Did Kon peak early with Perfect Blue? I like all his work...

Did Kon peak early with Perfect Blue? I like all his work, but he really seemed to get everything right with PB in a way that didn't with the rest of his body of work.

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It's his worst movie in my opinion. The themes are the worst-communicated, and the drama is the least effectively built up. I'm not sure why it has the reputation of being his best.

Perfect Blue is his worst work by far
He peaked with Tokyo Godfathers

He peaked with Ohayou, which is funny because it's about waking up while the rest of his works are about dreaming.
Sennen Joyuu is a very close second.

Tokyo Godfathers was the first anime I've watched from him since it was from the few mature anime movies that got official released in my country at 2000s (probably because Sony Pictures distributed it globally). I've rewatched it recently and I still love it. Also recently I've watched for the first time Perfect Blue and Paprica which I also liked. However Perfect Blue isn't from these anime movies I'm going to rewatch since it's so depressing and heavy (unlike Tokyo Godfathers which is more light hearted and comical and Paprica since it's quite surreal but also has its funny moments). Next to my watch list: Millennial Actress.

His only work I disliked is Paranoia Agent since its "it was all a dream" plot twist ruined it for me and it wasn't so well executed.

Fuck, I meant Millennium Actress

Also it sucks that he died so young and The Dream Machine got cancelled.

>Tokyo Godfathers which is more light hearted and comical
I disagree, the characters are, for the most part, very positive about their position, but the themes in TG are much more serious than those in PB and are illustrated in a better, more realized way. PB has a lot of problem in its script resulting from being originally a live action series turned OVA, and the more you rewatch it the less realized and cohesive the overall product seems; adding the poor animation in general and it's really hard to call PB a masterpiece, even with the amazing direction and cool visuals here and there, while there are very few movies as good as TG.

Maybe TG has serious theme but at the most part it's a surreal tragicomedy film, which for me makes it much easier to be watched than PB.

How so? While this is true of every movie Kon made, there isn't a single wasted scene in Perfect Blue. All of them are thematically significant and build up to the climax and overall theme.
In which way are the themes poorly communicated? Do you mean they are too cryptic, or is it that they are too obvious? Because I could understand if you thought it was the latter; sometimes they become a little heavyhanded, but regardless, they are perfectly well constructed.
There is enough build up for the conclusion in my opinion, just based on the idea that the setting up of the antagonist is secondary to the overall conflict of the movie, which is Mima's internal struggle with her own identity. Rumi and Memania are only there the facilitate that turmoil, which is why they are not so present until the ending, and even then their presence is strong enough throughout the movie to establish this.

>it was all a dream
Wait, what? I don't recall such a twist in any of his movies, what are you talking about?

Does anyone consider Paprika to be his masterpiece? It has everything in its favor to be so, but for some reason I can't seem to find anyone who considers it to be their favorite.

He hit different peaks on each of his movies. Now that the dust has settled in his unfortunately short career he did the most to elevate the art of anime, visually and thematically.

Of all mainstream anime directors he is both the most unique and the least recognized. I wonder why Miyazaki gets so much attention -don't get me wrong, his work is worthy of praise- while Kon remains so obscure. I'm working on a paper about Kon's movies and my tutor, who's an avid movie buff, has never heard of him (although he did watch Paprika once, so go figure).

Satoshi Kon is Japan's Christopher Nolan.

Nolan wishes he could be as sincere as Kon. I've always gotten the impression that Nolan has a huge sense of self-importance and ego; whereas I never got that sensation from Kon. He was much less concerned about outside opinions and only cared about making good movies of ideas that fascinated him or downright obsessed him. While no man is an island, it did really feel like Kon stood alone in the anime medium, far from its conventions while never abandoning animation in favor of live action because he thought animation was much more than a means to conveying the same tired tropes that encompass what people think of when they hear "anime".

Paprika's beautiful but...

