Hiroshima 2016 Focus on Japanese Animation: Day 4

Hiroshima 2016 Focus on Japanese Animation: Day 4

Sunday, August 21

8月21日（日）

Japanese Animation Special 15:

Taku Furukawa Retrospective (Screening and Talk)

Taku Furukawa is one of the Sōgetsu generation of animators who came to prominence at the Sōgetsu Art Centre animation festivals of the 1960s and 1970s.  Initially mentored by indie animation pioneer Yōji Kuri, Furukawa soon founded his own studio and developed an animation style all his own.  He has a caricature style that is influenced by renowned New Yorker caricaturist Saul Steinberg, with a playful approach to animation that is one of a kind.  In addition to being a member of ASIFA Japan, he is currently the president of the JAA (Japan Animation Association), which he took over after the passing of stop motion master Kihachirō Kawamoto.  In addition to his independently produced works, Furukawa is famous for his numerous contributions to the long-running NHK series Minna no Uta as well as his commercial work.  He is visiting professor at Tokyo Polytechnic where he has mentored many students, including two of my favourite animators – Hiroco Ichinose and Tomoyoshi Joko, aka Decovocal.  Earlier this year, Furukawa’s former students made a tribute to him called Moving Colors (2016).  Click on titles below to read reviews of individual films by Furukawa.

1.  Coffee Break (1977), Taku Furukawa　

2.  Speed (1980), Taku Furukawa　

3.  TarZAN (1990), Taku Furukawa　

4.  Tyo Story (Jyōkyō Monogatari, 1999), Taku Furukawa　

日本アニメーション大特集１５:

古川 タク特集 （上映とトーク）

1. コーヒーブレイク　古川 タク　

2 . スピード　古川 タク　

3. ターザン　古川 タク　

4. 上京物語　古川 タク

Japanese Animation Special 16：Contemporary Directors Collection ①

This selection features a cross section of top contemporary Japanese animators with established careers.  Hyogo-born, Kansai-raised Maya Yoneshō is based in Germany and is famous for her mixed media approach to animation.  Her work shows us that animation can be a kind of international language and with her workshop students she has created a series of Daumen Reisen (literally “Thumb Trips” – a term suggested to Yoneshō by an Austrian friend) – animated post cards against city backdrops based on flip books (Daumenkino/"Thumb cinema" in German).  Each of these short films is an hommage to the places where the workshops are taking place.  The first such film she made by herself – Vienna Mix, or Wiener Wuast in the local, Viennese dialect.

Shin Hosokawa is a graduate of Tama Art University (Tamabi) who specialises in stop motion animation.  Hiroco Ichinose and her husband Tomoyoshi Joko (Joko is not included in this screening) are graduates of Tokyo Polytechnic University where they were mentored by Taku Furukawa (see above).  They currently work under the collective title Decovocal making commercials and TV programmes.  Kaoru Maehara is a graduate of Kyushu Visual Arts College. Like Hosokawa, Kanna Iida is also a Tamabi grad but she specialises in drawn animation. 

Reiko Yokosuka is a talented sumi-e (ink brush) artist who makes animation using her modern take on traditional sumi-e style.  Read her profile here or check out her homepage.  Kunio Kato was the first Japanese person to win the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.  A graduate of Tamabi he works for Robot Communications.  Taruto Fuyama is a graduate of Keio University and is known for the development of his own stop motion animation software called Koma Koma as well as his stop motion animation workshops.  Frank, an adapation of Jim Woodring’s cult comic series Frank, is Fuyama’s best known work.  Kei Oyama studied animation at Tokyo Zokei and at the Image Forum Institute of the Moving Image.  He is known for his unusual style of using scanned flesh for the textures in his often surreal films.  Hand Soap is his most acclaimed film to date.  Kei Takahashi has a BA in Oil Painting from Musashino and a graduate degree in Video Art. 

