"Dan Da Dan"

I decided to try something different, and watched this movie on September 20th at the Tower Theater. I know nothing about Japanese manga and figured I needed to know something. The premise looked fun: a girl who believes in ghosts and a boy who believes in aliens each trying to persuade the other of the existence of their passion. And, of course, both are right: both exist! 

The movie was fun, and very odd. I particularly liked the puzzling Americanisms that would suddenly present themselves. For example, when a giant sumo-wrestling alien appeared, they explained, in a parenthetical aside, that the monster was first noted in an American place called Flatwoods. I thought that was a brilliant name - it sounded American but didn't actually exist as a real place. I was surprised to learn later that the Flatwoods Monster is a known entity in West Virginia (but not as a sumo wrestler). I was amused by the sumo-wrestler alien's defeat by a technicality.  It happens, even to aliens.

I was also surprised when the boy, possessed by a ghost, began ending every sentence by saying "yo." It was as if the boy was suddenly possessed by the spirit of Jesse Pinkman. 

This is a fun movie, and includes a documentary about the filmmakers. Japanese culture is one strange thing.