tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57239627189036264042024-03-15T18:12:51.314-07:00Animation: Hard to Find FilmsThis blog I've created entirely for the purpose of revealing and discussing lesser known and seen, high quality, full length animated films from all around the world. Any questions or possible additions?GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-17553190713418953872023-12-01T12:29:00.000-08:002023-12-01T12:29:13.084-08:00Umfeld, 2007This film is a mostly abstract film just under and hour in length. It's an audiovisual trip. First off, this film is not for epileptics or people sensitive to quick, contrastive imagery. That Pokemon episode that gave people seizures has nothing on this movie. You've been warned.<div><br /></div><div>The film was directed as an interplay between music and visuals with Scott Pagano doing the visuals and Speedy J doing the music.<br /><div><br /></div><div>This film has 8 movements. Each movement has a generalized style of motion. Some shake back and forth, some pulse like a heart, some crossing imagery. I won't say too much because it will ruin the surprise to those who watch it. Unlike other abstract animated films which are more like a progressive dance through visual elements, this one is more convulsive like a more focused early night dream sequence. There are windows and other fragments of technical structures that occasionally appear so the film isn't fully abstract.</div><div><br /></div><div>I don't think it's going to be everybody's cup of tea, being rather back and forth and convulsive compared to other abstract or experimental animations, and in its similarity at times to visions one experiences when one can't quite fully fall asleep, but I really enjoyed it. I give it an 8 out of 10.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you want to check it out, I'll embed it here and you can then choose to watch it on YouTube. I hope that one or both filmmakers make another feature length project. <a href="https://www.scottpagano.com/">Scott Pagano's website</a></div><div><a href="https://soundcloud.com/jochempaap">Speedy J's Soundcloud</a><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XU6Px3CS63k?si=-D94oqdSi-PBMUXH" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>Check out the movie or the other work of either Scott Pagano or Speedy J. Once I find another gem I'll be back again.</div>GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-42228911075345349202023-06-01T15:44:00.001-07:002023-06-01T15:44:37.224-07:00Thematic Trajectory: Mamoru Hosoda<p> What about the other Mamoru? Oshii has a very large output but I excluded him for two reasons: One, his output contained more franchise films than original or adapted works, and two he seems to have dove into live action more recently.</p><p>So, what is the trajectory of Mamoru Hosoda like? Well, before going into feature films, he started on shorts in the Digimon franchise and did a couple other projects like Kitaro short and Superflat Monogram. His first film, One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island was similar in some ways to Miyazaki's Castle of Cagliostro in that it's based on a TV series but takes it in a different stylistic direction. I can't find the film available in English so I'll just say that it's a cartoony sort of fantasy.</p><p>His breakout film, though, was The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It's a sci fi adaptation, screen written by Satoko Okudera, and is set in a relatively current version of Tokyo. It is more of a straightforward story than Hosoda's later films. Personally I find it a bit too traditionally anime with the characters but I'm sure others will disagree. After this film, comes Summer Wars. It had the same screenwriter and was his last film at Madhouse. This film is science fiction again but is his first internet oriented sci fi movie. It arguably panders too much to male anime fans but I like it regardless because it has some of the most in depth character drama of any of his films. This film starts to crystalize some of his traits as a filmmaker by staying in the present day for one and keeping the focus on everyday people but not so everyday situations.</p><p>His next film, the last written by Okudera, was The Wolf Children. This is the first film made at Studio Chizu and is a fantasy film about a woman who raises two children after the death of her partially wolf husband. It deals with her children slowly growing up and finding their way and how she deals with it as well. This film is notable for being fantasy instead of sci fi like his last two films but also for a more rural setting for most of the film which is like Summer Wars in that respect. The next film, The Boy and the Beast, Hosoda wrote himself. It's a film about a boy who is raised in the world of beasts by a fighter of a hairy beast. It has good visuals but the characters aren't too interesting. The next film, Mirai, also written by him, has better characters but a stop and go storyline. It's a family oriented fantasy about a boy who learns things with the help of other members of his family, from the past, and through his older baby sister from the future, whose name also means Future in Japanese.</p><p>For his most recent film, Hosoda combines Summer Wars with Beauty and the Beast. This film has its flaws too, but in my opinion, is the best of the films that he's written himself. It is called a 'science fantasy' film on Wikipedia. It's appropriate because it focuses largely on fantasy beings inside of the web world and because some of the technology is a bit too futuristic for the time it's set in. It's a bit drab and the characters are often a bit too tropey again, but it's got some very compelling drama that somewhat makes up for it.</p><p>So with Hosoda, he went from a fantasy franchise film, did two films in science fiction, branched out into fantasy, only with one that's partially set in a different world, and otherwise kept focused on contemporary real world stories. And then went back from fantasy to a more science fantasy story. Hosoda's filmography has one thing in common with Miyazaki and Takahata by ending with fantasy, at least for the moment but shows more sci fi commitment than the films of either of them, or from Makoto Shinkai.</p>GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-72290344457505601612023-06-01T15:43:00.003-07:002023-06-01T15:43:45.891-07:00Thematic Trajectory: Hayao MiyazakiI'd like to talk about for a bit, the thematic trajectory of anime directors for a post. I don't want to focus too much on anime, but let's face it, they're the only industry with directors with long careers. First there's Hayao Miyazaki. I will focus mainly on his feature films but his other works are important as well, though they're not my primary focus here.<div><br /></div><div>First he made a TV series called Future Boy Conan which was sci fi. He started off in films with a cartoony caper film based off of an animated franchise which was based itself on a manga. Lupin the Third: Castle of Cagliostro. His second film was, as most people know, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind which was futuristic sci fi again. After that, Studio Ghibli was founded and he directed its first film, Laputa Castle in the Sky. Here there is a notable switch from science fiction to a semi-post apocalyptic fantasy. In Nausicaa he focuses on teenagers and adults, in Laputa on children among adults, and in My Neighbor Totoro he focuses on two young sisters and switches to a recent past historical setting with fantasy elements. It's interesting how he switches from sci fi to fantasy in his films. Perhaps he wanted to do something different from the Nausicaa manga which he finished in the early 90's and was thus working on concurrently.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then came Kiki's Delivery Service, originally supposed to be directed by Sunao Katabuchi. It was the first film of Miyazaki's with actual magic human characters. It was recent historical fiction again, this time set in a war-free Europe instead of Japan where My Neighbor Totoro was set. After this came Porco Rosso which was again set in historical Europe around the Adriatic Sea. This film was about a former war pilot who has a nose shaped like a pig's, possibly for abandoning his fellow pilots. It is a film which is dramatic, cartoony and historical. It is primarily for adults unlike his last several films. It seems at this point that Miyazaki is willing to set a film in the relatively recent past, the present, or far future and it can range from sci fi to cartoony real life to fantasy. </div><div><br /></div><div>For the next few years he will work on other projects but come back to feature film with Princess Mononoke, made based on an earlier manga but which evolved into a very different movie. This is Miyazaki's first film set before the 20th century and is fantasy again, but Medieval Japanese fantasy and squarely tackles the theme of human civilization and its tension with nature. The film uses more Japanese mythology than any of his earlier films, though Isao Takahata's film, Pom Poko, does so first in a present day setting. Spirited Away takes many themes explored in Princess Mononoke and Pom Poko but goes a step further into a realm of spirits that exists in the modern day. Miyazaki's next two films, Howl's Moving Castle, set in a fantastical Medieval Europe, and Ponyo, set in the modern day Japan but with oceanic magic in a film aimed at children like My Neighbor Totoro, seem to be caught under the cape of Spirited Away with their further explorations of its magical themes. Though Howl's was originally supposed to be directed by Mamoru Hosoda.</div><div><br /></div><div>He then worked mainly in a supervisory role after Ponyo, but returned to the director's chair for The Wind Rises which combines reality with historical fiction. And now he's working on his last film which is based on a book which he read as a child. So basically, thematically, Miyazaki started with a caper, went into sci fi, gradually transitioned into deeper and deeper fantasy themes only to end up working an exaggerated historical biography until his last film which we've yet to see.</div>GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-80093484314121518822023-06-01T15:43:00.001-07:002023-06-01T15:43:22.171-07:00Thematic Trajectory: Makoto Shinkai<p> Makoto Shinkai started out on video games before releasing his shorter film, Voices from a Distant Star. A sci fi love story. Even though it's not quite feature length, it is an important stepping stone in his fulltime transition into anime. His first feature film, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, combines friendships lost and renewed over time, and romance in an alternate divided Japan. The next film of his, 5 Centimeters Per Second, loses the sci fi themes and deals with romantic feelings lost over time as two people lose their connections.