Yeah it has.

After careful consideration, I have came to the conclusion that the Mishima cover is the most misguided piece of DVD art ever. What a complete mess. This film is teeming with great imagery that could easily have been used as the basis for an elegant and representative cover.

Worst CC cover ever?

What a turd of dvd design.

Easily.

You may have a point. I like the cover a lot, have never seen the movie, but now want to.

Yes, Breathless' design ultimately kept the spirit of the film; though I can appreciate Scharphedin2's points about where the design was coming from for Mishima vis-a-vis the way Mishima's novels were marketed in the West, representing Mishima's different personas, etc, I certainly hope that, even if the cover remains unchanged, the rest of the design incorporates more of the film and its many fine visual qualities (which no one can deny, I think, even if they dislike the film), or at least something less in the grips of psychedelia.

I don't usually bitch about covers, but I have to add my 2 cents in the hopes that someone at Criterion is reading this thread. Please please please discard this awful Magical Mishima Tour artwork and come up with something more appropriate.

If they stick with this cover design at least I can replace my worn out vinyl sleeve of Cream's Disraeli Gears, just as gaudy. For rolling doobies in the movie room.

I don't think the cover is horrible or that it would deter potential buyers (though I agree its a far cry from the refinement of the Patriotism cover). I'm mainly annoyed because I think the cover looks so similar to WR: Mysteries of the Organism, a mere 40 numbers ago.

Why the kaleidoscopic overkill?

I think the complaint that the cover art could deter a viewer who has never seen the film is untrue. I have never seen Mishima (have only seen a few stills) but really like the cover. I'm not trying to be contentious for argument's sake (believe me I was one of the ones screaming about Viridiana, and a few others), but think it will look nice next to other 'cult' films like Symbiopsychotaxiplasm or Mysteries of the Organism, which it essentially is.

After you see Mishima you will see why stating that it is a cult film alongside those films you mentioned is completely off base.

My earlier comment--which you seem to be referencing--was made partly in jest. I certainly do not believe the cover art will scare away every newcomer, but I do think it has the potential to scare away some.

I'm not comparing it to either of those films... but really, what section will this dvd wind up in at, say, your local Borders?

I think it's more likely to attract potential buyers, with its colors and so forth. It just doesn't reflect the movie.

For the Mishima redesign, they should use one of my favorite scenes in the movie:

you'll be disappointed if that's your only point of reference


uh, the Criterion section? where it will look terribly out of place.

What is with you guys and the colour pink?

they're afraid of being either called gay or a commie.

Too closely associated with that awful Aerosmith song. This also explains why we hate elevators and cryin' on covers.

I'm appalled by the Mishima cover. Words fail me. Even just writing Mishima is bloody calligraphy (like on the earlier DVD) on a white background would have been sufficient. Has Schrader even seen this cover yet?

Honestly, it could just say "Mishima" with a pink cloud in the background, and that would be light years beyond the mirrored image massacre that is the current cover. Too fucking much of everything, right there.

No one as far as I know has objected to the color pink. To my knowledge it was only used in reference to the first draft of the Viridiana cover.

Some references to help everyone adjust



Yokoo Tadanori: The Great Mirror of the Dance as an Immolative Sacrifice
Calligraphy with the poster's title, was written by Mishima



Yokoo Tadanori: Barakei: Ordeal by Roses

* Tadanori briefly appears in Mishima during the Kyoko's House noodle stand sequence.

Not to mention King of Kings, probably designed by the original Viridiana designer, and itself just this side of Total Tackorama. "Come See The New, Pop, Commie, Homo Christ! Tonite at Bowery Ballroom!"

Let the letter campaign begin. I've done my part.

None other than Birdey Hilltop from Oshima's Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, and if they had stuck with something more along the lines of what you posted, instead of throwing little heads everywhere and adding layer upon layer of photoshopped images, we wouldn't have a squabble.