To commemorate its 10th anniversary, the French animation studio Shibuya International has released a six-minute animated short film titled “Birth.” Acclaimed Japanese visual artist Yoshitaka Amano, illustrator behind anime including Shinzo Ningen Casshan, Tenshi no Tamago, and Yasai no Yousei – N.Y. Salad, as well as illustrator for the Vampire Hunter D novels and many of the Final Fantasy RPGs, served as the short film’s art director. The short animation features music composed and sung by Japanese vocalist Arai Akino, best known to anime fans for her theme songs for the Outlaw Star TV series, the Noir ending theme, and the Okami to Koshinryo II ending theme.
The homepage for the Tamayura ~hitotose~ anime franchise has added a “Momoneko Ondo” video to teach viewers the choreography of the “momoneko-sama” traditional Ondo dance in advance of the July 28th “Momokeno-sama Festival.”
Check out French student animator Onectin’s amusing original animated short “Un petit plat pour l’homme” (a pun on the French translation of Neil Amstrong’s “That’s one small step for man…”).
Game developer minori has released the lovely opening animation sequence for its upcoming second Supipara visual novel game, Supipara ~ Alice the Magical Conductor Story #01 – Spring Has Come!. The game is scheduled for a May 18th release.
If you can overlook the poor audio and degraded multi-generational video, this fan created anime short from 1994 may be the single most amazingly detailed work of animation you’ve ever seen. While the animation quality itself is good, the amount of visual detail on display is staggeringly awesome. They don’t make ‘um like this anymore. Or if anyone does, point me in that direction.
Thousand Pounds Action Company has released its independently produced fan film Street Fighter X Tekken: The Devil Within. The exceptional short depicts the devious Kazuya Mishima (Tekken), who has embraced his own “devil gene,” challenging Ryu (Street Fighter) just as Ryu struggles with his own inner darkness, the “satsui no hadou.”
French otaku and amateur film maker Claudio “Kaio” Osvaldini has created a five-minute short film titled “Otaku Madness” about an overzealous anime fanatic. Enjoy.
Independent animator Jesús Orellana’s cyberpunk short film Rosa is now online in its ten-minute entirity. Although the short has nothing to do with anime, most anime fans should find it worthwhile viewing.
Toei has released a two-minute teaser for “Rebellions,” a live-action post-apocalyptic girl-power sci-fi/action film. Koichi Sakamoto directed the short that stars Nao Nagasawa (Ninpu Sentai Hurricaneger) & Minami Tsukui (Kamen Rider Den-O). Acclaimed monster designer Yasushi Nirasawa provided the character design concepts. The short is designed to interest investors into backing Rebellions as a full-length work.
Sure, this is easy to criticize. But it’s also pretty fun.
Director Christopher C. Cowan and his independent film/stunt studio Thousand Pounds Action Company are now at work on a 20 minute fan film titled Naruto Shippuden: Dreamers Fight. The film is being shot on the Canon EOS 7D with a $4,000 budget and will be released later this summer. Cowan and company have just released an impressive new trailer.
Coroner Records has just released Princess Ghibli, a collection of 12 heavy metal covers of classic Studio Ghibli movie theme songs. European and Japanese musicians including Disarmonia Mundi, Blood Stain Child, Destrage, Living Corpse, and Neroargento reinterpret familiar Ghibli tunes from films including Laputa, Totoro, Kiki, Nausicaa, and Ponyo. The album is distributed in Japan by Media Factory’s Overlap Record label.
Independent animator Hiroyasu Ishida has released his ten minute anime short film “rain town.” Ishida and fellow Kyoto Seika University student Shogo Yoshida spent two years developing the short as Ishida’s graduation project. Last week, the short won the grand prize at the 9th Independent Animation Festival held in Mitaka, Japan. Ishida also took the animation festival’s grand prize at last year’s 8th annual event with his short film “Fumiko’s Confession.”
Although there’s not actually a lot of animation in this short, it does exhibit a charming melancholy nostalgic atmosphere.