</p><p>Children Who Chase Lost Voices is a fantasy film. It deals with death and fantastical realms. After this film, Shinkai released The Garden of Words, a film under feature length by some standards. It is about a teenage boy who wants to be a shoemaker who comes to adore an older woman who is an unsure teacher avoiding class too. It is a film which starts to especially push the realism of setting which he is known for.</p><p>Next comes the film Your Name, the first of three high concept contemporary fantasy films that have made him a more popular director, being called the next Hayao Miyazaki, due to their popularity, though obviously his films are thematically very different to Miyazaki's. Weathering with You takes an especially unusual direction in that it is set in Tokyo, but a flooding Tokyo. Suzume no Tojomari is a fantasy about magical doors which need to be closed for the safety of people in Japan.</p><p>One thing that all most of Shinkai's works have in common is a focus on teenage love and the change in it over time, whether fulfilled or abandoned. And it's notable that like Miyazaki, he has started from sci fi, though more from video game roots than comic and manga roots, and then gone more into fantasy over time. He said that he wanted to get away from romance for this film and focus on female friendship but his producers meddled in the project and wasn't able to. I think it's a shame. Since I first started this post I've seen the film in theaters and it didn't quite live up to his past two films.</p><p>I only have one director outside of anime who has enough variety to deserve a thematic trajectory post: Francois Laguionie. I will publish the posts about other directors soon.</p>GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-9621094200862446032022-12-31T22:44:00.003-08:002022-12-31T22:44:19.562-08:00Thematic Trajectory: Isao Takahata<p> Isao Takahata is the friend, collaborator, slight senior in age, and fellow director of Hayao Miyazaki who is known for his variety in filmmaking and television.</p><p>Takahata's first film directional credit was as the director of Horus Prince of the Sun. This was a historical fantasy adventure film and was a cornerstone in the foundation of modern anime's style. His next film, Chie the Brat, was a comedy drama set in Osaka about a girl, her dad, several cats and other members of her family based on a manga. The next film, Gauche the Cellist, is in a similarly semi-cartoon style but is based on a story by Kenji Miyazawa. It is a drama about a cellist who can't play his part quite right and is visited by forest animals in his country house. So a semi-fantasy drama.</p><p>After producing two films for Hayao Miyazaki, he directed Grave of the Fireflies, a drama about the life of two children trying to get by in Japan during World War 2. This film shows that Takahata was capable of dramatic range. For his next film he directed Only Yesterday. The film, based on a manga, was about a woman reflecting on her childhood while she was visiting relatives on her first trip to rural Japan. After that, he followed up a realistic relatively modern film with a cultural fantasy film, Pom Poko, based on Tanuki, giant racoon-like creatures that can shape shift using their scrotums. This film was a sad lament of how nature is being ruined by over-industrialization and urbanization as the tanuki fight against the development of their land with diminishing results.</p><p>After a few years away producing Isao Takahata returned with My Neighbors the Yamadas, a film that is not only cartoony but fully steeped in newspaper comic strip linear aesthetics. It uses computer drawn animation and 2D shaded 3D models to create a film unlike any before it.</p><p>Isao Takahata's last film, a long time in the making, was Tale of the Princess Kaguya, an adaptation of the well known Japanese fairy tale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. It is very stylistically similar to My Neighbors the Yamadas stylistically, though it's based on scroll paintings instead of a modern comic strip. This film falls more into a fantasy label than a cartoon because it's slightly more naturalistic and because it's a more serious film than MNtY.</p><p>So let's look at the progression. Started in mythological fantasy. Shifted to a mundane, for lack of a better word, cartoon. Made another cartoon but as a fairy tale. Made a hard shift to tragic realism. Then went to a more optimistic and modern realism. Then he made a fantasy film set in the everyday world. Then he took a hard turn and made a film with a comic strip style. And then he finally ended it all with his last film which is a fairy tale fantasy in a style that combines new and old visual styles. Of course that ignores his large TV output at Toei, Nippon Animation and elsewhere.</p><p>I hope you enjoyed this post. If I rushed something let me know. I wanted to get it out before the year ended in my time zone.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-32217345169165071432021-06-24T22:48:00.001-07:002021-06-24T22:48:05.456-07:00Cosmic Boy<p> I got a hold of the movie Cosmic Boy from the Ottawa International Animation Festival's Aniboutique store.</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Garoto Cósmico or Cosmic Boy</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Directed by </span><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.6px;">Alê Abreu</span></p><p><br /></p><p>The premise is interesting enough. Kids from a monotonous automated planet where everything is controlled escape through shafts in order to find a way to score more 'points' and go to a 'grown up child' planet. They get lost and meet a mischievous cat who runs afoul of the authorities and they end up on a faraway planet with a circus visiting it. They learn of an evil fog monster that makes everything under its influence dreary and dull. You can probably guess much of the rest, if not just from my partial synopsis then from the images in the trailer.</p><p>The film is creative but it suffers from some often annoying characters like the clown Moe Moe(may have the name slightly wrong) and limited animation. Also the plot is fairly predictable from about halfway through. I give it a 6 out of 10 for good effort but Abreu's second film, The Boy and the World is a clear improvement with a more fully realized art style and a less silly premise.</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sb2nw6OdxDo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-69494869408802812612021-02-16T17:06:00.002-08:002021-02-16T17:06:47.318-08:00Story Sources of Animated Features before Walt's Death and Russian Feature Slowdown<p><b> Disney</b></p><p>Snow White- Fairy Tale</p><p>Pinocchio-Fairy tale-esque book</p><p>Fantasia- Musical works</p><p>Dumbo- Toy novelty book</p><p>Reluctant Dragon- live action propaganda and a short story</p><p>Bambi- Book</p><p>Saludos Amigos- anthology</p><p>Three Caballeros- anthologyR</p><p>Make Mine Music- anthology</p><p>Fun and Fancy Free- anthology</p><p>Melody Time- anthology</p><p>The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad-novel segment and short story</p><p>Cinderella-Brothers Grimm version of fairy tale</p><p>Alice in Wonderland- two fantasy novels from Lewis Carrol </p><p>Peter Pan- Based off of book based on play</p><p>Lady and the Tramp- Based off of book</p><p>Sleeping Beauty- Based off of fairy tale</p><p>101 Dalmatians- Based off of book</p><p>The Sword in the Stone- based off of book based on legend</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Soyuzmultfilm</b></p><p>The Lost Letter- Nikolai Gogol short story from a collection</p><p>The Hunchbacked Horse- Based on a poem</p><p>The Night Before Christmas -Based on Gogol short story</p><p>The Scarlet Flower- based on Russian adapted fairy tale Beauty and the Beast</p><p>The Snow Maiden- based on play which is turn based on folk tales</p><p>The Enchanted Boy- Based on Swedish novel</p><p>The Twelve Months-based on fairy tale play</p><p>The Snow Queen- Based on Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale</p><p>Beloved Beauty- based on Russian folk tales</p><p>The Adventures of Buratino- Adaptation of Russian adapted version of Pinocchio</p><p>It Was I Who Drew the Little Man- Expanded version of an animated morality tale</p><p>The Key- original fairy tale</p><p>The Wild Swans- Based on Hans Christian Andersen</p><p>Left Hander- Based on Nikola Lesov story</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Takeaways</b></p><p><b>There are many similarities between Disney's story sources and those of Soyuzmultfilm. They both used fairy tales, short stories and books for their content and during this period they both had little use of original stories. Soyuzmultfilm only produced two original stories both of which are light propaganda, and Disney only did their original storytelling in short segments of anthologies. For Disney there is some variety early on but followed by economic decline where the films are all anthologies until the company returns to fairy tales and book adaptations.</b></p><p>Visually the Disney films are for a large part superior to the Soyuzmultfilm ones if we compare the prewar Disney films to the tail end of war Soyuzmultfilm ones. They both have visual slumps, Disney after Bambi's release and Soyuzmultfilm during the Stalin period though I'd say that Soyuzmultfilm has an edge story-wise due to Disney's lack of focused storytelling during the time. Visually, however, the Soviet films are edged out by Disney until the 60's where the lack of experimentation in characters and media begins to show.</p><p>Towards the end, around the mid to late 50's Soyuzmultfilm starts to edge out Disney in both storytelling and after a while visual innovation. They had two original stories in the 60's and while they didn't follow up those films like they probably should have, they made the experimental film Bath based on a play with very inventive visuals, They made a stop motion film and a cutout film and there would be a notable followup after this period I'm restricting this post to ends.</p><p>Russian animated features start to happen less regularly from here on out though they produced some real gems in the 80's before the Soviet Union collapsed and quality animation with it while Disney produced animal movie after movie but managed to recover with the Silver Age of animation, as it's known, before 3D CGI started to take over the industry from hand drawn animated films.</p><p>Recently, however, three Russian directors who started their careers in the USSR have made stop motion features.