Love this film, though - like another reviewer - I find the beginning a bit difficult to embrace, due to the initial portrayal of the lead character, Nishi, as an - on-again, off-again - screeching, whining, gushing emotional wreck, who also is drawn to look embarrassingly cartoonish during his outburst. But this proves to all be intentional, setting him up for a personal transformation. In fact, he gets not ONE chance to change his life, but TWO. Initially, he is an ineffectual coward. This ends very badly for him and the woman he loves. In fact, he dies. After being brushed off and disrespected by God, however, he decides to take his life back and goes to another extreme, becoming so fearless as to be reckless, again bringing horrible consequences upon himself and the woman he loves, and also this time, her sister (the three are swallowed by a whale). The bulk of the film involves the lessons he learns while inside the whale, one of the most important being not to give up or retreat from life, like the bohemian man they meet inside of the whale, who - for 30 years - has managed to learn to make himself safe and comfortable, but who has also effectively stopped growing in any way other than old. In short, he's forgotten what it means to live.

I just saw Mind Game on YouTube after AMID in Cartoon Brew recommended it and I've gotta tell you: You have not and most likely will never see anything like it again! Initially seeming to be a tale about Nishi and his unrequited crush on Myon since childhood, this anime goes in all kaleidoscopic directions that leaves you breathless all the while. If you're tired of all the mostly cookie-cutter CGI features that have bombarded features for the past few years, and want something more unique in Japanese animation, Mind Game fits the bill perfectly! All the animation techniques that have ever existed seem to come into play here and the music score will take you on the wildest trip possible! So on that note, seek Mind Game on YouTube or wherever you can find it.

Purely form over content anime that combines a variety of styles to tell the story(?) of a guy in love with a girl and the gangsters who chase them and the people they meet and...your guess is as good as mine since the film restarts and shifts and goes in out out of thoughts and hopes and minds. I can't describe it you really have to see it. Violent, sexually frank and with other material that people might find offensive (this would get an R rating) this is a film thats in your face and in your head. I kind of understand why this film was a big to do a few years ago since as an experience the film is simply overwhelming. I got to a certain point and wanted to raise my hand and say I'm full now. Actually I had to go through this in pieces since it was too much.Its the sort of thing that I wish was more readily available for people to see (I had to get a region 4 Australian DVD in order to see it) but at the same time I completely understand why it hasn't been released widely in the US and elsewhere, its a film that I think companies would have a hard time marketing with many people loving it and many more going "WTF?" Actually in saying all of that about the experience of seeing the film I haven't said how it it is. As a movie, or as a story its a mess. Its scatter shot and rambling taking odd turns in order to come up with great sequences, many of which look great but don't hang together. Its a film that leaves the audience wondering what in the hell is going on. Is it any good? As an experience yes, its great, I mean who needs drugs? As a story its up and down. I'm mixed. That said if you want an experience you really have to see this.