Ink Brush Animator Reiko Yokosuka

I first became aware of the beautiful ink brush animation of Reiko Yokosuka (横須賀令子) when I saw Kihachiro Kawamoto’s renku animation Winter Days (2003).  Yokosuka was one of several notable women animators (which I discussed in my Forum des Images postings earlier this year) to participate in the collaborative project.  Her interpretation of stanza 24 by Yasui (1658-1743) is minimalist in comparison to the animations of Keita Kurosaka and Yuko Asano that precede and follow her.  Delicate lines of black ink brushed onto washi paper flow gracefully across the screen transforming into a path on which a veiled lady in a broad hat walks.  As it begins to rain, ghostly forms of bamboo appear behind her as she removes her hat and veil and closes her eyes to take in the elements.  The vignette ends with the woman dancing in the wind, her long hair and kimono swirling around her as she transforms into a tree. 

Yokosuka’s animation style comes out of the tradition of sumi-e (brush painting) and she has experimented with the medium since her very first animated short Illusions (1981).  Yokosuka was born and raised in the small city of Hitachinaka in Ibaraki Prefecture where she developed an interest in both the natural and supernatural with trees, mermaids, and the spirit world appearing regularly in her works (source).  Growing up she was a fan of the female mangaka such as Ryoko Yamagishi (山岸 凉子, b. 1947), whose work often has occult themes, and the “founding mother” of modern shōjo manga Moto Hagio (萩尾 望都, b. 1949).

In 2003, Yokosuka participated in the Laputa Top 150 Japanese and World Animation poll where she revealed a fondness for an eclectic range of animation styles foreign and domestic, popular and alternative.  Among the mainstream works that she listed were Horus: Prince of the Sun (Isao Takahata, 1968), Disney’s Fantasia (1940), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Hayao Miyazaki, 1984), the anime adaptation of Takashi Yanase’s Ringing Bell (Masami Hata, 1978), and even Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! (1996). Works she lists by her fellow alternative animators include: The Man Who Planted Trees (Frédéric Back, 1987), Hedgehog in the Fog (Yuri Norstein, 1975), Dojoji Temple (Kihachiro Kawamoto, 1976), Revolver (Jonas Odell/Stig Bergkvist/Marti Ekstrand/Lars Olsson, 1993), The Snowman (Dianne Jackson, 1982), The Restaurant of Many Orders (Tadanari Okamoto/Kihachiro Kawamoto, 1991), The Sand Castle (Co Hoedeman, 1977), ATAMA (Keita Kurosaka, 1994), PULSAR (Katsushi Boda, 1990), The Bead Game (Ishu Patel, 1977), Bavel's Book (Koji Yamamura, 1996). 

In addition to ink brush on washi paper, Yokosuka has experimented animating with coloured pencils, pastels, watercolour, and even copper.  Her works are quite difficult to track down, but fortunately the Sapporo Short Fest did a retrospective of her works in 2009 and posted sample clips from some of her films online:

A Piper (aka Crater Tree, 1987):

Movement (2003):

GAKI Biwa-Houshi (2005):

She also did a short short called Monban (Gatekeeper) for an animation omnibus sponsored by Open Yokohama which they posted earlier this year:

Yokosuka is currently based in Sapporo.  For more information, check out her official homepage (JP only).  I also just posted her profile on the Japanese Animation Filmography Project.

The Curious Animated World of Ryo Hirano

With so many young animators coming out of art colleges these days, it is only those who have a truly unique vision or aesthetic that stand out from the crowd.  Ryō Hirano (ひらのりょう,  b.1988) is fast becoming known at home and abroad for his weirdly wonderful animated shorts.  Born in 1988 in Kasukabe, Saitama, Hirano is a graduate of the Information Design programme at Tama Art University and he is managed by Foghorn.

In 2009, Hirano was one of a group of students selected to participate in the creation of the collaborative  project “music video orchestra” for the experimental collaborative group Omodaka at the 13^th Japan Media Arts Festival.  Last year, he won the Japan Media Arts Festival “New Face Award” for his animated music video for Omodaka’s latest song “Hietsuki Bushi”.    He has also recently done a music video for OvertheDogs, a young band also represented by Foghorn.