</p><p>Stanislav Sokolov with Hoffmaniada, Garri Bardin with The Ugly Duckling, and Andrei Khrzhanovsky with The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-73838066837078964482020-09-27T14:29:00.004-07:002020-09-27T14:29:42.792-07:00North of Blue-Joanna Priestley's Abstract Animated Feature<p>Joanna Priestley's North of Blue is a film which is mostly but not entirely abstract. Some may call it an 'abstracted film' rather than a purely nonobjective work. The colors are mostly blue and red with various neutrals at different points. There are curved shapes, rectilinear shapes, and some which resemble cells, hearts, and profiles of lips. There is an ever evolving aesthetic where sometimes there's one main background and some times there's several things going on like in Tusalava. Sometimes shapes fold and refold over themselves with 2D overlap.</p><p>There's a motif of 3 blue circles morphing into various other shapes. There's plantlike shapes, shapes representing Native American or in Canada, First Nations masks. The sound effects remind one of the cold and give the film a very interesting aural atmosphere. I won't reveal much else because I might spoil too much of the movie. The film is so visually inventive that it took me several viewings to watch it because I was emotionally drained. I won't hold that against it because I enjoyed it every time I came back. The film is, for some reason, available to watch on Film Freeway's website. Anyone who is interested in abstract art and can stomach such an unusual exercise I encourage to watch the film.</p><p>I give North of Blue an 8 out of 10. It's not the film that abstract animation purists would ask for but it always has something interesting going on and unlike EEBISA it has a soundtrack and doesn't run out of good visual ideas before the end. This film is for me, a dream come true and I hope that at least one of you feels the same way.<br /></p>GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-73899001003292593132019-05-13T12:47:00.001-07:002019-05-13T12:47:59.204-07:00The Evolution of Cartoon 3D CGI -Feature Films<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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For a long time most of the progress in CGI was towards realism. Ever since the form evolved from mathematically reconfigurable 2D shapes to illusory 3D forms with ever more naturalistic lighting, there has been a tendency to use naturalism as a standard, due to technological limitations, a double purpose as special effects and a general stylistic conservatism. CGI started as basic and sometimes cartoony to become more naturalistic as time goes by, but steering clear of the uncanny valley when possible, only to reach a point where the filmmakers had to push the boundaries in order to look 'newer' than previous films. I'm going to start with a couple of notable short examples from before Toy Story and some features that progressed towards cartooniness after.<br />
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The first movie to break the mold stylistically was Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius in 2001. This movie doesn't contain particularly cartoony animation but the art design is rather unusual. The character's proportions are quite far removed from reality and Carl has black pupirises with his glasses outlining his otherwise nonexistent eyes. The characters have very large heads and thin necks. It doesn't feel like a golden age Looney Tune or something from UPA (Carl's eyes aside)but it feels like a 90's kid's show translated to CGI. <br />
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I won't say much about the Veggie Tales movies because Veggie Tales started as a TV series before Toy Story came out and I'll be talking about it in another post.<br />
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The next movie to change things was a much more representational and much more famous movie, Ice Age. This movie arrived at such a time that it managed to innovate towards both realism and cartooniness at the same time. Realism can be seen in the textures and fur with multiple textures and the lighting that's more sophisticated than before. Cartooniness can be seen in Scrat's movements somewhat but especially in his bulging eyes and of course, the jagged ice that acts almost like a character itself.<br />
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2003 didn't have much cartooniness but 2004 did. In fact, three films contributed to less realistic CGI in slightly different ways.<br />
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Appleseed isn't particularly cartoony in forms or animation but it is the first cel shaded mainstream animated movie and deserves to be noted if only in that regard.<br />
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Next is the Dreamworks film Shark Tale. This film is slightly more stylized in setting than its Pixar predecessor Finding Nemo. It is most notable for its characters that look like they're from an awkward Looney Tune parody with scarily human-like faces on sea creatures.<br />
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Next we have a film that's from Denmark, based off of a radio show, Terkel In Trouble. This movie didn't have much influence on mainstream animation in other places but it set the stage for later Danish CG. The characters are simple with Simpsons-like bulging eyes, arms and legs that default to curves and unusually large mouths even for cartoon characters. This is the most cartoony CGI film made at the time and for fans of adult black humor they should find it at least decently fun. The film, while notably cartoony is rather conservative in animation and in the forms of the characters themselves. This would develop more later on.<br />
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You likely already guessed the next one. The Incredibles is notable for being Pixar's largest deviation from realism in terms of human character design thus far. The idea was to keep the humans from looking too realistic so they were designed a bit more sculpturally than Pixar's previous human characters. This movie is different in that it was the first CG animated film to combine less realistic character forms with with normal hair.<br />
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2005 saw three films with notable cartoony characteristics. Doogal was influenced by stop motion but the film doesn't seem to do anything besides that so I won't include it.<br />
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The first of the three films is Robots. This film is the one that really takes an unrealistic art style and runs with it. While the animation itself is mostly rather non-cartoony aside from some of the mouth movements that seem too implausible for such mechanistic looking robots, the character designs certainly are and this film contains sequences that would inspire many of the later films of cartooniness, the chase scenes in particular. And who could forget the exotic transportation via a large Rube Goldberg apparatus?<br />
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Then we have Madagascar which takes a designier approach to animals than any animated film that came before. It has a lion that spends more time standing upright than on all fours. All of the four main characters are more artistically designed than any CG animals in a movie before with pushed designy shapes that call attention to themselves and generally toned down emphasis on fur. This movie is also different from an animation perspective with lots of cartoony poses and things don't move as realistically or predictably all the time as in films from years past.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fq5zU9T_Hl4" width="560"></iframe>
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Lastly of the year we have Chicken Little. It has somewhat cartoony animation again so I'm including it. After this that won't be enough to consider something on the cutting edge so I'll focus on the stuff that changes.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VUBFCaWiQ28" width="560"></iframe>
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Next year, in 2006, there aren't as many changes design wise to cartoony CG animation. The real change is in the content which becomes for once more surreal. In Cars we see something that we hadn't seen in CG features yet, talking cars. Then in Everyone's Hero there is a talking baseball and baseball bat. One film stands out though, from a visual perspective.<br />
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Flushed Away attempts to create a claymation-like style in 3D CG. It didn't work as well as they'd hoped because I thought it was just a less realistic CG style, not an attempt to look like claymation. In changing from representing features faithfully to doing a less realistic approach like with sausage-like lips and ears that are impractical basic shapes it nonetheless breaks new ground.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m1ZA1qU5xsI" width="560"></iframe>
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2007 is a year that has relatively little to offer as far as cartoony CGI. There's independent films which are totally or partially CGI like Flatland the Film or We Are the Strange but these are more experimental than cartoony. They don't have caricature in them and cel shading had been done in years prior so there's little point in mentioning them. Meet the Robinsons has futuristic designs that are cartoony and there's some artisticness to the character's proportions but they all have normal features as far as CGI goes.<br />
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Moving onto 2008 we have what could be considered the first truly cartoony CGI feature in both art design and animation. The film is Horton Hears a Who, an adaptation of the Dr. Seuss picture book. It has essentially set the stage for most cartoony CGI that came after with the cartoony designs and flexible rubbery motion but characters having every strand of fur and hair.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TKanZwVG_w8" width="560"></iframe>
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Horton Hears a Who isn't the only notable film from 2008. There is the Norwegian film Kurt Turns Evil. It has an interesting sort of modern art character design and design in general but the movements are organic and thus don't mesh with the style and complete the cartoony feel. <br />
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Next we have Journey to Saturn, a Danish cartoon with characters who have round heads, round simple ears, cartoony round projecting noses and other traits that were absent from Terkel in Trouble. This film has the first flat eyes, this time with small irises.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gS7L7yaeNRg" width="560"></iframe>
