Best Japanese Indie Animation Shorts 2013

Nishikata’s Best Japanese Indie Animation Shorts 2013

2013 did not disappoint when it came to indie animation fare.  Due to the vagaries of short film distribution, to qualify for this list films either had to be released in Japan in 2013 or be a 2012 Japanese release that screened at European festivals in 2013.  There are so many talented animators working in Japan at the moment that it was nigh on impossible for me to narrow my list down to just 10, but I somehow managed a short list of 15.  Without further ado, here are my screening highlights from the past year ordered randomly. 

Kick-Heart (Yuasa Masaaki, 2013)

I am a long-time fan of Yuasa Masaaki (Mind Game, Tatami Galaxy), travelling to Dortmund in 2011 to see him at the Japan Media Arts Festival (read about his film talk there), so I was delighted to be able to put my money where my mouth is and support him in his latest project Kick-Heart.  It is, indeed, a kick-ass film and I hope to review my copy of the Blu-ray/DVD set soon.  Kudos to Production I.G. for going the extra mile for innovative animation.

Combustible (火要鎮 / Hi no Yōjin, 2012)

This short film by legendary manga-ka and animator Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Memories) won the Animation Grand Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival 2012 and then went on to win the Noburō Ōfuji Award at the 2012 Mainichi Concours.  Combustible is an adaptation of Otomo’s 1994 one-shot manga of the same name and is set during the time of the great fires in Edo.   This film appears as part of the anthology anime Short Peace (ショート・ピース, 2013) alongside animated shorts by Shuhei Morita, Hiraki Ando and Hajime Katoki.  I will be reviewing Short Peace when the Blu-ray is released mid-January 2014.  Although Otomo isn't exactly "indie", one can't argue that he takes risks with his animation, going beyond the mainstream in his choice of subject matter and style of animation.

Futon (布団, 2012)

This minimalist short by Yoriko Mizushiri explores the sensual aspects of being sleepily wrapped up in a warm duvet.   It 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.  It appears on the new DVD/Blu-ray L'Animation Indépendante Japonaise, Volume 1.   Mizushiri’s most recent film, Snow Hut (かまくら, 2013), made the Jury Selection at this year’s Japan Media Arts Festival.

Ninja and Soldier (2012)

Experimental animator Isamu Hirabayashi has followed up the success of his animated short 663114 (2011) with another computer animation, Ninja and Soldier.  The central characters, two eight-year-old boys, are drawn in a child-like crayon scrawl on an elegant background straight out of traditional Japanese art.  The film explores human nature through the eyes of children.  Ninja and Soldier screened at the 2013 Berlinale and at Image Forum Festival 2013.

Recruit Rhapsody (就活狂想曲, 2012)

It was hard to choose my favourites from among the strong works from Geidai animation grads, but Maho Yoshida’s clever depiction of the annual Shūkatsu Kyōsōkyoku job hunt certainly tops my list of Geidai faves.  Read my review here.

Red Colored Bridge (2012)

In his characteristic brightly coloured style, the renowned pop artist Keiichi 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.  This film can be found on L'Animation Indépendante Japonaise, Volume 1.

Maze (2012)

With their latest film TOCHKA (Takeshi Nagata and Kazue 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.   This film can be found on the recently released DVD/Blu-ray L'Animation Indépendante Japonaise, Volume 1.  

Columbos (Kawai + Okamura, 2012)

Hiroki Okamura and Takumi Kawai, better known as Kawai + Okamura (カワイオカムラ), are a creative duo who both teach at the Kyoto University of Art and Design.  Columbos 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.  This film appears on the new DVD/Blu-ray L'Animation Indépendante Japonaise, Volume 1.  

While the Crow Weeps (カラスの涙, 2013)

Sukimaki Animation (Makiko Sukikara and Kohei Matsumura) were awarded the New Face Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival for their atmospheric short While the Crow Weeps.   This hauntingly beautiful depiction of crows is like an Edgar Allan Poe poem come to life.

