Animation at Nippon Connection 2018

Animation at Nippon Connection 2018 

Details, Screening Times, and Locations 

Nippon Connection has put together another wonderful programme of animation this year. One of the must-see feature films is Masaaki Yuasa’s Lu Over the Wall (夜明け告げるルーのうた, 2017), which won the coveted Cristal for Best Feature Film at Annecy last spring and went on to win the Noburō Ōfuji Award for innovation in animation at the Mainichi Film Awards earlier this year. 

Equally worth watching is Yuasa’s adaptation of Tomihiko Morimi’s novel The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl (夜は短し歩けよ乙女, 2017). Morimi’s works are usually set in his native Kyoto, and this particular story shares not only the Kyoto setting but also many of its the characters with The Tatami Galaxy, another Morimi novel that Yuasa famously adapted into an acclaimed TV anime series. The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl is a critically acclaimed feature film that won Animation of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards and Best Animated Feature at OIAF 2017. 

Although we lost the wonderful Isao Takahata this year, the Studio Ghibli spirit lives on in Studio Ponoc, formed by former Ghibli producer Yoshiaki Nishimura in 2015. Its debut feature film, Mary and the Witch’s Flower (メアリと魔女の花) is directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who also made his name at Ghibli. The visually stunning film was one of the top grossing Japanese films at the Japanese box office for 2017. 

Mutafukaz (2017) is a French-Japanese co-production combining the forces of Ankama Animations (an offshoot of the publisher Ankama) with popular anime house Studio 4C. It is a wild, frenetic ride in the vein of Tekkon Kinkreet, which co-director Shōjirō Nishimi worked on as character designer. The film is the vision of the French co-director Guillaume “Run” Renard, who created the original graphic novel series. The film will be shown in French with German subtitles. 

Popular anime director Mamoru Hosoda’s 2015 film The Boy and the Beast (バケモノの子) will play at the annual Film Breakfast – this event always sells out so book your seat early. 

If your taste runs to more alternative fare, Ujicha is back at the festival with his cutout film Violence Voyager (2017). A graduate of Kyoto Saga Art University, Ujicha coined his primitive yet effective technique “gekimation” (劇メーション). He has made a number of shorts in this style and his debut feature film The Burning Buddha Man (2013) won an excellence award at the Japanese Media Arts Festival and was shown at Nippon Connection 2013. Watch the trailer for Violence Voyager to see if it’s up your alley. 

Tokyo University of the Arts is back with a selection of its recent graduate works – read my full article on it here – and I have once again curated a selection of independent animated shorts. Learn more about it here.  I am pleased to be able to announce that animation artist Yuki Hayashi will be able to attend the screening this year.

Catherine Munroe Hotes 

LU OVER THE WALL 

夜明け告げるルーのうた 

Yoake tsugeru ru no uta 

Director: Masaaki YUASA Japan 2017, DCP, 107 min., 

Japanese with English subtitles German premiere 

Thursday, May 31, 12:00 Mousonturm Saal 

Friday, June 1, 15:30 Mal Seh’n Kino 

MARY AND THE WITCH’S FLOWER 

メアリと魔女の花 

Meari to majo no hana 

Director: Hiromasa YONEBAYASHI Japan 2017, DCP, 102 min., Japanese with German subtitles

Thursday, May 31, 15:30 Mal Seh’n Kino (with German live voice over) 

Friday, June 1, 12:00 Mousonturm Saal 

MUSIC OF THE VISUAL WORLD: 

JAPANESE INDIE ANIMATED SHORTS 

In the presence of the curator Dr. Catherine Munroe Hotes and director Yuki Hayashi

Sunday, June 3, 18:15 Naxoshalle Kino 

MUTAFUKAZ 

Director: Shojiro NISHIMI, Guillaume Renard Japan / France 2017, DCP, 90 min, French with German subtitles 

