Tokyo Godfathers (2003) — Books, Films & Other Superheroes

OLGA’S NOTES:

Note1: Having broken a few loaves of bread (and other things) with my Japanese friends in the last twenty-five years, I have come to learn the following:

a) Japanese folk make fun and loyal friends/ lovers,

b) Japanese folk will do anything in order to avoid inconveniencing others, and

c) Japanese folk are not unlike South Slavs in one respect: the more time you spend around them the less you seem to understand them.

Note2: Somewhat atypical Kon offering, Tokyo Godfathers deals with the harsh realities of life in the big city. Homelessness, poverty, addictions, bum-bashing, abandonment, and other more desperate states of the human condition. And yet, there is also love, tenderness and hope, surviving amongst the chaos of the concrete jungle like one of those lone wild flowers growing out of a crack in the pavement, and all the more beautiful for it.

Note3: Having seen Shoplifters the other day, I can’t help but imagining the characters progressing into their Tokyo Godfathers future: Osamu becomes Gin, Yiro grows up to be Miyuki and Shoto turns into Hana.

HELENA’S NOTES:

Note1: IMO, Japanese people are extremely easy to understand, except for the language bit. And that’s because they are people, just like the rest of us. So to say “I’ll never get them Japs not for as long as I live!” is just prejudiced and basically racist. I’m sure Olga would never admit to any of that, the sneaky Guardian reader that she is, yet here we have it in black and white, for all of her three regular readers to see and hopefully run away screaming.

Note2: I’ll tell you what’s beautiful: chicken katsu. It comes in a pretty wooden box, with a neat ball of sushi rice, a few shredded vegetables and hot pickles. Olga ate it on her last so-called date with that photographer guy. Just wish I could’ve tried it. Katsu, not the photographer. Seriously. This fictional character life ain’t much fun at all.

Note3: So hate it when people say “I just can’t help it!” Of course you CAN help it. Especially when you’re so clearly doing, saying or thinking something totally wrong. Shoplifters was NOTHING like Tokyo Godfathers. Get a grip.