1.  introspection (1998), Maya Yoneshō

2.  Vienna Mix (Wiener Wuast, 2006), Maya Yoneshō

3.  The Demon (2004), Shin Hosokawa　

4.  Ushi-Nichi (Cow's Day, 2008), Hiroco Ichinose

5.  Tōsenbo (I Won't Let You Through, MV, 2009), Kaoru Maehara

6.  A Tender Soldier (2007), Kaoru Maehara　

7.  The Girl and the Crocodile (2006), Kanna Iida　

8.  GAKI Biwa-hōshi (2005), Reiko Yokosuka

9.  La maison en petits cubes (2008), Kunio Kato

10.  Scenes (2012), Kunio Kato

11.  Frank (2003), Taruto Fuyama

12.  Hand Soap (2008), Kei Oyama

13.  Child Trip (2006), Kei Takahashi

日本アニメーション大特集１６：現代作家コレクション ①

1. introspection　米 正 万也　

2. ウィーン・ミックス　米 正 万也　

3. 鬼　細川 晋　

4. ウシニチ　一瀬 皓コ　

5. とおせんぼ　前原 薫

6. 優しい兵隊　前原 薫

7. 少女とワニ　飯田 甘奈

8. GAKI 琵琶法師　横須賀 令子

9. つみきのいえ　加藤 久仁 生

10. 情 景　加藤 久仁生

11. フランク　布山 タルト

12. HAND SOAP　大山 慶

13. こどものたび　高橋 慶

Japanese Animation Special 17：Contemporary Directors Collection ②

This selection features more top contemporary Japanese animators with established careers, as well as a couple of lesser known names.  Ayaka Nakata is a graduate of Tokyo Zokei who makes independent animation and commercials. In addition to animation, Yuki Sakitani is a videographer and visual effects composite artist.

Atsushi Wada is one of Japan’s top independent animators.  He is a self taught animator who refined his skills first at Image Forum, then in the first class of Tokyo University of the Arts’s (Geidai) graduate programme in animation.  He has won many international prizes for his work, most notably the Silver Bear at the Berlinale in 2012.  Learn more about him in my review of his CALF DVD and in this 2010 interview.  Wataru Uekusa is also a Geidai grad, as is stop motion animator Mari Miyazawa (Geidai 2014).

With her minimalist aesthetic, Yoriko Mizushiri has been a popular addition to international festival programmes in recent years.  Mizushiri studied at Joshibi University of Art and Design.  Tama Art University (Tamabi) grad Yoko Kuno has been wowing audiences both online and at festivals with her innovative animated music videos for Cuushe. 

Arisa Wakami dabbles in a wide variety of animation techniques from sand animation to stop motion.  Tamabi grad Mirai Mizue has also tried out a number of techniques but is mostly famous for his “cell” animation style.  Learn more here.  Daiki Aizawa is also a Tamabi grad.  Loop Pool was his graduate work.   He mostly makes digital content for various clients – I am guessing he was included in this line up because he is a member of ASIFA Japan, of which festival director Sayoko Kinoshita is also president.   In preparing these blog posts I have noticed that most members of ASIFA Japan appear to have been included in the Hiroshima 2016 screenings.  

I am not familiar with the work of Takashi and Motoko Tokuyama, but their 1992 work Paralysis, which was shot on 16mm screened at the 2015 PIA festival.  They do not have a web presence at all so it is a bit curious that they were included in this particular selection instead of one of the "history" sections.

Mai Tominaga (Tamabi) is a multi-talented artist who has also directed some quirky feature films such as Wool 100% (ウール100％, 2006), Have a Nice Day (ハヴァ、ナイスデー, 2006) and one of my faves Rinco’s Restaurant (食堂かたつむり, 2010).  Her animation has featured on the NHK and she has also directed commercials and live action TV drama.

                                                                                                                                       

Seiji Shiota is a freelance artist based in Osaka.  Tohru Patrick Awa is a character / concept designer who was born in Santa Monica but raised in Tokyo and has been based in California since 2001.  He has worked for Disney and Warner Brothers (Learn more at Japan Cinema).  The Fly Band! is a short work Shiota and Awa made for Polygon Pictures early in their careers.  It won the Prix Ars Electronica 1999.

