Connected Hearts: Visual Novel (2017)

Connected Hearts: Visual Novel (2017):

“Gary is caught in a strange dream and now he must overcome the adversities on his path or perish in the attempt. In this adventure you will meet 3 children in dream-like scenarios, next to a mysterious girl who talks about a promise.” - IMDB, “Connected Hearts: Visual Novel”

So, I played Connected Hearts: Visual Novel. I mistakenly thought it would be a romance visual novel, but instead it's a surreal fantasy adventure. That said, the story is pretty good for the adventure story that it is. There are 2 drawbacks immediately though. One is that it's obviously translated from Russian, and there are a lot of typos, and phrases that repeat. (Get ready to read “I swallow saliva...” a lot. I'm guessing they meant gulp, which they actually write once; much to my relief.) But, I guess in the end, the surrealism of the adventure drew me in.

It starts like a romance visual novel. A guy named Gary dreams of a girl, but then discovers that he can travel between dream worlds. He can't wake up. So, each dream world has a child that you're supposed to protect from a dream world monster. You teach them about growing up, facing their fears, embracing their talents, etc. So, it's pretty solid, storywise. Let's get to the plots.

There are 4 dream worlds. The Forest of Whispers (misspelled as Wishpers, but not a dealbreaker.) was the first one I entered. There are wolves there that insult you, and look scary. If you run from them, you'll discover the first child, Mary. She's alone and scared and her cabin is all she knows of the world. You tell her to be brave, and enter a maze where you just keep going in circles.

You soon discover the wolves don't actually do anything. They just insult you. So, you guide Mary to the exit, having conquered your fears. The next world is the Kingdom of the Sun, where strange robot-like inhabitants wear masks and live in fear of people from the “real world”. Their king, Henry, is a talented young boy who built the kingdom from his mind. You have to convince him reality is worth facing. You can't just isolate yourself inside your fantasy.

After that, you escape his robot guards, and return to the dream world hub. The next story I chose was Into the Deep. In this one, a young boy called Royer is trapped on a boat with vicious mermen. Some of the decisions you have to make here to survive, like not hiding from the monster, and “throwing” your lead pipe at a Merman (Did they mean swing?) are all pretty good for the “face your fear” theme. But, I think this one was my least favorite. The robots in The Kingdom of The Sun were the coolest.

Having done all that, you can then visit Alice's Castle. Alice is the girl Gary sees in a dream at the start of the game. Here, you find notes about “Director Heart”, and psychological test subjects all demonstrating a particular phobia. I can guess that Alice created the “dream worlds” to trap Director Hearts' children. Her phobia is chronophobia, and the entire game has been about maturing and confronting fear. So far so good, translation issues aside.

This last bit is where the game loses me. After you confront Alice, she asks you if you remember a promise you made to her. You say no. She says to remember the promise, you have to dream again. Then, the game repeats! I can easily guess, based on her choronophobia, that the promise was never to grow up, or to stay with her forever, or something like that. Something antithetical to the game's theme of maturity and bravery. Maybe I'll finish the game later, but I'm not playing through the same game again right now just to get the “real ending”.

All in all, Connected Hearts: Visual Novel is a strong fable-like story, with a good central message, and vivid imagination that helps it through some of its shortcomings. I still think the title misleads you into thinking it's a romance novel, and not a surreal adventure to save the Heart children. I'll finish it eventually, and I do recommend it, but right now I need a break. There's only so many times I can read Russian-to-English typos, and the novelty of the fantasy story has sort of worn off. That said, I do reccommend at least one playthrough.

The typos weren't the dealbreaker. I'll come back to it. I guess I just don't like games that repeat. It just strikes me as padding out the game. Particularly, when they are full of scenes I just played through. It's exhausting. For now, I need a break. But, It's free on Steam. Check it out!

The Boy And The Heron (2023):

The Boy And The Heron (2023):

“A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning.”

Well, I might as well explain my experience of another Hayao Miyazaki movie. I've read a lot of articles saying that this will be his last movie, and it feels like a farewell. To be honest, I think he's been saying every movie will be his last movie since about 2013. We'll see if he makes another movie, but I'm not going to write another post dissecting the farewell symbolism.

With that in mind, the message I got from this movie is that birds are evil. All jokes aside, it's a movie about a boy who discovers a heron who leads him to a tower where his mother who died might still be alive but as a young girl. Birds try to eat him. None of this logic is explained. I think we're just supposed to accept that this fantastical adventure takes place because it is a fantasy movie.

The boy (named Mahito.) tames the heron with a bow and arrow. He then reveals himself to be a shapeshifting dwarf spirit. They go to a lighthouse where a woman guards a fire spirit who might be his mother. There, the birds eat spirits of people yet to be born into the world. He finds his mother protecting the lighthouse with fire magic.

A burned crane explains to him that they are trapped on the island of the dead, and the spirits are all they have to eat. Meanwhile, the parakeet king tries to come into the world of the living, and every bird tries to eat Mahito. They meet a wizard who might be his reclusive uncle in the other world, who tells him he must stay or the balance of the world will be destroyed.