Sunday, June 3, 12:00 Mousonturm Saal 

THE NIGHT IS SHORT, WALK ON GIRL 

夜は短し歩けよ乙女 

Yoru wa mijikashi arukeyo otome 

Director: Masaaki YUASA Japan 2017, DCP, 93 min, Japanese with English subtitles German premiere

Saturday, June 2, 12:00 Mousonturm Saal 

Sunday, June 3, 22:30 Mal Seh’n Kino 

THE BOY AND THE BEAST 

バケモノの子 

Bakemono no ko 

Director: Mamoru HOSODA Japan 2015, 120 min, Blu-ray, Japanese with German subtitles

Thursday, May 31, 10:30 Naxos Atelier 

TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS: ANIMATION 

In presence of Yuichi MATSUMOTO 

Saturday, June 2, 17:30 Naxoshalle Kino 

VIOLENCE VOYAGER 

バイオレンス・ボイジャー 

Director: Ujicha Japan 2017, Blu-ray, 83 min, Japanese with English subtitles European premiere 

Thursday, May 31, 22:15 Naxoshalle Kino 

PAINT YOUR OWN MUSIC: 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP FOR KIDS 

Thursday, May 31, 15:00 Naxos Atelier 

Workshop in Japanese with German translation 

"Even if you can’t read notes and don’t play any instrument, you can be a composer - just by painting pictures! Yuichi MATSUMOTO of the Tokyo University of the Arts has invented a fantastic instrument, which conveys images into music. He, a composer himself, will show you how you can use your own drawings to make a short 'music-film'."

L'Animation Indépendante Japonaise, Volume 3 (DVD release, FR/EN, 2015)

Last spring, the French-Japanese production company and distributor CaRTe bLaNChe released its third DVD in collaboration with the French art film distributor Les films du paradoxe.  The DVD is bilingual in French and English and features the following works by Japanese independent animators:

Happy Bogeys 1 - 12 (2000-2014) by Takashi Kurihara

18’17” - 16/9 – ink on paper

A graduate of Tama Art University, Tokyo animator Kurihara is known for this series of amusing short shorts featuring creatures called “bogeys.”  Possibly inspired in name by the English concept of the “bogeyman” (an imaginary creature used by adults to frighten children into good behaviour), the bogeys are simply amusing, shape-shifting creatures.  At approximately a minute long each, and with their minimalist design (white characters outlined in black against a yellow background) they are reminiscent of the kind of short shorts I watched on public television as a child such as the La Linea (1971-1986) shorts by Osvaldo Cavandoli (aka Cava).

Veil (幕, 2014)

(Maku / Le voile, 2014) by Yoriko Mizushiri

5’26” - 16/9 - pencil on paper
Read my review here.

Poker from CaRTe bLaNChe on Vimeo.

POKER (2014) by Mirai Mizue and Yukie Nakauchi (MIRAI FILM)

3’37”- 16/9 – paper and ink on paper, 2D

This is a music video for singer-songwriter Shugo Tokumaru animated by Tama Art University graduates Mirai Mizue and Yukie Nakauchi.  Both Mizue and Nakauchi are known for their colourful animation styles that play with shapes, metamorphosis and the relationship between animation and music.

Woman Who Stole Fingers (指を盗んだ女, 2010)

(Yubi wo Nusunda Onna / La femme qui avait volé des doigts)

by Saori Shiroki (Tokyo University of the Arts)

4’15”- 16/9 – paint on glass

Read my review of Woman who stole fingers

Anal Juke - Anal Juice (肛門的重苦, 2013)

(Koumontekijûku Ketsujiru Juke) by Sawako Kabuki

2’58” - 16/9 – pencil on paper, 2D

Kabaki's work has become a viral sensation online because of her fearless and often shocking depictions of the female body.  In her typical luridly coloured, frenetic animation style, Anal Juke depicts a woman's struggle with diarrhea in a bowel movements, equating the pains of bowel elimination with intensity of earthquakes. 

