Buta

This anime is such a strange anomaly but I think one of the greatest things you can take out of the world of anime is sometimes you can make a nice compelling viewing experience in 24 short minutes even if you don't see these characters or this world ever again. It shows in the world of animation that an incredibly short story can often be just as compelling as a feature length film or even a fully fledged anime series as long as you have a deep understanding of what your trying to present to the viewer.

The story of Buta initially focuses on a ... fox child by the name of Kitsune who is shown a treasure map by his father that shows the location of an immense treasure and that this map will be gifted to Kitsune for his birthday. As he is being told this, their house is being invaded by pirates (The Tufugu Priates), the pirates kidnap the fox boy (Kitsune) and take the treasure map for themselves. In another area of town at a local restaurant/bar the same pirates that invaded the home are reaching out to any able bodied warriors to help them with regards to finding the treasure and this is where they come across an apprehensive and disgruntled samurai by the name of Buta who is a Pig that has this silly irrational fear of cats. Buta ends up fighting many of the patrons of the restaurant/bar with relative ease and the pirates think he would be a perfect candidate to join their crew but he is not going to do it for free and there is always a price with regards to getting his help. I should also mention the fact that all the characters throughout this anime are anthropomorphic. They are all different animals of various sorts which adds to the anime's charm.

Once Buta is on the pirate ship he comes across the fox boy Kitsune, and he ends up tricking Buta with regards to helping him escape and therefore it starts Buta's reluctant adventure with this boy whether he likes it or not. Buta was never really suited for the pirate life anyway and he has taken up his responsibility with regards to getting the fox boy safe and sound with his treasure map in tow while the pirates are hot on their trail. For a 24 minute anime there really isn't a lot of story to tell but for the remainder of this adventure we get to see some really good bonding moments between Kitsune and Buta with a very hilarious and very epic finale that will give you plenty of laugh out loud moments.

When watching this title, there is an undeniable amount of charm that comes with watching a very easy to follow story such as this one. It's incredibly easy to compare it to something that we would see out of Studio Ghibli and I couldn't help but make very small comparisons to Porco Rosso while watching this short 24 minute adventure. There is some really good humor throughout this anime, and when the action does happen in this anime it often has this Looney Tunes silliness vibe to it because a lot of the humor will catch you off guard. The violence is not bloody but it doesn't need to be. The pirates are lovable incompetent idiots that can't do anything right and the fox boy has some really sharp witted dialogue.

The animation in itself is not the smoothest it could be but it doesn't have to be because it has an 80's to 90's animation aura to it despite it being made in 2012. It's also a great anime for kids to enjoy as well. The music doesn't really stand-out per se, but it's used fairly well throughout the entire viewing experience.

I think ultimately this is an anime that really understands how to make itself enjoyable within it's very short length. It knows when to be funny, when to give you the action you want, and it knows to keep things relatively simple because watching this is going to make you smile from ear to ear because it just has a simplistic enjoyable charm to it that is really hard to ignore. It's just a crying shame we never got more adventures with Kitsune and Buta, but for the short amount of time we got to see these characters on their little journey - it was absolutely worth it.

Buta, a wealthy boy is separated from his family and is captured for his treasure. Through some silly occurrences, a samurai working with the pirates were forced to make a deal with the said kid to retrieve a treasure map.

Similar to Sword of the Stranger in terms of the relationship between boy and samurai fighting off against their fate but with Human like Animal Characters. Potential is there but for me there just isn't much to go on in terms of the overall message.

Seems mixed in theme but what can you do with just 24 minutes for a story like that. In terms ... of positives animation, sound, and design aesthetic is its strong points for sure. For that, so far the weakest of the 4 but by no means bad, but is cluttered which is not the story's fault but. As a whole, Was entertained for the animation but that is pretty much it, the substance is not something this has in terms of message or story.

Yeah, you really can't force a heartwarming story. Could be due to the length. That's why this short movie fails for me, even though it had all the makings for a good story/my favorite tropes:

1. Morally gray, anti-hero only cares about himself until he finds something, cute, plucky kid he begrudgingly protects.

2. A mixture of bumbling and competent villains

3. Ninjas and/or samurai

SN: The fox boys' voices are annoying to me. Too cutesy.

Overall, this is the equivalent of a children's' Saturday morning cartoon. No real character development but cute animation and a seemingly fun story (though I was pretty bored). Again, I think if this had ... a longer format, whether an anime or full-length movie, it would have been more compelling.