1.  Yonalure: Moment to Moment (2011), Ayaka Nakata / Yuki Sakitani　

2.  In a Pig's Eye (2010), Atsushi Wada

3.  The Tender March (2011), Wataru Uekusa

4.  Futon (2012), Yoriko Mizushiri

5.  Snow Hut (2013), Yoriko Mizushiri

6.  Airy Me (2013), Yoko Kuno

7.  Decorations (2014), Mari Miyazawa　

8.  Blessing (2011), Arisa Wakami

9.  Modern No. 2 (2011), Mirai Mizue

10.  Wonder (2014), Mirai Mizue　

11.  Loop Pool (2004), Daiki Aizawa

12.  Paralysis (1992), Takashi Tokuyama / Motoko Tokuyama

13.  Sirop de Namaquemono (2003), Mai Tominaga

14.  Buonomo the Second Night (2002), Mai Tominaga

15.  The Fly Band! (1999), Seiji Shiota / Tohru Patrick Awa

日本アニメーション大特集１７：現代作家コレクション ②

1. ヨナルレ M o m e n t to M o m e n t　中田 彩 郁 、サキタニ ユウキ　

2. わからないブタ　和田 淳　

3. やさしいマーチ　植草 航

4. 布団　水尻 自子

5. かまくら　水尻 自子

6. Airy Me　久野 遥子

7. デコレーションズ　宮澤 真理

8. Blessing　若見 ありさ

9. MODERN No.2　水江 未来

10. WONDER　水江 未来

11. ル ーププール　アイザワ ダイキ

12. パラリシス　德山 高志、德山 元子

13. ナマケモノシロップ　富永 まい

14. ボーノーモ第二夜　富永 まい

15. ザ・フライ・バンド　Seiji Shiota、Tohru Patrick Awa　

Japanese Animation Special 18：Contemporary Directors Collection ③

Keita Onishi has an MA in Design from Geidai.  He is known for his video and audio installation works.  Koichiro Tsujikawa makes commercials and music videos in addition to his independent work.  He often mixes live action with animation.  Isao Nishigori is a visual artist who does music videos, installations and other works pairing visuals with music.  Atsushi Makino studied graphic design in Prague before doing a graduate degree in animation at Geidai (2011).   He works as an animation director for Eallin Japan. 

I’m not sure why Ko Nakajima is in this selection.  He should have been put into a programme with experimental animators of his own generation (Nobuhiro Aihara, Takashi Ito, et al.)  – he began experimenting with animation in the 1960s.   His work focuses on technological development and environmental concerns.  

The Higa brothers (Kazutetsu and Yukinori Higa) are from Okinawa.  They are known for their passion for special effects (they are huge fans of Ray Harryhausen and David W. Allen) and puppet animation. Yūichi Itō and Takuya Ishida are two of the top stop motion animators working in Japan today.  Mainly known for his clay and puppet animation, Itō works with a variety of media.  In addition to his work for the NHK and his independent works, Itō is a professor at Geidai.  Ishida is known as an expert in clay animation.

Acclaimed 3DCG animator Hiroyuki Okui is a graduate of Musashino.  I am not familiar with Yoshiyuki Okada, his co-director on Cave, and couldn't find any inforamtion about him online, but they jointly won recognition for the film at Hiroshima 1994.

1.  Dynamics of the Subway (2012), Haisuinonasa / Keita Onishi

2.  Cornelius / Fit Song (2006), Koichiro Tsujikawa

3.  ACIDMAN short film "SAI (Part 1) / Revolving...to the core" (MV, 2004), Isao Nishigori

4.  Baloney Speaker (MV, 2004), Atsushi Makino

5.  Seizōki (1964), Ko Nakajima

6.  Kanahiru: The Iron Boy (2007), Kazutetsu Higa / Yukinori Higa

7.  Harbor Tale (2011), Yūichi Itō

8.  Knyacki Ep. 43 “Knyacki Pen” (1995), Yūichi Itō

9.  How How Den Den (1987), Takuya Ishida

10.  Minikoni Ep. “Chinese Zodiac Signs” (2003), Takuya Ishida

11.  Cave (1994), Hiroyuki Okui / Yoshiyuki Okada

12.  Affordance (2002), Hiroyuki Okui

13.  Fushigi Circus (2012), Hiroyuki Okui

日本アニメーション大特集１８：現代作家コレクション ③

1. 地 下 鉄 の動 態 ／ハイスイノナサ　大西 景太

2. CORNELIUS 「Fi t S o n g」　辻 川 幸一郎

3. ACIDMAN  Shortfilm「彩 -S A I -（前 編 ） / 廻る、廻る、その 核 へ」　西郡 勲

4. 戯 言スピーカー　牧 野 惇

5. 精造器　中嶋 興

6. 鉄 の子カナヒル　比 嘉 一哲、比 嘉 之 典

7. ハーバーテイル　伊藤 有壱

8. ニャッキペン　伊藤 有壱

9. はうはうでんでん　石田 卓也

10. ミニコニ十二 支　石田 卓也

11. ケイブ　奥 井 宏幸、岡田 義之

12. アフォーダンス　奥 井 宏幸

13. 不思議サーカス　奥 井 宏幸　

Japanese Animation Special 19：Contemporary Directors Collection ④

This selection of contemporary directors features a mixture of generations, all of whom have become associated with certain styles of animation from CG to hand made puppet animation.