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After this we move along to 2009 where we see an important entry in cartoony design from a studio that would embrace the idea later on.<br />
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Sony Pictures Animation made Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, a film that bears little resemblance to the book that it's based on aside from a similar food weather premise, and changed the game again. The characters have a more UPA and other 50's cartoon influenced aesthetic. The kids are proportioned similarly to Gerald McBoingBoing proportions and the lipless mouths, when showing enthusiastic glee open up with connected Us on both the top and bottom. The cartooniest part of the design though is definitely the hands. These hands are not even close to being realistic. Some characters have long fingers like Flint Lockwood and the police chief has hands with no clear wrists connected to his long Popeye-like forearms. The eyes are flatter than in other CG films just like in JtS which is a trend that would show up elsewhere soon.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cjWBx9fLUug" width="560"></iframe>
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2010 had a couple of somewhat cartoony CG films. There was Despicable Me and Gaturro.<br />
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Despicable Me has adult people with stick limbs and exaggerated craniums but the children are rather generic CGI characters. The minions, aside from being incredibly annoying, are yellow humanoids. They didn't take them to very cartoony lengths though.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nVwae09eSpo" width="560"></iframe>
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Gaturro is based off of a comic strip and in spite of the cartoony designs inherited from the comic strip which probably are the most extreme up to that point, the animation isn't generally cartoony from what I can tell. There is the main character's eye spinning around but screwing around with eyeballs was already done in Cloudy.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QKLXLwhxNHY" width="560"></iframe>
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2011 has a couple cartoony CG movies.<br />
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Kikoriki is based off of a television series but is notable for its sphere based chararacters. Characters based on spheres goes back all the way to early 20th century comics.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s9zl-BnVkrM" width="560"></iframe>
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Freddy Frogface is a movie with a sort of deliberately ugly storybook-like caricature. The film has head shapes that focus more on the overall shape of the head than traditional proportions so it's breaking new ground in that respect. It turns out that this movie came out slightly before Gummi T, known as Ivan The Invincible in the US.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5sndcLALyJ8" width="560"></iframe>
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Ronal The Barbarian continues the Danish tradition. It has a rather cartoony skin rendering and the faces have interesting features like noses and the rounded ears. Aside from the heads, the bodies aren't all that cartoony in terms of features. But what this movie lacks in a cartoony look it makes up for with cartoony soul.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oJpTdNSzB0E" width="560"></iframe>
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Daddy I'm a Zombie has characters with ultra-thin bodies and limbs but is otherwise rather non-cartoony.<br />
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2012<br />
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The year 2012 brings about an iconic series of cartoony CGI.<br />
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Hotel Transylvania is one of the cartooniest films ever made up to that point. It has full body caricature, poses and movements. The reason this film is so cartoony is that it was helmed by Genndy Tartakovsky who was the creator of Dexter's Lab and Samurai Jack. You'll see the sequels to this film listed here where the action becomes even more cartoony.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FYgzizpCTKU" width="560"></iframe>
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Tad The Lost Explorer is a step forward for Spanish CG but it's ultimately less cartoony then the norm for its time so I won't show embed a video for it.<br />
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2013<br />
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The first major cartoon CG movie is Otto The Rhino. It's like Harold and The Purple Crayon in the style of Freddy Frogface. It doesn't really do anything new but it's worth mentioning.<br />
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There is a Chinese animated movie that is probably the most cartoony cel shaded CGI done up to that point. I highlight this and not The Painting because the other is more artistic than cartoony.<br />
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https://movie.douban.com/trailer/162470/#content<br />
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There is the sequel, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2. It creates a whole ecosystem of talking food so I'll include a trailer for that reason alone.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IzC18WEfszw" width="560"></iframe>
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Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants is a film with animated insects done over live action settings. The characters are insects with exaggerated cartoony dot eyes and interesting but simple personalities. It's based on a TV series but it is the most important cartoony CG movie released this year due to its innovation relative to other movies so I'm including it.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4vh6naKlrUU" width="560"></iframe>
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2014<br />
I won't say much about The Lego Movie since it's more toyetic than cartoony.<br />
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Stand by Me Doraemon is a movie based off of the Doraemon comic and television series. The characters are of the rounded comedic manga type with exaggerated expressions.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qP98kx8xrAQ" width="560"></iframe>
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Mr. Peabody and Sherman is based on the old TV show of the same name. It's more of a polished version but it has some slight cartooniness. The only reasons I'm including it are Peabody's still cartoony design and the gags.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hy6oD7BZw50" width="560"></iframe>
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The Book of Life<br />
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This movie is a dimensional version of Jorge Gutierrrez's style. His 2D style is very flat and stylized, so seeing his work in 3D was interesting. All the characters have some level of stylization to them from the people at the museum to the main characters of the story. Hairdos are exaggerated, skulls have stylized nasal passages, and there is a lot of the big around the jaw heads which you'll see later in every yeti in Smallfoot. I don't know where that trend began, but it has been around since The Flintstones.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4kCkVDma8Sg" width="560"></iframe>
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Asterix and the Mansions of the Gods This movie is a CGI adaptation of the Asterix comics series which looks pretty much like the original but in 3D CG. The rendering is the most notable part, just right for the exaggeration they're going for.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jSOIp4aAWPc" width="560"></iframe>
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Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission Implausible<br />
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This movie is one of the more advanced cartoony CGI films. Like Asterix and Gaturro, it's based on a comic, in this case a Spanish comic strip. However, this film has more detailed anatomy to go along with the cartoony facial features which are more anatomical than before.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/efa8w-TIFos" width="560"></iframe>
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2015<br />
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Hotel Transylvania 2<br />
This film is similar to the first Hotel Transylvania movie but it has more ambitious large scale gags.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T3nqmGgnJe8" width="560"></iframe>
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The Peanuts Movie <br />
The Peanuts Movie is a new sort of take on CG comics adaptations. There's the dot eyes, previously only seen on Carl from Jimmy Neutron but this time they're on every character. The mouth expressions are drawn on the outside and modeled on the inside. The animation is done on lower than usual frame rates for an old fashioned 2D feel and the rendering for hair and clothes is slightly toned down though still within CG fashion.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zQpUQPrAfQM" width="560"></iframe>
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The Good Dinosaur<br />
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I haven't seen the movie, like many others on the list, but it has an especially short child for his age and the dinosaurs are unusually cartoony for the environment. <br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h80VkvJWaPc" width="560"></iframe>
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Snowtime! Some might consider this more of a model-like approach with the painterly looking textures and the motion of the characters that doesn't make much of a statement. It's notable mostly for the character's pupirises which take up more space than the whites of their eyes. <br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WX2xHODzuN4" width="560"></iframe>
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2016<br />
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Bad Cat This movie is a hard hitting animation from Turkey with moderately cartoony designs. The teeth of the main cat are the biggest exaggeration in it. The movie is packed with sadistic gags one after another.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XyUYNxDTEmM" width="560"></iframe>
