Ihatôbu gensô, Kenji no haru (1996) (TV)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Directors:

Shôji Kawamori
Stuart J. Levy

Writers:

Shôji Kawamori (writer)
Kenji Miyazawa (poem)

Release Date:

14 December 1996 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Biography | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

The story of Kenji Miyazawa, the beloved Japanese poet, who also wrote Night on the Galactic Railroad.

Plot Keywords:

Poet | Writer | Buddhism | Utopia Quest | Writing

Cast

Shirô Sano	...	Kenji Miyazawa
Mariko Kouda	...	Toshi
Chikao Ôtsuka	...	Kenji's father
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Victor Chin	...	Farmer (voice: English version)
Kirk Durham	...	Tetsuo (voice: English version)
Janathan Funk	...	Teikichi (voice: English version)
Susan Isaacs	...	Farmer, Kuni (voice: English version)
Susan Jaget	...	Kenji's Mother (voice: English version)
Ron Jaxson	...	Kenji (voice: English version)
Wendell Kimsell	...	Kenji's Father (voice: English version)
James Klein	...	Chusaku, Student (voice: English version)
Neil Maclean	...	Farmer, Student (voice: English version)
Herb Mendelson	...	Kanai (voice: English version)
Elissa Sarna	...	Toshi (voice: English version)
Ronald Scovil Jr.	...	Farmer (voice: English version)
Heather Smith	...	Student (voice: English version)
Jenny Subjack	...	Farmer, Ryota, Student, Taka (voice: English version)
Karen Vered	...	Intro Narration (voice: English version)

Also Known As:

Spring and Chaos (USA) (DVD box title)
Spring and Chaos: The Life Story of Kenji Miyazawa (USA) (DVD title)

Runtime:

55 min

Language:

Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Company:

Group TAC (I)

Movie Connections:

References Miyazawa Kenji - Ginga-tetsudo no yoru/Nokto de la galaksia fervojo de Miyazawa Kenji (1985)

Very good animated biopic

I never thought I'd say this about a biopic, but there is a near over-abundance of characterization (especially concerning Kenji Miyazawa's emotions) and too little on the literal occurrences in his life--by the end, I'm not sure if he dies (he's supposed to), or if his sister finally dies (she's supposed to), or if the director spent a little too much time on the Galactic Railroad (that's an inside joke, in case you missed it--Miyazawa wrote a children's book called Night on the Galactic Railroad). However, this glimpse inside the mind of a writer who "sketched poetry and fairy tales from his imagination" is very intelligent, creative, entertaining, and emotionally powerful.

All this despite the fact that everyone is animated as animals (like in many of Miyazawa's stories).

Some of the visuals are truly astounding, especially considering that it was a made for TV movie. Seriously, some of them (like the sequence with birds trailing blue light) rival parts of Fantasia. However, I still can't stand computer animation when it is mixed with cel animation. The CGI trains are horribly obvious--even more so than the Anastasia train.

8/10