After two months of patiently waiting, the A3K Panel is back. Sadly it comes with the news of the passing of Satoshi Kon. Helen McCarthy, Zac Bertschy and Andrew Osmond join us to discuss Perfect Blue, Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers, Paranoia Agent and Millennium Actress. Warning, this podcast does contain minor spoilers.
A3K PANEL
Episode Title: “A Tribute to Satoshi Kon”
Episode Count: 31
Run Time: 01:03:06
Host(s): Sean Russell
Guest(s): Helen McCarthy, Zac Bertschy, Andrew Osmond
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Song Credit: Breakfast in America by Super Tramp
Introductions (0:00 – 4:53)
This panel is dedicated to the memory of Satoshi Kon, a personal favorite of mine. For this panel we invited Helen McCarthy, Andrew Osmond and Zac Bertschy to join our show. We start the show literally two minutes after Helen discovered she won the Harvey Award. It was great to see how excited she was before we began recording the episode. I initially invited Helen on to the show and she had the idea to invite Andrew. It’s a good thing he was available because he added so much to the conversation. Of course Zac is always a good sport and willing to help out our show, so we are eternally grateful for his continued support.
You might be wondering why we sorted the works of Satoshi Kon in this particular order of Perfect Blue, Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers, Paranoia Agent and Millennium Actress. We could have done the conventional sorting of his works in chronological order, but I think that goes against what Satoshi Kon represented. He wasn’t a conventional director and found a way to express the mundane and ordinary in extraordinary ways. We started with Perfect Blue because it was his first feature film. Paprika is second only because it allows the panel to give the audience an immediate glimpse at the culmination of his hard work and the steady appreciation his fans had for his most current project. Moving backwards, we look at his most assessable film and a movie that usually splits fans down the middle in terms of it being his best. So it sits in the middle like it does in the minds of most of his audience. Next we build the final film by presenting his 6.5 hour series of short films, also known as the Paranoia Agent series. Finally, we discuss his most critically acclaimed work as described by out panel and host.
Helen McCarthy
Previous A3K Panel Featuring Helen McCarthy
Harvey Awards
A Face Made For Radio
Zac Bertschy
Bonus Round – 7/8/10 – AX Recap
Anime 3000 Panel – S02E07 – Digital Distribution
Anime 3000 Panel – S02E03 – Directors Not Named Miyazaki
Anime News Network
Andrew Osmond
Satoshi Kon – The Illusionist
BFI Film Classics on Spirited Away
Neo Magazine
SFX Magazine
Perfect Blue (4:53 – 16:35)
Perfect Blue is Satoshi Kon’s first feature film. The panel relives some of the more memorable moments of the movie along with the controversy that surrounded it at the time. They absolutely gush over how thrilling it was when they first viewed this film.
Related Links
Perfect Blue OST Angel of Love by CHAM
Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock
Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events
Perfect Blue DVD
Perfect Blue IMDB
Paprika (16:35 – 27:47)
Paprika is a geek friendly movie that can be argued as his most “commercially successful”, although that term is highly subjective without numbers. We discuss why this film stood out and what made it so popular and attractive to both anime and non-anime fans.
Related Links
Paprika Opening Credit Sequence
Paprika on DVD
Paprika IMBD
Tokyo Godfathers (27:47 – 37:25)
Considered to be his most accessible film, Tokyo Godfathers gives us a glimpse into the lives of several cellar dwellers that juggle a their personal issues with the responsibility of taking care of a newborn. The movie is about finding the quality life has to offer and most importantly, redemption. Our panel talks about why they both loved and were disappointed in this movie.
Related Links
Three Godfathers
Three Men and a Baby
Ice Age
Tokyo Godfathers DVD
Tokyo Godfathers IMDB
Paranoia Agent (37:25 – 47:17)
Paranoia Agent achieved critical fame due to its unconventional story-telling, especially as an anime series. It was a collection of intertwined stories that showed the unflattering reality of everyday people. These tragic figures all had to face personal demons, which manifested themselves into an actual menace. The panel goes into how Satoshi Kon portrayed female characters and how he was able to bring both the light and darkness of an individual to life in vivid detail.
Related Links
Opening Theme
Summer Wars
Paranoia Agent DVD
Paranoia Agent IMDB
Millennium Actress (47:17 – 1:03:45)
One can argue that we saved the best for last. Millennium Actress by far received the most praise on this show as the panel continued to discuss how Satoshi Kon illustrated women in his movies. We touched on several themes as well as comparisons to other directors outside of anime.
Related Links
Chiyoko’s Theme from Millennium Actress
Terry Gilliam
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Time Bandits
Setsuko Hara
Betty Friedan
Millennium Actress on DVD
Millennium Actress on IMDB
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