Hiromi Habuto is Nara-based CG designer and director.  Saku Sakamoto is a Tamabi grad who is a freelance CG animator.  I was someone who was slow to warm to CG animation, but his 2002 work The Fisherman made an impression on me at my first Nippon Connection in 2008.

Yoshinao Satoh (or Satō) is a Yokohama-based video game maker who makes terrific experimental animation.  His film Newspaper (watch here) was popular with Nippon Connection spectators in 2015 where it screened in the Everything is Visible programme.  He is one of my favourite artists at the moment.  Check out some of his works here.

Kotarō Satō is a University of Tsukuba graduate who specializes in computer graphics design.  In addition to his short animation works he has taught animation at Tamabi and since 2009 at Kanto Gakuin.  He has co-written two textbooks about computer graphics and digital moving images.

Dino Satō began his artistic career with the study of architecture, but retrained as a CG animator.   His innovative works have screened widely at international festivals.  In addition to his freelance animation work, Satō splits his time teaching at Musashino Art University and Kyoto University of Art and Design

Nozomi Nagasaki was the first woman to win the Noburō Ōfuji Award for innovation in animation for her film Home Alone (1996).  She has her own studio where she directs and animates stop motion using a variety of techniques including puppets, clay, objects and cutouts.   In addition to her independent animation Nagasaki has made animation for commercials, children’s television, movies, and video packages.  She directed a film about stop motion animation

Pecora’ped (ペコラペッド) are a female animation team whom I met at Hiroshima 2014.  In addition to their animation they hand make jewellery and other tie-in products using their unique designs and characters.  Saeko Akagi is a Musashino grad who joined Robot Communications after graduation in 2005 as a commercial director.  This year, she left the company to concentrate on freelance storyboarding under the name Kibichu.  Yuta Sukegawa is a CG animator.  His work The Light can be viewed in full on his Vimeo page.  Kiyoshi Nishimoto is a professor at Musashino who specializes in Visual Communication Design.  He has been a freelance animator since 1981. 

1.  Distortion (1998), Hiromi Habuto

2.  The Fisherman (2002), Saku Sakamoto

3.  Finder (2016), Yoshinao Satō

4.  The Essence of War (2002), Kotarō Satō

5.  Magnifying Glass (2006), Kotarō Satō

6.  Let Out (2012), Kotarō Satō

7.  Internal Peace and External Peace (2016), Kotarō Satō

8.  Treedom (1999), Dino Satō

9.  Scrapland (2006), Dino Satō

10.  Frog Seed (2010), Dino Satō

11.  The Sexual Fish - The Fish that Forgot to Breed (2014), Dino Satō

12.  The Fourth of the Narcissus Month (1998), Nozomi Nagasaki

13.  SPONCHOI pispochoi (2010), Pecora’ped 　

14.  Shimomomo (2003), Saeko Akagi　

15.  Apple Colored Water (2003), Saeko Akagi　

16.  The Light (2010), Yuta Sukegawa　

17.  Laminated Structure (1982), Kiyoshi Nishimoto

18.  Laughing Moon (2000), Kiyoshi Nishimoto　

日本アニメーション大特集１９： 現代作家コレクション ④

1. ディストーション　羽太 広海

2. フィッシャーマン　坂元 サク

3. Finder　佐藤 義尚

4. 戦争の本質　佐藤 皇太郎

5. 虫眼鏡　佐藤 皇太郎

6. レット・アウト　佐藤 皇太郎

7. 内的平和と外的平和　佐藤 皇太郎

8. TREEDOM　ダイノ サトウ

9. SCRAPLAND　ダイノ サトウ

10. カエルのタネ　ダイノ サトウ

11. 性的な魚‐繁 殖を忘れた魚 達　ダイノ サトウ

12. 水仙 月の四日　長崎 希　

13. SPONCHOI pispochoi　pecoraped

14. しももも　赤木 沙英子　

15. りんご色の水　赤木 沙英子　

16. 灯花　助川 勇太

17. 積層体　西本 企良

18. 笑う月　西本 企良

Fukusuke (ふくすけ, 1957)

Fukusuke (ふくすけ, 1957) was the first Ryūichi Yokoyama animation shot on 35mm, and also the first film he made for Otogi Pro’s distribution deal with Toho.  At the time his studio was in a small building in his garden and he had a very minimal staff.  Suzuki Shin’ichi (currently director of the Suginami Animation Museum), Hajime Maeda and Mitsuhiro Machiyama were the only animators given onscreen credit, but apparently others, including non-professional family and friends were drafted in to help out (source: Clements, Anime: A History, pp. 88-9). 

