News that creator Hidetaka Miyazaki was not directing the sequel only made matters worse.
And Miyazaki springs surprises that capture the otherworldliness of aviation better than almost any live-action film.
Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki has mentioned the possibility of an easier difficulty option for future Souls games.
FORBES: 5 Ways The Next 'Dark Souls' Could Have An Easy Mode Without Breaking The Game [Updated]
Miyazaki has fashioned a complex ecological fable about the conflict between industrial progress and nature, town and countryside.
Miyazaki, though, said he had not been inspired by the Asian tsunami of 2004 when he envisioned the scene.
Miyazaki visited the tsunami-hit area of northeast Japan four months after the disaster to screen his films to local children.
But with series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki no longer behind the wheel, do fans of the series have some cause to be concerned?
FORBES: 'Dark Souls 2' And The Fine Line Between Challenge And Accessibility
The little girl rejects materialism and learns self-reliance: Japan's children could do the same, Mr Miyazaki opines, if only they were freed from their gadgets.
Other films in the shortlist included Chan-wook Park's "Oldboy" from South Korea and Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki's animated film "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" ("Spirited Away").
CNN: Filipino film 'Himala' wins CNN APSA Viewers Choice Award
The name Rapyuta is taken from the Japanese film by Hayao Miyazaki Castle in the Sky - in the film it is the place where all the robots live.
Politicians and leading figures, including Miyazaki and Fujita, are hoping that Abe uses the occasion to apologize to neighboring countries, most notably China and South Korea, for atrocities committed during the war.
Fans of Hayao Miyazaki rejoiced when it was announced Studi Ghibli and Level-5 were bringing their epic JRPG, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, to the US and Europe.
FORBES: Joe Hisaishi Discusses Soundtrack for 'Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch'
Tilda is only in town for a few days but is hoping to catch Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, the latest feature from Japanese anime guru Hayao Miyazaki, while she's here.
While aware of the need to creating a functioning business with Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki remains protective of his films -- "all my films are all my children" -- especially when shown to international audiences.
It has been a grand year for Japanese films, and they don't come much grander than Hana-bi, a poetic, violent masterpiece from Kitano "Beat" Takeshi, and Princess Mononoke, a superb animation by Miyazaki Hayao.
As we find out in issue 249, the answers to these questions are in the hands of game directors new to the Souls series, Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura, who have taken the reins from Hidetaka Miyazaki.
FORBES: 'Dark Souls 2' And The Fine Line Between Challenge And Accessibility
And then there's the simulated white-water rafting adventure at Miyazaki's Ocean Dome (81-985 21-1111), which injects a little bit of "real" reality by splashing actual water at riders as they drift down a violent torrent on the screen.
CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Travel Watch | Who Needs Nature? Japan Does It Better
"It's an exciting day for Fujifilm as we launch our second premium interchangeable lens digital camera this year, the FUJIFILM X-E1, and two extraordinary new XF lenses" said Go Miyazaki, president and chief operating officer, FUJIFILM North America Corporation.
ENGADGET: Fujifilm grows X-series mirrorless lineup with 16.3-megapixel X-E1
Hirauchi Kaichu onsen, the tidal pool in which the man and I were poaching, is on Yakushima, an island whose cedar forest earned a spot on Unesco's World Heritage List (and was the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki's anime classic "Princess Mononoke").
After a lot of stretching and massaging, Ljungberg was able to train with the rest of the squad in a one-hour session at Rugby Field in the outskirts of Miyazaki, a small city of 300, 000 people on Japan's southernmost island, Kyushu.
Studio Ghibli's "Spirited Away, " which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film in 2003, remains the top-grossing Japanese film in history, and Miyazaki, who co-founded the studio in 1985, has been called "Japan's Walt Disney" for his impact on the country's animation culture.
Also cause for concern is the suggestion in the article that Namco Bandai and From Software made the decision to move Miyazaki off the project in order to bring fresh perspective to the sequel and make it more accessible to a broader audience.
FORBES: On The Edge 'Dark Souls 2' Article And Its Foreboding Forecast
Just on the level of sheer spectacle -- and these are movies we're talking about, spectacle is no small matter -- a flick like "Jack the Giant Slayer" has a lot going for it: a perilous daylong climb into the clouds, a castle in the sky worthy of Hayao Miyazaki, waterfalls that drain into thin air and the delightful sight of a 100-foot chef sneezing into his pastries.
应用推荐