Airy Me (2013)

 Dream-pop singer Cuushe (have a listen on soundcloud) has some of the coolest tie-in art and videos around and Airy Me is my current favourite.  Animated by Yoko Kuno, the same artist who designed the cover art for Cuushe’s latest album Butterfly Case, the music video takes us on a dizzying journey into psychosis.  Watch it for yourself on Vimeo.

Anomalies (Atsushi Wada, 2013)

 Award-winning CALF animator Atsushi Wada’s latest film was funded by Animate Projects, the UK’s “only arts charity in the UK dedicated to championing experiments in animation” via its online exhibition space and screenings on Channel 4’s Random Acts.  Anomalies is part of the group commission Secret Monsters.  Drawn in Wada’s characteristic style, Anomalies has a faster pace than his earlier films but long-time Wada fans will recognize the characters and themes.  Watch it here.

Yamasuki Yamazaki (やますき、やまざき, 2013)

A joyous celebration of the female form, Shishi Yamazaki’s Yamasuki Yamazaki is a sensual delight.  Inspired by female curves, cherry blossoms, and the music of Jean Kluger and Daniel Vangarde (father of Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter), it is the only film I have ever seen that succeeds in making the act of defecation look almost lovely.   Watch for yourself on Vimeo.

Little Ojisan (aka Mini Oyajiちいさなおじさん, 2012-present)

This minimalist short-short animated series was adapted by Noi Asano from his manga series The Diary of Little Ojisan (ちいさいおやじ日記 / Chiisai Oyaji Nikki, 2008-present) and airs on Chiba TV.  The series stars a Tom Thumb-esque character in the form of a middle-aged businessman.  His adventures begin when a young girl finds him under a leaf on a rainy day and adopts him.  The comic vignettes play on the absurd role reversal of the mini-businessman and the girl.  Odd but strangely engaging, I like the simplicity of the pencil on white drawings.  Sample episodes can be found on Little Ojisan’s official Youtube Channel.

  

Wonder (ワンダー, 2013)

 I gave CALF animator Mirai Mizue my financial support when he crowdfunded the completion of Wonder, a short film that developed out of his Wonder 365 Animation Project (Mirai Mizue, 2012-13).  The film is now complete and heading out to festivals.  The film has already been given a Special Jury mention at the Japan Media Arts Festival, and I expect it will do well on the festival circuit in 2014. 

A Wind Egg (空の卵, 2012)

Ryo Ōkawara is another Geidai animation programme graduate whose work is improving with each new film.  His deeply disturbing but captivating short A Wind Egg won the Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award for Animated Film at the Stuttgart Trickfilm Festival in 2013.  Read my review here. 

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2013

A Look Back at 2013 in Japanese Animation

2013 was a wonderful year for feature-length animation in Japan.  Studio Ghibli released new films from their great masters Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.  The Wind Rises (風立ちぬ, 2013) gave Miyazaki a chance to indulge in his love of aviation and Shōwa nostalgia, while Takahata has adapted the much-loved folktale “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter” in his first feature film in over a decade, The Tale of Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語, 2013). 

The usual franchise suspects did well at the Japanese box office this year with Detective Conan: Private Eye in the Distant Sea (2013) becoming the Conan franchise’s highest grossing film ever.  Crayon Shin-chan starred in his 21^st feature film: Crayon Shin-chan: Very Tasty! B-class Gourmet Survival (2013) and did well at the box office, as did Doraemon: Nobita's Secret Gadget Museum (2013).  Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013) shot to number one at the box office showing at all 16 of Japan’s IMAX Digital Theaters.  Variety also reported that the film ranked number 5 overseas, making it the top-ranking non-Hollywood film on the chart.  Yasuhiro Yoshiura’s Patema Inverted (サカサマのパテマ, 2013) and Hideaki Anno’s Evangelion: 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo (ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版：Q) received the Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival 2013, while Ghost in the Shell Arise - Border 1: Ghost Pain (2013), Blue Exorcist (青の祓魔師2012), and Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (2013) all got special mentions.