Yokoyama became famous with his comic strip Fuku-chan in the 1930s, and clearly liked the concept of “fuku” (luck) so much that he used the name Fukusuke for the central character in this adaptation of his original children’s storybook.

Plot

「かえるのうちにへんなあかあちゃんうまれました。ふぐしぎなことにあたまがいしのようにかくておもいあかちゃんでした。」

“In the frog home, a strange baby was born.  For some mysterious reason, the baby had a hard head that was heavy like a stone.”

Fukusuke, the frog is born with a head as heavy as stone. So heavy, in fact, that his cradle breaks and he lands headfirst.  He grows up having to walk on his hands because his head is too heavy for him to stand on his hind legs.  He jumps on a pogo stick upside-down and he flies a kite by holding the string with his toes. 

His father tries to come up with ways of turning Fukusuke right-side-up.  He ties helium balloons to Fukusuke’s waist.  This works for a while until some nasty birds ruin the balloons.  He then takes him to a scientist who tries some experimental remedy in his laboratory.  The experiment explodes and Furusuke floats up to the ceiling, defying the laws of gravity.  His father has to bring him home holding him down with strings.  They get some heavy shoes made for Furusuke. 

This new solution isn’t perfect – Furusuke has to sleep on the ceiling, and instead of flying his kite, he flies while his rock-covered kite keeps him from floating away.  By tying himself to his heavy shoes with strings, he can go wading in the pond to go fishing and butterfly catching. 

As he tries to catch butterflies, his dancing shoes catch the attention of a dog who runs to play with them.  Before he knows what’s happening, Fukusuke is flying away with his butterfly net.  Up in the clouds, Fukusuke disturbs some kind of sky god who is amused by him.   Tied to the cloud, he uses a broom to create lightening.   Night falls, and he sleeps peacefully while tied to the cloud.   Meanwhile, Fukusuke’s parents look up at the night sky and cry because they miss him.

The sun rises the next day, and Fukusuke cries.  His father uses a helicopter to try to find him.  After a thorough search, he spots him and uses a weighted canvas to bring Furusuke and the sky god down to earth. 

He calls for assistance and an army of frogs come to fight the horned sky god.  The god uses the clouds and fire as his weapon.  This results in a unique and amusing fight sequence which goes on for some time.  The sky god calls on the elements to help him.  When he leaves, the sky god drops something. The frog soldiers open the canvas and Furusuke starts to float away again.  His father throws his shoes at him and Furusuke manages to catch one of them.     They collect the object that the sky god dropped and Furusuke uses it as a drum.   The sky god hears Furusuke playing the drum and returns to ask for it back, which Furusuke does.   The sky god then sends his son to give Furusuke a present.  He opens the box to a puff of smoke – it is a spell to return Furusuke’s head to normal.  He removes his heavy shoes and hops home into the arms of his happy mother.

Style 

According to Shin’ichi Suzuki, Yokoyama directed the animators by showing them the illustrations in his book and had very little experience as an animator himself.  Animation techniques were improvised and often experimental in nature (Source:  アニメが世界をつなぐ, 2008).  The limitations in budget are pretty obvious from the use of cutouts, undoubtedly to save on time and 35mm colour film stock, and limited animation techniques such as repeated cycles. 

It is an amusing, though odd, little story with many clever visual gags.  A Japanese audience would likely say that the film has a Western style, but there are clues to the fact that it is done by Japanese artists, such as the shape of the kite and the sky god’s resemblance to a blue oni (demon). 

