Oblivion Island where a 4 year long prestige
production made for the celebration of Fuji TV's 50th anniversary and
made in 2D & 3D
animation. I much prefer the old made for hand type of animation, but
it looks very fine and sometimes i found myself with sitting
and gaping over the looks of the fantasy world Haruka travels to along
with her collector-fox buddy.
This film is based on an old folktale about mythical foxes that collects
things forgotten and thrown away by humans.
And also on the real existing shrine in Musashino, Iruma City dedicated
to Lord Inaru and his collecting foxes.
What You Neglect, We Collect - is the
motto of the foxes
The film starts very nicely with childrens book type of
story about Lord Inari and his army of collector foxes ....
and it's a childrens book that the parents of the little girl Haruka is
reading for her.
Lord Inari is a very popular Kami spirit of Shintoism in Japan and with
many shrines dedicated to him ( but hey, i'm not an expert of
ancient japanese, i read it on Wikipedia) and his foxes are called Kitsune.
Shape-shifting creatures that can have as many as 9 tails
and are also common in chinese and korean folklore.
I must mention one of my all-time animated favourites here - the 2006
South Korean Yobi the Five
Tailed Fox (Yeu woo bi) by
Lee Sung-gang where the foxes are called Goomiho/Kumiho. Foxes, a popular
folklore animal
OK, back to Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror:
After the intro Haruka is a 16 year old teenage girl and her mother has
died. One day she's sitting in front of a Lord Inari shrine and
thinks about were her red mirror she got from her mother as a child has
disappeared. When did she lost it?
Then she sees a strange creature appearing in front of her (Haruka is
hidden then under the stairs of the shrine), some sort of fox
who thinks he's unseen by any human. She follows the fox, just like Alice
did the rabbit, and travels into a parallell fox world
where she soon joins her fox and soon to be buddy, Teo.
Haruka disguised as a fox
The Baron is the Bad Guy and ruler of the city
Teo (voice: Miyuki Sawashiro) is the only one who knows
that Haruka (voice: Haruka Ayase) is a human, and he lives in a strange
and
colorful city built on things that humans have lost and the foxes have
collected.
The Ruler of this world, The Oblivion Island, is the creepy looking The
Baron and here mirrors have magic powers.
Well, the film has got action and adventure and looks
great, but maybe there's more style - looks than substance, but hey, most
animated
films tries to be a visual feast for the eyes more than telling some great
story.
Shinsuke Sato has directed i.a. Library Wars (see on my Japanese Film
page 3, further down) in 2013 and the film version of Gantz and the
script was co-written by Sato and Hirotaka Adachi.
anamorphic widescreen with japanese audio 5.1 with english
subtitles.
Extras: A Visit to Fushimi Inari shrine with voice actress of Haruka,
Haruka Ayase), Battleship Island: An actual Oblivion Island (Gunkanjima
island), Greetings at the premiere, a word from the cast, the US premiere,
Haruka and Teo's panel puzzle,
A Journey through Fox Folklore (25 minutes), Sierra Leone relief spots,
original teasers and original trailers, US trailers, TV commercials
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