch about it.…
![Featured image for Yen and Ai-Lee 小雁與吳愛麗 (2024) Director: Tom Lin Shu-yu [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20250316/1742139357.99804.142828.jpg)
Yen and Ai-Lee 小雁與吳愛麗 (2024) Director: Tom Lin Shu-yu [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]
Tom Lin Shu-yu’s Yen and Ai-Lee 小雁與吳愛麗 (2024) is a mother-daughter story of trauma and forgiveness where Kimi Hsia gives stunning performances [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]
Royal Warriors 皇家戰士 (1986) Dir: David Chung
Royal Warriors 皇家戰士 (1986), by director David Chung, is a good action movie starring Michelle Yeoh that benefits from a focussed story that centres on a cycle of…
有馬公生 (Arima Kousei)
Who is Arima Kousei? Arima Kousei is a former piano prodigy whose life revolves around music until the traumatic loss of his abusive, yet influential mother leaves him…
Takashi Kojima【小島崇史】Sakuga MAD
Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onhBN0qkUcE Takashi Kojima is an animator of enormous talent and skill, with the ability to draw any character design perfectly while still maintaining his own unique style. I've…
Little Blue (小藍, Lee Yi Fang, 2022)
Mother and daughter find themselves in eerily similar situations when dealing with a social double standard in Lee Yi Fang’s pointed drama
All About Ing (小伟, Huang Zi, 2019)
A small family finds itself fracturing under the weight of impending grief in Huang Zi’s haunting existential drama
Trouble Girl (小曉, Chin Chia-hua, 2023)
A little girl finds herself caught in the middle when her mother has an affair with her teacher in Chin Chia-hua’s empathetic drama.
Meisou Senshi – Nagata Kabi (迷走戦士・永田カビ)
In my recent conversation on with the folks at Manga Mavericks about My Alcoholic Escape From Reality (a conversation that will go up on their Patreon later this…
Rashomon (羅生門, Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
A series of witnesses give conflicting accounts of a death in the forest in Akira Kurosawa’s exploration of the limits of objective truth.
暁Records – 酔生夢死 -Hedonism-
The song this time is 酔生夢死 -Hedonism-. 酔生夢死 basically means something along the lines of drinking until you die, or drinking your life away. The dictionary definition is…
Ikiru (生きる, Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
A lifelong bureaucrat is confronted by the emptiness of the salaryman dream when diagnosed with a terminal illness in Akira Kurosawa’s intensely moving melodrama.
Deliverance (源生罪, Kelvin Shum, 2022)
A young woman finds herself quite literally haunted by unresolved childhood trauma in Kelvin Shum’s eerie psychological thriller.
●ANNOUNCEMENT● NEZUMIKOZO JIROKICHI (鼠小僧次郎吉)
Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira, Bibliography, Otomo, Animation, Manga, Steamboy, Japanimation,
ChronOtomo | Otomo Katsuhiro Chronology
Steamboy, Hipira-kun Special, Hipira-kun, Metropolis, Harmagedon
Shinyaku Ribon no Kishi, Volume 1 (新約・リボンの騎士)
Today’s review is in part thanks to the constant evangelizing of Raybon No Kishi on Twitter, who alerted me to some interesting plot complications in this recent reworking…
The Tragedy of Bushido / 武士道無残 / Bushido muzan (1960)
Obscure Japanese Film #185 Miki Mori This Shochiku production opens with the legend, ‘There was a time when ritual suicide, upon the dea...
Monk Comes Down the Mountain (道士下山, Chen Kaige, 2015)
A wandering monk is forced to consider a series of dualities presented by his traditional upbringing and burgeoning modernity in Chen Kaige’s ‘30s wuxia Monk Comes Down the…
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023
For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19.…
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023
For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19.…
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023
For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19.…
Norio Matsumoto【松本憲生】Sakuga MAD
Song: Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd So this is more than double the length of any other MAD I've made, but I was committed to using the whole song,…
![Featured image for Episode #99 (S12E09) – Ikiru [生きる] (1952)](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20250305/1741163158.99253.142168.jpg)
Episode #99 (S12E09) – Ikiru [生きる] (1952)
Returning guest and fellow podcaster Derick McDuff is back on the show for a discussion of one of Akira Kurosawa’s most well-known and well-regarded films—1952’s Ikiru. We chart…
A Song Sung Blue (小白船, Geng Zihan, 2023)
A lonely teenage girl discovers another side to life while drawn to a flightly older friend in Geng Zihan’s melancholy drama.
