Ahh great article! It's funny... I fell in love with the short film anthologies from that period, Robot Carnival, Manie-Manie, Memories etc. and Construction Cancellation Order is definitely a highlight, but I didn't realise how crucial it was to Ōtomo himself learning animation. It's fascinating how the same names keep coming up - Rintarō, Miyazaki (pre-Ghibli), Nakamura, Oshii - this honestly tiny circle of artists influencing each other and in turn transforming pretty much the entire medium of animation. I wonder what an Oshii short in Manie-Manie would have been like.
Also! 'Construction' being finished with just four key animators is astonishing, honestly, especially in these days of gigantic lists of nigen and sakkans on every show. It's not exactly a low drawing count short.
Anyway I love that you keep writing about this period and those short film anthologies, I always pick up something new and it's great to see someone else appreciating them. Have you seen the more recent anthology 'Short Peace' (2013)? It's almost entirely CGI, but very effectively used; Ōtomo has a short film 'Combustible' with a unique style and 'A Farewell to Arms' also adapts one of his stories to a really compelling near future battle sequence. 'Possessions' is also really charming. I'd love to read some similar production anecdotes about those films if you ever came across any!
Thanks very much! This article was a long road -- we've been gathering bits and pieces of information to write about the film since 2021, and only hit critical mass this month. Really happy to have it out there.
Great point about the recurring names. It was a small group for sure, especially when it comes to the kind of influence that artists like Rintaro and Miyazaki had. There were other key people back then we haven't covered as much (Kawajiri, Dezaki, Tomino, Toshio Hirata, Gisaburo Sugii, etc.), but the list isn't ultra long. Anime was a small industry! It's scary sometimes to look at the credits of someone like Nakamura or Inoue and see how many major projects they were involved in. So much of this older work was defined by the skill and personal taste of a handful of people.
As for Short Peace -- we really like that one! Combustible is incredible, and the others absolutely hold their own. For us, it might be the tightest-made of all the anime anthologies we've seen, in terms of the overall experience. Covering that one is another long-term goal. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
Brilliant work as always! Are the Hayao Miyazaki directed episodes of Lupin the 3rd Pt. 2 stand-alone or do I need to be familiar with the rest of the show to enjoy it? The only Lupin media I've seen are parts of the manga when the English rerelease came out a few years ago and Castle of Cagliostro.
Thank you! And yes, they're very standalone. In fact, the vast majority of Lupin episodes are one-offs that can be watched in any order -- including the Miyazaki/Takahata run on the series in the early '70s!
Ahh great article! It's funny... I fell in love with the short film anthologies from that period, Robot Carnival, Manie-Manie, Memories etc. and Construction Cancellation Order is definitely a highlight, but I didn't realise how crucial it was to Ōtomo himself learning animation. It's fascinating how the same names keep coming up - Rintarō, Miyazaki (pre-Ghibli), Nakamura, Oshii - this honestly tiny circle of artists influencing each other and in turn transforming pretty much the entire medium of animation. I wonder what an Oshii short in Manie-Manie would have been like.
Also! 'Construction' being finished with just four key animators is astonishing, honestly, especially in these days of gigantic lists of nigen and sakkans on every show. It's not exactly a low drawing count short.
Anyway I love that you keep writing about this period and those short film anthologies, I always pick up something new and it's great to see someone else appreciating them. Have you seen the more recent anthology 'Short Peace' (2013)? It's almost entirely CGI, but very effectively used; Ōtomo has a short film 'Combustible' with a unique style and 'A Farewell to Arms' also adapts one of his stories to a really compelling near future battle sequence. 'Possessions' is also really charming. I'd love to read some similar production anecdotes about those films if you ever came across any!
Thanks very much! This article was a long road -- we've been gathering bits and pieces of information to write about the film since 2021, and only hit critical mass this month. Really happy to have it out there.
Great point about the recurring names. It was a small group for sure, especially when it comes to the kind of influence that artists like Rintaro and Miyazaki had. There were other key people back then we haven't covered as much (Kawajiri, Dezaki, Tomino, Toshio Hirata, Gisaburo Sugii, etc.), but the list isn't ultra long. Anime was a small industry! It's scary sometimes to look at the credits of someone like Nakamura or Inoue and see how many major projects they were involved in. So much of this older work was defined by the skill and personal taste of a handful of people.
As for Short Peace -- we really like that one! Combustible is incredible, and the others absolutely hold their own. For us, it might be the tightest-made of all the anime anthologies we've seen, in terms of the overall experience. Covering that one is another long-term goal. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
Brilliant work as always! Are the Hayao Miyazaki directed episodes of Lupin the 3rd Pt. 2 stand-alone or do I need to be familiar with the rest of the show to enjoy it? The only Lupin media I've seen are parts of the manga when the English rerelease came out a few years ago and Castle of Cagliostro.
Thank you! And yes, they're very standalone. In fact, the vast majority of Lupin episodes are one-offs that can be watched in any order -- including the Miyazaki/Takahata run on the series in the early '70s!
Great article! Plus, I have a couple new things to put on the top of my watch list!
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed.