Mind Game - Blu-ray + DVD

If you're a fan of Masaaki Yuasa, you're in for a treat. This is his most ambitious film to date. Stunning visuals heighten this surreal adventure that has a great message about being empowered and taking control of your life. If you're a collector of anime or film that tends to be more on the artistic side of things, this film is definitely worthy of your collection.

Never really write any long reviews, but I have to make an exception for Mind Game. The thing that strikes me about Yuasa's, Miyazaki's, and Takahata's direction is that you can notice the influence from all different media and art-forms outside of just anime, and these influences come together in a coherent, unique way. Although there are other anime films that have incredible emotional stories, they're often too closely derivative of other works in their own medium (stylistically speaking). Yuasa is the king of manipulating animation in unique ways to communicate emotion/story/intentions/personal struggles through clear symbolism. I don't "hate it" when a simple story is presented in animation, but it's hard not to notice the directors who push the envelope vs those who do not. Yuasa pushes his films visually while maintaining a sense of purpose for his unusual animation and art-style antics. The rationale behind his choices is always clear, but he still manages to surprise you with the way they're presented. These films are not for everyone, but if you're looking to experience a film with a strong vision behind it, Mind Game will not disappoint you. If you're a fan of animation, you MUST watch this movie.

It is free online of course, but I liked the movie so much, I've seen it twice before this, and decided I needed to purchase it because I liked it so much and wanted to support the creator. Cutting edge beautiful animation style and deep abstract story.

I loved this movie however,reading the subtitles through out the movie was annoying.

You know you've entered a powerful world when you suddenly realize you've forgotten that what you're watching is nothing but ink and paint. But, oh my god, what this master of animation does with mere ink and paint is absolutely breathtaking. At first, you believe you're watching just some silly, brainless, pop-culture fluff. And, yes, it is showing you what that culture is like. But almost at the same moment, you become aware of a deep, very dark and twisted level of human depravity and pain. The strangest part of this film is that the director/writer makes you feel sympathy with the worst of the characters he draws for you. Not at first, of course. At first, you are thoroughly repulsed and sickened by these people. But slowly, as you watch what they do and how and why they think as they do, you cannot help but feel a twinge of compassion. They are just as much victims of an ugly, twisted system as those who are openly exploited. I was under the mistaken belief that this turned out to be the last film made by Satoshi Kon, the creator who made Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers, besides other impressive films. In fact, Millennium Actress, from 2019(?), was, I believe, his last film. These all are outstanding works of art, not just "cartoons". You get the feeling with his work that had he the funds, he would certainly have made live-action versions of his stories. But, budgets being what they are, he had to settle for anime. Still, his work is just as masterful and important as anything coming out of Ghibli. It's just a shame that this man had to die so young. I suspect we've been robbed of some truly unique and powerful films. Oh, well. That's life -- such as it is. Again, I must emphasize that this film is rather deceptively simple. By the time you've gotten half-way through the story, you are absolutely hooked. Several times, I was rather surprised to realize that my mouth was open in shock at what I was seeing. The power of the sound and images he created is simply overwhelming. You quickly forget that you're watching a film; you are pulled, intellectually, emotionally, totally, into the story this man is telling. And even though the scenes you witness seem to be exploitative, the truth is that he is actually showing you exactly how the entertainment industry exploits the people it sucks into its web. I'm certain he intended this to be an indictment of the Japanese entertainment industry. But we all know that the world-wide entertainment industry operates along the very same lines. In fact, truth be known, it is far, far worse than any of us suspect. Only recently have some brave individuals been able to come out publicly and reveal just how perverse this industry truly is. Yes, we have whistle-blowers in every industry. But the entertainment industry operates at a truly depraved level of exploitation only recently being revealed. Fascinating how this anime director, twenty-some years ago seemed to be one of the first to sound the alarm. Sad, of course, how no one was really listening.

I felt good after watching this one and would recommend it. Even though there's a lot of Chaos the messages are clear.

This movie is just absolutely wild from start to finish. I'm not s huge anime fan but this movie is just awesome in general, definitely not for kids. This is for a mature audience but I recommend this to anyone

Mind Game is a crazy movie and if you're into psychedelic anime i recommend it. If a dubbed copy of this movie exists, I've never heard of it.

箱庭療法を行う心理士とそれを逆手に取る主人公。 暗示を利用した催眠療法とその切り返し。患者の心の闇や生い立ちとの関係。体当たりで命がけで挑む治療。日本のサイコスリラーでここまでクオリティ高い作品があるのはある意味で驚きです‼️

I was surprised to find this film was made in 2004 - it seems far more in the spirit of Ralph Bakshi with its mixture of animation, rotoscoping and photographic image. Its certainly wild.... at the risk of spoilering, there are quite a few sequences that put me in mind of the later stages of Disneys Pinocchio (to detail would spoil) An interesting film, but not ultimately to my taste, a bit too self consciously wacky for that. technical quality good, extras limited.

Mind Game is an amazing movie. The animation is top notch, the characters are all interesting, and the story from beginning to end is quite a ride. Easily one of the best animated movies out there and one that totally deserved a Blu-ray release. The movie itself absolutely deserves a 5 star rating, but unfortunately my copy of the movie was slightly damaged - specifically the sleeve for the case is a little wrinkled. Not a big deal considering the plastic case, DVD, and BD are just fine but if you're the kind of person that would want this in somewhat perfect condition, order through Amazon with caution - unless you can find a copy of Mind Game elsewhere, in which case I'd probably recommend that.

La película llegó a tiempo y en buen estado. La película es alucinante en su animación, y la historia es muy entretenida, un "cosas de la vida". Viene con subtítulos al español.

magical movie！