The film starts with a giant spherical object crashing down in what looks like a traditional village. Sci-fi in anime has imaged some of the more imaginative and graphic encounters between alien cultures, does this giant edifice represent a percursor to that? The villagers tentatively, yet fearlessly approach it, attempting to break through its bland, non-descript outer shell by throwing stones and lighting fires. A boy, our main character, feels a reverberation run through him—he feels a connection to this odd monument. While this feeling is ultimately consequential, before we are allowed to ponder that, we notice that things seem strange—why does the boy have a horn on the top of his head?

Upon further inspection other villagers seem odd too. They have horns as well, but not uniformly, and still others are blue or other fantastical colors. A little cultural knowledge in this case is helpful. Such horns in Japan are usually representative of “Oni” or demons of Buddhist lore, torturers of the denizens of Buddhist hell. On the other hand some villagers look like frogs and other animals, likely representing Japan’s traditional Shinto religious tradition, which posits the existence of numerous local gods, inhabiting and embodying the natural world.  Indeed the female lead, dressed in her voluminous red and white outfit, is garbed the traditional clothing of a Shinto priestess. Once this is established it becomes a fun guessing game as many other world religions and traditions are represented in the village’s diverse membership. This pan-religious approach makes sense for the plot, as the village is swayed away from a stance of fear and violence towards the ‘Other’ in its midst, and into the joyful collective action of creating music, which peacefully entwines itself with the object in order to draw out the alien edifice’s ultimate potential.

The Genius Party project from which Gala comes is the newest and most ambitious of Studio 4°c’s, periodic short film collections, representing a truly high and diverse level of talent. Gala’s brethren in the collection range from Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe’s well-crafted but stylistically conventional Baby Blue, to the daringly experimental approach of Shinya Ohira’s Wanwa the Puppy. Gala falls somewhere in the middle of the two, though perhaps a bit closer to the conventional. Director Mahiro Maeda after all is not a radical auteur,  but an experienced veteran of the anime industry having directed or worked on several landmark projects over the years, including Blue Submarine no.6, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Vision of Escaflowne.  Stateside though he is likely most acclaimed for his contributions to the Animatrix collection, having directed Second Renaissance Parts 1 and 2. Anime-critic Ben Ettinger remarks that Maeda’s work is shaped by a strong intellectual curiosity, and Gala certainly upholds that generalization. In his review, Ben  notes some fascinating aspects about the interplay of the animation and the music, which certainly suggests a rigor and attention to detail which is laudable.

The large commercial market for animation in Japan ironically has stunted short animations which still thrive primarily at festivals. Thus the Genius Party films are a truly rare treat to see the diversity of anime and what some of its key innovators can get  up to when given true artistic freedom. Neither of the two collections however are available in the US, and with the steady disintegration of the local anime dvd market, it is unlikely that they ever will be. That said seek them out whether through import or digital. You will be happy you did.

(note: the file is in two parts. Click through upon part one’s completion. Also use captions on the right-hand side for subtitles)

A young woman reflects upon a time 15 years earlier. She was 5 and her village was about to be set upon by English soldiers. In desperation, she crossed through the Black Forest, to search for a swordsman of legend, the “Kuroi Kenshin”, to help protect her family and people. Her only tool of persuasion is a book she hopes to give him.

That is the setup for the film, which at only 10 minutes, is still admirably able to establish a languid mood, only to be sharply shattered when the English finally do arrive. Omnipresent gloom, influenced by the dark pallete, and stylistic use of fog and other filters, helps as well to reinforce the dark, gothic meme. Religious overtones are meant to be imparted through the use of Schubert’s Ave Maria, but beautiful as it is, I found it to be found an almost laughable choice. Aside from mood and some nifty work with light, Comedy adheres rather closely to the traditional anime aesthetic, and is about as conventional a film you will see from the studio, known for its experimental work.  The action, which is brief, yet beautiful, is where the majority of the innovation can be witnessed, though simultaneous representations and ghostly afterimages. Sadly though it is the portion least suited to viewing on the ‘net.

