Yubi wo Nusunda Onna

Shiroki Saori is an animator who paints oil on glass, and she must be most well-known for her more polished work in 2012 on the Monotonous Purgatory music video for Matryoshka. The aesthetic is lovely and not very many animators work in this medium, of which Aleksandr Petrov is probably the most known and celebrated artist. There's a great textural quality to the style, and there are often imperfections seen as the characters move, leaving outlines. Sometimes it's smoothed over, but I'm not really sure how much of the effect is for stylistic purposes or if there just wasn't enough time to smooth the animation ... out with more frames, but it's generally a rather messy technique.

Personally, I'd like it if commercial anime used less conventional techniques like this more often—it could have interesting applications in a commercial context. I believe Mob Psycho is one example that used a variety of mediums irregularly.

There's an elegant look to the characters and the few exteriors and interiors. The sound design is minimalistic, and there's no dialogue. All of the storytelling is visual.

The story is simple: a young boy reads about the world, his mother is overprotective and smothering, and when he tries to leave her grasp and cross the fence, his mother forces him to stay home.

She, indeed, is a finger stealer, but she's also a toe stealer, an arm stealer, and... yeah, she can turn her son into a caterpillar—a pretty obvious symbol, as she's forcing her son to regress into a more primitive state. A caterpillar will go through a metamorphosis and become a butterfly, but she will obviously not allow the son to grow. There really isn't any room for more interpretation than that.

The short is about completely subverting a child's nature (and I'd say abuse, but probably a legal form... it's difficult to tell because of the metaphorical nature of the short) by a parent—specifically a single mother, as there isn't a father or anyone else present. Not having two parents leads to worse outcomes for a child, and single mothers are one of the most toxic and emasculating influences a young boy can have, and it generally always seems worse for the boys than for the girls. Though producers love to present abusive single fathers in films often, they're not nearly as common as single mothers—whether they be advertently or inadvertently abusive. Most single mothers in Japan are divorcees who do the initiating, so she probably stole the house, just as we know she likes to steal fingers and everything else, kicked the father out, and turned her son into a creepy crawly to get back at the father. That'll show him! Strong independent waman. >: ^)

Fear is a strange and funny thing.It can mutilate every part of our body and leave us helpless.Fear may come from a number of different things but in the case of a child,it usually comes from one scarring source.That source being the loved ones.Many children has to face cruel child abuse from the source that were supposed to protect them.This abusing nature from their loved ones leaves the child helpless like a larval stage of development which is more than appropriate symbolism that is shown throughout this shorts narration.

This short despite being only 4 minutes long handles a very mature and violent subject matter.The sound ... design is brilliant and the art style reflects it's narration perfectly.This short may need two viewings to get the point I mean I know that I did.This short was Saori Shiroki’s graduate work from the Tokyo University of the Arts' Graduate School of Film and New Media.I haven't seen any of her other works but I am excited to see more of her works.

I'm glad I found this (rather obscure) short, because I definitely enjoyed it. It's not a new favorite or anything, but it's different from anything I've seen. And I think "different" is the key word here. The art style isn't on par with any big-budget studio animation, but it's *different.* When characters move, their outlines stick around and become part of the background. This was probably done to speed up the frame animation, but it looks cool nonetheless. Sometimes this effect is obvious, but sometimes it turns into a game of trying to find a lingering piece of outline. (Also the wood grain on the ... floor in a few shots is beautiful)

The sound is minimalistic, since no one is talking. Ambient sound is only used in a few instances, but every time it sets the mood perfectly. The "action sounds", mostly thumps against the floor, are low quality. But they still feel real, like the characters have actual weight.

There's not a single word in this short, written or spoken, and the visual storytelling isn't very obvious either. On my first watch I wasn't sure what the point was, but it feels obvious that there is a point. You might have to watch it twice to get it, and I don't think that's a bad thing.

This is a small project, and it shows. But I still think it's worth watching for anyone who's interested in animation, or arthouse anime in general. And besides, it's 4 minutes long. If you read this whole review, you've got time to watch the short.