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Sausage Party This film is notable mostly for its use of anthropomorphic food with classic dot eyes and cartoony three fingered hands. The human designs have slightly pushed proportions, more aesthetically pleasing than the Mort and Phil ones but don't push the cartoony extremes.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ReJOJR-DImU" width="560"></iframe>
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The Angry Birds Movie This movie is based on a mobile game that's already somewhat cartoony though the game is 2D and the movie is a souped up CGI version of that. The designs are sort of catoony but less so with the realistic feathers. The real cartooniness is in the poses during the fight scene in the film's third act when the characters storm the green pig's castle.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QRmKa7vvct4" width="560"></iframe>
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Storks This film has parts that are more cartoony than others The main characters are relatively normal, though the stork has some wacky poses. The pigeon character and the wolves are the cartooniest part of the movie. The pigeon has some very animated poses and the wolves are exaggerated looking and moving creatures which can form into large objects of their choosing.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-m0aIyOEe60" width="560"></iframe>
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2017<br />
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Captain Underpants This film takes the illustrations of the children's book and renders them faithfully in CGI which makes it very cartoony indeed. This is one of the more unique styles in these cartoony films due to the character designs which are more tubular than the others which are more traditional using spherical or cartoony skulls and hands usually have more pronounced palms. The general design of the movie is unrealistic but only the proportions are really that cartoony. <br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MrgoaZ8cLW0" width="560"></iframe>
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Ferdinand This movie is notable mostly for the poses and the smooth fur which is a break from the realist tradition. I haven't seen the movie, like many of the others so there's not much else I can say about it.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n7RkOfN8KvE" width="560"></iframe>
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2018<br />
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Hotel Transylvania 3 This second sequel to HT included more exaggerated elements like the super tall cruise ship and the island where the characters end up. The characters have even more pushed poses than in the last two films.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ku52zNnft8k" width="560"></iframe>
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Smallfoot This film has yetis which look similar to some characters from The Book of Life but with very individual fur patterns that are very naturalistic. The human characters are pretty stylized but some in a less cartoony fashion and they are unusually small to make the contrast between the humans and yetis more dynamic.</div>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uBw6EvIxIS8" width="560"></iframe>
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So that wraps up the cartoony CGI evolution of animated features. We've seen dot eyes, cel shading, exaggerated ice sheet cracks, clay-like characters, exaggerated Seuss landscapes, three fingered hands, ball shaped characters, and increasingly expressive characters along with ever more realistic textures. What haven't they done yet? There's yet to be a cartoony film that goes the Doug route with weird colors for every character. The Painting does that but it's not done in a cartoony way. There is still a little ways to go with character's limbs suddenly lengthening for gags like in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. And there's still lots to be done with cartoony works in cel shaded CG and painterly styles. So a long ways traveled, but still a long ways yet to go.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-36436353231154344962019-02-04T01:12:00.002-08:002019-02-04T01:12:47.632-08:00More (Probably) Untranslated Films of Interest<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In the last post I covered several different untranslated films from around Europe which seemed interesting. In this post I'm going to show you all three animated films which seem interesting. Two of these films are a bit low budget and that is probably the reason for much of their limited frame rate.<br />
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First up. An animated film from Brazil called Boi Arua, Direct By Francisco Liberado and written by Alba Liberado and himself. This film is, if the google translated Portuguese language Wikipedia article is accurate, the story of a farmer who tries to kill a wild enchanted ox. The film's style is inspired by woodcuts in a tradition called Cordel Literature of a sort of leaflets hung by twine with poems and pictures printed on them. The film seems incredibly surreal. At the beginning there's characters introduced in superimposed areas of the work but interact with the rest of the screen. There's also people staring at the screen as they shove a hand in the viewer's face like you're really there. I haven't browsed through the whole film so I don't know how much dialogue there is but there's at least a couple paragraph's worth in the beginning.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/svYUBr10E18" width="560"></iframe></div>
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Next is a film from Argentina called The Four Secrets. It was directed and written by Sim<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="notranslate">ó</span></span>n Feldman and It uses a flat cutout style years before Grendel Grendel Grendel. I can only hope that the plot is as interesting as the visuals once the dialogue gets translated. All I can tell right now is that there's several siblings making up a fantasy that is illustrated by the visuals. I'm surprised to find such an interesting animated film come out of Argentina at such an early date.</div>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lmeZdiMvmuE" width="560"></iframe></div>
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Last we have a film from China which is the one I've wanted to see for the longest time. It's called Legend of Sealed Book, or Secrets of the Heavenly Book according to IMDb. It's directed by Shuchen Wang and Yunda Qian and written by Lei Bao and Schuchen Wang. It's very fluidly animated for the most part and considering the interest around Uproar in Heaven and Nezha Conquers the Dragon Kings it's a wonder that nobody I know of has tried to translate it into English.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bFqBBRUYFzo" width="560"></iframe>
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I hope that you found a film of interest among these three. It seems that there's still some surprises in the world of obscure animated features even after many of the original great films have been discovered. I hope you all found something of interest in this post. I don't know what the next one will be about but it might be another post about animation aesthetics or it might be about storytelling in animation.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-3725952582426234212019-01-26T16:13:00.001-08:002019-01-26T16:13:25.529-08:00Most Interesting (Probably) Untranslated Films From Europe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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First we have what appears to be a good hand drawn film I can find from Czechoslovakia which is more known for its puppet films.It is directed by Vaclav Bedrich from the year 1955. Here is a torrent site which has the film on it. Be warned that this site may not be completely safe.<br />
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<a href="https://ulozto.net/!aUfwZhDy/cert-a-kaca-55-animovany-dvbt-cz-romin-avi">https://ulozto.net/!aUfwZhDy/cert-a-kaca-55-animovany-dvbt-cz-romin-avi</a><br />
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Next we have from 1969, Ukraine's animated film Mystery Bouffe directed by David Cherkasskiy. This film has live action, cutouts, and hand drawn animation.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/00Y9AxZJP9I" width="560"></iframe>
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The next animated film that intrigues me is a film from Spain from the Basque directed by Juan Batista Berasategui. Its title is loosely translated as Pumpkin Tripod according to Google Translate. It seems like a very interesting surprise so far. It would have probably gone pretty far up on my Most Intriguingly Bizarre Animated Films list. <br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S6P2taebXgc" width="560"></iframe>
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Then we move onto the more interesting of what seem to be Latvia's two animated features: The Cat's Windmill directed by Roze Stiebra in 1994.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HcQBmEZDKbE" width="560"></iframe></div>
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These are the European animated films which are probably untranslated into English which I found the most interesting. There are some interesting films from other places that haven't gotten much attention so I may just do a post on some of those. If there is anybody out there who speaks one of these languages in addition to English, maybe you could translate one of these films and in so doing, bring them the attention of a larger audience.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-6549546975903000892019-01-26T14:42:00.000-08:002019-01-26T14:42:07.373-08:00Better Sites for Browsing Animated Films Than Wikipedia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As you've probably observed, Wikipedia has changed the list of animated films so that you can only look at a time period ranging from a year to a decade at a time. To make matters worse they even show the films with the highest grosses before you click on the individual year's pages. Fortunately there are a couple of alternatives. The first is a list on Letter Box D and the second is a list that hasn't been updated since 2009 but has one page per decade up until the 2000's. I've looked for similar lists before but its seems that I find what I'm looking for sometimes when I'm looking for something else.<br />
