Sherlock Hound / Art of Holmes

 I have a soft spot for Sherlock Hound (名探偵ホームズ (Detective Holmes)).  It’s a lovely little series of exciting Victorian adventures, appealing canine character designs and beautiful background art… for 6 of its 26-episode run anyway.

Sherlock Hound was the last television series that Hayao Miyazaki worked on in the early 1980s.  He directed 6 good quality episodes before production was halted by Sherlock Holmes’ owners at Doyle estate, and by the time the issues were resolved Miyazaki had since moved on to making movies full time.  A gap of 20 episodes needed to be filled, and  so stepped up Kyosuke Mikuriya.  He was a promising director who’d previously been in charge of the well regarded Ulysses 31 but was sadly later fated to make crap like Legend of the Four/Dragon Kings.  The result was a varying bunch of episodes that by all measures do not hold up to the spark of the original run.

The Miyazaki episodes however were pretty well regarded at the time, with compiled versions being double billings with Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind and Laputa on the big screen.  Any and all printed material I’ve seen on the series has related specifically to Miyazaki’s work, and the artbook is no exception.  Sorry, but the rest of the series is largely ignored.

Despite being made before the studio even existed, Art of Holmes is published in same line as the regular Ghibli artbooks in Japan.  Hints at its troubled history are implied as all pre-production artwork depicts Sherlock as a floppy-eared hound, and not the tall cropped-eared character seen in the final work.   The rest of the cast evolve much more naturally inside the book (aside from Mrs. Hudson who spends a brief period as a human), but there is very little content on the final design of Sherlock.   This may come as a disappointment to those specifically wanting production artwork on Sherlock’s final design.

As a side note a similar instance occurs in the collected storyboards of Sherlock Hound.  The episode ‘A Small Client’ is sketched entirely with an unfamiliar long-eared protagonist, whereas the other 5 episodes have the familiar design.  Perhaps indicates the moment at which the alteration was made in the production?

Aside from that note this is a lovely artbook.  The book is divided into chapters labelled as Image Boards, Character Design, Backgrounds, Story and Animation Technique.  Pretty much everything is covered to some extent.  About half of the book’s content is dedicated to delicate watercolour sketches, with the rest used for either background studies or images from the final product.  There isn’t all that much text going on, so you get a lot of artwork within its sub-150 pages.  These days the book can prove a little difficult to find, so if the opportunity ever presents itself it’s very much recommended to fans of either the Hound or anyone into Miyazaki’s pre-Ghibli work.

Felidae

Francis is the new cat in town as his human owner moves them into a new home.  As soon as they arrive however, Francis discovers a murdered cat in his back yard.   He decides to investigate as to who would commit such a terrible crime, and more importantly, why?

Based on the novel of the same name, Felidae is a crime story that pulls very few punches.  Made in Germany in 1994, and apparently holding the record as the country’s most expensive animated feature to produce, this is a remarkably hard-edged film.  The character designs are not far from your average 80s Disney or Don Bluth-type feature, but it makes no attempts at cheap humour to make light of its serious content.  Felidae is not a subversive comedy nor an arthouse curiosity but a straight attempt to make a mainstream film for an adult audience.  Sinply put it’s just a good film.

The story is lengthy and suitably convoluted as Francis delves deeper into the mystery, discovering more victims, a sinister cult, animal experimentation and ultimately a bigger conspiracy that brings all the parts together.  There are leaps in logic and all too convenient coincidences throughout, but it helps the film keep a decent pace and is not too distracting from the overall impact.  I cannot emphasise enough as to Felidae’s dark side to sensitive viewers.  Apparently fine for 12 years olds in Germany, but I’d land this is strictly in the UK 15 camp with its blunt depictions of violence and sex and one of Francis’ dream sequences being particularly disturbing, and completely brilliant.  I like to avoid spoilers, but yes be assured it’s pretty crazy at times.

To my knowledge there is no official release of Felidae in any English-speaking territory, however the German DVD does contain a full English dub and is well worth seeking out.  There are no subtitles, but the dub holds decent performances and is foulmouthed enough to convince me that it faithfully retains the original German vibe.  Felidae is unique, and very much worth seeking out.

 

Ernest & Celestine

 

Celestine is a young mouse who lives in an underground city.  Taught from birth to fear the town of bears above them, she is instead a dreamer who draws pictures of a life where both species could peacefully co-exist.  Similarly Ernest is a bear who sits outside of the norm.  Failing to build a successful business like every good bear should, he lives secluded as an unappreciated musician outside of town.  The two have a chance encounter, and eventually learn to see into worlds other than their own.