According to Yuki Harada’s interview with Hirano last year, Hirano began experimenting with animation during the summer holidays of his first year of university.  He took courses in photography and programming at Tamabi, but felt that he didn’t really excel in those areas.  He also picked up basic training in the use of animation software while at Tamabi (source: public-image.org).  The first film Hirano ever made was an amusing short-short called “Udara Udara” which features cute little hand-drawn creatures on photographs of natural habitats.  He did the sound for this film himself (read review and watch video).

His next film was Future Man which he made as a project for a university course where they were asked to make something about living beings.  In preparation for this film, he read up on ant ecology and used this knowledge as the basis of his film.  One of the details that struck him as remarkable was that scientists who study ants found that their behaviour is not driven by sympathy or love for the ant queen but that it is the evolutionary drive to maximize one’s DNA.    In Future Man, he substitutes humans for the ants.  The many drawings that he did resulted in a 7 minute animation, which gave him a great feeling of accomplishment (read review and watch video).

His third work was Midnight Zoo.  It was based on a dream he had had where he was sucked into a zoo.  In this animation, Hirano wanted to show the connection between humans and animals.  Hirano is drawn to the grotesque (guro) tradition of art in Japan and elsewhere.  The manga of Hideshi Hino has been a major influence on him.  In his interview with Harada, Hirano states that he has always been drawn to the fantastic and the grotesque. Other major artistic influences that he cites are the manga-ka Shigeru Mizuki of GeGeGe no Kitaro fame, the independent animation of Igor Kovalyov, and Garo (ガロ) manga.

Themes that interest Hirano are the transformation of the body – which is perhaps why he is drawn to the grotesque and to yōkai (supernatural creatures).  He has said that he is “interested in the fact that even if you change the body, the essence doesn’t change” and this is a theme that he explores in his works.  Another theme is “boy meets girl” love.  He has tried to express this type of romantic feeling in both Midnight Zoo and Holiday.

Interestingly, Hirano says that he wants to make things that are sugoku guroi (super-grotesque), but that it is sometimes difficult not to overdo it.  In his desire not to overdo the grotesque elements in his work, the result  often turns out more cute than grotesque. When I read this I immediately thought of Hirano’s The Kappa’s Arms which is quite grotesque – I mean a kappa has his arms torn out and bleeds all over the place – but remains quite a cute animation on the whole.

In terms of method, Hirano tends to plan just the first and last scene in his animated shorts and the in-between part just comes naturally.  As a result of this relaxed approach, things that he experiences in his everyday life during the production process often get reflected in the finished film.  For example, The Kappa’s Arms was impacted by the death of a friend during the animation process (read review and watch film).  His work is also heavily influenced by what he reads.  The Kappa’s Arms was initially based on a kappa folktale Hirano discovered in a book, and Ichigwankoku (One-Eyed Country) was based on an old rakugo tale (read review).

Hirano’s animation has a unique look because of his use of collage.  Drawn elements are mixed with photographed images and sometimes even real objects.  He apparently prefers watching documentaries to watching animation but as an artist prefers animation to live action because he can control the final results more.  Also, with animation the audience is much more willing to go on a journey into the fantastic.  In a way, animation is Hirano’s jibun no documentary – a documentary of his inner self.  He can express what he wants to say without any uneasy feeling (iwakan).

We showed Ryo Hirano’s film Holiday at Nippon Connection this year.  It is his graduate film from Tamabi and the themes are once again love and the body.  He made the film based upon memories of the summer holidays (read review and watch trailer).  Holiday has raised Hirano’s profile as an animator as the film has been picked up by many international festivals.  In order to make a living, he continues to do commercial work such as music videos and the Space Showa TV station ID.   I hope that he finds the funding to continue making indie fare because he shows a lot of promise as an artist. 

A great deal of the information for this article was gleaned from an interview with Hirano by Yuki Harada (source: public-image.org) and through correspondence with Hirano himself.  To read more click on hyperlinked the titles below.

