As mentioned, Toronto theares (at least the Revue and Carlton) have a bit of a tradition of showing Tokyo Godfathers at this time of year. I took my son to it yesterday, and he enjoyed it. I focused more on all the incredible near-death experiences the characters faced. Anyway, it really is quite solidly entertaining. No one I have been chatting with seems to be aware of this holiday tradition. It's definitely worth checking out if you have never seen it. Now whether I go myself for a third or fourth viewing, i.e. really making it a holiday tradition, is definitely up in the air.
Clearly, programmers at both cinemas have a strong interest in anime. As far as I can tell, the folks at the Revue are not too interested in the Ghibli Studio films. While Carlton Cinema was shut out of the 2023 Ghibli Fest (so I had to trek up to Richmond Hill to see several of the films!), they show the individual films once in a while. I am still hoping that they will show Howl's Moving Castle in 2025, and will keep an eye out.
While I missed seeing Akira in its most recent showing at Carlton, I did catch Perfect Blue and Paprika there. This may have been how I heard about Tokyo Godfathers in the first place, and then while researching it, I found that it was often shown in Toronto in Dec. I watched it the first time at the Revue, but from here on out, I would most likely just see it at Carlton.
As far as I can recall, I have not seen Kon's Millennium Actress. Somewhat surprisingly, Robarts (which does have a fair bit of anime in its collection) only has a link to watch it on Criterion on Demand, which I won't have access to. So I will just have to see if Carlton (or the Revue) show it in 2024. I would probably watch Paprika for a second time. I'm not as sure about Perfect Blue.
I saw that Kon was involved in a TV series called Paranoia Agent. I have to admit, the mini-review doesn't really grab me, and I am generally avoiding picking up any more TV series to watch.
Now I keep missing the original Heavy Metal film from 1981, so will make a bit more of an effort the next time it comes around. Heavy Metal 2000 is showing over at the Revue, but the reviews are pretty weak. What is a bit intriguing is that the people involved in Heavy Metal 2000 then came up with a series (apparently on Netflix) called Love, Death & Robots that may be worth checking out.
One thing that I really do need to sit down and watch (maybe after I have wrapped up the last season of Futurama that is currently available) is Cowboy Bebop. I picked up a box set of the series a while back, and I probably have the movie floating about somewhere. I should see if I can dig everything out to have it ready to go (when I actually have some time...). I have a note from Google that Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001) is set between episodes 22 and 23 of the original Cowboy Bebop series, so I'll keep that in mind as well.
Anyway, at the end of Jan., Carlton is showing The End of Evangelion. Some Googling tells me that this is sort of a reworking of the conclusion Neon Genesis Evangelion series -- and that I would probably want to watch the clip show Evangelion:Death beforehand to really understand the movie. I might do that, and Evangelion:Death seems to be on Netflix. What is particularly strange is that the main creator then went back and redid the whole series as Rebuild of Evangelion. I probably won't feel compelled to watch this, however. Oddly enough, three of the four DVDs in Rebuild are in the TPL and the last one is available on Blu-ray at Robarts. So never say never, I guess. Anyway, I need to get some real work done today, so I had better split for now.
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