Consultation Room (診察室, 2005)

(Shinsatsu Shitsu/ La salle de consultation) by Kei Oyama

9’ - 4/3 - 2D  

This is an early work by Kei Oyama which also featured on the Image Forum DVD Thinking and Drawing.  A melancholy, at times disturbing depiction of suffering and waiting in a hospital consultation room, Oyama is the master of using textures to evoke a visceral response on the part of the spectator.  The textures are scans of human flesh that have been layered using computer imaging software.

USALULLABY (2013) by Asami Ike (Tokyo University of the Arts)

5’33” - 16/9 – pastel on paper, light

Ike is a 2014 graduate of the Geidai Graduate Animation program.  Here is her description of this dreamlike short animation: “Increasing in number, small rabbits take care of a great dolphin.  Can the dolphin get to sleep by rabbits’ gentle caress?  May many people have [a] good sleep and sweet dreams tonight even in the world with whining sounds and wriggle of yin and yang."

NEW TOKYO ONDO (ニュー東京音頭, 2012) by nuQ

4’52” - 16/9 - 2D

This colourful imagining of a futuristic New Tokyo was made by another Tama Art University graduate Misaki Uwabo using his pseudonym NuQ.  He himself describes the film as "nonsensical" and explains that he drew the film at a rate of 30 pictures per second using a pencil tool.  

Paradise (パラダイス, 2013) by Ryō Hirano (FOGHORN)

20’18” - 16/9 - pastel on paper, 2D 

Hirano's latest animation was a festival favourite of 2014 (BFI / revue24images).  Another graduate of the Tama Art Animation programme, Hirano came to my attention in 2012 when I did a series about his work.  It is on my list of animated shorts to review this year.

2016 Cathy Munroe Hotes

Makoto Wada’s Movie Inspired Art 3: European Classics

Makoto Wada (和田誠, b. 1936) is best known as an illustrator whose work has adorned the pages of writers as diverse as Shinichi Hoshi, Haruki Murakami, and Agatha Christie.  In addition to illustration, he has also dabbled in film directing and animation – winning the Noburo Ofuji Award for 1964 for his comic animated short Murder (殺人).  In Murder, he spoofs a wide variety of famous film and literary icons including Poirot, Sam Spade, Dracula and James Bond.  He has also done a range of paintings inspired by film stars and classic movies.  This is my third in a series of posts looking at his art and his muses.  See also: Part 1: Early Hollywood and Part 2: Hollywood Classics

You can support this artist by ordering collections of his work such as:

Order: Makoto Wada Cinema Art

In November 2011, Makoto Wada held an exhibition entitled "World of European Films" 「ヨーロッパ映画の世界」at the  Dojima Avanza Entrance Hall in his native Osaka.  According to Kansai Art Beat, the exhibition featured paintings inspired by everything from the popular Harry Potter film adaptions to art cinema classics like Fellini's La Strada (1954).

One of the images used to promote the film was a striking image of Sean Connery as James Bond against a red background.

I believe this studio photo of Connery was used for the promotion of Goldfinger (1964).  

One of my favourites from Makoto's European film series is his rendering of the unforgettable moment from Godard's Breathless when Jean Seberg, in her Herald Tribute T-shirt kisses Jean-Paul Belmondo on the cheek:

The yellow background suits the mood of Breathless, I think, and Wada has captured the body language of the two protagonists perfectly.  Less successful, in my opinion, is Wada's rendering of Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes (1948):

Yes, this is one of the classic stills from the movie, but the adaptation lacks finesse.  Wada's body proportions for the ballet dancer Vicky Page are all wrong.  Actress Moira Shearer was much more delicately proportioned than that, and her nose was quite dainty in real life.  Wada makes her look more like one of Cinderella's evil stepsisters. 

In contrast, Wada's interpretation of Albert Lamorisse's fantasy featurette The Red Balloon (1956) is spot on in its use of colour and design.  

