This year has seen the release of some mammoth animated hits, including features in the “Detective Conan,” “Haikyu!” and “Mobile Suit Gundam” franchises. But two under-the-radar anime films released in recent weeks show an inventive spirit and provide hints for the future of indie animation in Japan.
First, there’s “A Few Moments of Cheers,” which hit theaters June 14. In many ways, the film shares a lot with “Look Back,” another animated film released two weeks later. Both are about young people pursuing their creative passions with all the hiccups that come along the way, and both share truncated runtimes (68 minutes for “Cheers,” 58 for “Look Back”). But while “Look Back” was animated in traditional hand-drawn fashion, “A Few Moments of Cheers” was made using 3D software. That in itself isn’t so rare these days, but this film was made in Blender, a free open-source tool, by a team of just three core creative members (with, it should be noted, some help from a larger CG studio). It’s the first full-length film from Hurray!, a three-person team that normally specializes in music videos and commercials.
The film centers on Kanata (voiced by Natsuki Hanae), a student who expresses himself through animated music videos (guess what open-source software he uses). One evening, he becomes entranced by a street musician, and when he arrives at school the next day, it turns out said musician is his new English teacher. His teacher, Orie (Mariya Ise) intends to give up on music and concentrate on her teaching career, but Kanata convinces her to let him make a music video for one of her songs.
While funded by major producer Bandai Namco Filmworks and written by veteran screenwriter Jukki Hanada (“A Place Further than the Universe”), “A Few Moments of Cheers” feels in many ways like a scrappy student film, from the use of free software to its motion capture “set,” a plank of wood laced with sensors in the director’s living room.
Reviews of the film’s look and feel range from ecstatic to sniffy, and while it didn’t convert me into a full-on CG fan, I was happy to see something that looks different than the industrial fare pumped out by some of the major players in the market.
“Ghost Cat Anzu,” released July 19 after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in May, was also animated using unique methods. The film was made using rotoscoping, where scenes are performed by real people in front of real cameras and then “drawn over” by animators. It’s an old method, invented in 1915 and used in films from Ralph Bakshi’s “The Lord of the Rings” (1978) to Richard Linklater’s “Waking Life” (2001). But the rotoscoping in “Anzu” feels more subtle than in those examples, perhaps because, according to one animator who worked on the film, it was animated on 2s and 3s (that is, 12 or 8 frames of animation per second of footage) instead of on 1s (24 frames of animation per second). This helps the film eschew the ultra-fluid feel of most rotoscoping and look more like traditional Japanese animation with a touch of realism.
“Anzu” takes place in a small Japanese town where 11-year-old Karin (Noa Goto) has been left in the care of her grandfather (Keiichi Suzuki), a priest at the local Buddhist temple, and Anzu, the temple’s walking, talking, moped-driving, human-sized cat (Mirai Moriyama). Karin slowly bonds with Anzu and his supernatural yōkai pals, and the pair eventually travel to hell and back (literally) in search of Karin’s deceased mother (Miwako Ichikawa).
The film is credited to two directors: Nobuhiro Yamashita (“Linda Linda Linda”) helmed the on-set action, while Yoko Kuno, who also rotoscoped Shunji Iwai’s “The Case of Hana & Alice,” handled the animation. It’s a best-of-both-worlds combination. Yamashita brings a more realistic, low-key vibe than a lot of anime, while Kuno’s animation enables a world in which humans interact with talking cats, frogs and walking mushrooms (I think that’s what it was, anyway).
The production pedigree of “Anzu” is interesting, too: It’s a co-production between Japan’s Shin-Ei Animation and the French studio Miyu Productions, which handled backgrounds and color design. The folks at Miyu are clearly Japan fans: They produced the recent Haruki Murakami adaptation “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman” and the upcoming “A New Dawn.” Miyu founder Emmanuel-Alain Raynal said in a recent interview that co-producing is a way to help independent Japanese creators, who often have a hard time finding financing for projects at home at a time when major studios are leaning into proven IPs.
It makes sense: Films like “Cheers” and “Anzu” represent greater risks than guaranteed box-office hits. But it’s unique, original titles that generate long-term excitement and prestige, and they allow young creators to find their footing and inspire others in turn. The filmmakers behind these two summer films did what it took to get their visions on screen — embracing techniques old and new, working with small, nimble teams and finding creative partners abroad — and their efforts show a potential path for independent-minded anime to continue and diversify into the future.
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