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2012

Filmography

2007  udara udara (うだらうだら)

2008  Future Man (蟻人間物語/Ari Ningen Monogatari)

2008  Midnight Zoo (深夜動物園/Shinya Dōbutsuen)

2009  music video orchestra (collaborative work for Omodaka)

2009  The Kappa’s Arms (河童の腕/Kappa no Ude)

2009  Ichigwankoku / One-Eyed Country (一眼国/Ichigankoku)

2009  Guitar (ギター)

2010 Kensaku Shōnen (検索少年, Tabito Nanao music video)

2011  Hietsuki Bushi (ひえつき節/Omodaka music video)

2011 Space Shower TV Station ID

2011  Holiday (ホリデイ)

Koji Yamamura interviewed on NHK World

Koji Yamamura was a featured guest the NHK World programme  imagine-nation today.  He first spoke about his early childhood interest in drawing animation.  He then went on to discuss his latest film Muybridge's Strings, which is playing this month at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art (learn more about this event):

On his childhood and his creative process

"I think my earliest memory of drawing something was at home, before I started kindergarten. In fact, I almost think that’s my first memory altogether. Drawing pictures is so natural to me that I don’t think there was even a day when I didn’t draw. By the time I thought about it, I found myself in a job in which I draw every single day. It’s a fundamental part of my life." 

"I was an extremely curious child and this was something that I realized even at the time. I love drawing, but I wanted to try so many different things as well. Even when watching anime on TV, instead of just enjoying it, I looked at it from the production side. I thought about how they drew certain things and what kids of pens and paints they used. I was fascinated by all those technical questions." 

"I was 13 when I tackled my first animation. I created the entire story, the pictures, background and direction and even composed the music for it. I handled every aspect of it myself. This was during my childhood, so we’re talking about the 70s, I guess. There were very few independent full stop animations back then, let alone ones created by children, so I got a lot of attention for it. How I felt back then is part of the foundation of who I am when I create something today." 

"Thinking about the nature of life and the world is something that feeds the part of me that makes animation. It’s a vital process that allows me to create animation. Of course, I’m focusing on the work at hand itself, but I’m always thinking about my life as I create. Lots of different feelings and ideas change during that period. I’m always trying to find something new and to keep thinking as part of my creative process."

On Muybridge’s Strings

 It took a total of seven years from Yamamura coming up with the original concept until the animated short's completion.  Muybridge's Strings is partly inspired by the life of photography and early cinema pioneer Eadward Muybridge (1830-1904).  His most famous photography experiment was set up to settle a debate about  whether or not a galloping horse has all four of his hooves off the ground at any point.  He set up a number of cameras that used glass plates in a line, with the cameras triggered by strings as the horse passed by.  

A parallel contemporary story runs through Muybridge's Strings that is based on Yamamura's own experience of his teenage daughter growing up.  Yamamura explains:

"The two time periods are drawn in parallel and the animation aims to make people think about the actual nature of time. It was partly inspired by the idea of using string to take photographs, which tickled me as a visual image. The other story comes from my own life."

"Through watching my daughter grow up I have a strong sense of the fragility and the extraordinary nature of time. Animation has a way of making “meaningful” time out of “empty” time. So I think about it a lot and always wanted to use time as a theme. I guess that’s how this work came about."

"I’m pretty fast at drawing so the pictures are done quite quickly, nut the animation itself is a labour intensive process. Therefore, I get the chance to think a lot while I’m tied up in that process. In that sense animation is perhaps the best reflection of who I really am."

Support Koji Yamamura buy ordering his work on DVD:

To order from Japan via cdjapan:

The Old Crocodile and Selected Works (JP/EN/FR)

Mt. Head and Selected Works  (JP with English subs)

Kafka Inaka Isha (JP only)

From the US:

Nami Iijima: Food Stylist Extraordinaire

The mouth-watering food scenes in films like Tampopo (Juzo Itami, 1985), Babette’s Feast (Gabriel Axel, 1987), Like Water for Chocolate (Alfonso Arau, 1992), Eat Drink Man Woman (Ang Lee, 1994), and Chocolat (Lasse Hallström , 2000) were arguably responsible for elevating the international reputations of their directors. The unsung heroes behind the success of these films are their food stylists.

In the past decade, food stylist Nami Iijima (飯島奈美, b. 1969) has made a name for herself in Japan not only for the simple elegance of her work in the movies but  also as a cookbook author. Iijima’s love of cooking began when she was very young and led to her studying nutrition in college. While she dreamt of becoming a professional chef, she was inspired by a photograph in a magazine to go into food styling.

A breakfast from Megane (2007)

Some of Iijima’s early work as a stylist was for commercials. Some of her clients included Pasco’s sliced white bread, Ajinomoto’s dashi (basic soup stock), Kewpie’s Aohata 55 Jam, and Nissin Foods’s chicken ramen.

