Anime Information

Forums

THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
----------------------------------------
Just curious to see what others' thoughts were on this short.

This is perhaps the most "un-anime" anime that I have seen. To me, though the language was Japanese, it managed to feel as though it really could have come out of Germany. The animation was perfect, in my opinion... I don't know that anything else would have really complemented the story the way this did.

I don't come from a strong Kafka background, personally... a few required high school readings is the extent to what I had. However, I know enough to say that his stories are deep metaphoric explorations of the psyche that deserve a lot of contemplation. If you'd like to understand more of what this story was actually about, here is a link to an analysis that may help give you some ideas.

The movie would have had a totally different impact on me if the animation was done in a more "normal" style.

I only being 15, and not even knowing that it was a book, I still found it very interesting. I being a fan of Naoki Urasawa's works like Monster and such... gives off a slightly eere feel as this does.

Thanks for the link... pointed out some things that I didn't even think of o.o I saw most of the opposition, but the thing like 2 horses -> 2 sibilings didn't even really occur to me.

Hehe, I guess it helps to know who Kafka is beforehand. He writes short stories that are very surreal... they seem to be done through the eyes of a person experiencing things that make little if any sense in the natural world (the horses running 10 miles in an instant, for example, or the groom's unexplained appearance). In a way, he sacrifices the story for the deeper meaning behind it.

I actually thought about making a recommendation between Monster and this title because of the eerie feeling... specifically the story of the "monster." I never made the connection before this, but Urasawa may have been influenced by Kafka in writing it (he seems to at least have had an interest in German history/culture). If you like that sort of feeling, you may want to look at some of Kafka's other works, as many of them are very short reads. A Country Doctor, for example, is about a 5-10 minute story (though you can think on it for hours afterward). If you ever have to come up with any sort of literature project, he's a great choice for that too, seeing as you appear to enjoy stories that require some thought.

I would like to see this, but can't find ANYWHERE.

This was amazing. The animation was flawless and the whole production had a very surreal feel to it. I've never read any of Kafka's works, but this has made me interested.

Search TokyoToshokan for "Kafka" or "Country Doctor" and there will be two English results (it doesn't appear as Inaka Isha on there). I used the lower one and it had great quality.

...I just noticed you're from Italy. If you search "Kafka" and would prefer an Italian sub, one is indeed available!

I dunno about the original story, but i'm sure the original story would have been very good. This more, was onto the completely weird side for the sake of being weird, and is very hard to understand without prior knowledge of the story (like my case). So I can't appreciate it enough, and didn't find it so enjoyable.
But I can say, that the animations was awesome, but I couldn't help but be reminded of some incidents when some idiots put pubic hair on the movie scroll projector at certain cinema's while I was trying to watch the freiken movies... They were a good laugh at times thou.

7/10

Does justice to Kafka. Animation and sound work are brilliant, no less.

Enough said, very solid job as a whole. I'd actually like to see more of this director.

ok that link has gone too much into deconstruction, that at some point it loses it's sense? especially if you classify this as a surreal anime, you shouldn't rationalize it that much.. we could always read-in whatever we wish.. that's why this is a genius made anime.

I´m happy to see one of Kafkas works got animated. And after watching this I couldnt help but get the original text and I have to say that the anime is very close to its original.
I watched both the english subs and the german and it seems that the subbers used the exact words from the text for the german version. Also the animation team did a great job on this.
As many of Kafkas works its quite hard to get the deeper meaning of this but thx to mr_utopia_man´s link I got vague idea ;:D

I'm speechless.

loved it.

Amazing.

This anime just got me into reading Kafka.
I mean, I always wanted to read Kafka, but after watching this I just HAD TO.
A few days ago I found a website with all of Kafka's works, read "A Country Doctor" and re-watched Inaka Isha.
As you all said before - it's amazingly close to the book.

The voice of the doctor was just mesmerizing. I also read the translated text of the "Country Doctor" and indeed, the anime adaptation was great. I haven't encountered Kafka's works in my school years, but I was pleasantly happy about watching this short episode. Really worth it.

That was uh, interesting. Freaky horses.

brilliant. if you don't like this it is evident to me that animation is simply not your thing. of course noone reading this is going to take that to heart, but still.

Poor old man, he went nude to the snow, so crazy.

Absolutely loved it. I had my doubts, at first, since some have likened it to Cat Soup, which I found very difficult to follow. However, I was actually able to follow Inaka Isha well enough and I enjoyed its unique animation, the haunting music, and all the ideas within it. I've never read anything of Kafka's and I'm terrible at picking up metaphors and the more subtle symbolism, so the critical analysis link helped a lot in bringing light to things I didn't think of while watching it. After going through it, Inaka Isha earns a few extra points in my book, although I loved it even before reading the link xD

I watched this after reading the story. When i was reading, I felt like i was so close to understanding it, but couldn't confidently make a sensible interpretation of everything, but after reading a quick paragraph on wiki it all worked out in my head.

What i don't like about this animation is that the doctor sounds so emotionless all the time, but he is clearly desperate and bitter for most of the story. It makes what he does seem random.

I checked out the link, and it's like WOAH. I think it picks a lot of interesting parallels and such, but reading too deeply into that, or trying to order it too much logically, will inevitably lead to obscure and unintended interpretations. The notes are based on looking at Kafka through a freudian lens.

The rough and general idea behind it, which i picked up with help from wiki (which took it from Louis H Leiter) is that the doctor resigns to his duties, however ridiculous, allows himself to be manipulated, even by the likes of a beast like the groom, and he doesn't answer his most primal desire to hurry back home to protect Rosa. He himself is unambitious, so for no reason other than duty, he stays with the patient, and is subsequently humiliated and defiled, used, by the patient's family.

I don't think that they could have done anything better in this anime. The art and animation was amazing. The music and sound was also great. I haven't read this story from Kafka but I've read many more and this looks very close to a Kafka-ish world. A bitter reality of human behavior wrapped in surrealism and metaphors.