Love & Pop Review BY GEORGE CHEN ------------------ Right after the release of The End of Evangelion in the Summer of 1997, Mr. Hikeiki Anno went ahead and directed his first full length life motion feature film Love and Pop. Love & Pop is the novel originally written by the popular Japanese writer Mr. Murakami Ryu about the life of a young school girl Hiromi and the social phenomena of Engokosei (older man phone dating service with Highschool girls) in Japan. While I have high hope and expectation about the movie, I am also very much prepared that the film to be emotionally depressing yet visually interesting. Today, after I watched the film on LD, I am very happy to report to all on the Evangelion Mailing List that Mr. Anno did great transitioning from an animator to life motion feature film director. Love & Pop, like the titled hinted is about the "candy coated" life style of young Japanese school girls--while it is youthful, and glamorous (to some extend) there are also the down side of danger of rape, violence and pure mental insanity/instability. When I first watch the film, I am very much surprise by the light and happy tone in the movie plus the fact that it was sprinkle with Evangelion inspired camera angles and cut scene. One simply can't help but imaging this is the real life world of Evangelion. We experienced Hiromi's parent, while they don't necessary be totally understanding about what their daughter is facing in this world, yet Hiromi certainly lives in a loving family. About 1/3 into the movie Hiromi "fall in love" with an expensive diamond ring in the department store which triggers her the idea of using Engokosei to get the "easy money" that she need to purchase the ring. The audience was put in the POV of the diamond ring while Hiromi adore the ring which is visually interesting and poetic at the same time...During the movie, Mr. Anno successfully established a nice relationship between Hiromi and audience. One simply can't help but wonder how Hiromi's adventure will turn out--as we find out later in the story, Hiromi experienced some pretty "Hantai" and violent situations (it's gonna spoil the movie if I tell what those incidents are)....(note: just think of the Shinji scene in D/R and *worst*...) Also, one also can't help but develope a sense of sympathy and a feeling of wanting to defense Hiromi even though what she had subjected herself to was purely out of her own greed and stupidity. By the end of the movie, while not a whole lot had been resolved (as life usually is) Hiromi certainly had learned a lesson about life and the danger in the modern day society as time goes by... On the Side C of the LD, we all get to see the making of L&P...we get to see a drunk Mr. Anno. jumping into a swimming pool and he hard at work with the cute actresses. Tough job... I give L&P A-.