>His only work I disliked is Paranoia Agent since its "it was all a dream" plot twist
It wasn't a dream. Shonen bat was a malignant memetic tumor in the noosphere that was straight up warping reality. a mnemonic cognito-hazard that spread by people getting infected with the idea of him. He was a very real apparition that physically manifested and beat people because they desperately believed he would and in doing so save them from their own failures. That he started off as just a made-up villain to exonerate the MC from the culpability of letting her dog get ran over didn't make him any less of a dire existential threat to humanity

I've seen a lot of people dismiss TG and I don't know why, it is a fantastic movie. It is also far more digestible than Satoshi's other works by virtue of being far more grounded. It is kind of the odd man out of his filmography, which in a way only increases its value. Overall, it is a fantastic movie I would recommend to everyone, even if they don't want anime.

What's the issue? I'm legitimately curious.
Yeah, the concept behind Shonen Bat is fantastic. It was violent release from responsibility given form and permission to act just because people wanted him to. It's interesting how over the course of the series SB goes form being a novelty to just being assumed as a part of daily life, with people commenting on him and how some even wish him to stay and continue acting to release them from their problems.

>What's the issue?
Nothing, it's not a bad movie at all. There's just nothing to say about it.

Nolan is a director that peaked on his first film. Actually only memento is a great film. Rest are mediocre to bad. His second best film is Dunkirk.

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Memento isn't his first

Back when I was younger and had more emotionally repressed I avoided it because it wasn't fantastical and was just about real world people with real world problems and also more driven by drama than comedy and I found that very disengaging.
I can't speak for everyone, but it wasn't until after I grew empathy skills that I was able to appreciate how good it is.

My experience doesn't mirror yours, but on reviewings I really came to enjoy it even more. That's something that happens to me usually with Kon, for some reason I need to rewatch his stuff in order to really appreciate it on an emotional level.
I find it curious how you mention that it is more driven by drama than comedy. There is a significant amount of drama, indeed, but I don't think any of Kon's movies are comedic per se. They tend to focus more on drama than laughs. Among all of them, Tokyo Godfathers is his funniest movie, or at least, the one that tries the hardest at being funny. PB doesn't have comedy, MA does have a few comedic scenes and purposeful comedic relief in the form of the cameraman, and Paprika is also light on tone, but Tokyo Godfathers is the only one that has really made me laugh.

I could never get into Inception. But I might have just gotten filtered. I think that action was not the best genre to explore dreams and the subconscious; Paprika's surrealist approach is much more fitting, in my opinion.

I more mean that, back then, I would only watch anime and

Are you having a stroke?

Probably fell asleep and posted that.

I hope he's okay.

misclicked the submit button. What I meant was I'd only watch anime that was about ordinary mundane people if it was a straight up comedy, like daily lives of highschool boys or hyakko. It was those things I was comparing TG to, not the rest of Kon's works. The rest of Kon's works that I'd seen were outright supernatural mindfucks. I'd also avoided Millennium Actress for similar reasons

He peaked with the layouts for Patlabor 2: the movie

I see. Even within the realm of drama, TG does a very good job at balancing out the comedy. It's a very mature film in its goofyness, whereas you can easily find other dramas that are overtly juvenile in how they conduct themselves (Makoto Shinkai comes to mind).

I too use Gentoo.

Yeah, the funny thing is TG ended up with way more

It also breaks away from Kon's preference for female protagonists. While you do have one in TG, there is more emphasis placed on the male figure. He absolutely trashes it, but he's justified in doing so for this movie. Although I think my favorite male chatacter from him might be either Konakawa from Paprika or Ikari, from Paranoia Agent. Iakari is more delved into, but the drama Konawaka experiences is also very charming in its own way. I really like how he portrayed the detective archetype in his work.

*way more comedy than I expected based on the blurb
why the fuck does this keep happening

I talk about Paranoia Agent

>Of all mainstream anime directors he is both the most unique and the least recognized
Isn't he one of the most famous anime directors even to people that don't want many anime?

But it wasn't a dream. Where was that implied? If anything, it was mass psychosis, but if mass psychosis could give form to material beings.

>I've seen a lot of people dismiss TG
They do? It's one of the most praised anime even to people that don't watch much anime.