Next: Makoto Wada's Movie Inspired Art 4: Modern Classics

2015 Catherine Munroe Hotes

Koji Yamamura Retrospective at Nippon Connection 2014

Nippon Connection 2014 will be holding a retrospective of the career of acclaimed independent animator Kōji Yamamura on May 30,2014.  Yamamura himself will be in attendance and I am honoured to announce that I will be hosting a Q+A with him after the screenings.

Yamamura has received numerous awards in his career including Grand Prix at several prestigious festivals (Annecy 2003, Zagreb 2004, Hiroshima 2004, et al.) and an Oscar nomination (2003).  His films bring together cultural influences from not only his native country but also from abroad, particularly Canada (Norman McLaren, Ishu Patel, et al.)  and Europe (Yuri Norstein, Priit Pärn, et al.).  His work also demonstrates the influence of literature, with some of his films being inspired by such varied works as Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor, Jorge Luis Borges’s “The Library of Babel” (Fictions), the Kojiki (the oldest extant text of Japanese mythology), and traditional rakugo storytelling (Atama Yama). 

The retrospective is a cross-section of his works since 1998. This includes some of his most critically acclaimed films like Mt. Head and Muybridge’s Strings, as well as some of his lesser known works such as Jubilee, the music video he made for a song by Kazuyoshi Nakamura, and Anthology with Cranes, his adaptation of an original painting by 17^th century artist Sōtatsu Tawaraya.  See the full listing of films below.

Yamamura is professor of animation at Tokyo University of the Arts (aka Geidai), and will also be presenting a selection of films by recent graduates of the programme at NipponConnection 2014.  He is currently vice-president of the Japanese Animation Association and a member of the board of the Japanese branch of ASIFA.  Yamamura recently opened an animation store and gallery called Au Praxinoscope in Jiyugaoka.  The gallery is currently holding an exhibition on Pritt Pärn which runs until May 31^st and will be followed by an Igor Kovalyov solo exhibition. 

Koji Yamamura Retrospective

Date:  Friday, May 30
Time:  17:30
Location:  Naxoshalle Kino
Tickets:  Nippon Connection

Filmmachergespräch mit Koji Yamamura 
Moderation: Cathy Munroe Hotes

Date:  Friday, May 30
Time:  22:15
Location:  Mousonturm Studio 3

Eintritt Frei (Free Entry)

The retrospective will include: 

The Hyuga episode of Kojiki  (古事記 日向篇/ Kojiki Hyūgahen, Japan, NHK, 2013)

Four short episodes from the Kojiki including Japan's creation myth and the emergence of the gods.  I plan to review this one at some time between now and NC2014.  

Mr. Rib Globe (地球肋骨男/Chikyu Rokkotsu Otoko, Japan, 1998)

The oldest Yamamura film in the retrospective, this short short was made for TV.  A surreal little piece about a terrestrial globe with a skeletal structure inside.

Jubilee ( Japan, 1999)

A music video to promote the song by Kazuyoshi Nakamura.

Pieces (おまけ/Omake, 2003)

A playful series of nine vignettes that incorporates visual gags, 19th century animation technology and surrealist humour.  Read my full review here.

Fig (無花果/Ichijiku, Tokyo Loop omnibus, 2006)

Yamamura's contribution to the omnibus animation Tokyo Loop, which combines a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Stuart Blackton's Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) with an ode to the city of Tokyo.  In Fig, Tokyo Tower and a window transform themselves into characters and roam the nightscape of Tokyo.   Learn more about Tokyo Loop here.

Anthology with Cranes (鶴下絵和歌巻/Tsuru shitae waka kan, Japan, 2011)

five fire fish (Canada, NFB, 2013)

An improvisation on the NFB's iPad app McLaren's Workshop. See my article Direct Animation for the Tablet Generation to learn more.

Mt. Head (頭山/Atama Yama, Japan, 2002)

The first Yamamura animation I ever saw, Mt. Head is an adaptation of a rakugo story in collaboration with rakugo performer and musician Takeharu Kunimoto.  Read more.

The Old Crocodile (年をとった鰐/Toshi wo Totta Wani, Japan, 2005)

An adaptation of French author and illustrator Leopold Chauvaud's "Histoire du vieux crocodile."  Learn more here.

