Alternative TitlesEnglish: Winter Days Japanese: 冬の日
Information
Type: Movie
Episodes: 1
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Nov 22, 2003
Duration:
39 min. per episode Rating:
R+ - Mild Nudity
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 6.511 (scored by 519 users)
Ranked: #45682
Popularity: #3747
Members: 1,306
Favorites: 1 1 indicates a weighted score
My Info
Popular Tags
No tags found |
SynopsisFuyu no Hin is a 2003 animated film directed by Kihachiro Kawamoto. It is based upon the renga of the same name by the 17th-century Japanese poet Basho.
The creation of the film followed the traditional collaborative nature of the source material—the visuals for each of the 36 stanzas were independently created by 35 different animators. As well as many Japanese animators, Kawamoto assembled leading names of animation from across the world. Each animator was asked to contribute at least 30 seconds to illustrate their stanza, and most of the sequences are under a minute (Yuriy Norshteyn's, though, is nearly two minutes long).
The released film consists of the 40-minute animation, followed by an hour-long "Making of" documentary, including interviews with the animators. Fuyu no Hi won the Grand Prize of the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2003.
(Source: Wikipedia) |
Characters & Voice ActorsLearn how to add characters and voice actors.
Staff
Reviews
|
|
i_c___c_i
38 of 69 people found this review helpful
|
1 of 1 episodes seen
|
| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
|
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
|
| Enjoyment |
9 |
"Winter Days" is one of the most interesting animation films I've seen in quite a while. It is so interesting as a whole in fact, that I had no problem going past a few of its segments that seemed lacking. Actually, I didn't even need to turn a blind eye to some things that would have rubbed me the wrong way, were they in a different work, because they were somehow right at home in this film. Limiting myself only to "flawed" animation for now, I would compare this to Don Hertzfeldt's "Rejected", one of my favourite animated shorts. The way everything was set up in "Rejected" with its extremely simple animation and its dumb content, it was all very fitting. That was the idea behind the work: to make something so bad anyone would instantly reject it. The way everything was put together quickly made me change my impression from "why am I laughing at this crap?" to "this cartoony garbage is pretty interesting, and funny". I had a similar reaction to "Winter Days", although here it wasn't caused by the work's hilarity or style of humour and their framing, but by its structure.
When watching an animated work, "animation" itself is pretty important. It is what makes the medium... what it is. So the extremely rare case when something incorporates even lackluster pieces into itself so well that the need to point out "there is a hole there" disappears, makes a lasting impression. And this film left such a lasting impression on me. Only some four minutes into "Winter Days" there is a segment in poorly rendered CG animation. Amateurish looking. Rushed execution. Stiff, unnatural animation that could've used a few more key frames. Bland, artificial colours. Flat textures. But it's not intrinsically bad because it has that feel of an improvisation to it. And this isn't the only part that had no chance of standing on its own considering how weak its legs are. There are four, maybe five other segments in the film that when taken outside their context, for one reason or another, simply aren't up to par with everything else in "Winter Days". And yet, here in a work that is welcoming of slight imperfections, they don't really stand out among the other thirty parts. They work together with them in making "Winter Days" what it is.
And that is because the film is an adaptation, or rather a reconstruction of a renga poem composed sometime in the 17th century. What makes this style of poem interesting is its emphasis on spontaneity and improvisation, on the difference between its lines and the continuous change of the poem while it's written. What makes this style of poem even more interesting is the fact that each line is actually written by a different poet - to write one you need at least two people. The film doesn't only adapt the poem's content into its medium, but also its method and style. Actually, it pushes this collaborative approach slightly further. Thirty five animators worked on "Winter Days" whereas the 36 stanzas that form the poem that is its skeleton were written by "only" five poets.
Each of the film's segments is animated in a different style and there are a lot of animation techniques used: clay animation, puppet animation, oil on glass, "normal" cel animation, CG, cut-outs and even combinations of some of these. All of the animators who worked on the film didn't only exhibit their own styles, but also brought in their own animation methods. With some I was familiar from other animated films, but with others I was greeted by something entirely new. Like the segment Kotabe Yōichi did together with Okuyama Reiko which uses engravings on copper plates instead of drawings, or the pinscreen animation technique used by Jacques Drouin in his segment.
There are a lot of really interesting takes on the poem's stanzas in the film, but my favourite ones are Yuriy Norshteyn's and Aleksandr Petrov's. I actually had very high expectations from these two animators going into the film because I had seen other works made by them before and I really like the style and animation technique they use. Actually, their involvement is why I even started to watch it. Aleksandr Petrov in particular - he does not even make animated films; he creates moving paintings. If you've seen his adaptation of Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" you know what I mean by that.
Of course the film does not follow any sort of narrative. It's not even supposed to. What ties everything together is the structure of the composition, its formalities and themes. You definitely watch this in the same way you would read a poem. That also means this film isn't really for everyone. Not everyone likes reading, and more importantly - not everyone likes reading poems. Especially very formal poems that require a certain package of knowledge beforehand to even understand. Likewise, it requires a certain passion and admiration for animation beyond it as simple entertainment. It's also definitely not "anime", at least not if you're thinking about something other than an abbreviation for "animation" when you hear the word.
If any one of those is a turn-off for you... you won't enjoy this that much. If at all. I for one liked it a lot, enough that I re-watched it twice in a row after finishing it the first time... all that ignoring the multiple re-viewings of many of its segments of course. So I'd say, give it a try. read more
|
|
serj_tankian
3 of 12 people found this review helpful
|
1 of 1 episodes seen
|
| Overall |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
It is movies like winter days that help you understand the formless art that is life. This anime goes beyond words,if you are willing to sit down with some patience, and are easily amused, give winter days a go. Beautiful artwork throughout the whole movie, it really has a beautiful flow and vibe to it. Enjoy!, I did.
Recommendations
|
|
Since Winter Days (a.k.a. Fuyu no Hi) anime movie is made by many talented Japanese and foreign animators, it has a very interesting and unique mix of different types of animation. Thus, the whole movie is made up of many different short animated scenes which some of them have the similar feeling to The Sensualist art (the traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e style). Also, the story of Fuyu no Hi is an adapted haikai (haiku) collection by Basho, while The Sensualist is an adaptation of Edo period novel. Both animes have on some level similar poetical atmosphere and comic relief that you may be looking for :)
|
Opening ThemeNo opening themes found, add themes.
Ending ThemeNo ending themes found, add themes.
| No posts for this board were found |
Fansubbing Groups
Which fansubbers do you like the best? Click + to approve of their subs for this show. Click - if you don't think they did such a great job.
Related ClubsArtsy, Anime Anthologies, Unusual is Better, Obscure Anime/Manga, The Stop-Motion Animation Appreciation Society, My Fairy Tale Addiction
Recently Watched By|
8 hours ago |
Yesterday, 9:38 AM |
05-23-13, 8:41 PM |
05-22-13, 11:33 PM |
05-21-13, 10:15 PM | |
05-21-13, 2:23 AM |
05-20-13, 7:41 PM |
05-20-13, 5:53 AM |
05-20-13, 5:45 AM |
05-18-13, 10:39 PM |
|
|