Iijima’s big break came in 2006 when director Naoko Ogigami was looking for someone to style the food for her independent feature film Seagull Diner. One of her producers had also worked on TV commercials with Iijima and recommended her to Ogigami. Seagull Diner became a word of mouth hit when it was released and the two women have continued to collaborate on films together ever since.

A bento from Nonchan Noriben (2009)

In a recent interview for her film Toilet, Ogigami explained what drew her to Iijima:

When I saw her hands, I thought they were very special. I mean, she is… a bit chubby. And her hands look so gorgeous. I understood why she could make such good food. She also has a very warm personality.  (source: Film International)

Since the success of Seagull Diner, Iijima has styled the food for many other popular films including Tokyo Tower (2007), Chef of the South Pole (2008), and Villon’s Wife (2009). In addition to collaborating with Ogigami, she has also followed Ogigami’s favourite actresses Satomi Kobayashi and Mikako Ichikawa to other off-beat independent film projects like Mika Ōmori’s Pool (2009) and Kana Matsumoto’s recent release Mother Water (2010). Iijima has also worked on the television dramas Shinya Shokudō (TBS, 2009) and Tenshi no Wakemae (NHK, 2010).

In the past few years, Iijima has released a number of popular cookbooks including LIFE: Iijima Nami’s homemade taste (2009), LIFE2 (2009), and a sweet little book about breakfasts (pictured above). Needless to say, they are all beautifully photographed. Although her specialty is traditional Japanese home cooked meals, Iijima is also influenced by cooking styles from other countries. Check out Nami Iijiima’s official website here.  Read a recent interview with her here.

Ramen from Chef of the South Pole (2009)

Filmography (links lead to reviews on this blog)

Seagull Diner (Naoko Ogigami, 2006)
Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad (Joji Matsuoka, 2007)
Megane (Naoko Ogigami, 2007)
Kekkon shiyou yo (Kiyoshi Sasabe, 2008)
Handsome Suits (Tsutomu Hanabusa, 2008)
Ode to Joy (Kanki no Uta, Joji Matsuoka, 2008)
Pool (Mika Ōmori, 2009)
Chef of the South Pole (Shūichi Okita, 2009)
Villon’s Wife (Kichitaro Negishi, 2009)
Nonchan noriben (Akira Ogata, 2009)
Toilet (Naoko Ogigami, 2010)
Mother Water (Kana Matsumoto, 2010)


Cool things from Cdjapan:

Pool Original Soundtrack

Mother Water

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2011

Tochka Works 2001-2010

The collaborative art team Tochka (トーチカ) has had a distinctive online presence for many years now.  Their creative method of animating with light has inspired many artists around the world to make their own lightning doodles from Lichtfaktor here in Germany to the artists behind the 2007 Sprint commercial. Tochka’s short videos have been shared extensively on the internet, but CALF’s second volume in their DVD series Japanese Independent Animators gives fans a sense of the history of the PiKA PiKA Lightning Doodle movement.  Like Maya Yonesho's Daumenreise and Rinpa Eshidan's videos, Tochka's PiKA PiKA  films belong to the tradition of collaborative art.

Takeshi Nagata and Kazue Monno, the creative duo that make up Tochka – came up with their lightning doodle animation method in 2005 and christened it PiKA PiKA. The Japanese language is replete with evocative onomatopoeias – words whose sound suggests their meaning  – like "buzz buzz" or "drip drop" in English.  “Pika pika” (ピカピカ), as any fan of Pikachu from Pokemon can tell you, is associated with lightning or flashes of light.

The seemingly magical images of people drawing with coloured lights is actually fairly easy for the amateur animator to achieve. In fact, Tochka came up with the method as a way of teaching the principles of stop motion animation to a workshop that ranged in ages from 3 to 60. As the accompanying booklet explains, one only needs a camera with long exposure capabilities, a flashlight, and a nice black background. While the shutter is open, the “animators” draw shapes repetitively in the air with their flashlights. When the images are played back consecutively at normal speed, the light animation comes to life.

The use of drawing with light in photography is believed to have originated with the avant-garde artist Man Ray in 1935 when he used his pen light to create the self portrait Space Writings (check out the interactive material accessing this work at The Smithsonian). Another famous practitioner of light animation in photography was Pablo Picasso, as you can see in his collaborative photographs with Gjon Mili (examples here and here).

