viernes, enero 11, 2013

[ENGLISH VERSION] Happy Science and The Mystical Laws (2012)



These two photographs were taken in two different places and with four days apart. When describing them, I said they are a temple of a cult with a lot of money and little taste and responding to almost-humorous name of Happy Science, and with respect to those posters: an anime I do not know, but called my attention, so I took a picture.



What I never knew is that they were related, and the dark secret hidden ... 


Or not. 





On my recent trip to Japan, in the span of five weeks during October and November 2012, I was in a number of cities, and in one of these buildings which saw something disturbing for its neo-neoclassical style, colors and pastels remarkable formal perfection but questionable taste, combined with the shown name in their frontispieces:

HAPPY SCIENCE




The first photo shows the first of these buildings I saw in Ishigaki, an island south of Okinawa.




In the second photo we see a movie poster, promoting an anime. As I noticed, I took a snapshot, this was four days later, in Yanagawa, Fukuoka.

This afternoon, I was reading on Twitter that I love to hate page published a report on anime films that were not chosen for future Oscars (News:  No #Anime Nominated for Oscars ), which is the following fragment :

No Were Japanese-animated titles nominated, although Goro Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli 's From Up On Poppy Hill and Isamu Imakake' s The Mystical Laws Were submitted for the Animated Feature Film category.

In my constant search for new anime to watch, I looked on the second film (the first one does not need to search for two reasons: I saw this only a few weeks ago and I was fascinated, and of course it is Studio Ghibli. And I must say , is by far the better of the two films he shot the firstling of Hayao-sensei).

What I found in DuckDuckGo (do not use Google) about the film The Mystical Laws is that to my surprise, the film was the poster which had portrayed, and for more surprise was caused by the cult (or religion) called Happy Science, which building also had portrayed.

Happy Science, according to Wikipedia is the group called new religions, founded by Ryuho Okawa , a graduate of the University of Tokyo whose original name is the most mundane Takashi Nakagawa. Okawa claims to be the channel the spirits of Muhammad, Christ, Buddha and Confucius and also be the incarnation of the Supreme Spiritual Being (aka God the Father, Elohim alias, alias Tree of Life, World Tree alias) called (and Hold on tight because this is very impressive) El Cantare (sic).

I repeat: the founder is the incarnation of God (and several aliases) called EL CANTARE. [Some kind of italian-spanish word meaning something like "the song" or "the singer"]

According to Wikipedia, Ryuho Okawa was one of the targets of the sect Aum Shinrikyo three months before his infamous sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway . when they tried to poison him with VX agent (nerve gas).

Now with this panorama opened before we can get an idea of what this group is and stands for, but I can add a perlite: the cult has a political arm that has a representative in the upper house of the Diet (Japanese name Legislature) .

Turning to the film itself, as recorded in ANN , The Mystical Laws was released in 2012 and was directed by Isamu Imakake , key animator on the famous Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion (and movies), Otaku no Video and recent Durarara!, and is starring Takehito Koyasu, famous for his roles: Hanagata Mitsurugi (Saber Marionette J), Touga Kiryuu (Revolutionary Girl Utena), Ilpalazzo (Excel Saga), Shigeru Aoba (Evangelion) and literally dozens of main roles and hundred of secondary roles in anime, video games and overdubs.

Not to mention many collaborators who play important roles in the production of various anime.

But another new surprise then that haunt me: this is not the first film to be produced by Happy Science, and involving Imakake andKoyasu, but the sixth:

1997: Hermes - Ai Wa Kaze No Gotoku (Hermes - Winds of Love)
2000: Taiyou no Hou - El Cantare e no Michi (The Laws of the Sun)
2003: Ougon no Hou ~ The Kantare not Rekishikan (The Golden Laws)
2006: Eien no Hou (The Laws of Eternity)
2009: Saitan Buddha (The Rebirth of Buddha)
2012: Shinpi No Ho (The Mystical Laws)

All based on books written by Ryuho Okawa, some of them also have manga versions, plus several live-action films .

The plot of the film mixes apparently messianic religion, spiritual enlightenment and anti-communism, anti especially North Koreaand China.

This is a screenshot taken from the official website of the film :


I added the trailer:


And from what I can see in the trailer and on the official website has a pretty good 2D animation, 3D acceptable and beautiful character design.

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