My main issue with this short film from 1948 is how terrible it looks. Yes, it is from the 1940s, but films such as Tora-Chan from the previous year, Ari-chan from 1941 or Ahiru Rikusentai from 1940 all have much better, smoother and more expressive animation - and that’s not even mentioning the nicer-looking animations made in the 30s and 20s. This film’s animation is straight-up bad for its time, which is not helped by the genuinely unpleasant, grotesque character designs. The falling leaves are at least nicely animated.
The story is not without its merits, with a couple of funny moments with the bear chasing
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May 11, 2020
Kamishibai Itazura Tanuki no Maki
(Anime)
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I’ve recently been watching a whole bunch of prewar animations, and while a large amount of them are interesting only as historical artifacts, there are a few legitimate gems in there too. Thus far of the films I’ve watched, Rascal Raccoon is the highlight. It is genuinely funny with some good gags thrown in there, and in particular the animation is fantastic.
The setpiece of the short is a fight scene that is smoothly animated, fast-paced and actually surprisingly reminiscent of something you would find in modern anime: Clever characters thinking on their feet and using their fighting skills and all kinds of tricks to get ... |