Is he? I'm speaking from experience; no one I know knows about him, not even people who are really into cinema. He certainly doesn't have the same staying power as Miyazaki, whose name is practically synonymous with "anime" even among people who don't watch it.

>He certainly doesn't have the same staying power as Miyazaki
I'll agree on that, since Miyazaki's movies are for a much wider audience while Kon's movies appeal to a more mature, adult audience.

That's the impression I've caught, at least on Yea Forums. It's a something of a controversial film; people here tend to place it last in their rankings. I might have just entered the wrong threads.

I think that because his work is more aimed at adults, and most adults think that animation is either for children or teenagers his films aren't as recognized. However, Miyazaki does fit into that prejudice, so it's more digestible for the general audience.

If Paprika didn’t exist you might’ve had something worth arguing over, go rewatch that piece of shit movie and try saying that again

>It's a something of a controversial film
The only people that would find TG "controversial" are twitterfags because "muh transphobia"

I meant controversial based on how it deviates from Kon's usual mixture of reality and fantasy.

C'mon, it's not that bad.

No love for Millennium Actress in this thread? In my opinion it's easily his best work. The way he blended the films into the retelling of her life story was nothing short of magic. There are so many incredible direction techniques I remember being stunned when I saw it the first time. While I think Perfect Blue is good, Tokyo Godfathers and Paranoia Agent were so much more enjoyable. From the RPG police interrogation to the suicide pact episode it has so many incredible moments. I think we can all agree though that Paprika is his worst work.

MA is exceptional. The blending of reality and fantasy operate within a cohesive narrative line, in which only time and space change while the chain of events is played straight. I have never seen anyone do something like that before. How the actors play different roles along Chiyoko's life while keeping a faint discernible line between the real and the fictitious is nothing short of astounding.
Paranoia Agent might be my favorite of his works based on the subject matter and the way it was conducted. Some of his best ideas are reflected there.
I wish I felt more strongly towards Paprika. As a fever dream or an exercise in cinematic surrealism it is quite a treat, but it makes me wish it was a little stronger. I found myself liking it better on a rewatch, and there is a lot to enjoy in that movie. I wouldn't call it bad, or even mediocre, but it didn't strike it home as well as the rest of his pieces (in my opinion). I liked the detective from that movie a lot, I wish the movie had had more to do with him. I think less plot and more surrealism would have made the movie better; the plot itself is quite weak, whereas the blending of dreams and wakefulness are by far the most interesting aspects of the movie. I forgot a lot of what was happening, but there are a lot of images from that movie that stayed with me for a long time.

Kon peaked with Sennen Joyuu.

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I think his earlier works are much more grounded, while his later films are much more surreal. I personally like Paprika and Paranoia Agent best because they're his most dense work, where even single frames or small vignettes are intellectually and visually stimulating. I guess, I think Tokyo Godfathers is the most laid back and optimistic of his films, I think it's the film of his that I'd be most like to rewatch in the near future.

Of his entire filmography Tokyo Godfathers is the first movie I want to watch if I feel like taking in something light and fun. However, I much prefer PA and PB as his most dense works. Paprika is honestly kind of a simple movie when you get into it, but it's visuals and ideas are something out of the ordinary. It's the kind of movie I'd love to watch while tripping, if I did drugs.

Millennium actress was better so no

Yes he did.

MA is too different from PB, despite all the obvious parallels (to the point that Kon referred to both films as "sisters"). They are mirror images from each other; everything that happens in one is reflected on the other. I don't know how you can classify either as being better than the other without accounting solely for taste.

PA > PB > TG > MA > PA

Millennium Actress is one of my two favorite anime movies of all time. Great OST, as expected of Hirasawa, and love the ending to it.

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What's the other one?

You can easily say that MA is better than PB. The directing alone is far superior.

Yeah, the more I think about it the more technically superior MA is to PB. While not lackluster, the editing in PB does seem much simpler -despite the expert usage of jump cuts- compared to MA's blending of reality and fantasy.