PRINCESS RACCOON

[Aaron Gerow]

> 1) What will this film mean to people lacking baggage about Tanuki, 
> their mischievousness, their love of anarchism, and their ability to 
> transform?

What I would like to know is how much the film works off of all the 
Tanuki goten films that have gone before. Seijun I am sure is very well 
aware of all of them, but how much his audience? How much will 
awareness of those films change reception of Seijun's film? I would 
doubt that knowledge of those films is necessary, but how much does 
Seijun cite these films and how much does knowledge of those citations 
add to appreciating the films?

Perhaps people should see some of these before seeing Princess Raccoon:

Tanuki goten (Kimura Keigo, 1939)
Utau tanuki goten (Kimura Keigo, 1942)
Hanakurabe tanuki goten (Kimura Keigo, 1949)
Nanahenge tanuki goten (Osone Tatsuo, 1954)
Oatari tanuki goten (Saeki Kozo, 1958)
Shoshun tanuki goten (Kimura Keigo, 1959)
Mamianacho 0 banchi (Kimura Keigo, 1965)

I've only seen a few of these, but they are a lot of fun.

Aaron Gerow
KineJapan owner

Assistant Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Yale University

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