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Mind Game (film)

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Mind Game
Japanese name
Kanaマインド・ゲーム
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnMaindo Gēmu
Directed byMasaaki Yuasa
Written byMasaaki Yuasa
Based onMind Game
by Robin Nishi
Produced byEiko Tanaka
StarringKoji Imada
Sayaka Maeda
Takashi Fujii
Edited byKyōko Mizuta[1]
Music bySeiichi Yamamoto
Production
company
Distributed byAsmik Ace Entertainment
Release date
  • August 7, 2004 (2004-08-07)
Running time
103 minutes[2]
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Mind Game (Japanese: マインド・ゲーム, Hepburn: Maindo Gēmu) is a 2004 Japanese adult-animated experimental comedy-drama film based on Robin Nishi's manga of the same name. It was planned, produced and primarily animated by Studio 4°C, and adapted and directed by Masaaki Yuasa in his directorial debut, with chief animation direction and model sheets by Yūichirō Sueyoshi, art direction by Tōru Hishiyama and groundwork and further animation direction by Masahiko Kubo.

It is unusual among features other than anthology films in using a series of disparate visual styles to tell one continuous story. As Yuasa commented in a Japan Times interview, "Instead of telling it serious and straight, I went for a look that was a bit wild and patchy. I think that Japanese animation fans today don't necessarily demand something that's so polished. You can throw different styles at them and they can still usually enjoy it."[3][4]

The film received a cult audience and was well received, winning multiple awards worldwide, and has been praised by directors Satoshi Kon[5] and Bill Plympton.[6]

Plot

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Nishi is a 20-year-old NEET from Osaka with dreams of becoming a comic book artist. One evening, he runs into his childhood crush, Myon, on the subway. She takes him to her family's yakitori restaurant, where she introduces him to her father, her elder sister Yan, and her fiancé Ryo. Two yakuza, Atsu and a senior yakuza whom Atsu calls Aniki (literally 'brother', a term used by yakuza to refer to each other), enter looking for Myon's father, who had ostensibly seduced and stolen Atsu's girlfriend.

As Atsu threatens Myon at gunpoint, Ryo jumps to her defense, but Atsu knocks him unconscious. Atsu then prepares to rape Myon, who cries out for Nishi. Atsu turns on a terrified Nishi, placing his pistol against Nishi's anus and firing when Nishi finally musters the courage to yell out a threat, killing him instantly. The senior yakuza, offended by Atsu's lack of control, fatally shoots him.

Nishi is sentenced to a limbo where he is forced to watch his death over and over again. He then encounters Kami-sama (God), a being whose physical image changes every fraction of a second. Kami-sama beats and insults Nishi, claiming to have created him on a whim for his own entertainment. He then directs Nishi into a red portal where he will disappear, but at the last moment, Nishi declares he wants to return to life, and runs toward the opposite blue portal. Kami-sama, impressed by Nishi's sheer will to live, lets him escape.

Nishi returns to the moment just before Atsu pulled the trigger. This time, Nishi seizes Atsu's gun with his buttocks, and fatally shoots him. He, Yan and Myon all speed off in the yakuza's car, leaving the father and Ryo (still unconscious) behind. The yakuza follow them, threatening to frame them for armed robbery and murder. The boss has his men lead the trio to a dead end on a bridge, but Nishi steers the car off the bridge, and they are swallowed by an enormous whale.

Inside the whale, they meet an old man, who reveals he is a former yakuza who has been living inside the whale for more than 30 years. He shows them to the elaborate suspended house he has constructed over the 'sea' in the whale's belly. When Nishi's attempts to escape fail, the trio resign themselves to life inside the whale. Yan practices dancing and art, Myon practices swimming (a dream she gave up after reaching puberty), Nishi practices writing and drawing manga, and he and Myon finally become sexually intimate.

When the water level inside the whale begins rising, the old man explains that the whale is likely dying. They concoct a plan to make a motor boat using spare parts and fuel from the car they arrived in. On the day before the final match of the World Cup, the whale returns to Osaka and all four manage to escape.

As the four fly through the air, the film returns to its very first scene of Myon running from the yakuza, only this time her leg does not get caught in the door of the train, and the yakuza is left behind on the platform. This is followed by a lengthy montage, similar to that of the opening credits, showing the histories of the various characters. The phrase "This Story Has Never Ended" appears before the credits roll.

