Posted by Azhur on 05.20.2005, 11:42 AM:
Hidden Paradise
I've been yapping about this project in the animation-thread for too long, so here's the whole package in one. All I need to say, that this is an animation project, which I hope to be released someday by Studio Ghibli or an independent studio.
Background:
Eishi (12-14?) and Yoko (19-23?) are the main characters of the story. They live in a world that doesn't rotate at all, which makes harsh climates to the
opposite sites of the globe (dark side is frozen, while the Sun is burning the other side into a flaming desert). There is no apparent reason for this cause,
as if it had always been like this.
To survive in a cruel world like this, there isn't much to choose from; only the rising/setting point of the Sun is habitable for mankind to live. The biggest
problem is though, that there is no land on the border of the light and darkness. The solution is, as you could expect, quite unique.
The floating town
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/13629515/
In the middle of life and death exists a rotating citadel. Its foundations were built on a rocky island and now only this colossal structure exists on the
water level. The people who live there are very independent and require no trade, unless they wish to aid the foreigners. The reason for the rotation isn't
selfevident, actually there are multiple motives:
- It works as an enormous Sun watch, although not at the same principles as we know.
- The rotation creates an underwater vortex, which sucks water, minerals and recources trough the inner canal network for sorting.
- Clean water is available all around the town and after the 'cleansing' opertion, water runs down the walls as varying waterfalls.
- Creates a diurnal rhythm, which helps everyone to stay more energetic and healthy.
Before the rotation was finished, people evolved silver and golden scales onto themselves, because reaching this balanced refugee took some thousand years.
Today Floating town is the calmest place on Earth, and it's also downright a boring place to live in. Children and elderly people are more common there, after all adults are working long and hard, and sometimes even helping the others abroad. Nobody knows about the past, except the divine hiding in the sky. Rarely (every 5-10 years or so) some visitors come visiting there by boat, in hope for blessings. The town is known to bring luck to anyone who passes by.
The Protagonists:
Eishi (14):
Eishi has a silver scaled skin, so his roots are somewhere in the dark side of the world. He's also got deep eye-sockets and a black to silvery coloured back hair. He's relatively short for his age, but that doesn't really bother him.
The boy lived his early childhood in an orphanage. It's a bit mystery how he actually ended up there, nor does he recall of having any parents. He's a
good-natured person, though he has a tired and weary look on his face. It's mostly because of his tragical childhood, when he used to cry a lot. Living in
an orphanage was especially hard for him, since he was quite a sickly one back then.
Currently Eishi lives at Yoko's grandma's house, until he grows old enough to live in a homestead of his own. He works at the lower layer, in the harbor,
where he mostly assists old fishermen and cleans boats. As you could expect, his biggest dream for him would be to leave the floating town one day, and go sailing to the unknown.
(Trivia: there isn't any kind of currency in Floating town, just some strict regulations).
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Yoko (22):
Yoko has a golden scaled skin, and is related to the ones living in the light side of the world. Her face is extraordinary 'conglomerated', as she had a
face of a 16-year old child. Her golden hair is rather short and it glitters a bit.
Eishi's best friend, Yoko, lived a plentiful childhood, since her parents are part of the floating town's adminstration, and thus they receive some
privileges compared to the other residents. Her parents are absent for the most part of the time, and Yoko spends little time with them. Usually she assists
her grandma at the house, while she's seeing Eishi.
Yoko met Eishi in the orphanage, when she was babysitting its young residents, at the age of 12. That was the beginning of their dear friendship, although it was somewhat tragic. Eishi bewailed all day long his sad fate, until one day Yoko confronted him. Eishi had a fiever that day, nevertheless she helped him out of his misery, and from that day everything has been more or less calm.
(Trivia: the overall reason to have an orphanage in the floating town has to do with the cruel world of adults. It's not very rare to hear one's parents having died to a disease or coldness/heat.)
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Important characters:
Formless (??):
Formless has no shape whatsoever, and is like a trapped soul without a shell. It consists of pure energy with consciousness, and those two factors are the basics for self-assertion. Formless is a being captived to a place and time and can only observe.
Formless can only wait for a shell to be taken. Shell can be any kind of non-organic materia, which this strange matter would then turn into an organic being. The morphing process itself is swift, but it takes some time for veins, muscles and organs to develop for optimal action.
Young Formless energy would be only passive materia, but the older they get, more they develop their own nature and goals. Yet, the ultimate purpose for Formless is to connect a link between the dead and alive.
The first confrontation to the Formless is, when the being "takes over" Eishi's flying lantern among thausands of other similar ones. This is naturally by no means a coincidence and is also the story's first turning-point.
(Trivia: The flying lanterns give hope for those who have recently passed away. The wind also tells omens to its sender. The early extinguishment of the candle brings bad omen, while the lantern's late setting on roary flames changes fate. Otherwise everything stays the same).
Themes:
Time - The story's world is literally timeless, and it gives a nice relaxed tone to the beginning of the plot. When the story starts to develop (characters move away from the floating town), "illusory time" appears out of nowhere. When the protagonists arrive to the northern lands, time stops again, as everything is more or less frozen.
Death - The northern permafrost and Eishi's weakening to a human state, bring death closer to the viewer's mind, as the story nears its end.
Despair & Hope - Eishi's and Yoko's journey is truly painful, but even at the darkest moment hope rises out of nowhere. Also the people of north show their determination to stay alive at the brink of extinction.
Homecoming - Eishi's true home is at north (that isn't the whole truth actually), while at the very end Yoko also reaches home (Floating town) with the aid of Formless.
Friendship - It's quite an obvious theme to have, after all Yoko and Eishi have a strong bond.
Symbolism & metaphors:
Hidden paradise - A metaphor of one's dreams' haven
Eishi - Hope and death
Yoko - Love and life (means "sun child" in Japanese)
Formless - Neutrality, alteration and immortality
Floating town - Timelessness, hope and sanctuary
Ocean - Life, constancy and timelessness
Northern lands - Despair and death
People of Permafrost - Hope and survival
STILL UNDER HEAVY CONSTRUCTION!
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