Domu: A Child’s Dream By Katsuhiro Otomo Way before Stranger Things and before the masterpiece of the Akira anime, there was the psychic horror of 'A Child's Dream' Skip synopsis @ 14:00 contact us at weappreciatemanga@gmail.com Topics: · The cinematic act Structure · How Otomo creates a sense of fear · Otomo’s aesthetic and attitudes towards gentrification Notable Product Placement/Pop Culture reference: · Beeper/pager (patented in 1949 by Alfred J. Gross) · The English translation references GhostBusters (1984 movie) Synopsis: Inspector Yamagawa starts an investigation after an alarming rate of deaths occur at the Tsutsumi housing complex. He meets the landlord who tells him of the suspicious types, the drunk Yoshikawa who is still unemployed after a leg injury, Mrs. Tezuka, a mentally unstable woman in apartment 783 who walks around at night pushing the pram of her dead child. A gigantic man with a mind of a child, nicknamed Little Yo, he was accused of child molestation. Then there’s Shojiro a.k.a old sho, an old senile man who sits outside. We also learn about Tsutomu Sasaki, an underachieving student who still lives with his parents. Yamagawa sends two policemen to patrol at night but one goes missing, his gun is never found. Eventually Yamagawa arrives alone at the complex and confronts the killer. Knowing that the killer is collecting trophies, Yamagawa gives him his pager. The killer is petty and breaks the pager using his psychic powers. Yamagawa runs after the psychic killer. He runs up the tower of apartments and hears the killer prying into his mind. Taunting him on every doubt and teasing him. When Yamagawa makes his way to the roof he finds the door is already open and he hesitates to step forward. There he sees Old Cho playing with the gun as if it were a toy. One morning later, a new kid on the block arrives, her name is Etsuko, during her arrival Old Cho causes a baby to fall from the tower block. The child is saved by Etsuko and having read old cho’s thoughts she tells him off. Etsuko quickly makes friends with the residents but having an affinity for outsiders she chooses to play with Yoshikawa’s son, the lonely Hiroshi and Little Yo. As the sun falls Etsuko quickly makes her way to the shop, during this time Tsutomu Sasaki spends the knife choosing to craft model planes instead of study. Cho takes control of Tsutomu and forces him to confront Etsuko on the elevator, failing to kill her with his craft knife, Tsutomu turns the blade onto himself and cuts through his own neck. Etsuko is hospitalised across the street. After seeing Yamagawa’s ghost, inspector Takayama brings a shaman to the housing complex but the shaman becomes overwhelmed by what she feels, unbeknownst to Takayama, Etsuko is making an attempt on empowering Old Cho from her bed window but is easily distracted by her mother. At night, Yoshikawa is caught under control by Cho and is given the policeman’s gun so to kill Etsuko. Little Yo and Hiroshi do there best to hold him off and protect her whilst she hunts down Old Cho. It becomes clear that Cho struggles to fight her, he decides to create a gas explosion all around the housing complex. Etsuko smashes out the windows but fails to stop one explosion. She almost kills Old Cho but he flees amongst the fire brigade. The building collapses and the stressed-out Etsuko loses her friends within the chaos. She endures an emotional breakdown and kills a fireman in the process. Cho soon disappears and Etsuko returns to her mother. Inspector Takayama has the chance to question Old Cho, but visions of Yamagawa’s ghost pre-empt him. Takayami decides to set him free and watch him from a safe distance, specifically Old Cho’s usual place, the bench by the play area. He watches Old Cho but no one can see that Etsuko is there sat on the swing doing the same. No one except for Old Cho. With a look from Etsuko the killer’s walking stick explodes and the old man finally dies. There is no sign of Etsuko, it’s as if she was never there that day. Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com
Oct 4, 2019 • Subscribe
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