And just 30 minutes on the official SM Cinema Facebook Wall, the photo caught traction at 500 shares. By the 45 minute mark, it had caught fire at 1000 shares and still counting.
Listen to the social media clamor long enough and you're sure to strike gold eventually. October 17 may well be the day box office records break and are made anew, if all the Philippine anime fans had their way. For a populace filled with children who grew up on "Samurai X" repeats and have now become working, earning adults, the reaction was all too predictable.
But for the masses who missed those AXN, Studio 23, ABS-CBN noon-time anime mills, how will this movie fare, I wonder. I knew it had a love story, action scenes, social commentary, tear-jerker moments, cute kids, excessive swordplay, handsome actors and engaging actresses, all executed artfully against an amazing backdrop of Meiji-period Japan, then scored with strong music, framed in tasteful cinematography.
I am a biased anime fan, but I am also an avid movie buff. If you are at all like me, you'll come away from this movie with almost-tears, overwhelming nostalgia, and an arresting catharsis.
All those silly, odd afternoons waiting for these cartoons, humming unintelligible gibberish as the show starts to the tune of exuberant Japanese fanfare, have been vindicated. We weren't being bug-eyed kids, we were being appreciative audiences to Japan's most wonderful tales. Where other's might see pedestrian Saturday morning cartoon fodder, we instead saw vivid characters and compelling story-telling.
It's time everyone realizes that fact: it wasn't just a comic, it was epic--and still is at 2000 shares and counting.
Photo credit: Cosplay Overload
BGM: サカナクション(Sakanaction) - 夜の踊り子(Night Dancer)
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