Who's directing who?

I mentioned before that the director of "Master Keaton" is currently directing "Monster". And I'll say it again, even though I'm not anxiously drooling over every release, I really think "Monster" is excellent. I just caught up to episode 33 after letting it slip a little, and he's really kicked the creepiness up a notch.

Not that I'm particularly a fan of creepy-for-creepy's-sake, but it adds a nice edge to what is quite a literary story. Literary in that it revels in the little side-eddies and subcurrents off of the main arc. The different characters that come and go and stay for a while, or dissappear for a while then return, or are just there for a bit never to be seen again; all of them have a little something extra to them. There are some who think it meanders too much with side-stories and "fluff", but they're really missing the point, I think.

Maybe they just haven't been reading enough literature.

And speaking of discovering one director directing something else, I just learned that the director of "Kino's Journey", Ryutaro Nakamura, also directed "Lain". I was quite surprised! Actually, looking at that ANN entry, he individually directed some of those episodes, and was the overall series director. I haven't heard of any of the others before. (Though the word "sakura" keeps showing up in various series; doesn't that mean "demon" or something? I should go find my J-to-E dictionary...)