The character design is excellent and typical of Yokoyama.  I like the fact that the animation tells its story mostly visually with no dialogue.  From today’s perspective the pace of the film is very slow, with sequences lasting much longer than they would today.  Although the film does repeat cycles a lot, there is sophistication in the variety of perspectives depicted and the ingenuity in trying out new techniques to achieve certain effects.  For example, a cutout dial being used to show the passing of time as Fukusuke ages from baby to child.  My favourite technique was the pulling away of foreground cutouts instead of doing a simple zoom for a moving inwards.  A layer of trees rolls away, showing its red back, followed by the next layer of trees with a blue back in the opposite direction, then the fence and clothes line with a yellow back, revealing the Fuku house in full with the mother and father opening the windows to draw attention to the action inside of the house.

 

The strongest element of this animation is the soundtrack, which was written for the film by pop and jazz composer Ryōichi Hattori.  Hattori, who is credited with the revival of Japanese jazz music after the Second World War, created a wonderful soundscape for the animated short worthy of a Disney or Warner Bros. film.  At those moments when I found the animation was lagging, my attention was diverted to the soundtrack which always had something intriguing going on.

Credits

Director:

Ryūichi YOKOYAMA横山隆一

Animation (動画):

Hajime MAEDA　前田一

Suzuki SHIN’ICHI　鈴木伸一

Mitsuhiro MACHIYAMA　町山充弘

Music:

Ryōichi Hattori服部良一

Shiseido

Otogi Colour おとぎカラー

2016 Cathy Munroe Hotes

Hiroshima 2016 Focus on Japanese Animation: Day 3

Hiroshima 2016 Focus on Japanese Animation: Day 3

Saturday, August 20  

8月20 日（土）

Japanese Animation Special 10: Japanese Animation Today ①

The Japan Animation Today segment of the 16^th Hiroshima International Animation Festival Hiroshima 2016 features contemporary established young animators as well as up-and-coming animators such as students.  Q-rais is the nom de plume of a Tokyo-based illustrator and animator.   Jérôme Boulbés is a French 3D CG animator based in Kyoto (see: Kobutori).  Musashino graduate Hiroyuki Mizumoto is a mixed media experimental animator whose works mix live action with a variety of experimental techniques.  Shunsaku Hayashi studied at Goldsmiths, University of London on a research fellowship from the Japan Cultural Ministry.  Atsushi Makino first studied animation at UMPRUM in Prague and then went on to hone his skills at Geidai (learn more) where he graduated in 2011.  His innovative work can be found on Vimeo.  

Akie Ishii studied animation at Kyoto Seika University.    Tomoki Misato is a Musashino graduate and is currently a student in Geidai’s graduate animation program.  Director / screenwriter Makoto Nakamura made waves in 2010 when he revived the popular Soviet animation character Cheburashka for a series of stop motion films.  The character first appeared in a 1966 children’s storybook by Eduard Uspensky, followed by a series of stop motion animations by Roman Kachanov of Soyuzmultfilm (1969-1983).  The armatures for Cheburashka were designed and built by Korean armature specialist Wuchan Kim of Thinking Hand.  Haruna Asahi is a young animator from Okinawa who studied at Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts in Naha.  Yoshihisa Nakanishi is a Musashino grad who makes amazing stop motion animations using complex paper cutouts.

1.  The Lost Breakfast (2015), Q-rais

2.  Ghost Tracks (2015), Jérôme Boulbés

3.  A Memory, Record and Present (2015), Hiroyuki Mizumoto

4.  Remember (2015), Shunsaku Hayashi

5.  The Synesthesia Ghost (2015), Atsushi Makino

6.  Daijōbu (2015), Akie Ishii

7.  Look at Me Only (2016), Tomoki Misato  

8.  Cheburashka Goes to the Zoo (2015), Makoto Nakamura

9.  The Adventure of Flip, Haruna Asahi

10.  gymnasiumany (2015), Yoshihisa Nakanishi

11.  geometricube (2014), Yoshihisa Nakanishi

日本アニメーション大特集１０：現代日本のアニメーション ①

1. 失われた朝食 キューライス

2. ゴーストトラックス ブルべス ジェローム

3. きおく きろく いま 水本 博之

4. Remember 林 俊作

5. 共感覚おばけ 牧野 惇

6. だいじょうぶ。 石井 章詠

7. あたしだけをみて 見里 朝希

8. チェブラーシカ 動物園へ行く 中村 誠

9. フリップの冒険 朝日 はるな

10. gymnasiumany 中西 義久

11. geometricube 中西 義久

Japanese Animation Special 11:

Shin’ichi Suzuki, Keiichi Tanaami, Tatsuo Shimamura, Seiichi Hayashi, Nobuhiro Aihara

