206. anastasia

gifs from ronesweasley.tumblr.com

Yesterday was a good day, I bumped into Mad in town and I finally have the Blu-ray for the 1997 animation film, Anastasia. Aside from growing up to Disney films, Anastasia has got to be my absolute favorite non Disney one as a kid. For two simple reasons : 

1. Awesome (sing-a-long) soundtrack 

2. My birth name was actually Anastasia.

This animation actually holds a ton of wonderful memories for me, I remember going on roadtrips with my then bestfriend (we lost contact long ago, since I was 14) and she would put this soundtrack in the car and we would sing along to all the songs. Her mom and my mom became good friends through us and we would always have outings where her mom would drive and she, my sister and I will be at the back of the car singing to so many soundtracks but Anastasia was always my favorite. 

All the outings stopped when we turned 10 because her mom was critically ill with stomach cancer and sadly, she passed away the year after. My bestfriend was only 11 when she lost her mother. Since then, my mom always had her over at our place until I was 14. My mom still keeps a photo of all of us, my family, her and her mom in our living room. I forgot how we lost contact but I hope wherever she is, she is doing well and I hope we get to meet again one day.

Last night was the first time in years since I've watched Anastasia and being an adult now, I appreciate it much more. The background art work in this is beautifully painted, I wouldn't say it's my favorite but still, well done. (My favorite background art work is Disney's Sleeping Beauty.) My favorite part is when Anya sings to Once Upon a December, and all the "spirits" dancing in the abandoned palace. It definitely does give a haunting feeling.

This isn't one of those films that I particularly like for the art, but more of an emotional attachment to it. I think I'll re-watch it a couple more time before going back to Japan.

Oh, before I forget, why my name was Anastasia? My mom named me Anastasia (yes after the Russian Princess) at birth but dropped it before I turned a year old because she felt it was too much, my name was Anastasia Lyana Lee and I also had two chinese names. I think she got too excited at naming her first child, haha. Yes, she also dropped the extra chinese name. I kind of wished she left it as Lyana Anastasia Lee just because I like the sound of it better than my current name.

Only 8 days till I leave again and I can feel the anxiety creeping in.