Cast

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Voice cast

  • Koji Imada as Nishi
  • Sayaka Maeda as Myon
  • Takashi Fujii as Old Man (jiisan)
  • Seiko Takuma as Yan
  • Tomomitsu Yamaguchi as Ryō
  • Toshio Sakata as Father of Myon and Yan (Myon to Yan no chichi)
  • Jōji Shimaki as Yakuza Boss (yakuza no bosu)
  • Ken'ichi Chūjō as Atsu (yakuza)
  • Rintarō Nishi as Senior yakuza (Aniki. lit. "brother". A term used by yakuza to refer to each other).

Other crew

Production companies

Other companies

Production

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The film's music, produced by Shinichirō Watanabe, as well as the score by Seiichi Yamamoto includes an image song by Fayray[2] and piano performed by Yōko Kanno.[1]

Release

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The Japanese DVD release of the film includes English subtitles on the feature itself. In 2008, Madman Entertainment in Australia released the film on Region 4 DVD.[7] According to Tekkonkinkreet director Michael Arias, there was consideration for a release of the film on R1 DVD but it fell through.[8] In 2017, GKIDS announced that they licensed the film, which streamed on VRV Select on December 29 of that year, followed by a limited theatrical run in February 2018 and a home video release on August 28 of that year.[9] On April Fool's Day in 2018, the movie aired on Adult Swim's Toonami block with Japanese audio and English subtitles.

Reception

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The film has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 reviews.[10] The film's accolades include the Ōfuji Noburō Award at the 2005 Mainichi Film Awards and the Animation Division Grand Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2004, outranking nominee Howl's Moving Castle.[11] Outside Japan, the film had its international premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival in June 2005.[12] It had possibly its biggest success at the Fantasia Festival in Canada in July 2005,[13] wherein it beat many live-action films to win all three of the festival's own jury awards it qualified for: Best Film, Best Director (tying with Gen Sekiguchi for Survive Style 5+) and Best Script.[14] It also received an additional Special Award for "Visual Accomplishment", as well as placing first (Golden Prize) in the audience award for Best Animation Film and second (Silver Prize), behind Survive Style 5+, for Most Groundbreaking Film.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Mind Game" (in Japanese). Sakuga@wiki. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  2. ^ a b "Mind Game" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  3. ^ Schilling, Mark (28 July 2004). "Director has whale of a time making experimental 'Mind Game'". The Japan Times. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  4. ^ Leong, David (1 July 2005). "Mind Game: Anime for the 21st century". KFCC. Archived from the original on 23 February 2009.
  5. ^ "Interview with Satoshi Kon". Gamestar. Archived from the original on 4 January 2011. GS: Have you seen any films lately that you found great? Any you're looking forward to? SK: I've not seen many movies lately but Masaaki Yuasa's theatrical animation, Mind Game, was outstanding. The images were full of pictorial allure. I'm looking forward to its overseas release.
  6. ^ "Rotten Tomatoes: Five Favourite Films with Bill Plympton". RT.
  7. ^ "Mind Game (2 disc set)". Madman Entertainment. 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  8. ^ "Michael Arias interview". Anipages. 2007-04-17. Archived from the original on 2011-12-26. Retrieved 2022-10-09. The deal in question was never closed - Youtube and the English subtitles certainly didn't help - and I've no idea what the current status is.
  9. ^ "Yuasa, Studio 4°C's Mind Game Film to Stream on VRV Select, Play in North American Theaters". Anime News Network. November 18, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  10. ^ Mind Game, retrieved 2022-10-09
  11. ^ "Award-winning works in 2004 (8th) Japan Media Arts Festival". Japan Media Arts Plaza. 2004. Archived from the original on 10 April 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  12. ^ "Mind Game". New York Asian Film Festival 2005. Subway Cinema. 2005. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011.
  13. ^ Brown, Todd (26 July 2005). "Fantasia wraps up and Mind Game cleans up". Twitch Film. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  14. ^ "Official award list of the 9th edition of the Fantasia International Genre Film Festival". FanTasia. 26 July 2005. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  15. ^ "Fantasia 2005 Public's Prizes". FanTasia. 26 July 2005. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
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