As I do not live in Japan, J-films usually come to a screen near me via festivals the following year. This year, I was particularly lucky that Nippon Connection 2013  had a strong programme of animation.   I was delighted to finally see legendary animator Gisaburo Sugii’s Kenji Miyazawa-inspired The Life of Budori Gusuko (グスコーブドリの伝記, 2012) on the big screen featuring the same Hiroshi Masumura anthropomorphic cat characters that he used in his earlier classic Night on the Galactic Railroad (銀河鉄道の夜, 1985).  One of the most under-rated animated feature films of 2012, The Life of Budori Gusuko has a timely environmental message, likely inspired by Kenji Miyazawa’s love for the countryside of his native Iwate Prefecture.

Also at Nippon Connection, Mamoru Hosoda’s bittersweet tale Wolf Children (おおかみこどもの雨と雪, 2012).  After successful stints at Toei (Digimon Adventure, One Piece) and Madhouse (Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars), Hosoda has entered a new stage in his career by establishing his own studio: Studio Chizu.  Thematically, the film has much in common with Isao Takahata’s Pom Poko (平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ, 1994) except instead of a species under threat of human development, the central characters are a species who are extinct in Japan – the Honshū wolf – and have only managed to survive into the modern era by becoming half human. 

Nippon Connection also presented a collection of Toho animated shorts under the title Kami Usagi Ropé: The Last Day of Summer Vacation (映画「紙兎ロぺ」 つか、夏休みラスイチってマジっすか!?, 2012), a retrospective of Sci-Fi Anime (1966-2011) and Hiroyuki Okiura’s well-received 2011 film A Letter to Momo (ももへの手紙 / Momo e no tegami).  However, the most innovative films on the programme were Keiichi Sato’s disturbing tale of the feral child Asura (アシュラ, 2012), which you can read about here, and Uchija’s grotesque The Burning Buddha Man (燃える仏像人間, 2012) – which actually is not really an animation but an elaborate puppet film using highly detailed cut-outs.  There was also an excellent selection of shorts from Geidai university – a couple of which made my Best JapaneseIndie Animation Shorts of 2013.

I had been concerned from early on in his career that Makoto Shinkai might buckle under the unnecessary pressure of people calling him the “new Miyazaki” – unnecessary because I think his style of animation is very different from the man he admires.  The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭, 2013), which I picked up the day it was released on DVD/Blu-ray in Canada in August, is a lovely 45-minute film that explores a May-December romance between a young man from a broken home and an older woman he meets at the park.  The highlight of the film for me is the scenery which is based on photographs of Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden – natsukashii!

A heavy teaching schedule meant that I did not get into any anime series this year, but there are enough anime bloggers out there to cover this genre.  Check out the lists by haruhichan, kotaku, lostinanime, not to mention a terrific overview of the whole cultural year in Japan by Néojaponism.

The highlights of 2013 were, of course, the indie shorts that came my way.  Check out my top 15 in the following post:  Best Japanese Indie Animation Shorts 2013.

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2013

Kitty's Graffiti (こねこのらくがき, 1957)

This delightful early anime is the first animated short by Toei Dōga (now known as Toei Animation)  Most of the animators who worked on the film – Taiji Yabushita, Yasuji Mori, Akira Daikubara, et al. – had previously worked at the animation studio Nichidō (Nihon Dōga-sha/日本動画株式会社, 1948-56) which was acquired by Toei in 1956.  Although Yabushita, the co-founder of Nichidō, is the director of Kitty's Graffiti (こねこのらくがき/Koneko no Rakugaki, 1957), the character design and general look of the 13-minute animation often gets attributed to Yasuji Mori. 

Shot on black-and-white film stock, and the film has no dialogue – much in the style of a Tom and Jerry cartoon – and like Tom and Jerry, there is a cat chasing mouse gag, but it is executed in an entirely different manner.  A kitten is busy scribbling pictures on a bare external wall of a house.  His line drawings are images typically drawn by a child: a horse in the sun, fish and a crab blowing bubbles, a cat mother and kitten, a streetcar, traffic, a horse and carriage, and a train on a long railway track with a tunnel at the end.  At the sound of a whistle blowing, the drawing of a train comes to life and starts to rumble down the track.  The kitty stops the train then notices a terrible traffic jam of cars pushing and shoving each other on the portion of wall where he had randomly drawn an assortment of vehicles.  He quickly draws in a traffic police bear to direct the cars more safely.

