AJAS.org.au Forum Archive

Adelaide Japanese Animation Society

AJAS Forum Archive

Forum Administrators and Moderators

Re: Satoshi Kon....

by Last Exile » Wed Aug 25, 2010 7:06 am

'The women in anime don't exist in reality'
'The true horrors of the universe come from humanity'

Quotes from the legend.

A man who was passionate about anime and championed quality to the end. The master of the psychological thriller.

I'm hearing word that he may have had cancer and been in poverty.

Another dead hero. :(


We need to commemorate this guy. Any chance of a Kon titles only night?
Disgusting...
User avatar
Last Exile
 
Posts: 4013
Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:47 pm
Location: Breaking the Walls Down

Re: Satoshi Kon....

by Mappy » Wed Aug 25, 2010 7:25 am

Added a couple more links to the reports....
Image
User avatar
Mappy
Grumpy Old Man
 
Posts: 4621
Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:36 am
Location: Ad 'ela i'de, South Boganstan

Re: Satoshi Kon....

by Last Exile » Wed Aug 25, 2010 8:26 am

I feel the need to marathon Paranoia Agent.
Disgusting...
User avatar
Last Exile
 
Posts: 4013
Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:47 pm
Location: Breaking the Walls Down

Re: Satoshi Kon....

by Dhumahn » Wed Aug 25, 2010 9:30 am

Actually, a Satoshi Kon Night sounds like a good idea.....who else would be up for it (hints to all the othe forum users)??
"Jiiiiiiiiiiii......."
User avatar
Dhumahn
Highly Legit and Absolutely Shameless
 
Posts: 1921
Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:58 am
Location: either I'm at AJAS or I'm not at AJAS...

Re: Satoshi Kon....

by Last Exile » Wed Aug 25, 2010 10:03 am

You know I'm in. I'd be sure Mappy is too.
Disgusting...
User avatar
Last Exile
 
Posts: 4013
Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:47 pm
Location: Breaking the Walls Down

Re: Satoshi Kon....

by Dhumahn » Wed Aug 25, 2010 11:16 am

Well, I'll bring it up at the next meeting. I'm thinking that if we do have a night it would be the 3rd tuesday of next month, since the first week's already taken at this stage.
"Jiiiiiiiiiiii......."
User avatar
Dhumahn
Highly Legit and Absolutely Shameless
 
Posts: 1921
Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:58 am
Location: either I'm at AJAS or I'm not at AJAS...

Re: Satoshi Kon....

by Hans Stockmann » Wed Aug 25, 2010 12:45 pm

I'm totally down with such a venture. He did some damn fine work.

You didn't think that robots were the only thing I liked, did you?
Although I don’t know about the directions at 4:51.
It’s commonly known when you look north in Japan East is to your left. Please don’t try to correct that sentence. It lasts only for a second but I wouldn’t expect a mistake like that.
User avatar
Hans Stockmann
Master Asia's True Apprentice
 
Posts: 493
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:21 pm
Location: Britannia

Re: Satoshi Kon....

by Last Exile » Thu Aug 26, 2010 9:03 am

The reports I've read about what happened to him are chilling...

He had panrcreatic cancer in Stage 4 - which had also metastatised to his bones...

Kon learnt of this on May 18. He was told he would only have six months left at most. He barely made it to three.


His final words to the world:

With feelings of gratitude for all that is good in this world, I put down my pen.

Well, I'll be leaving now.


This is one of those very rare occasions I have a tear in my eye.

Yume Miru Kirai was apparently 85% complete in terms of animation. Audio is scheduled to be done soon. Madhouse producers swore to Kon that they would finish it no matter what and that they wouldn't mess it up.


Now I know how Tool felt when they dedicated the Aenema album to Bill Hicks and proclaimed 'Another dead hero.' I feel the same way about Kon.
Disgusting...
User avatar
Last Exile
 
Posts: 4013
Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:47 pm
Location: Breaking the Walls Down

Re: Satoshi Kon....

by Last Exile » Thu Aug 26, 2010 4:31 pm

Transcript of something he wrote a few days before death.


"May 18 of this year, an unforgettable day.
My wife and I received the following prognosis from a cardiologist at the Musashino Red Cross Hospital:
"The pancreatic cancer is terminal and has metastasized to the bone. You have at most a half year left."