Tochka has taken the artistic concept of photographing points of light at a low shutter speed and married it to contemporary technologies and to their political beliefs in the democratization of art and the use of art to bring people of all walks of life together in a harmonious activity. Their films are not only animations, but also a documentation of their travels around the world where they collaborate with school children, artists at festivals, and even just people they meet while walking the streets of neighbourhoods from Indonesia to Canada. They also use music by local artists on the soundtracks which adds to each film’s flavour as a document of a particular place and time.  This interactivity between filmmakers, musicians, participants, and viewers is truly unique.

Their marriage of their light doodles with music reminded me of Norman McLaren’s imaginative film Boogie-Doodle (1941). A further reminder of McLaren came while I was viewing the “Jumping” section of their PiKA PiKA in Yamagata (2008) video. McLaren’s Oscar-winning film Neighbours (1952) used an animation technique which Grant Munro coined pixilation where people are essentially transformed into stop motion puppets. The Jumping sequence in PiKA PiKA in Yamagata takes the Jumping sequence from Neighbours and multiplies it by more than a dozen as you can see in these screencaps:

McLaren's Neighbours (1952)

PiKA PiKA in Yamagata (2008)

Tochka’s PiKA PiKA films are fun to watch and look as though they were fun to make by the participants. It’s like an animated form of mural-painting or graffiti art.  This was suggested to me by their compilation film PiKA PiKA (2007) which has scenes where both graffiti and lightning doodles are being created simultaneously.

The behind-the-scenes footage of their shoots in the Osaka neighbourhood of Naniwa-ku earlier this year demonstrates how PiKA PiKA can be used in a positive way to document the people and places of a neighbourhood. While in their early films the faces of the “animators” with the lights were obscured, in this footage they light the faces of the local people they encounter during the night shoots while they frame them with lightning doodles. This documentary footage is particularly magical for the way that it shows the transformation of the participants from portrait subjects to active participants. The delight on their faces to see the results of the animation process played back to them from a laptop is truly a joy to behold.

Another element of Tochka’s work that I enjoy is their foregrounding of the process of animation and the tools they use to achieve it. This seems to belong to their desire to share art, rather than simply being privileged practitioners of it. The opening sequences of their films often document the people and the process they used to make the film. For example, The Lovely Memories (2009) is a documentary of an artistic workshop, an animation, and a loving tribute to Lomography cameras (famed for their colourful, soft focus images) all rolled into one (read an interview with Tochka about shooting with the Diana F+ and Instant Back).

This DVD is by no means a complete works of Tochka who have done a wide range of stop motion films over the years for both commercial and artistic purposes. The DVD’s main focus is the PiKA PiKA output since 2005. However, in the special features section of the DVD they do include one of their early stop motion animations Build (2001) which screened on a massive wall in Kobe to commemorate the earthquake – it is a disturbing and fascinating film which playfully references early computer games like Pong and Tetris. 

Other extras include a slideshow of 100 PiKA PiKA stills and a behind-the-scenes featurette of a PiKA PiKA workshop at Suito Osaka (2009,. There is also a short snippet shot for Design Tide (2007), a long edit of PiKA PiKA in Indonesia (2008), and the trailer for PiKA PiKA in Kanazawa (2008). 

Tochka Works 2001-2010 can be purchased online at CALF. The shop is currently Japanese only but an English version is in the works. Alternatively, try contacting them via e-mail or Facebook. The DVD is bilingual Japanese – English.  To learn more about Tochka, visit their homepage.

UPDATE 13 October 2010: CALF's English language webshop is now up and running!

DVD now available in France from HEEZA

Related Posts:

 Mirai Mize Works 2003-2010

Atsushi Wada’s Day of Nose

Kei Oyama’s Hand Soap

Maya Yonesho Profile
Rinpa Eshidan

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2010

Mirai Mizue Works 2003-2010

Last month CALF, a new indie DVD label representing Japanese independent animators, held its official launch at the International Hiroshima Animation Festival. The first two DVDS to be released by CALF feature representative works by abstract animator Mirai Mizue (水江未来) and PIKA PIKA animators Tochka (トーチカ). In October, CALF plans to release DVDs of work by Atsushi Wada (和田淳), whose film In a Pig’s Eye (わからないブタ/Wakaranai Buta, 2010) won the top prize at Fatoche on the weekend, and by Kei Oyama (大山慶) whose film Hand Soap won a prize at Oberhausen earlier this year.