A Child’s Metaphysics (こどもの形而上学/Kodomo no Keijijōgaku, 2007)

A delightful rumination on what it means to be a child.  Read more here.

Muybridge’s Strings (マイブリッジの糸/Maiburijjino Ito, Canada/Japan, NFB, 2011)

A poetic investigation of the nature of time that takes us on a journey into cinematic history.  Learn more in my review.

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2014

WONDER (2014)

“Dedicated to my teacher Masahiro Katayama, 

who opened up my eyes to the WONDER of animation.” 

- Mirai Mizue, WONDER, end credits

“Wonder” is the word I would use to describe the emotion that I felt when I first discovered the animation of Norman McLaren as a child exploring the NFB video tape collection in my local library.  I had been exposed to NFB animation in school, but this was something new and exciting, and it changed my understanding of animation forever.  I imagine that feeling of wonder is what Mirai Mizue and his peers (Kunio Katō, Akino Kondoh, among others) felt when Professor Masahiro Katayama (read: In Memory Of) introduced them to the world of independent animation as undergraduates at Tama Art University in the early 2000s.  Thus, it was moving to see that Mizue had dedicated his latest animated short, the aptly named WONDER (2014) to his late sensei.

I am reminded of that sense of wonder whenever I see a new film by Mirai Mizue because like Norman McLaren, he is constantly challenging himself with innovative animation projects.  WONDER is the end result of the WONDER 365 ANIMATION PROJECT executed by Mizue between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013.  In this project, Mizue set himself the goal of producing a one-second film – 24 images – per day for 365 days with the support of sponsors.  At the completion of that year, Mizue’s producers, CaRTe bLanChe, set up a kickstarter campaign to transform the resulting sequence of 8,760 images into a complete film (8 minutes in length) – including a 35mmm print and a soundtrack by the acoustic band the Pascals – that could be sent to international festivals.  So far, WONDER (see: official website) has made the Jury Selection at the Japan Media Arts Festival, and last week it competed in the shorts competition at the Berlinale.  

ゴールドベアーはもらえなかったけど、ゴールドフィルムを受け取った！ 映画『ワンダー・フル!!』2/22~ヒューマントラストシネマ渋谷 http://t.co/CFLLiOl1ob pic.twitter.com/UB93StzpBE

— 水江未来／MIRAI MIZUE (@MIRAI_MIZUE) February 16, 2014

映画祭終了後の翌日の上映は100%一般観客対象。日曜の夜でもソールドアウトで感嘆！活発なQ&Aを終えたあと帰りにレッドカーペットを歩いていたら、水江さん女性観客たちに「素晴らしかった！とっても気分が良いわ」と話しかけられてました♪ pic.twitter.com/qibaLH2FPG

— 岡本珠希｜Tamaki Okamoto (@tmk_kmt) February 17, 2014

Mizue animated WONDER using his signature “cell animation” technique that he has been wowing audiences with since his debut animation Fantastic Cell in 2003.  The cells in question refer not to celluloid (as in the traditional animation technique “cel animation”), but to organic cells which make up the basic structures of the weird and wonderful creatures that Mizue brings to life in his abstract films. In the programme to the Berlinale, Mizue’s technique is compared to a colour organ (Farbenklavier), “in which visual effects are produced when a musical key is struck,” they describe Mizue’s latest film as “a journey to the world of cells and structures.” (Source: Berlinale).  In addition to the cells animation, WONDER features a wide range of abstract paintings that by turns complement and contrast with each other. 

MIRAI MIZUE × PASCALS【WONDER -Trailer -】 from MIRAI_MIZUE on Vimeo. 