The animators in this screening belong to what I call the Sōgetsu Generation.  Those are animators who began making a name for themselves as indie animators at the Sōgetsu Art Center Animation Festivals of the 1960s and 1970s.  Shin’ichi Suzuki began his career in animation working at Otogi Pro for Ryūichi Yokoyama.  He then went on to co-found Studio Zero in 1963.  Learn more about him in my reviews of Dot (点 /Ten, 1971) and The Gourd Bottle (ひょうたん/Hyōtan, 1976).  Suzuki is director of the Suginami Animation Museum.  Keiichi Tanaami is a renowned pop artist who has been making experimental films and animations since the early 1970s.  His films use symbolism and sensual movement to create meaning.  Tatsuo Shimamura is the founder and president of Shirogumi.  His film Four Seasons of Japan (1985) won a prize at the first Hiroshima festival in 1985.

Seiichi Hayashi is an avant-garde mangaka most famous for his 1970 manga Red Colored Elegy (赤色エレジー, 1970-71) which was serialized in Garo magazine and he also made it into an animated short in 1970.  Hayashi designed this year’s festival poster. 

The late Nobuhiro Aihara was one of Japan’s top experimental animators.  In addition to his independent work, he often worked as an inbetweener and animator for major anime studios such as Oh! Pro.  Read his obituary here, and a review of Karma (カルマ, 1977).

1. Dot (Ten, 1971), Shin’ichi Suzuki

2. The Gourd Bottle (Hyōtan, 1976), Shin’ichi Suzuki

3. The Laughing Spider (2016) Keiichi Tanaami

4. Four Seasons of Japan (1985) Tatsuo Shimamura

5. Apocalypse of Megalopolis (2009) Tatsuo Shimamura

6. Shadow (1968) Seiichi Hayashi

7. Demon Love Song (1971), Seiichi Hayashi

8. Red Colored Elegy (1970), Seiichi Hayashi

9. Yamakagashi (1971), Nobuhiro Aihara　

10. Karma (1977), Nobuhiro Aihara　

11. Twilight (1985), Nobuhiro Aihara　

12. Wind (2000), Nobuhiro Aihara　

13. Memory of Red (2004), Nobuhiro Aihara

日本アニメーション大特集11：

鈴木 伸一、田名網 敬一、島村 達雄、林 静一、相原 信洋

1. 点 鈴木 伸一

2. ひょうたん 鈴木 伸一

3. 笑う蜘蛛 田名網 敬一

4. 花鳥風月 島村 達雄

5. メガロポリスの黙示録 島村 達雄

6. かげ 林 静一

7. 鬼恋歌 林 静一

8. 赤色エレジー 林 静一

9. 山かがし 相原 信洋

10. カルマ 相原 信洋

11. 逢魔が時 相原 信洋

12. ウィンド 相原 信洋

13. メモリー・オブ・レッド 相原 信洋

Japanese Animation Special 12:

Katsuo Takahashi, Toshio Kinoshita, Takashi Itō

Katsuo Takahashi was a stop motion animator famous in Japan for his 1977 film The Wild Rose (野ばら1977).  Not widely known outside of Japan, his daughter Kariko Takahashi carries on his legacy.  Toshio Kinoshita started out as a mangaka in the 1950s for children’s magazines and also worked as a journalist before trying his hand at animation.  He produced the opening sequence of Astro Boy and in 1965 founded Kino Pro, where he continues to act as president.   

Takashi Itō is a rather strange addition to this screening – his work would have been more at home in Japanese Animation Special 11 with Aihara and Tanaami, or Japanese Animation Special 16：Contemporary Directors Collection ①.  He is one of Japan’s top experimental filmmakers, with Oberhausen 2014 doing a complete retrospective of his works.  Learn more about him on the Image Forum website.  Read my review of his Image Forum DVD at Midnight Eye.