Mirai Mizue’s debut animation Fantastic Cell (2003), which he made during his student years at Tama Art University, was extremely well-received by the animation community. In this film Mizue debuted his distinctive “cell” animation (not to be confused with cel animation) style in which he uses an organic cell as the base shape of his abstract figures. The cells join together or split apart forming a wide array of creatures from the smallest amoeba to jellyfish and finally into a humanoid creature. The original film used the distinctive sounds of Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” from The Nutcracker Suite. Unfortunately, CALF was unable to afford the rights to the music for the DVD, but one can enjoy the full experience by playing the video from Mirai’s website simultaneously with the DVD video.

Mirai’s pairing of animation with music is reminiscent of the ground-breaking films of Oskar Fischinger and Norman McLaren. Mizue himself had actually not yet seen the work of these two artists when he made Fantastic Cell, and he points to early Disney films like Fantasia (1940), The Old Mill (1937), and Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953) as having influenced his interest in the relationship between animation and music. The Fantasia influence is certainly apparent in his choice of music as it also features Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers”.

When I first encountered Mirai Mizue’s work on the internet I mistook it for CG animation. His illustration style is so detailed and precise, that one can hardly believe that he has hand drawn every single frame. Furthermore, the digital artifacts produced by low resolution uploads blurred the detail that mark the work as being hand drawn. The high-resolution of the CALF DVD allows the viewer to see every detail of the image as the artist intended it and the result is spectacular. Check out the trailer:

In the Special Bonus Interview feature on the DVD, there is a wonderful timelapse sequence showing Mizue’s process for his “cell” animations. He begins by outlining the images with a pencil then fills them in with aqueous pens (black and colour). The images are then scanned and edited into an animation on the computer. He never uses the computer for paint work – even though his geometric animation such as Modern (2010) and Metropolis (2009) are actually well-suited to computer animation. 

In addition to geometric animation and “cell” animation, Mizue has also been dabbling in what he calls water-surface animation. He first attempted this in 2003 in a film called Minamo in which he set up a camera over a water tray with an illuminated white background (presumably an animation table) and experimented with the flow of aqueous ink over the surface of the water. He manipulated the ink by blowing with straws or stirring with toothpicks and used stop motion animation techniques to shoot the resulting effects. Not satisfied with this first attempt, he tried again in 2009 with the film Blend. This time, he used oil ink in order to see if he could control the stream of ink better. He modestly claims in the DVD booklet that he is still not satisfied and will continue refining his techniques, but these were among my favourite films on the DVD. While the kaleidoscope-like effects are fascinating, I particularly enjoyed the close up shots of the swirling ink. In combination with the experimental score, the effect is mesmerizing. 

The DVD also includes a very different type of experimental film Adamski (2008) which he shot along the Tama River. Citing Jan Svankmejer as a key influence on him as an animator, I believe that the film’s title is a reference to George Adamski, the man who claimed to have taken photographs of UFOs. This supposition is bolstered by Mirai’s statement that he wanted to shoot a film from the POV of a UFO. Like a Takashi Ito film, Adamski is made up entirely of a series of photographs which he shot all on one day. Mirai draws connections between the various graphic patterns made by fences, hydro lines, and buildings in the area. In this animation he also demonstrates a fascination for various textures: leaves in a gutter, pebbles, flowers in a garden, rope – it is a truly poetic film visually. 

The real centrepiece of the DVD for me is his film Jam (2009) which takes the “cell” animation techniques that he uses in Fantastic Cell (2003), Lost Utopia (2007), and Devour Dinner (2008) and ramps it up a couple of notches. In the liner notes he explains that he had been disappointed in the quality of his animation for Devour Dinner, which had been made to deadline. With Jam he challenged himself to make a film that made movement the centrepiece of the film.

Watching Jam on a big screen can be an overwhelming experience because, as the title suggests, the “cell” creatures are literally jammed onto the screen. Every inch of the screen is filled with creatures big and small who wriggle and slide in time with the music. The concept behind the film is that the more increasingly varied the soundtrack becomes, the greater number of creatures and movement should be on screen. It begins with a limited palette of black, white, and red, and increases the colours as well as the movement endings in a symphony of shapes, sounds, and movements. This is a film that requires repeat viewing in order to fully take in the complexity of the illustrations.