Perhaps because it is one of the more straightforward entries in Studio 4°c’s catalog, Comedy has definitely become a fan-favorite. Of course maybe it is simply because of the well-established fact that mysterious and beautiful killing-machines are so deeply resonant with your average anime fan ^_^. Still the film has stood the test of time for a studio known as a bastion for short, experimental animation in Japan. It is a small studio, that by and large rejects growth, in order to create an environment that allows some of  the greatest animators to do the work they want to do. Commercial projects, such as major contributions to the Animatrix and the newer Gotham Knight collections, as well music videos for Linkin Park and the huge Japanese band, Glay, keep the studio in the black, but it is their short film collections that are the heart of their output. Collections like Genius Party, and the recent Genius Party Beyond, are the latest examples.

This is an important role the studio plays in term of the growth of animation in the country. Studio 4°c creates a space for animators, like Kazuto Nakazawa, to journey back and forth from the experimental to the mainstream.  The ironic thing about Japan is that the ubiquity of commercial animation, actually retards the experimental. Only in the last few years have Japanese animators like Koji Yamamura and yesterday’s Oscar-Winner, Kunio Kato, recieved recognition and validation on the world festival stage, and their work is by and large independent and does not really touch upon what we consider an anime aesthetic. Directors like Nakazawa on the other hand have a commercial output as diverse as directing the anime sequence in Kill Bill,  the Asience: Hairy Tale commercial, and chief animation directing of several episodes of Samurai Champloo. Comedy, is a worthy title in that oevre, and now with Youtube upping their quality, it has finally  been uploaded in a form fit to share. Enjoy it with the high-quality setting!

Another film this week which stretches the definition of SoTW. We prefer short films—preferably ones with narratives— but have been known in the past to showcase music videos and art films. Today though my otakudom is peeking through again and we’ve brought you a commercial from Japan.

Of course as you may have guessed, this is no ordinary commercial. Produced for a competition by the Kao company for its Asience line of shampoo, the beautiful, though unfortunately titled, Asience: Hairy Tale, sprung forth from the hallowed halls of Production I.G., the most reputable anime production company in the world, and features stunning work from some of the biggest names in the industry.

Directed by Kazuto Nakazawa, famous states-side for directing the animated segment of Kill Bill Part 1, Asience: Hairy Tale, is steeped in tradition. Blending traditional Japanese tapestry styles with traditional cel-animation techniques, Nakazawa creates a haunting and otherworldly setting for a 60 second story of love and tragedy.

Fitting the traditional tapestry style, the story follows a Heian-era princess and her samurai suitor. Captivated by the woman’s beauty, the samurai climbs her hair Rapunzel-style to tryst with the princess. Her angry father discovers the truth though and the next time the samurai attempts to scale the castle, she cuts her hair, sending the samurai down, and ultimately herself, in a hail of bloody maple leaves. Her epithet, written in blood, translates as “Hair is the heart of a woman,” an old Japanese adage. Quite a lot of development for 60 seconds!

This level of development is possible due to the remarkable nature of the compositions. Lushly executed as they are, more important is that there is a conciseness of concept to the images, each pregnant with meaning. The image of the princess reflected in the samurai’s eye for example. An extreme closeup of the eye is a standard shot in anime semiotics, but the reflection instantly establishes the connection and attraction between the two. Likewise the iconic image of cherry blossoms under the moonlight instantly conveys romance. Further shots, like the scowling, oni-like mask of the Father, say so much with so little. The importance of these relatively static images means that Asience could easily have been a comic, and yet the animation techniques deserve notice as well. The Production IG website provides a nice set of behind-the scenes interviews and production stills which detail the techniques involved. Most remarkable is the absence of computer assistance for the in-betweens. Animation that is meant to emulate painterly techniques is not new, but usually relies on CG to fill the complex brush-lines between keyframes, such as during shots of the samurai and the angry father. The Asience production team instead embarked on a painstaking process of tracing the original lines of the keyframes in order to each a similar effect in the inbetweens.

As art, I’m quite taken by Asience: Hairy Tale, but far as the short’s effectiveness as a commercial—that could be questioned. A bloody and tragic historical tale, is not usually most people’s idea of how to best market shampoo after all. Still, product awareness is a key element to advertising as well, and this commercial sure turned heads. It won awards at the London ad fest, and played just recently at Annecy, one of the worlds premiere animation festivals. Enjoy!!

