Hunting the Elusive

As you might know, the focus of this blog is not just on scans or static visual materials. I have a certain interest in independent anime, some of which stems from an interest in Makoto Shinkai's stuff, but also because it is possible to find some gems in independent anime. Stuff I've looked at in some detail include the (by-now-famous) Pale Cocoon and associated works by that director, Hanare Toride no Yonna, Wakusei Daikaijuu Negadon, Imperial Boy's "Ame to Shoujo to Watashi no Tegami", etc.

It therefore came as no surprise that the Ani-Kuri 15 series of short films passed under the radar of many an anime fan. To be honest, I had seen English fansubs for some of season one of Ani-Kuri 15, and there was a kind of parody sub of Neko no Shuukai as well. For the most part though, little attention has been received.

Ani-Kuri 15 (Anime Creators 15) is an Nihon Hikkikomori Kyoukai thing where fifteen anime directors create one-minute short films to showcase their style and quirkiness. There's some pretty average stuff in there, but also some outstanding ones. Of course, it is notable that the last episode is "Neko no Shuukai", and is done by Makoto Shinkai, featuring Chobi the cat.

There are currently 12 videos broadcasted and available, with three more to go.

(You can download the videos out so far through FFsky's raw release torrent). If it's dead, let me know and I'll upload it.

A few I personally really liked include Season One's "Namida no Mukou", a music-video-like short by Gainax and Hayashi Akemi, Season Two's "Project Mermaid", in the inimitable style of Production I.G. and Mamoru Oshii, Season Two's "Gyrosopter", by GONZO, Range Murata (!) and Yabuta Tatsuya. And of course, Neko no Shuukai.

Namida no Mukou had exactly the right level of nostalgia, and somehow, even though the focus is on "anime creation", the style of the animation really let the music work. It gave me a feeling rather reminiscent of the Fruits Basket opening.

Project Mermaid was actually nothing really special, but you had the signature elements of Mamoru Oshii in terms of the cyber gates and the colours and the background noises. The way the segments of a rather static picture flipped to constitute a different overall form was also strangely involving.

Gyrosopter is arguably my favourite segment. Outstanding vocals by someone who I am pretty sure is a newcomer to the anime song scene. Animation is hard to fault: it's Range Murata's character design and style, in 3D, and everything else seems to be full 3D too. Just the right amount of post-apocalyptic sadness and a hint of the epic. Too bad the video shows the interleave effects. I managed to find the Making of video for Gyrosopter too. I like Range Murata's sunglasses.

Neko no Shuukai is Makoto Shinkai's, but strangely the film did not manage to showcase the factors which make Shinkai fans drool. That's not to say the animation quality is crap, because even from the screenshots, you can see the amount of detail that's been put into every frame, from the lighting, to the objects in the living room and the way things are reflected. However, stylistically it reminds me of the homely Studio Ghibli way of things, and there's certainly a shortage of the radiant skies he is known for. It's a rather funny and entertaining short, but lacking in the heart which characterises his longer works.

I know it is rather unfair of me to expect a 60-second work to do so much, but here I am comparing it mostly with the Egao video (or even the earlier greyscale films) that Shinkai did, which was of an almost similar length. I also know that the director probably made a conscious decision to render this a lighter emotional fare than his usual as an experiment in style. Fine enough, but what results is something which doesn't quite fall into the expectations we have of his stuff.

Other screenies: