Touch

The movie Touch (Japanese: タッチ) is released after its original comics (created by Adachi Mitsuru, Japanese: あだち充) has been ended 20 years ago. Fans of Touch expected that they would be touched again by the movie but some of them are disappointed.

I am disappointed too but I understand the director Inudo Isshin (Japanese: 犬童一心). This is because transforming a hundred-episode cartoon into a two hour movie is a huge challenge. In addition, the style of Touch which is known as low-paced and implicit increases the difficulty of the transformation. There have been three OVA cartoons that summarized the whole series but they are usually considered as unsuccessful. Personally speaking, this movie is a good trial.

In order to grab hold of the comic soul, it is necessary to understand the title Touch. What does Touch mean? In my opinion, there are three kinds of meaning.

The simplest meaning is any activity in the ballfield. It can be either a touch of a baserunner to bases, that of a baseman to baserunners, that of a batter to shooting balls, that of a pitcher to his ball held or that of a team to the victory. Any of them represents power and speed, diligence and courage, youth and dream.

The second meaning is the first touch of teenagers. They firstly touch dreams, loves and lives. A teenage starts to have a dream, make a goal and strike for it. A teenage starts to know loves, have feeling about people by his independent mind. A teenage starts to understand the fate and the death.

The third meaning is the feeling of being touched. When you were a teenage, had you ever tried a big laugh and a big crying? Why? For small purposes as you think. Piecemeal events can large wave emotion of teenagers because each piecemeal matter is fresh for them. They consider them and handle them seriously. When you are a teenage, you can get resonance from the story. When you are an adult, it reminds you your own age of touch.

Three various levels of Touch, low-paced and implicit style, feeling of teenhood. Three of them are critical factors decide whether the recreated movie is successful or not. However, I think the selection of elements from the origin was failed in the movie. The movie just picked up some of so called representative screenshots from the cartoon to the cinema. Such copy and paste action has ceased the spirit of the story.

A director who cannot hold the key of teenhood cannot direct a successful teen movie. Likewise, a minister who cannot hold the key of studenthood cannot direct a successful education policy. Even if theories have been proved, the reform has been in right direction, and procedures and policies have been set up, the reform cannot succeed with only blind moves. The education is not only the prospect of students (or cities), it is the interaction amongst schoolmates, teachers, staff, campuses, families and societies. The interaction creates the spirit of education and the environment for student growth.

Twenty year has not been enough for the successful movie, how can one or two year be enough for determining an education reform?

Comments

Anonymous said…
You have profound insight into this story!!
Teki Chan said…
Ms. Little Fire Dragon,

It is better for you to watch it so that you can understand more about Youth than Childhood.
Anonymous said…
Thanks for your suggestion!

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