It was so sudden and such an unfair fate that we two alone could not cope with. (“could not parry”)
Even though, I usually deep inside myself did think: “No matter when you die, it can't be helped”, this was just too sudden.
Certainly, there may have been symptoms. Since 2 – 3 months, I had been feeling pain on my back and my knees etc. I became unable to put any strength into my right knee, got problems walking and even by going to acupuncture and chiropractics it didn't get better.
And then the result of doing MRI and PET-CT is this sudden declaration of how much time I got left.
It was like death was already just behind my back, and I couldn't do anything about it.
After the diagnosis, my wife and I searched for a way to survive. Desperately.
I received the support of reliable friends and extremely strong persons. I refused the cancer medication and tried to survive by believing in a world-view that differs slightly from that of the rest of society.
I felt that rejecting “the norm” was fitting for me. Anyway, I had never had a place among the majority, I thought. It was the same for medical treatment. I thought this and that about what kind of intrigues might be hidden behind the scenes of today's leading contemporary medicine. (??)
“I'm going to survive with the world-view I chose!”
However. Just like with the creation of a movie/work of art, I couldn't change things only with my willpower. The symptoms did keep getting worse day by day.

On the other hand, even I, as a member of society, have accepted about half of the world-view of the norm. I'm properly paying my taxes after all. Far from outstanding but without a doubt I am a full member of Japanese society. That's why, separately from my private world-view I chose to survive, I feel that I have done the necessary “preparations in order to be able to die properly”. Even though, I didn't do them properly at all.
The first was, by receiving the cooperation of two trustworthy friends, creating a firm to manage the copyrights of Satoshi Kon, ephemeral as they may be, and so on.
The other one was to write down my last will, in order for my wife to inherit my fortune, even though it is not much, without a problem. Of course, it's not like there would have been any conflict over the inheritance. I just wanted to take away at least one of the worries of my wife, who was going to stay behind in this world and that would calm down myself, who was about to leave.
We were helped out by a friend, who amazingly managed to swiftly deal with my wife's and my terrible administrative work and the preparations etc.
Afterwards, when I put the final signature on the testament while being half in a comatose state because of life-threatening pneumonia, I even thought exhaustedly “now I can finally die”.
After all, I had been brought by ambulance to the hospital two days in a row. I was hospitalized and examined thoroughly. The result: complication with pneumonia and a considerable pleural effusion.
When I asked the doctor directly, his answer was extremely matter-of-fact, which in a way I am grateful for.
“Wait … one day or two days … and even if you can overcome that, probably it'll be over this month.”
While listening I thought “I'd like to see the weather forecast”, but the situation was very stressful.
It was the 7th of July. A quite cruel Tanabata.
And then, I decided right away: “I want to die at home.”
It might become a last big disturbance to the people around me, but somehow they found a way to bring me home.
The efforts of my wife, the cooperation of the hospital, which while being kind of an attitude of “already gave up” actually did really help, the enormous support of a private clinic, and finally lots and lots of coincidences, that I cannot consider anything else than gifts of the heavens.
I couldn't believe that coincidences and inevitableness being connected to each other without interruption so perfectly could exist in reality. I mean, this is not Tokyo Godfathers after all."

While my wife was running around making plans, I turned to the doctor saying, “even if it's only one day, or even half a day, at home there are still things I can do!”.
After that, I was left to wait for death, alone in a dreary/dark sick room.
I was lonely, but what I thought was: “Maybe dying isn't all that bad.”
There wasn't any particular reason, maybe I wouldn't have been able to take it otherwise, but I was so calm, it surprised me myself.
Only one thing I really did dislike: “I just don't want to die in this place.” Looking around, suddenly something started to move out of the calendar on the wall and spread across the room. “Oh man … a parade from a calendar? My hallucinations aren't even one bit individual.”
I felt amused by the fact that even in a time like this my “professional consciousness” was working, but actually that might have been the moment I was the closest to death. I really did feel death next to me.
While I was enclosed between the world of death and my sheets, thanks to the efforts of many people, I was miraculously able to leave the hospital, and to reach my home.
Even dying is exhausting.
To be clear, I am not criticizing the hospital, please do not misunderstand.
I just wanted to go home. Home to the house I'm living in.
Disgusting...
User avatar
Last Exile
 
Posts: 4013
Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:47 pm
Location: Breaking the Walls Down

Re: Satoshi Kon....

by Tommy » Thu Aug 26, 2010 5:16 pm

A sad day indeed. I for one would be all for a Satoshi Kon night =]
Image
User avatar
Tommy
 
Posts: 300
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 4:35 pm
Location: St. Agnes, Adelaide