●POSTER+PAMPHLET● NEZUMIKOZO JIROKICHI (鼠小僧次郎吉)
Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira, Bibliography, Otomo, Animation, Manga, Steamboy, Japanimation,
ChronOtomo | Otomo Katsuhiro Chronology
Galaxy Express 999, Galaxy Express 999 (Movie), Dr. Slump, PLUTO, Yawara!
●ANIMATION FILM● NEZUMIKOZO JIROKICHI (鼠小僧次郎吉)
Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira, Bibliography, Otomo, Animation, Manga, Steamboy, Japanimation,
Seiyuu Highlights: Konomi Kohara 小原 好美です
For someone who is as versatile as Konomi Kohara, her professional career spanned across all different fields, genres, and universes. She's truly a gift to the Seiyuu Industry,…
The Perfect Outsider / 有限と微小のパン
They say don’t meet your heroes. Maybe that applies to books, too.I always knew I’d read The Perfect Outsider, the finale to Hiroshi Mori’s S&M Series. Well, “always”…
Record of a Tenement Gentleman (長屋紳士録, Yasujiro Ozu, 1947)
A cynical old woman regains her sense of humanity after unwillingly fostering a lost little boy in Ozu’s heartwarming post-war drama
Godspeed (人生路不熟, Yi Xiaoxing, 2023)
An earnest young man does everything he can to try and impress his traditionalist father-in-law-to-be but just can’t seem to catch break in Yi Xiaoxing’s charming road trip…
A Dedicated Life (全身小説家, Kazuo Hara, 1994)
Kazuo Hara attempts to understand enigmatic author Mitsuharu Inoue as he follows him through the final months of his life
Resources to Combat Anti-Asian Violence
In light of the murder of eight people (six of whom were Asian women) at an Atlanta, GA spa this past weekend, this month’s resource post is dedicated…
Highlights from Wikipedia Asian Month 2024
November came and went, and with it the chance to participate in Wikipedia Asian Month (WAM). In most years I manage to participate and crank out the minimum…
New York Asian Film Festival 2023
Table of Contents For the third year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF)…
I Still Remember (二次人生, Lik Ho, 2021)
A directionless young man regains a sense of purpose after reuniting with a childhood father figure in Lik Ho’s sporting drama
The Uniform (夜校女生, Chuang Ching-Shen, 2024)
A young woman from a humble background is gradually seduced by upper-middle class mores after gaining admission to an elite school in Chuang Ching-Shen’s teen drama.
Asian American Memory Activism: A Roundtable Discussion
The post Asian American Memory Activism: A Roundtable Discussion appeared first on The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus.
Anime Nano Podcast #14: Asian All-Stars!
jpmeyer and Hinano were eloping or something today, so I enlisted the help of regular guests Os and Problematic to co-host this episode. In it, we talked about…
New Chips at Asian Supermarkets - Summer 2023
Went out to some Asian supermarkets today. It must be summer as a number of the potato chip flavours seem to be festival themed. I bought ...
Spring 2021 Japanese and Asian Snack Haul
It has been awhile since I did one of these treasure trove of snack posts. Well, I had a boxes come in from Candysan in Japan, Sukoshi Mart...
Asian University For Women Fundraising Event Today!
Support a worthy cause today! Asian University for Women Hosts “Shooting for the Stars” Fundraising Gala Featuring Astronaut Naoko YamazakiTokyo, Japan — The Asian University for Women (AUW) is…
ONE-INCH - The Best of Asian Cinema
'Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.' This is how director Bong Joon-ho, director of 2019s acclaimed…
Asian Pop-Up Cinema Japan Showcase Report
Featured Image is from Asian Pop-Up Cinema’s Official Instagram Account. Specifically this post. Asian Pop-Up Cinema was something I had only discovered early into 2018, in it’s 6th…
Asian Parents in drama: What’s their problem?
Asian parents in drama can either bring joy or be the source of everyones pain. Their portrayal often reflects the cultural richness and complex dynamics of Asian families,…