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<a href="https://letterboxd.com/jossm/list/every-animated-film-made-from-1888-present/">https://letterboxd.com/jossm/list/every-animated-film-made-from-1888-present/</a><br />
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<a href="http://animation-movies-list.blogspot.com/search/label/2000">http://animation-movies-list.blogspot.com/search/label/2000</a><br />
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I've browsed through the whole list and made many new discoveries. The great thing about this list is that there's no shortsighted Wikipedia authorities to get rid of all the pages to films that they deem unimportant. There's a lot of films that may or may not be good, especially from the 2000's onward. I will soon be posting some untranslated films from Europe that I found the most interesting. One of them I found on the Letter Box D list. If the links here don't work, that's OK because I recently added them to the Relevant Animation Links section.<br />
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Expect that next post soon. In the meantime, if you want to browse that Letter Box D list then go ahead. At some point soon I'll need to update the list of films for the new titles I've found and also the film availability list because of the dramatically changing web landscape. Keep enjoying animation!</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-41697361966365919632018-11-07T22:51:00.001-08:002018-11-07T22:51:35.897-08:00How I Got Hooked on Animation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've had this blog for over ten years now. I want to relay a bit more on how I got interested in animation.<br />
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When I was younger all the animation I watched was theatrically released and televised Western animation that was available through mainstream sources. The first animation I was seriously interested in was The Simpsons and Futurama. But back then, animation wasn't one of my biggest hobbies. My biggest hobby was playing the first two Roller Coaster Tycoon games, particularly the second. There is a web community where people make their own theme parks which was my main hobby from when I was 13 to 17. I wasn't very good at it myself, because I just didn't have the imagination to create all the interconnected aesthetic looking theme parks. At that web site I was reintroduced to Batman Beyond, a show that I'd heard of but had never seen more than a minute or two. At that point I was interested in movies in general, but had little interest in animation in particular.<br />
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One day, I was interested in Spirited Away, a film that I'd confused with Lost in Translation perhaps the year before. When I watched it for the first time, I was blown away. That got me interested in animation though I wasn't an animation fan yet. I found out, probably due to a review in the newspaper, I think my dad noticed. I watched it and I enjoyed it even more than Spirited Away. It's still my favorite animated film. That's what hooked me on animation. But that's only part of the story. Now I'll tell you the movie that got me interested in starting an obscure animation blog.<br />
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I looked up movies on Wikipedia's List of Animated Feature Films and I discovered The Adventures of Prince Achmed. I found it on DVD, I think through Netflix. It was the best non-Japanese animated movie that I've seen to this day. It made me realize that there's a lot of good animation out there that isn't being recognized so I started a blog to talk about it.<br />
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My current top five animated films are these:<br />
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1. Paprika<br />
2. The Adventures of Prince Achmed.<br />
3. Whisper of the Heart<br />
4. Spirited Away<br />
5. Drawn from Memory<br />
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Next time I may do a blog post about my favorite animated film from each country I've seen one from. If you're interested in that, please leave a comment.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-32616004529614531522018-10-02T21:53:00.001-07:002018-10-02T21:53:42.180-07:00Company in Canada Developing Technology to Mimic Voices<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/lyrebird-clones-voices-1.4084423">https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/lyrebird-clones-voices-1.4084423</a><br />
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This is an accompaniment to my post The Realism Dilemma. This technology scares me more in the short term because it's easier to perfect than photorealistic video of moving people. If you thought you couldn't trust what's said on radio and podcasts now, well just wait until this technology gets around.<br />
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This has other implications as well though. It could mean that voice actor's voices could be used long after they're dead. Also, it means that murderers could pretend that their victims are still alive. There are other possible negative uses but I don't want to distract you from the article. Read it and if you have anything to say then leave a comment.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-76842173026084921342018-06-10T19:12:00.001-07:002018-06-10T19:12:38.699-07:00Ubu and the Grande Gidouille Is Now on YouTube<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I'm surprised but the other film by Jan Lenica, Ubu and the Grande Gidouille, is no on YouTube with English subtitles. While his first film, Adam 2, was made in Germany and had German language intertitles, this film was made in France and has actual French Dialogue. It's based on the Alfred Jarry play Ubu Roi. The film is probably better seen than described, so here it is:</div>
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fy3_KHa6veI" width="560"></iframe><br />
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The embedded version seems to cut off at the bottom so you'll have to watch it in full screen. But you were probably planning to do that anyway. It's sure an exciting time to live in with all these rare animated films available to watch. Hopefully a DVD collection with all of Jan Lenica's work, long and short, will be made available. Enjoy the film and if you like, leave a comment letting me know what you thought.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-25473549811234421422018-05-16T01:04:00.006-07:002018-05-16T01:04:58.856-07:00Jan Lenica's Adam 2 Is Now On Vimeo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://vimeo.com/254105963/7ec276ce5d">Link Here:</a><br />
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I haven't had the chance to watch the full movie yet but am looking forward to it. I don't know if there's any character dialogue. I heard what was probably some moments of French with what little I've seen. For a long time I thought it might be lost because it was so hard to get any information on it. For those who are curious on where I found out about it, I found out about it <a href="http://jameshoodillustration.blogspot.com/2011/02/jan-lenicas-adam-2.html">HERE</a>. Thanks, Schamoni Film for this upload. I've been wanting to see this film for years. If you've got an IMDb account, make sure to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163514/">rate this film</a> once you've seen it so it will get an official rating.<br />
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This is one of the most exciting developments since the founding of this blog and I hope you all enjoy it!</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-37056769767991434272018-04-15T23:51:00.003-07:002018-04-15T23:51:56.201-07:00The Realism Dilemma<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Soon enough we will find that realistic animation is not only for entertainment and education but can also cause great harm. Today we already have trouble distinguishing fake news from real news. Tomorrow we will not know whether what we see is real, or even if what we can touch is the genuine article. The technologies of realistic animation as well as 3D printing and similar automated manufacturing will allow us to create visual illusions of real things and then eventually create fakes that can't be distinguished from the real thing.<br />
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So what is the big deal about all of this? Well this will represent a considerable blow to the average person's ability to understand what is and isn't real. If that weren't bad enough, the societal consequences will be worse. The fact that anybody, and thanks to automatic animation technology coming out, I really do mean anybody, can do this means that we will have to find a way to know what is real and what isn't. The only way to tell what is real and what isn't is to have a surveillance state that records people and their surroundings all of the time.<br />
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That's right. The technology that's being used to make fancy special effects and artificial worlds is going to have far reaching consequences that will change our society in very ugly ways. You won't be able to have a surprise party anymore thanks to the constant surveillance on everybody at every time. And it will get even worse when we find a way to fool the human eye better with visual scenes seen in real life that are entirely fake.<br />
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Just imagine how many political parties, cults and religions are going to use pseudo-life scenes to convince people of their point of view. After 3D printing gets more sophisticated there will be fake artifacts to go along with it.<br />
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If you want to know just how far from reality we've already come, consider IKEA's advertisements which are made with rendered computer models that look completely real. There are already surely many other examples which we aren't aware of doing the exact same thing.<br />
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Today's magic tricks will be tomorrow's false realities. Remember that during the next special effects heavy blockbuster you watch.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-41055214302060656512018-04-15T23:20:00.000-07:002018-04-15T23:20:12.754-07:00What Do We Do Once We've Mastered Animation?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Once we've made photorealistic moving pictures the next frontier will be photorealistic simulations with maximum interactivity. In other words, simulations where you can do any number of things you want that aren't part of some preconceived creator's plan. Picture a world where you can do whatever you want, like scrape the paint off a building or blow up a whole city and have it be done in a different way every time. <br />
