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This short film of roughly 20 minutes was one of the entries in the JAniCA Animator Training Project, a competition aimed at developing younger talent from various animation companies.  Ojiisan no Lamp comes from Telecom Animation Film, headed by Takiguchi Teiichi, an animator who worked on such films as Whisper of the Heart and Piano no Mori.  Here, he gets to flex his storytelling skills by contributing both the screenplay and the direction itself.  In a certain way, …

Here are two sheet music arrangements for two of the more noteworthy piano pieces from Kemono no Souja Erin….

Note: posts which contain episode numbers in the title may contain spoilers – read reviews instead for spoiler-free opinions.

Though the majority of this arc featured gentle development of Erin and her raising of Lilan, the end of episode 39 appears to signify that the show is ready to approach the resolution of the overarching plot.  The various threads of the story thus far – Erin, the Grand Duke, the Queen, Damiya, and Ial – are merging due to the …

Note: posts which contain episode numbers in the title may contain spoilers – read reviews instead for spoiler-free opinions.

I think I have a somewhat firmer idea of where the plot of Kemono no Souja Erin will be heading with regards to the overarching conflict, which will no doubt intersect at some point with Erin’s personal growth thusfar.  Much time has been spent building up the background between the Queen and the Grand Duke, and the factions which cause trouble …

Note: posts which contain episode numbers in the titles will likely discuss plot developments during those episodes – read reviews instead for spoiler-free articles.

I first sampled “Kemono no Souja Erin” some time back, when it had first begun to air.  As I was following another show at the time, I wasn’t able to give it more than a brief trial (one episode) and it drifted away from my mind.  However, it is one of those shows that I …

As far as interesting plot constructs go, Sky Crawlers starts off on a good foot.  In an ambiguous world which carries shades of a bygone Europe, humans called “Kirudore” wage war against one another in the skies.  Their existence is one of perpetual adolescence – no one knows exactly why they do not age, just that they don’t – they exist to be used as pawns in battle.  In this setting, a young pilot, Yuichi, settles into his new home in …

Studio Ghibli,which for decades has been dominated by the “old crowd” – Suzuki, Miyazaki, and Takahata – has made occasional attempts at cultivating younger talent in the past.  Ocean Waves was initially envisioned as an exercise for younger staff, and occasional films such as The Cat Returns or Tales from Earthsea have all been attempts to bring new directors into the forefront.  However, the studio has never really managed to find a proper spiritual successor to Miyazaki, who is the man …

I’ve often claimed (with some degree of hyperbole) that Planetes is one of the best kept secrets of anime.  While it does not enjoy the same level of awareness and popularity as some of its monumental brothers in the same genre, tucked within this 26-episode series is one of the most satisfying character-oriented shows you will find.  This is an important aspect of Planetes – the show is about characters, unlike sci-fi shows which derive their drama from the large …

Colorful is a film which unfortunately shares a name with another (rather immature sounding) anime series that it shares absolutely no other resemblance with, so don’t let any misguided Google searches put you off from this interesting little production.  Colorful has one of those premises that immediately catches your eye – a lost soul, caught in the cycle of reincarnation, is given the chance to redeem himself through the task of discovering the sin he had committed in his last incarnation.  To accomplish …

With renewed interest in the Tintin world thanks to the upcoming films, I have begun to go back and reread my collection of Tintin albums.  I was always a big fan of the both the albums as well as the animated series, and in the coming weeks and perhaps months, you will find my thoughts on every Tintin album conveniently accumulating in this spot…