                     

This is a lovely little film.  Gentle both in nature and in execution.  Ernest & Celestine sports a style that gives the appearance of a painting - those familiar with Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbours the Yamadas are in the right area.  Watercolour backgrounds are overlaid with accomplished animation that is loosely lined, and completely charming.  Much like Japan, France hasn’t forgotten the charms of a two-dimensional aesthetic.  Maybe one day not all the big-name animation companies with stick solely to 3D work, but it’s sadly not going to happen any time soon.

I totally recommend anyone interested in animation check out this film, and it is great to see such titles making it to our shores.  What is less encouraging is the lack of Blu-Ray release and the DVD sporting subtitles that cannot be removed.  Also the lack of an English language track for a film obviously aimed to include younger viewers is bound to miss out on the bulk of its target audience.  Please don’t be discouraged, this is a hidden gem.

  

Blacksad

I’m going to stretch a bit outside of my safe zone and check out some comics to time that are not manga-related at all. It’s in keeping with the Japanese definition of manga at least (comics, right?), and if that explanation doesn’t gel then fine it’s my blog so I can write about whatever I fancy! ^_^

In terms of American comics I’ll be honest and say most mainstream superhero comics bore me. There have been shockingly few new significant characters introduced over the last couple of decades, and the old ones are so ingrained that no one dares change anything about them, which kind of kills any attempt at credibility in the drama as you know you’re pretty much guaranteed a predictable happy ending each time. Manga’s a bit more risky and suits my taste, but every so often I still get a little worn out with that too start to crave something… different. And so I turn my eyes to the mainland…

Known locally as bandes dessinées, or simply BD, the French and Belgian comic industry is well-established with comic volumes regularly selling in the hundreds of thousands. Not as big as Japan, but I’d hazard bigger than the US and certainly more so than in the pitiful UK. A standard volume is around 50-odd pages, A4-ish in size, hardback and therefore quite expensive. They’re premium goods with titles seemingly holding their value several years after their initial release. Aside from the anomalies such as Asterix and Tintin, most BDs are inexplicably ignored and unknown in English-language territories, but thankfully the walls are slowly bringing broken down.

John Blacksad is a private investigator cat who works in a world where corruption, sleaze and crime run rife throughout society. This is pulp territory of crime fiction with an animal twist. Mammals and reptiles mix as well as black horses and white wolves in this tense 50s-style world where prejudice only barely runs under the surface. The animal designs create archetypes that enhance characterisations rather than distracting from the plot or making it look silly. There’s a strong style to this substance, and the sublime watercolours brim every page with a finesse that is very rarely seen in comics of any sort.

Dark Horse released a volume that compiles the first three comics into one solid hardback. It’s lovely stuff and serves as a real showcase to the work. A fourth volume did come out in France last year, but as yet there’s no sign of a translated release and as years go by between individual releases, it might be quite a long while before a second triple-volume book is feasible (assuming it would even be considered). All the same Blacksad is an amazing comic, and well worth risking regardless of your normal taste in comics.

What's Michael?

A bit of an old classic this. Cat lovers unite!

Michael is a cat like any other, but as any owner knows their cat is like no other. Each 6-page self-contained chapter puts Michael in a different setting, with new owners and perhaps the ability of being able to speak to fellow animals, and just some good clean fun. Life of everyday situations such as cat fights and clawing up the furniture are covered well alongside more unusual activities such as playing baseball or having a judo match. It's a mixed bag of content, but the consistently silly sense of humour allows it to all blend together.

The best thing about the series is how well observed the humour is. Mannerisms such as how cats tuck their paws in when sitting down as well as their natural pride no matter how stupid they're acting are recognizably portrayed. Even funnier are the human characters where the true-to-life depictions of the allergics, the lovers, the haters, and those who simply care for the cats far too much are totally identifiable.

Sadly these books appear to be mostly out of print. I did hear a rumour a while back that Dark Horse were considering printing compiled volumes, but there's nothing forthcoming for the moment. Get them!

Neko Ramen

I've kinda written about this one before elsewhere - guess it can't hurt to rip/paraphrase it to here...

Neko Ramen: The title describes pretty much everything: It’s a cat. He makes noodles. That's it.

For my money it’s the best new title Tokyopop's put out in years.

Laid out predominantly in the 4koma style, Neko Ramen follows Taisho’s day to day life as he runs his noodle bar, experimenting with new recipes (which are consistently awful) and going through an unusual array of part-timers of varying reliability and species type. He has one regular customer, which in one way makes you wonder why Taisho bothers, but that's part of his tenacity and charmingly oblivious regard to his unique position.

With every other series out there striving to be ultra-cool and slick, Neko Ramen’s style is loose, low in detail and generally not trying to impress anyone. It’s hidden strength is in its writing in portraying the relationship between strong/deluded Taisho and long-suffering but continually intrigued Tanaka. It’s is funny, but your mileage may vary. Some might find the joke starting to wear a little thin as the volumes pass, but the steady release schedule helps avoid this issue. Undemanding fun.