A\is Rat er of the Lost Laura Mooney Arts Editor Hs" everyone, and welcome to the very first edition of “Raters of the Lost Art!” In this column | will be discussing some of the great books, movies, and video games that will provide easy entertainment during those stressful school times. Since the semester has only just begun, and many of us still have some free time, why not use it to wind down and ease into the semester with one of the most peaceful video games ever created, Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Leaf? Released for the Nintendo 3DS in June, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the much-awaited continuation in the series. The last game was released over five years ago. The 3DS edition sold over 5 million units world-wide and received excellent reviews from game magazines and gamers alike. The main goal of Animal Crossing: New Leaf is to create a prosperous town, in which you have been made the mayor. Your tasks consist of choosing which public works projects to build, initiating town ordinances, and making sure the townsfolk are content. You can also spend your time leisurely fishing in either the river or ocean, or even digging up fossils fo donate to your local museum. When your character need time to wind down in the Animal Crossing world, a nightclub is provided for your character to dance their cares away. Every task presented to you in the Animal Crossing universe is calm and tranquil: it is literally the perfect way to relax after a long day at school. If the draw of performing relaxing tasks is not to your liking, then the townsfolk themselves may be enough to get you to play. The citizens of your town are cute, cuddly animals, each with their own unique personalities and ways cache.tokyotimes.com Laura Mooney Arts Editor t was a sad day for many dedicated lovers of anime when on September 6, 2013, beloved filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki announced his retirement from the film industry. He made his declaration on Friday at a press conference in Tokyo, stating, “l know I've said | would retire many times in the past..but this time, | am quite serious.” One of the original founders of the Japanese film company Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki'’s career has spanned nearly AO years, and he has come to be well known around the world as one of the most dedicated writers, creative artists Se in the film industry, as well as being one of the most controversial directors. While on the surface Miyazaki's films may appear to be whimsical accounts of Japanese folklore, hovering not far beneath the beautitul hand drawn images are comments on serious political issues. At the start of his career in the early 1980s, Miyazaki bluntly expressed his distaste for war and industrialism in one of his first films, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. The story was overtly making a statement that industrialism was nothing more than a direct war with nature, and that every being, even the lowliest bug, deserves to be respected. Similar to Ar t= Animal Crossing: New Leaf of life. It becomes your task as mayor to get to know each of your fuzzy neighbors, often being asked to do them small favors, such as grabbing them a piece of fruit from a nearby tree, or making a delivery. These tasks increase your relationships and make it so even more people (ahem, animals) will want to move fo your town. From the simplistically beautiful Lu aay fe) = > Sy & — & v Ss S 2 landscape, to the hypnotic soundtrack, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is an ideal way to maintain a calm demeanor before the storm of schoolwork really sets in. Face it; once midterms come around, there will not be much time for video games, so why not play them now? Lose yourself in the Animal Crossing world, and | promise you wil be a happier and calmer person alll around. Miyazaki's Message: Addressing Social Issues through Animated Film his other famous films such as Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, and the award winning Spirited Away, each film makes a political statement of some sort, all while appearing in family friendly animation. Has Miyazaki's method of using animation to express his social concerns been a successful choice? Why not do as others have done, and make a documentary that would directly address the faults he saw in society's choices? One can argue that by using the animation medium, he has drawn in an audience that is usually lett untapped by those trying to raise awareness for social issues; children. Millions of children around the world have grown up watching Miyazaki’s films, and have all been dazzled by the beauty and magic of these unusual movies. Of course it is not until later in life that we realize the true messages of the films, but by viewing them at such a young age, children see the film with unclouded eyes, without passing judgment. By presenting films like these to an audience of children, it may be, in an almost subliminal way, opening up the next generation's minds to social change and teaching them to think for themselves. If Miyazaki had simply written a documentary for exclusively adult audiences, who already had dedicated ideas about the world and what they believe, it would have been much more difficult to get his message across. Although the children viewing the films may not feel the need to stand up for the same issues that Miyazaki fights for, through his films he is teaching a whole new generation of soon-to-be adults the importance standing up and fighting for something you believe in. Miyazaki worked at Studio Ghibli in a period that will never be forgotten in animation, but his sudden departure poses the question of what the future holds for Studio Ghibli's films. While the company still has the remaining founders, it is up in the air whether they will continue to be quite as radical and outspoken as Miyazaki was with their future films. While this question remains unanswered, one thing that remains is Miyazaki's plentiful body of work that will continue to use animation to reach out to children, teaching them to be socially conscious and aware of what is truly important in life.