Sunday, April 21, 2013

REVIEW: Tekkon Kinkreet film


Tekkon Kinkreet: Black and White (film)
By Taiyo Matsumoto,
Tekkon Kinkreet: Black and White (film)
Originally opened in 2006
·         Unlike the manga, White is noted to have an orange shirt in the film as opposed to white clothing. Black, while keeping to his black attire, does not have the kanji for black on his back.
·         The film opens up with the brothers fighting another set of brothers as opposed to random gangsters.
·         It could be the American-style print of the manga, but Black’s scar is on the other eye in the film.
·         The atmospheric scenes of the film expand upon the more compact aspects of Treasure Town that the manga was limited to due to the medium of manga.
·         The reactions of the crowds are in the film towards the Cats and Chocolate’s gang and the other yakuza in Treasure Town, which is notably limited or excluded in the manga.
·         White’s innocence and slight mental challenges are more noted in the film than in the manga, which seems to center more on Black and his troubles with the city.
·         The hint of Black being one with the Minotaur is hinted at earlier in the film than in the manga.
·         Kimura’s relationship with his wife is also touched more in the film than in the manga, where she only serves to be there for him in the end and does not play too much into his development.
·         The nonsense language of the aliens sounds more Japanese than the implied Chinese-style of the assassins in the manga.
·         The Japanese theme of the town is made lesser with the graffiti being in English and the town signs also being in English. This could be due to the director of this film being not-Japanese and this film being geared towards an international release.
·         They include a Japanese shadow puppet thing in the film that wasn’t in the manga.
·         Suzuki dies earlier in the film than in the manga, where all the adult yakuza die about the same time.
·         The Snake character is notably blonde and looks foreign compared to the manga where he looks still Japanese though with bleached hair.
·         It is the death of Suzuki and not the killing of the two alien assassins that spurs the humanity in Black again in the film.
·         The foreign amusement part of Treasure Town is made more prevalent with Part 3 of the film than with the manga where it felt like there was little change in Treasure Town saves for which gangs were in power.
·         They include a hugely surreal scene where Black sees where the darkness of hate leads mankind by the semi-supernatural powers of White.
·         Suzuki survives by the end of the film, where he died by the end of the manga after killing Snake.
·         Overall, the film I felt was just as good as the manga if not slightly superior as the pacing of the manga seemed erratic at times yet the film fitted them more fluidly. Also, the mundane dialogue of the beginning of the manga was left out for more development of side characters though this story is still about the two boys.
Bibliography:
Tekkon Kinkreet. Dir. Michael Arias. Perf. Kazunari Ninomiya, Yû Aoi, Yûsuke Iseya, Kankurô Kudô, Min Tanaka. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2007. DVD.

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