One of his latest films Playground (2010) demonstrates how keen Mizue is to hold onto his signature visual style of “cell” animation, while at the same time challenging himself to keep evolving as an artist. Playground has a much softer look than his earlier cell films because he used a paint brush with India ink in addition to his aqueous pens. He speaks in the liner notes of having been influenced by the paintings of Joan Miro that he saw in Barcelona. To be sure, the influence of Miro is there in not only his commitment to abstract image and movement, but also in his choice of colour palette. The varied selection of animation Mirai has produced in his early years as an artist makes for very inspired viewing and bodes well for the future of art animation in Japan.

Mirai Mizue’s DVD can be purchased for the very reasonable price of ￥2,800 (in comparison: Ghibli DVDs cost almost ￥5,000 apiece) at CALF’s ONLINE SHOP – which is currently only available in Japanese but will be made available in English in the near future. The DVD itself is fully Japanese-English bilingual and region-free. 

You can also contact CALF by e-mail or via their Facebook Profile.

UPDATE 13 October 2010:  CALF's English-language webshop is now open for business!

DVD now available in France via HEEZA

Related links:
Mirai Mizue’s official homepage
Follow Mirai Mizue on twitter

Related posts:
Atsushi Wada’s Day of Nose

Kei Oyama’s Hand Soap

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2010

Nagi Noda (野田 凪, 1973-2008)

Today marks the second anniversary of the death of Nagi Noda (野田 凪, 1973-2008), the brilliant pop artist and fashion icon. Not only did she make weird and wonderful videos (short films, music videos, and commercials), but she also had her own line of stuffed animals called HanPanda, designed unusual hair art called Hair Hats, and designed her own fashion line called Broken Label in collaboration with Mark Ryden. She won many awards for her work including the prestigious Bronze Lion at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in 2006 for her Coca-Cola commercial “What Goes Around Comes Around”. Although her life was tragically cut short by injuries she sustained after a traffic accident, her vibrant creative vision lives on to inspire younger artists.

In her memory, I have assembled as complete a videography as I could find. For more information, videos, and slideshows, visit her official homepage. For an extra special treat, check out the making of Nagi Noda's video for Scissor Sisters:

Videography

2000 Short Film  “46 Wrinkles”

2002 Short Film  “Small Square Stories”

2002 Commercial  Laforet “Butterfly Ribbons”

2002 Commercial  Laforet “Autumn of appetite” / “Preparation is troublesome”

2002 Commercial  Laforet “It is Christmas Soon” / “Make-up is troublesome”

2003 Short Film  “Wedding Dress, Mourning Dress, Party Dress”

2003 Short Film  “Small Love Stories”

2003 Music Video  Yuki “Sentimental Journey”

2003 Short Film  "A Small Love Story About Alex and Juliet"

2003 Commercial  Laforet “I get married smooooothly”

2003 Commercial  Laforet “Imaginary pregnancy”

2003 Commercial  Laforet “They become large in a hurry for Christmas (grow up)”

2003 Commercial  Laforet “They become large in a hurry for Christmas (kiss)”

2003 Commercial  GEKKEIKAN “GEKKEIKAN”

2003 Commercial  Suntory “Latte Latte”

2003 Commercial  Suntory “Hot Latte Latte”

2003 Commercial  Suntory “Oolong Cha”

2004 Short Film  “Mariko Takahashi’s Fitness Video for Being Appraised as an ‘Ex-Fat Girl’”

• A surreal parody of Susan Powter’s first work out video.

2004 Commericial  Laforet “Cat Walk with Shadows”

2004 Commercial  Laforet “Animal Girl”

2005 Animation – Opening Credits  "Honey and Clover"

2005 Music Video  OGIYAHAGI “Must Be”

2005 Music Video  OGIYAHAGI “I love your face”

2006 Commercial  Coca Cola “What Goes Around Comes Around”

• Music by Jack White

2006 Commercial  MONOPRIX “Vegetables”

Monoprix Vegetables (Nagi Noda) from Cosmo Sapiens on Vimeo.

2006 Commercial  MONOPRIX “Mascara”

Monoprix Mascara (by Nagi Noda) from Cosmo Sapiens on Vimeo.

2006 Commercial  MONOPRIX “Jungle”

Monoprix Jungle (Nagi Noda) from Cosmo Sapiens on Vimeo.