Before the parakeet king can break into the other world, he says goodbye to his mother so she can stay behind, and he can return and she can be reborn as his mother again. If it's about anything, it's really about the cycle of death and rebirth through the mind of a child. And yes, I know it's based on a popular Japanese children's book. But, honestly, I think even without that context, it's still a fun watch...overall, I'd say check it out.

Tron (1982):

Tron (1982):

“A computer hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.”

Tron is a very interesting movie. It's about computer programmer, Kevin Flynn, who gets zapped into the computer world while programming his game, Space Paranoids. The Master Control from The Dillinger Corporation has grown tired of assimilating corporate data, and wants to add the data of people and nations to itself. So, it abducts Kevin and puts him inside the game room, which is designed like an old gladiatorial arena where deleted programs usually compete for freedom. Kevin is the first human to be zapped inside the computer.

Inside the computer is a very weird and surreal early 3D environment. The programs all wear neon outfits that are blue or red for good or evil. It almost reminds me a little of German Expressionism, in that abstract shapes and colors convey emotion inside a twisted reality. Once inside, Kevin becomes somewhat of a messiah figure. The programs look at the Users like gods. And the Master Control only wants to add to himself.

It tries to punish Kevin by making him compete in the games, but he goes off grid with his allies Tron, RAM, and Yori. Tron outruns some tanks sent after them. Because Kevin worked on the game, he can pilot some of the vehicles meant for other games too. Tron uploads this data to his disk, which all programs have, which they'll need to defeat the Master Control. They come to a pool where they can replenish their data like water after the chase, but RAM dies, or rather, “de-rezzes”.

Before he disappears, Kevin gains control of a glider called a Recognizer, which he can pilot like an arcade game with a joystick. Kevin brings Tron and Yori to an unfinished part of the game, but since he programmed it, he can get through. Meanwhile, Tron and Yori have to get through the control tower guard who resembles the User DuMont to talk to Kevin and join up with him.

They find the real DuMont being tortured by Master Control in a room full of red, tortured programs. Finally, Tron challenges the head slaver Captain Sark to the disk-throwing game, and slices his brain open. It's actually quite a grizzly scene, even in 80s CGI. Flynn challenges the Master Control and helps Tron, as a program, add all his data disk to Master Control, freeing the system. All the lights turn blue, and the programs are free.

Overall, Tron is pretty great. It's a little goofy in its use of computer terminology, but I like the strange operatic feel it all has. If programs were alive, they'd probably see us as messiahs. And I like the gladiatorial story this opens up to the viewer...even if it is a little cheesy, it does raise good points. Does Machine serve Man, or does Man serve Machine? It's high-concept sci-fi.

And in the end, the Machine (Tron and his friends.) is helping us, the Users. (Kevin Flynn.) Meanwhile, the 3D gives it a sort of mesmerizing dream-like quality, so it's never boring to watch. I'd say if you have time, give it a watch. It's free on Disney+!

Return to Oz (1985):

Return to Oz (1985):

“Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful.”

Return to Oz is some dark and crazy stuff. I almost forgot it was a Disney movie. Back on the farm, Dorothy finds a key to Oz. But, her parents still don't believe she ever went there. So, they commit her to a mental hospital, where she's going to be subjected to electroshock therapy. But, after a storm, she escapes with a friend and a chicken named Billina.

Some of the character design is really wacky and twisted. For example, everyone in Emerald City has been turned to stone, and Wheelers (humanoid punk monsters with wheels for limbs.) dominate the landscape. The Yellow Brick Road is destroyed. The whole movie has a desolate, strange, and uncanny feeling.

Characters Dorothy has as companions are Tik-tok, (a clockwork man.) Billina the chicken, Jack Pumpkinhead, and The Gump, who is a mounted deer head on a flying sofa. Mombi has taken over Oz. She can remove her head, and replace it with any head she takes, which is pretty creepy. On top of Mombi, there's another new enemy. He calls himself The Nome King.

The Nome King is made of stone and hates chickens, for reasons that aren't revealed til later. He claims all the jewels in Oz, so he turned Emerald City to stone. He also likes riddles and games. If Dorothy can pick which objects he turned her friends into, she can leave. But, of course, it isn't that easy. There's always a twist.

Overall, I liked all the weird enemies and companions. I think if I were a kid the movie would've freaked me out. But, I liked the weirdness of it all. Especially Tik-tok and The Nome King. It's rated PG, but that still kind of surprises me. If you're in the mood for a twisted fairytale, give it a watch on Disney+!

Perfect Blue (1997):

Perfect Blue (1997):

“A pop singer gives up her career to become an actress, but she slowly goes insane when she starts being stalked by an obsessed fan and what seems to be a ghost of her past.”

Mima is a pop idol who wants to leave her band (Cham) to pursue a career as an actress. But, as soon as she joins the police procedural crime show Double Bind, murders start to occur in the ex-pop idol's name. She discovers a website written by “her” (as Mima from Cham.) that not only lists what she does every day, but also serves as a hit list of writers and producers on Double Bind.