Mizue does not use storyboards in planning his films, but instead improvises using his intuition.  This imparts a lyrical quality to his work and results in a film in which every new transformation surprises the viewer like fireworks exploding in the sky.  When presented on a programme with his fellow CALF animators, whose work often explores deep and troubling psychological issues, Mizue’s films lift up the spirits with their warm colour palettes and they inspire audiences with their creativity.  Thanks in part to the Pascals’ upbeat soundtrack, WONDER is Mizue’s most joyous film to date.  The colours dance across the screen with an ease that belies the tremendous amount of hard work and dedication that went into its meticulous execution. 

WONDER will be screened along with 14 other shot by Mirai Mizue at the Human Trust Cinema Shibuya on February 22^nd.  They are also hosting an exhibition of the animator’s illustrations called WONDER FULL until the end of the month.  Learn more at the official website WONDER FULL.  Clips of the film from the WONDER 365 ANIMATION PROJECT can be found of Mizue’s official Vimeo and Youtube profiles.  Keep an eye out for WONDER at international festivals because it is a real treat for the senses when seen on the big screen.

2014 Catherine Munroe Hotes

Coicent (コイ☆セント, 2011)

The year is 2710 and the city of Nara is celebrating the 2000^th anniversary of the relocation of the capital city of Japan to Nara.  A larger-than-life hologram of the legendary Queen Himiko (170-248AD) of Wa (ancient Japan) welcomes visitors in the style of a modern day tourist group leader.  Teenager Shinichi (Kensho Ono) and his buddy are enraptured by Himiko’s beauty and hope that they will meet girls as beautiful as her during their stay in Nara.  Before he can get very far, a strange white shika deer (Kappei Yamaguchi) steals his bag and Shinichi gives chase.

In a parallel story we learn that Himiko has been brought back to life by Madame President (Masako Isobe) using a mysterious robotic technology for a purpose that is equally mysterious.  But as in many a sci-fi story (Chobits, Yokohama Todaishi Kikō, Time of Eve), this android-human hybrid develops her own feelings and desires.  Himiko tries to escape her creator and her two henchmen sons (Aniki is voice by Testsu Inada and Otōto by Takehito Koyasu) who resemble clowns seem more powerful because they are riding on red and blue oni (demons).  Our heroine climbs out of the giant President’s building and through the bumbling of one of the henchmen brothers gets knocked falls from the tower onto the back of the white shika deer where she is inadvertently “rescued” by Shinichi.  Himiko disguises her identity by transforming herself into a teenage girl called "Toto" and Shinichi is awestruck.  They tour Nara together and begin to fall in love.  Will this teenage romance have a happy ending or will Himiko be recaptured by her creator Madame President?  It’s a wild and unpredictable, but thoroughly entertaining journey easily enjoyed at just 26 minutes.  Be sure to watch the end credits or else you will miss out on the dancing shika!!

When Sunrise animation studio announced Coicent (コイ☆セント/Koi☆sento, 2011) back in 2010, they dubbed it a “super science-fiction romantic comedy” (ANN), and it certainly does have a smattering of each of those genres.  It’s a fantastic blend of old Japan, new Japan, and future Japan, with skyscrapers, shrines and Buddha statues cropping up close together like the layers on a pop-up storybook.  Viewers unfamiliar with the historical and mythological figures and symbols might be scratching their head at the goings on, but die-hard anime-fans are used to head-scratching.  The central character, Shinichi, scratches his own head quite a bit as he is thrown from one surprising scenario into the next and we as the audience go through a similar range of emotions from bemusement to surprise and delight. The character designs and backgrounds are all spectacular.  

Shinichi's inadvertent rescue of Toto aka Himiko

The only drawback to Coicent for me is its unfortunate official “English” title.  I would have much preferred Koisento or Koi☆sento to this nonsense pseudo-English.  The title is a bit ambiguous in katakana, but I would presume that the “koi” is meant to be “love”.  “Sento” could be a number of things, but my educated guess from the context of the film is that it refers to the moving of the capital (遷都).  The capital city of Japan has moved many times throughout history – its location was traditionally dependent upon where the emperor was living.  Tokyo has been the capital since 1868 (the beginning of the Meiji era).  Before that it was in Kyoto for nearly 7 centuries.  Nara was the capital during the reign of many emperors, the last being during the Nara Period up until the death of Emperor Kammu in 794. 