2006 TV Ecocolo

2006 Music Video  TIGA “Far From Home”

2007 Commercial  “b+ab spring summer 2008”

2007 Music Video  Scissor Sisters “She’s My Man”

2008  Commercial LG Stream Power

Ten Things That I Know About Takashi Sasano, the One Scene Wonder

Takashi Sasano (笹野高史, b. 1948) is one of my favourite character actors. He’s appeared in so many films and television series that his face is a familiar sight to Japanese audiences. With only the widening of his eyes, Sasano can have an audience erupt with peals of laughter. At the same time, he has a great range and depth in serious roles. Sasano recently jumped onto the radar of Western audiences when the Yōjirō Takita’s Departures (おくりびと, 2008) scooped up the Best Foreign Language Film award at the Oscars in 2009. He plays the role of Shokichi Hirata in that film.

Sasano (right) in Departures

1. He was born on the island of Awaji to a family of sake producers. He was the fourth son in the family, but his parents died when he was still a child.

2. In 1968, while studying Film at Nihon University, Sasano joined the company of Jiyū Gekijyō (Freedom Theatre). He dropped out of university, but he staying with the theatre group until 1982.

3. Sasano appears frequently in the films of Yōji Yamada (山田 洋次). Notable among these many collaborations are many of the Tora-san films, Hidden Blade (2004), Kabei: Our Mother (2008), and About Her Brother (2010).

4. Sasano was awarded Best Supporting Actor at the Japanese Academy Awards in 2007 for playing the role of Tokuhei in Yōji Yamada’s Love and Honour (武士の一分/ Bushi no Ichibun, 2006). His performance in this film also garnered him with a Kinema Junpo Award and a Mainichi Film Concours.

Sanko-Seika spot for senbei crackers

5. He calls himself a “one scene actor” because he never turns down a role, no matter how small. This year alone he appears in three feature films, a made-for-TV movie and three TV series. He also does a lot of television commercials.

Sasano's face imprinted on senbei for a Sanko-Seika campaign

6. At age 42, Sasano finally parted ways with bachelorhood, marrying a woman 17 years his junior. 

7. He has four sons, all of whom work in show business: Shota Sasano (ささの翔太, b.1991), Yuma Sasano (ささの 友間, b. 1993), Kenta Sasano (ささの堅太b. 1995), and Takato Sasano (ささの 貴斗, b. 1997).

8. His profile on the talent agency Gran Papa’s website lists his specialties as playing the trumpet and speaking the Osaka dialect.

9. He has written a memoir called Taiki Bansei in which he pokes fun of his status as a late-bloomer and character actor (never a leading man).  I love how the cover highlights his trademark receding hairline.

10. You can follow him on Twitter under the username sasano61

Selected Filmography

1985 Tora-san’s Island Encounter aka Tora-san: From Shibamata with Love

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Shibamata yori Ai o Komete, Yōji Yamada)

1986 Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Shiawase no Aoi Tori, Yōji Yamada)

1987 Tora-san Goes North 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Shiretoko Bojo, Yōji Yamada)

1987 Tora-san Plays Daddy 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajirō Monogatari, Yōji Yamada)

1988 Tora-san Salad-Day Memorial 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajiro Sarada Kinenbi, Yōji Yamada)

1989 Tora-san Goes to Vienna 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajirō Kokoro no Tabiji, Yōji Yamada)

1989 Tora-san , My Uncle 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Boku no Ojisan, Yōji Yamada)

1990 Tora-san Takes a Vacation 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajirō no Kyūjitsu, Yōji Yamada)

1991 Tora-san Confesses 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajirō no Kokuhaku, Yōji Yamada)

1993 Tora-san 's Matchmaker 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajiro no Endan,Yōji Yamada)

1995 Tora-san to the Rescue 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajiro Kurenai no Hana,Yōji Yamada)

1998 Love Letter (Azuma Morisaki)

1999 The Geisha House (Omocha, Kinji Fukasaku)

2003 Bright Future (Akarui mirai, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

2004 The Hidden Blade (Kakushi ken oni no tsume, Yōji Yamada)

 

2006 Love and Honour (Bushi no Ichibun, Yōji Yamada)

2008 Kabei: Our Mother (Yōji Yamada)

2008 Departures (Okuribito, Yojiro Takita)

2008 One Million Yen Girl (Hyakuman-en to Nigamushi Onna, Yuki Tanada)

2009 Dear Doctor (Miwa Nishikawa)

2010 About Her Brother (Ototo, Yōji Yamada)

2010 Surely Someday (Shun Oguri)

Related Posts:

Dear Doctor
One Million Yen Girl
About Her Brother

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© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2010