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Then we will bring the virtual into the real world with robotic scenes that exploit magnetic fields to create real life animations using micro robots. There are other ways of creating pseudo-in-life scenes but this is the most practical. At some point they're bound to become interactive,, by that I mean touchable, though I imagine that day would be a long ways off because if the robots get too small, they could be accidentally inhaled. Robotic scenes that you can move around in could be an experience more exciting than a video game but of course there will be certain safety guidelines which I can't yet predict.<br />
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Somewhere along the way, art will also evolve psychologically. If you like looking at art that doesn't look back, you're in for a rough ride. In the future art will be able to analyze a person's gaze and change things depending on where you're looking. I suspect that most if not all the technology necessary to do this is available now. So if you're an artist and you feel like messing with somebody, go ahead and do it. Just wait until we have live animation that records the person watching it and adjusts depending on how much they like it.<br />
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At some point we will progress to the last two stages: simulated intelligent life forms and real designed life forms. We will do so because there is no other alternative just as Pixar makes more realistic looking environments in film after film because they want to stay on the technological edge. Just like they ignore the awkwardness of realistic looking CG environments, people in the future will ignore the ethics of artificial life doing exactly what we want it to do and its similarity to human slavery of the past. Proponents will say that unlike slaves, artificial life forms will want to do what we made them to do. But of course, if we give them any sort of will of their own, some will want to do something else and if they're smarter, stronger and faster than us then they'll want to boss us around. The question is this: Do we want to let the machines manage us or do we want to become machines ourselves and evolve beyond humanity?<br />
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If you don't believe me, then you'll want to read this: <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/devices/superconducting-synapse-could-let-neuromorphic-chips-beat-brains-energy-efficiency">https://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/devices/superconducting-synapse-could-let-neuromorphic-chips-beat-brains-energy-efficiency</a><br />
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That alone should be evidence that human beings are living on borrowed time.<br />
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Nobody knows exactly how bright or dark our future may be. If they do know, it'll be hard to tell the true seers from the fakes. For all we know every human alive will perish and none of this shall happen. Or maybe we might decide not to pursue further technological innovation that would potentially ruin us. I don't think that will happen though, because we tend to see the continued existence of the human species as an imperative and the Earth will become uninhabitable in around 100 million years as the sun grows hotter. Or, closer to the present, we will need to figure out how to maintain ecosystems that we barely understand. I suspect that the latter will be one of many forces that drive the development of general intelligence superhuman level AI.<br />
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Before I wrap this up, there are a couple of questions. Will we at some point redesign Earth's ecology in order to keep up with us if we evolve into machines of some kind? Should we not design psychological art of this sort due to what it may evolve into? How will we cope with animation and later interactive artforms that look and sound, maybe even taste, feel and smell like reality? I may answer some of these questions in a blog post soon.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-90877060776191095962018-03-17T17:05:00.002-07:002018-03-17T17:05:50.444-07:00Relatively Recent Animated Films with No US Release<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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First up, Garry Bardin's stop motion adaptation of The Ugly Duckling<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-SvBPMQkhe0" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Next, from Brazil there's two animated films that need to be brought over. One is Rio 2096: A Story of Love and Fury directed by Luiz Bolognesi and the other is Garoto Cosmico, the first feature from the director of The Boy and the World, Alê Abreu. While Garoto Cosmico doesn't look anywhere near as good as The Boy and the World, it looks to be interesting enough for completists to watch. I was surprised to learn on Cartoon Brew that the film isn't even available in Brazil.<br />
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From Italy there's The Art of Happiness directed by Alessandro Rak. I don't know exactly why this film hasn't been released in the US. It seems like the same pattern for every m. One or two places review it and if it doesn't get a glowing review, it almost always gets ignored.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/111121259" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe>
<a href="https://vimeo.com/111121259">Trailer: The Art of Happiness</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/submarinenl">Submarine</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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From the studio Folimage in France, there's Aunt Hilda! which is directed by Jacques-Rémy Girerd and Benoît Chieux. I would like to see this film despite the mixed reviews. It looks about as good as Mia and the Migou but appears to be unpopular due to its environmental message as well as the bizarre plot.<br />
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The two films here that interest me the most are The Ugly Duckling and The Art of Happiness. I'm interested in seeing all of them, however, if they get at least a DVD with English subtitles or an international release. Let me know what films you're interested in here, or which recent films I didn't mention here that you want to see given an English language release.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-27716143728254473852017-12-11T23:30:00.001-08:002017-12-14T19:36:52.779-08:00Elf on the Run (AKA Teresa eta Galtzagorri)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I just watched this movie through my cable's on demand service directed by Agurtzane Intxaurraga. It is about a girl and also an elf who escapes from the forest into a carnival, to be captured by a circus ringmaster and then set free by the girl. The girl is mad at her mother for being mean to her, especially compared to her baby brothe,r a series of events partially brought on by her accidentally breaking her mom's camera in a Rube Goldberg-esque way. This alienates the children she's playing with who leave and don't come back for the rest of the story. I don't want to spoil too much so I'll stop there save for a few critiques.<br />
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The highlight of the movie is the art direction and animation which is surprisingly good for what is a low budget production. The story is a bit above average, notable more for not including annoying characters and including the right pieces than for pushing boundaries. To put it succinctly, it's a direct to video sort of film but for once it's actually good. At least until the dance party moments in the ending. The version of the film I watched is dubbed in English and I probably would have enjoyed it more in the original language which I'm reasonably sure is Spanish. This film is a little weird in that it's available in a lot of places but there's little information available on it.<br />
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I give the movie a 7.5 out of ten. It is the best animated film I've seen since Mune. I might share my thoughts on Mune or Short Peace soon. I tried to catch A Silent Voice in theaters but it was only playing at night and I had to work. I'll have to watch it on DVD when it comes out.<br />
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For those who are reading this post in the United States, contact your local congressional members and tell them to support net neutrality. If you look at this site, you'll be able to identify your local congress persons and find out whether they support net neutrality or not. If they don't, let them know that you won't stand for it.<br />
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<a href="https://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality-what-you-need-know-now">https://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality-what-you-need-know-now</a></div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-81008130449650062642017-04-28T19:17:00.001-07:002017-04-28T19:17:18.357-07:00North of Blue and Window Horses<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I found out through Animation World Network that Joanna Priestly is creating North of Blue, an abstract animated feature. Read about it there for your self. The trailer has yet to be released.<br />
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<a href="http://www.awn.com/news/joanna-priestley-retrospectives-screenings-set-stuttgart-bfi">http://www.awn.com/news/joanna-priestley-retrospectives-screenings-set-stuttgart-bfi</a><br />
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Window Horses is an animated film about a shy poet who goes to a poetry festival in Iran. It's showing in festivals right now. I hope to either catch it at a festival or see it in a later commercial release. There's no saying how long this film will stay obscure.<br />
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I'm currently working on a page with information on film availability. One change I may make in the future is promoting films that are simply old and not just obscure ones. After all, many animated films are becoming less and less obscure. I'm also entertaining the idea of making an animation web forum for overshadowed movies outside of the mainstream of US and Japan. See you all again when I make the next update.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-86637955877163586712017-04-06T22:05:00.001-07:002017-04-09T15:35:04.413-07:00Defunct Animation Blogs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Over time there's been a lot of animation blogs that produced good content but eventually shut down for one reason or another. It's a bit frustrating to see some of the best animation blogs and even communities disappear and to make it worse, half the time you're not sure why the blog closed.<br />