 

Cast dance sequence from the closing credits

Director Shūhei Morita (森田修平, b. 1978) was nominated this week for the Oscar for Best Animated Short for Possessions (九十九/Tsukumo), his contribution to the Short Peace (2013) omnibus.  Morita grew up in Nara – which would explain the wealth of imagery from both the historical and mythological past of the region – and graduated from Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2001.  He has done animation work for MTV Japan, the NHK, and Studio 4°C.  Since forming his own studio Yamato-Works in 2003 he was been developing his own independent animation vision in collaboration with other production companies. 

Coicent can be found on Hulu in the US.  In the US it also shares a Blu-ray with the short anime Five Numbers! (ノラゲキ！, Hiroki Ando, 2011): Coicent / Five Numbers [Blu-ray]. The film has its own stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray in Japan:

Koisento DVD or Blu-ray (JP only, no EN subs or dubs)

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2014

L'Animation Indépendante Japonaise, Volume 1 (DVD/Blu-Ray release, FR/EN/JP, 2013)

L'Animation Indépendante Japonaise, Volume1 (DVD/Blu-Ray release, FR/EN/JP, 2013)

The French indie label Les Films du Paradoxe, who have a terrific catalogue of animation DVDs from Te Wei to Paul Driessen, have collaborated with CaRTe bLaNChe to release a combination DVD/Blu-Ray of Japanese independent animated shorts made between 2006 and 2012.  The selection features a wide range of experimental techniques from drawn animation to pixilation. 

The selection opens with two films by Shin Hashimoto (橋本新, b. 1978) of CALF, an up-and-coming Tama Art University graduate who has become known for the dark, atmospheric nature of his works.  Beluga (ベルーガ, 2011) is a nightmarish take on the story of the little match girl which, won a special mention at Zagreb 2012.  This is followed by his earlier film The Undertaker and the Dog (葬儀屋と犬/Sougiya to Inu, 2010), a deeply disturbing yet beautifully painted film that was widely praised by critics when it screened at international festivals.

The unique aesthetic of experimental filmmaker Isamu Hirabayashi (平林勇, b.1972) became known to a wider audience in 2011/12 when his animated short 663114 (2011) received high honours from being invited to the Biennale in Venice to winning the Noburo Ofuji Award.  As I wrote in my review of the film last year, it is one of the most profound responses to Tohoku disaster, and it is worth buying this selection just to see it on Blu-ray.

Hiroki Okamura (岡村寛生, b. 1968) and Takumi Kawai (川合匠, b. 1968), better known as Kawai + Okamura (カワイオカムラ, since 1993), are a creative duo who both teach at the Kyoto University of Art and Design.  As students at Kyoto City University, Okamura majored in oil painting and Kawai in sculptor, but today they are best known for their innovative films and installations that combine a number of different techniques from CGI to stop motion.  Columbos (コロンボス, 2012) is a reimagining of the legendary television detective Columbo with puppets.  It is a unique puppet animation unlike anything I have ever seen before with unbelievable use of lighting, special effects, and choreography of figures. 

Acclaimed CALF animator, Mirai Mizue (水江未来, b. 1981), has contributed two of his recent films Tatamp (2011) and Modern No. 2 (2011).  Tatamp is an example of Mizue’s distinctive “cell animation” style that feature a chorus of little amoeba-like, colourful cells whose movements and shapes are inextricable from the soundtrack (read my full review).   Modern No. 2 is an example of Mizue’s experiments with geometric animation.  Learn more about this style of animation in my post The Modern Films of Mirai Mizue.