Pleased with his results, the cat smiles as he observes the scene then turns upon hearing a smattering of applause behind him.  There he discovers a pair of mice who are equally pleased with the kitty’s drawings.  One of the mice is tall and slender and dressed slacks, the other is small and round dressed only in a long-sleeved shirt.  The shorter of the two mice stands on a tin of fish to get a better view.  For his audience, Kitty draws a parade of mouse figures on the wall.   The mice celebrate by jumping up and down causing the little one to lose his balance and clatter into hiding with the tin attached to his tale.  A large bear, presumably the owner of the house, peers around the corner and admonishes kitty for defacing the wall.  He is given a bucket and cloth to clean up the mess, but he gets distracted by the laughing mice who take Kitty’s pencil and board the train and take off with it.  Kitty chases after them and jumps aboard and they enter the tunnel and are transported into a wonderfully imaginative cat chasing mice sequence through a land of child-like drawings.  The chase continues with many delightful slapstick moments until the mice turn the tables around and start chasing the cat instead.  It is all just a bit of fun and ends with the cat doing what is right and cleaning up after himself.  .  .  leaving only the drawing of the police bear as a reminder of the day’s events.

This type of cartoon that enters the imaginative world of children, and actively encourages children to think creatively beyond the realms of the “real” is my favourite.  It transported me back the one of the cartoons of my childhood such as Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings (Ivor Wood, ITV, 1976), which aired on TVO when I was as kid.  I much prefer these kinds of absurdist jaunts through the realms of the imaginary to didactic / moralistic tales for children.  They seek not only to entertain children, but encourage them to pick up their pencils and entertain themselves after the film has concluded. The enjoyment of the film is elevated by Senji Itō’s playful score.  Itō is best known in film studies for his dramatic scores for the films of Yasujirō Ozu (The Only Son, The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family, Late Spring, A Hen in the Wind, Early Summer) and Hiroshi Shimizu (The Masseurs and a Woman, Four Seasons of Children, Children of the Beehive, Notes of an Itinerant Performer, A Star Athlete, etc.).  Here his music drives the tempo of the animation (lilting, marching) with interruptions timed to heighten the comedic moments.  The score is so expressive that one hardly notices the lack of actual dialogue.

The central characters in Kitty's Graffiti (the cat, the bear homeowner, the mice duo) are beautifully realized, with round, expressive faces – much like the animal characters of Disney’s Bambi.  The kitty has some design similarities to the kittens of Kenzō Masaoka’s Tora-chan films – on which Mori also worked.  However, that being said, these are only minor similarities and the kitty is certainly recognizable as a distinct character with its own cheeky personality.   This film gives us a glimpse of what wonderful cartoon shorts Taiji Yabushita, Yasuji Mori, Akira Daikuhara and co. could have made if they had had a Disney budget.  Kitty's Graffiti is a film treasure that serves as a testament to the great skill in particular of Yasuji Mori, who is remembered as a mentor to many animators who learned their craft in the 60s and 70s, from Hayao Miyazaki to Gisaburo Sugii.   Mori is revered by those he mentored not only for his skills as an animator but for his incomparable character design.  Books of his art can be ordered from Anido.

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2013

Director:

Taiji Yabushita 藪下泰司

Producers:

Kōichi Akagawa  赤川孝一, Zenjirō Yamashita  山本善次郎

Writer:

Akio Kinoshita  木下秋夫

Original Music:

Senji Itō  伊藤宣二

Cinematography:

Mitsuaki Ishikawa  石川光明

Animation:

Yasuji Mori  森やすじ

Akira Daikuhara  大工原章

Shōji Ichino  市野正二

Sumiko Naganuma  長沼寿美子

Takashi Uchiyama  内山孝

Chikao Katsui  寺千賀雄

Makoto Nakashima  田島実

Kiyoshi Nakajima 中島清

Mitsuko Shindō  進藤みつ子

Junji Yamada山田順治

and others

Production Company:

Toei Kyōiku Eiga-bu  東映教育映画部