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Frames Per Second Magazine <a href="http://www.fpsmagazine.com/blog/index.php">link</a><br />
Animatsiya in English <a href="http://niffiwan.livejournal.com/">link</a><br />
Ha Neul Seom <a href="http://guriguriblog.wordpress.com/">link</a><br />
Michael Sporn's Splog <a href="http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/">link</a><br />
Too Long for Twitlonger <a href="https://twolongfourtwitlonger.wordpress.com/">link</a><br />
Animondays <a href="http://animondays.blogspot.com/">link</a><br />
Keith Lango Animation <a href="http://keithlango.blogspot.com/">link</a><br />
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I have been around the animation community for a long time and seen a lot of blogs close. Frames Per Second closed because of the death of Emru Townsend who couldn't find a kidney for transplant. Animatsiya in English closed because of the blog runner Niffiwan's frustration with video takedowns and probably from moving on in life. I still don't know why Ha Neul Seom closed down and it's a shame and I don't know why Your Daily Cartoon has stopped. Michal Sporn's Splog, as anyone who's visited it knows, ended when Michael Sporn died. Too Long for Twitlonger had some really interesting commentary but wasn't around for very long. Animondays was a good blog though I remember surprisingly little of its content aside from the Craig Bartlett interview. Keith Lango had perspective and animation tips but got caught up in work.<br />
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Some blogs are as far as I can tell, still around but haven't been updated in a while.<br />
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Animation Backgrounds<br />
The Animation Activist<br />
AniPages Daily<br />
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Many of the great sites of the animation blogosphere are gone or on hold. The English Animatsiya(Russian animation) community is dead and tensions between the US and Russia are very high(Syria, elections, etc...). IMDb has closed down all its forums. The only movie stores left in my area are big box stores and video game stores. In brighter news Netflix is investing in original content some of it good, but distributors getting into the animation game isn't how I wanted the progression of animation to happen.<br />
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I'll be updating this blog and making improvements. My links section is badly out of date. There is more to do and I need to get to it.<br />
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Edit-4/9/2017 Removed Your Daily Cartoon from the defunct blog list as I see that it has recently been updated.<br />
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GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-48188271251946066662016-12-17T14:27:00.004-08:002016-12-17T14:27:59.450-08:002D Animation Comment My "Illegitimate Email" Kept Me From Posting on Animation Anomaly<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Below are my comments on the Animation Anomaly thread The Real Reason 2D Animation Isn't "Viable". This is a response to Aaron Keefe.<br />
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I understand your point that 2D animation done on the computer and not just colored on it is technically 2D computer animation. I've made allusions to the pinscreen and how digital animation is technically just a high resolution color pinscreen <br />
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I think that it is possible to make 2D computer animation just as stunning as the 3D variety. One way is to harness noise art in a figurative sort of way. Another is to harness artificial evolution of 2D images. One more way, at least a couple of years into the future is thought printing. That would revolutionize visual art in allowing anybody with a vivid imagination to print out artworks with just a couple of mental visualizations. It would be invasive if done publicly if bad thoughts come up, so it would most likely be done in private and only the results would be shared in public. It's not just art that would be revolutionized by this. Communication itself would be revolutionized. As somebody who doesn't want to become a cyborg, I find the future worrisome.<br />
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Even for those with more limited visual imaginations, I expect computer drawn animation to be outdated soon. After all, why draw anything when you can have a computer create patterns that imply depth and can be shared in an online database? After all, just about every basic shape has been drawn before by somebody. I suspect that the future will be a combination of drawing and pattern sharing. Through this system, artists will be able to create animations that are more detailed than those that came before them. It will be like the word guess feature on today's smartphones. This is how the particular example of noise art will be harnessed.<br />
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Between those three basic tricks I mentioned, 2D artificial evolution, thought printing, and what I'll call 'permuting', hand drawn animation as we know it may soon no longer exist in its current state, except in the hands of die hard fanatics.<br />
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It's possible to do many of these things in 3D too, but that's a whole different subject. For one last note, while these technologies may open new possibilities, they won't take away from the dedication that it takes to be the best that one can be. Artificial evolution takes a lot of forethought in deciding what direction to go in, thought printing takes a well used imagination filled with many images honed through practice, and permuting takes a level of shape sorting that may overwhelm people with its over-complexity and sorting of fine details. If you're wondering about anatomy, there are already websites with 3D images available for animal skeletons. Expect more things like that in the future.<br />
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Those are my thoughts on the matter. I have more to say on 2D animation, but I'll leave if for another time.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-26416757625318975622016-11-27T18:52:00.004-08:002016-11-30T21:41:52.665-08:00Treasure Planet 1982<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was perusing the links of Your Daily Cartoon(what's happened to that blog, anyway?), and I stumbled upon a blog called Animation Obscura. One entry featured the Bulgarian animated film from the 1980's, Treasure Planet directed by Rumen Petkov. The video was first uploaded in September and the blog post featuring it was made just over a month ago.<br />
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Enjoy this animated film and <a href="http://animationobscura.tumblr.com/">check out the blog here</a><span id="goog_347725129"></span>.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iDrZjIENxJY" width="560"></iframe><br />
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I hope you like it and if so, leave a comment.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723962718903626404.post-39508603943348550722016-10-09T22:37:00.000-07:002016-10-09T22:37:46.488-07:00Midori Ko and Ere Erera Izik Subua Aruaren<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I received two artistic animated features for my birthday and I'd like to talk about them both. Spoilers are ahead. <br />
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Midori Ko is an experimental animated film, done in colored pencil, that is about a young woman who likes vegetables and hates meat. It's set in a near future Japan where food is in short suppl. The film gets its narrative start when this young woman finds a vegetable with a human face that looks like a bak choy, from an experiment of five men with heads shaped like human body parts. The film has many interesting characters but the plot is spare and leaves questions open to what was going on. Why does Midori's computer turn into a creature when it's not in use? Why does the bak choy baby deflate when Midori accidentally sits on it? During the second half of the movie there are many moments dedicated to mimicking other works of art at the expense of the half baked story. My final word is that the film can't decide whether it wants to be a strange work of art or an eccentric narrative film. My rating is a 5 out of 10.<br />
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Ere Erera Izik Subua Aruaren, a mouthful of a name, is a fully abstract animated feature film created by painting on celluloid. It starts with a flurry of colorful assaults on the senses as you struggle to get used to the strobing animation technique. After a few minutes it begins to experiment with styles before it starts to focus more on one thing at a time. The film has no sound whatsoever and considering that, the film's strobing effects might be considered an asset. The film has a great flaw, however. At a point more than halfway into the runtime it starts repeating one general pattern over and over again, the first one being what looks like crumpled gray paper over a black background. This is followed by a sort of web of bubbly circles and several other things. The film never regains the vivacity it had at the beginning. I rate the film a 7 out of ten.<br />
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I would like to talk more about these films with anybody who has seen them. For those who haven't seen them yet, they're available at the sites below. The sites below are selling them at the time of this posting. Who knows for how long?<br />
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<a href="http://www.worldwide-artbooks.com/wwb_title.php?titleno=68705">http://www.worldwide-artbooks.com/wwb_title.php?titleno=68705</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Independent-Japanese-Animation-Vol-2-NEW-Arthouse-Blu-Ray-Disc-Kurosaka-/191801873409">http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Independent-Japanese-Animation-Vol-2-NEW-Arthouse-Blu-Ray-Disc-Kurosaka-/191801873409</a><br />
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Have fun. I still need to see Consuming Spirits so I may do a post on that.</div>
GWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060736362111492822noreply@blogger.com0