Yoriko Mizushiri (水尻自子, 1984) is a graduate of the Joshibi University of Art and Design in Kanagawa.  Her trademark animation style is to focus on individual parts of the body from an original perspective.  Her 2012 animated short Futon (布団) won a number of prizes in Japan including the prestigious Renzo Kinoshita Prize at Hiroshima and the New Face Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival. It has also been a big hit at international festivals, making the short list for Cartoon Brew’s most well liked animated short of 2013.  The second film of hers featured on this DVD, Kappo (かっぽ, 2006), demonstrates that Mizushiri established her unique style early on in her career.

Another CALF animator, Kei Oyama (大山慶, 1978), also features on this DVD.  His fleshy, disturbing, yet strangely poignant film Hand Soap (ハンドルソープ, 2008) won prizes at Oberhausen, Holland, and Hiroshima. Read my review here.    The animation community is anxiously awaiting the release of his latest work After School, which crowdsourced funding on Camp-fire in 2012.  He’s taking a risk by trying out a totally new style – can’t wait to see the results. 

Dreams (2011) is the last collaborative film by long-time friends and colleagues Keiichi Tanaami (田名網敬一, b.1933) and Nobuhiro Aihara (相原信洋, 1944-2011).  Up until Aihara’s sudden death in 2011, the two well-established artists made 15 films together in just over a decade – many of which can be found on the 2011 Chalet Pointu/CaRTe bLaNChe/ARTE DVD  Portrait of Keiichi Tanaami.  The films came out of the fact that both artists were teaching at Kyoto University of Art and Design.  The collaborative process consisted of one of the artists drawing a picture for a scene and leaving it on the other’s desk.  The other artist would add to it or remove some parts and put it on the first artist’s desk, and so on back and forth until the film developed.  This kind of artistic “correspondence” was unique in the art world and it is a mesmeric experience to watch their complementary styles on screen together. Dreams is followed by the prolific Tanaami’s latest offering: Red-Colored Bridge (2012).  In his characteristic brightly coloured style, Tanaami uses the symbolic red bridge to heaven found in traditional Japanese gardens to take us on a psychedelic, erotic, and spiritual journey into his imagination.

There are few animators today who truly embody the creative spirit of my favourite animator, Norman McLaren, and TOCHKA (トーチカ, since 1998) is one of them.  TOCHKA is the husband-wife animation team Takeshi Nagata (ナガタタケシ, b.1978) and Kazue Monno (モンノカヅエ, b.1978) who are known for their innovative PiKA PiKA light animation films (read more about them and learn how you can order a DVD of their works).  This DVD features their original 2006 film PiKA PiKA and their latest film MAZE (2012).  In MAZE, Nagata and Monno have come up with yet another innovative new way to showcase their PiKA PiKA animation: on a grid pattern of 12x4 squares.  A team of assistants with different coloured lights act like pixilated Bunraku performers colouring in and around the blocks with light.  This film required meticulous planning and choreography. My favourite moment is the Pac-Man inspired sequence where a yellow arrow and a couple of stars negotiate a maze.   

The DVD/Blu-ray concludes with two recent films by acclaimed CALF animator Atsushi Wada (和田淳, 1980).  The Great Rabbit (グレートラビット, 2012) is Wada’s most successful film to date winning him the Silver Bear at the 62^nd Berlinale among other honours – read my review here.  And finally, as I wrote in 2010, I consider The Mechanism of Spring (春のしくみ, 2010) to be “Wada’s most light-hearted film to date, capturing the delight that young children and animals take in the season. The young chubby boys examine the wildlife, take off their shirts and run about gaily, and observe a plant sprouting out of the earth, among other delights.”  I like that they chose to end the DVD with this uplifting film. 

On the whole, this is a terrific selection of recent independent animation from Japan --- the best collection since Image Forum’s Thinking and Drawing: Japanese Art Animation in the New Millennium (2005) and Tokyo Loop (2006). The greatest thing about this DVD/Blu-ray is that it is called Volume 1, suggesting that we can expect more DVDs in the future.  It has French and English subtitles and can be ordered via Amazon France.  For those of you in Tokyo, Koji Yamamura’s new animation museum/shop Au Praxinoscope in Setagaya has the film on their list. 

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2013