Technically it’s not a short film, it’s a music video from 1994 for the popular Japanese pop duo Chage and ASKA and thus I’m cheating. ASA and I decided a while back we wanted to stick more so to narrative pieces and shy away from music video and the like. But in my defense he did review The Owl a few weeks back, and this music video, with the care taken in the development of its characters, the intelligible plot and cinematic scope, make On Your Mark far more akin to an auteur’s short film than to an MTV style/technique showcase.

A quick rundown of the plot—two police officers raid the headquarters of a religious cult in a futuristic city. Inside the lair they discover a beautiful young girl with angel wings. She quickly taken away by a team in biohazard suits, but to the two male officers the image of the girl lingers—they decide to help the girl if they can.

Released to much fanfare in Japan, longtime fans of Miyazaki were excited to be able to see Studio Ghibli’s take on a futuristic cityscape, something anime is generally known for, but was a setting which Miyazaki and Ghibli had hitherto ignored in favor of either fantastic or idyllic landscapes in their previous films. Other elements remain the same though, the angel girl is directly out of central casting as far as Miyazaki heroines should look or act, and preserved from previous films, is his fascination and wonderment with flight.

Also preserved was the incomparable quality of the animation. A bit dated now, but still gorgeous, and for its time quite an achievement. On Your Mark was produced in part as an experiment by Miyazaki in using computers to supplement hand drawn cell-animation, a blending, rather than replacement of traditional techniques with technology that to this day is still the norm for the anime industry. It worked well too, as several of these then-experimental techniques were later employed in Miyazaki’s Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke).

Still the genius of Miyazaki has never been simply the look or feel of his work, but the tremendous emotion it is able to elicit. Constrained by the brief runtime, On Your Mark is still capable of pulling those heartstrings and engendering questions and thoughts. What exactly is the nature of the “restart” halfway through the film? I’ve seen the film several times and its still a mystery.

There are a lot of promo contests out nowadays, but this one is interesting because Studio 4c is a big name in Japanese animation. Best known stateside for the Animatrix, their newest project is similarly a short film anthology featuring new films by some of the industry’s leading directors, titled (a bit pretentiously maybe) Genius Party. To help promote the Japanese theatrical release of the anthology they sponsored the Next Genius contest, open to fan and independent submissions the world over.

Seven winners have now been chosen, but Mimi Carina is my favorite possibly because having just finished the last book, I have Harry Potter on the mind, and the main character here, with her messy brown hair and glasses, bears a passing resemblance to our favorite wizard. The cute witch on a broom who rescues her, and the film’s theme, a brief meditation on death informed by the title’s description Emilie au Pays des Morts , only strengthen this initial appraisal even more.

Mimi Carina is a film informed by anime but different as well. Presumably French in origin, the light, water-colored backgrounds certainly remind one of European styles of children’s books, but on the other hand certain sensibilities are unmistakably Miyazaki; the fantastic detail drawn into the pastoral European township as well as the fascination with flight exhibited by the characters for example.

With anime style and aesthetics having increased in popularity and exposure outside of Japan the last few years, it really will be interesting to chart the affect on the medium as new artists the world over who now grow up with these films and images, but informed by their own cultural contexts, reinterpret anime.

This short, Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko (She and Her Cat ) is an early work by Shinkai, done in 1999. A charming monochrome piece, the story relates the relationship between a young Japanese woman and her cat, told from the perspective of the cat.

Pretty and endearing, the film is also an excellent primer on a number of common anime stylistic techniques—mundane objects slowly panned and artistically framed, ellipses of black, and on-screen text, serve to balance the whimsicality of a woman and cat love story with an almost nostalgic sadness.

This lo-fi work was director Jonathan Kim’s first-year film at Calarts. Featuring attractive anime styling (the monster looks remarkably similar to “Ta-Kun” from FLCL), the short’s sketch-like B&W charm is reminiscent of Hertzfeldt, as is it’s deliciously demented twist! Clocking in at 1:22, its definitely worth a viewing.