Ani*Kuri15 - Reviews

A while back, the television studio NHK asked 15 of Japan's animators ro produce 1 minute clips to air in 3 seasons from 2006 to 2007. The animators/directors included well known Satoshi Kon (Paranoia Agent/ Perfect Blue), Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell / Patlabor), and Shoji Kawamori (Macross / Battleship Yamamoto). As well as incorporating several larger studios. The pieces are mostly comical, with some surreal and some serious. 

Story: There are 15 different stories, of varying degrees of decent. However, because of the 1 minute format, the stories are fairly shallow. There are some studios that managed to get a decent storyline in, my favorite story being "A Gathering of Cats" by CoMix Wave for it's ability to have a conflict, rising action, and resolution in less than 60 seconds. There are other decent short stories, but some of them are simply comedic gags. Not a bad thing, but hard to judge for story. 

Animation: Like story, this one is difficult to judge because of the vast differences between studios. There are very good animations, there's a studio that literally went with "we had no budge, so everything is cardboard", and there are those in between. My favorite is "Ohayo" simply because I love the style of Satoshi Kon. But you may end up liking a different one. 

At least the cardboard looks decent?

Sound: Again, it depends on who made the anime. Some are better than others. Some have minimal voice acting, some have not-so-great background music. Some are really into sound effects. So, it's hard to judge based on that, but I don't recall any being overly bad.

Characters: The episodes are 60 seconds or less. I don't even know the characters' names in most of these shorts, let alone how well developed they are as stand-alone characters. BUT! Their vast diversity, including species, race, gender, social status... it's very enjoyable to watch. 

Should you watch this? Yes. These are tidbits of what animators can do when given freedom to create. So, if you end up liking a particular clip, find out who created it and see what else they've created. 

This review brought to you by the DAMC. 

Crazy how 1 minute stories can have such an impact! Each animation was individually awesome!

Intro...

What would happen if you were told that you had only 1 minute of animation time to do whatever you wanted?  This is what happened when they asked 15 people to do just that...

Story: 8

Because Ani Kuri is somewhat different from your standard format, the idea of story cannot be compared to that of a normal anime.  Instead, you have to look at the individual 'episodes' of 1 minute long.  How much story can you show in a 1 minute clip?  The answer depends on the animator and some of these clips show incredible depth while others are just painful to sit through.  However, since you only see 1 minute of these, its a shame as some you want to see what happens next.

Animation: 8

Once again, with 15 completely different animation styles, you get your good and your bad.  Some of them are on par with the animation qualities found in some of the top range animes while there are those which seem to have been made on a budget less that a shoe string.  However, it should be able to satisify most people some way.

Sound: 8

Out of everything in the 15 'episodes' this is one which is of remarkably good quality and some of songs used fit the scenes pretty nicely.

Characters: 8

It's a bit hard to comment on this without repeating myself multiple times, but put it like this; some of the clips have characters that despite only seeing for 1 minute makes you want to know more about them.

Overall: 8

What to make of a special which is a wide and diverse as this?  To be honest this was probably the hardest review I've ever written.  At least with your standard anime you can write about a lot more since there is a greater dedication spent on it.  Here, I must say that I throughly enjoyed some of the clips and most of them were better than some animes that I've watched (notably BLAME! and Demonbane TV) and actually its a shame they were only limited to 1 minute.  Take some time out today and watch this, its well worth it and doesn't take too much out of your life.