She tries to confront them. Soon, she slowly discovers she's losing her grip on reality, and is unable to recall what she did, and if the murders are real. Where is she? Who are the murderers? Is she the murderer? Is she an actress, or a pop idol? What is reality, and what's on TV?

Satoshi Kon does a great job blurring reality and fantasy. Some of the imagery isn't subtle for a murder mystery. For instance, who is the hired killer? Gee, how 'bout the guy who looks like a hired killer? But, it's a good surrealist horror piece, and much of the mystery still holds up. That said, much of this movie wouldn't make sense today.

Mima doesn't know what a website or a “double-click” is. There are fax machines that call her a traitor. The media landscape has changed so much since 1997, these scenes are almost comedic. Still, Satoshi Kon does a good job putting the horror front and center. There are exploding letters, stabbings, sexual abuse, and even a doppelganger claiming to be “The real Mima”.

It's not to everyone's taste, and is violent, but it's a good look into the work of Satoshi Kon dividing reality and fantasy. If you're in the mood for a surrealist murder mystery, check it out. Just beware, there's a lot of horror, and it's a little dated. Otherwise, I say give it a watch!

Cryptozoo (2021):

Cryptozoo (2021):

“Cryptozookeepers try to capture a Baku, a dream-eating hybrid creature of legend, and start wondering if they should display these beasts or keep them hidden and unknown.”

Well, I guess it helps to know what you're getting into before you watch a movie. I expected this movie to be bizarre, but I didn't expect it to open with two naked hippies getting viciously attacked by a unicorn with South Park-levels of gore. It's a wild movie! Free on Hulu.

From the hippies, we go to our main protagonist Lauren, a cryptid hunter. It's the 1960s, and she's globe-hopping to save mystical creatures. They save Russian storm birds, a satyr, a medusa, and a guy with a face in his chest (voiced by Michael Cera.), to build a zoo for cryptids...Cryptozoo!

One day, she discovers that the Baku (dream-eater) who helped her with nightmares as a kid, and inspired her quest to become a crypto-zoologist, is being held by the US military. So, she gathers her cryptid friends and quests to save her from them. Thus, the movie turns into a sort of mystical spy epic, with tons of gore as the animals and soldiers are both killed/or captured.

I'm not necessarily against violence in movies, I just think I wasn't prepared to watch an officer get eaten by a South American megaworm. Or goblins get shot, or a hippie to be impaled by a unicorn. The general message seems to be that nature wants animals to be free, not used as weapons or entertainment. The animation is psychedelic and 1960s-inspired, so at least it's never boring. Watch it with some snacks, and you'll have fun.

The Killer Robots! Crash and Burn (2016):

The Killer Robots! Crash and Burn (2016):

“Robot mercenaries are sent on a mission to activate a machine that will bring about a new age of enlightenment.”

This movie is about 4 robot arena fighters who will be freed if they upload a punchcard freeing all other robots from the control of the vicious Lord Mot. One thing I will say about this movie, it doesn't have the best special effects. Most are basic green screen and puppet work. Most the robots are just guys in silver facepaint.

If you can get used to the low-budget look, it's pretty fun. They've got robots blowing up all over the place, and saving the universe. At one point, it just cuts to a live-action man playing guitar with a chicken. It's definitely odd. But, if you're in the mood for cheesy sci-fi, grab some snacks and watch it. Free on Tubi.

Paprika (2006):

"When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patients' dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist, Paprika, can stop it."

This magical tale centers on a revolutionary machine that allows scientists to enter and record a subject’s dream. After being stolen, a detective and brilliant therapist join forces to recover the device — before it falls into the hands of a “dream terrorist”. It really needs to be seen to be believed. There's a beautiful contrast here between dreams and mundane reality. Plus, many secrets the characters have are only expressed in dreams.

As the movie goes on, the dreams become darker and more surreal. People start talking nonsense and killing themselves. And eventually the nightmare visions infect reality. Only Paprika, who appears to be a happy-go-lucky therapist can stop them. Paprika's early scenes have a great sense of limitlessness and flight, in contrast to drab waking life, highlighting the theme of magical realism. Check it out, whenever you can!

The Point (1971):

The Point (1971):

"A father tells his son a bedtime story about young Oblio (Mike Lookinland), who believes that having no point in the fantastical kingdom of pointed heads and things, still has a point."

Weird musical-ish adventure movie with Ringo as Narrator. A boy on a quest to find himself. He has no point on his head, but everyone else has a point. Check it out if you can! Free on Tubi. Groovy!

SOUL (2020):

SOUL (2020):

"After landing the gig of a lifetime, a New York jazz pianist suddenly finds himself trapped in a strange land between Earth and the afterlife."

Soul is a trippy movie dealing with the meaning of life. The animation is bonkers, and there's a lot of transcendental happenings going on for what is marketed as a kids' movie. Unborn souls, lost souls, wild scenery, and a bodyswap with a cat. Check it out!