Karakuri Babble is a daily column by
the editors of i360.com, usually on
topics tangentially related to anime and cosplay.
In the past
we have endorsed many things; in the future we shall support many
others.
commercials will all be like this eventually.
I can't believe I forgot to mention Superflat Monogram here.
I'll level with you -- I've got something of a distaste, perhaps even a disdain for Louis Vuitton's goods. I mean, they're not inherently bad products, but the ostentation of displaying the monogram, especially when the monogram seems to overwhelm the inherent form and value of the product, just makes me sick. Combined with that, Louis Vuitton is at the very forefront of mass-market consumable luxury, a process with which I am still uncomfortable. I'd like to emulate Cace from Gibson's Pattern Recognition and pull all the logos off my stuff, but it just feels too much like giving in. Instead I just ignore them as best I can, and avoid branded goods except where it would be inconvenient to do so. Dana Thomas' Deluxe is an interesting treatment of the subject.
Anyway. That was a digression. Superflat Monogram is a 2003 anime short directed by HOSODA Mamoru, whith characters by the eminent MURAKAMI Takashi, about a girl who travels from a Louis Vuitton shop into a mysterious world. It has a certain "Ghibli on acid" vibe to it. Fun music. It falls squarely into the "arthouse anime" that everyone pays lip service to but relatively few people watch -- stuff like Angel's Egg or Noiseman Sound Insect, except that it's really very, very commercial, and therefore makes some effort to connect with the audience. It's a nice victory for my position that art must be above all comprehensible.
Really, it's kind of close to On Your Mark, which I still regard as one of the high points of the Ghibli oevure. Quite recommended, and you have no idea how much it pains me to say that.