  

1.  Kaguya Hime: The Princess of the Moon (1972), Katsuo Takahashi

2.  The Wild Rose (1977), Katsuo Takahashi

3.  The Cock Who Turned Red (1993), Toshio Kinoshita

4.  Spacy (1981), Takashi Itō

日本アニメーション大特集１２：

髙橋 克雄、木下 敏治、伊藤 高志

1. かぐやひめ　髙橋 克雄

2. 野ばら　髙橋 克雄

3. まっ赤になったにわとり 木下 敏治

4. SPACY 伊藤 高志

Japanese Animation Special 13:

Toshifumi Kawahara, Tadanari Okamoto, Yoichiro Kawaguchi, IKIF, Kōji Yamamura, Keita Kurosaka

Toshifumi Kawahara is an award-winning CG animation pioneer with an MA in Art and Design from UCLA.  He is currently president of Polygon Pictures.  The late Tadahito Okamoto is one of Japan’s great puppet animation masters.  He is famous for using different materials and techniques in each of his films.  The Magic Ballad (おこんじょうるり, 1982) is considered one of his greatest films.  Yoichirō Kawaguchi is a pioneering computer graphics artist and professor at the University of Tokyo.  He is an expert on “the GROWTH model, a self-organizing method to give form to one's rich imagination or to develop one's formative algorithm of a complex life form. As the art or a time progression, a program generates a form and this form is allowed to grow systematically according to a set formula” (source).  IKIF (Ishida Kifune Image Factor) are a husband and wife animation team (Sonoko Ishida  and Tokumitsu Kifune) who have been working together since 1979.  They began making films in 8mm, then in 16mm and by the 1980s were experimenting with CG animation.  Kifune teaches at Tokyo Zokei while Ishida teaches at Tokyo Polytechnic. 

Kōji Yamamura is one of Japan’s most internationally acclaimed independent animators, having won the top awards at festivals around the world from Annecy to Ottawa.  His film Mt. Head (頭山, 2002) was nominated for an Oscar and this year he became a member of the Academy.  Franz Kafkaʼs A Country Doctor (カフカ 田舎医者, 2007) is one of his most profound films to date.  Yamamura is a professor at Geidai (Tokyo University of the Arts).  Keita Kurosaka is an experimental artist whose hand drawn animated works demonstrate a wide range of influences from classical art to the modern grotesque.  The two films in this selection are music videos for the Japanese metal band Dir En Grey.  Kurosaka is a professor at Musashino. 

1.  In Search of Muscular Axis (1990), Toshifumi Kawahara　

2.  Bolero (1992), Toshifumi Kawahara　

3. Michael the Dinosaur (1993), Toshifumi Kawahara

4. The Magic Ballad (1982), Tadanari Okamoto

5. Growth: Tendril / Yoichirō Kawaguchi

6. Growth Land-Growth: Mysterious Galaxy / Yoichirō Kawaguchi

7. animandara2 (1986), IKIF

8. Troreminica (2011), IKIF

9. Mt. Head (Atama Yama, 2002), Kōji Yamamura

10. Franz Kafkaʼs A Country Doctor (2007), Kōji Yamamura

11. Atama (1994), Keita Kurosaka

12. Agitated Screams of Maggots (2007), Keita Kurosaka

13. Rinkaku (2012), Keita Kurosaka

日本アニメーション大特集１３：

河原 敏文、岡本 忠成、河口 洋一郎、IKIF、山村 浩二、黒坂 圭太

1. 筋肉座標軸を求めて 河原 敏文

2. ボレロ 河原 敏文

3. 恐竜マイケル 河原 敏文

4. おこんじょうるり 岡本 忠成

5. グロース：テンドリル 河口 洋一郎

6. グロース・ランド―グロース：ミステリアス・ギャラクシー―

7. 阿耳曼荼羅（二） IKIF

8. Troreminica IKIF

9. 頭山 山村 浩二

10. カフカ 田舎医者 山村 浩二

11. ATAMA 黒坂 圭太

12. Agitated Screams of Maggots 黒坂 圭太

13. 輪郭 黒坂 圭太

Japanese Animation Special 14：TV Programs

This selection highlights episodes from early ground-breaking television animation.

1. Moleʼs Adventure (1958), Hiroshi Washizumi

2. Astro Boy (1963), Osamu Tezuka

3. Kimba the White Lion (1965), Eiichi Yamamoto

4. The Star of the Giants, Ep.83 "A Homer" (1968), Tadao Nagahama

日本アニメーション大特集１４：TV 番組

1. もぐらのアバンチュール  わしずみ ひろし

2. 鉄腕アトム  手塚 治虫

3. ジャングル大帝  山本 暎一

4. 巨人の星 第83 話『傷だらけのホームイン』 長浜 忠夫

**Note: films for which no image are available are represented by Lappy, the Hiroshima Animation Festival Mascot.