Jumping

this is exactly as the synopsis says. Tezuka's Jumping is about a boy who goes on a walk, that turns into a jump that just keeps getting bigger and bigger each time his feet leave the ground. oh the places he goes and the things he sees. there is no story beyond that, but the sounds are kooky, yet appropriate, the art is the same Tezuka we've come to know and love and as for enjoyment, this is a very good way to spend 6 minutes of your life...so many little quirks and easter eggs

Its premise is simple, but what makes this short so engaging is its extraordinary execution. Tezuka, along with a few other rather skillful people, pour in a stupendous amount of effort only to be met with worthwhile results. The visual perspective we see is from a child's point-of-view whilst plummeting and rebounding across several spots. He travels throughout a forest, cityscape, ocean, and, ultimately, an active war field. Although being a Japanese production, Jumping features character designs that have a more classic western cartoon flavor to them, effectively making this short feel moderately more special compared to other anime of the time. Animation moves rather ... smoothly for being a short produced with a limited staff/budget during the 1980's. The detail in the line art is very well-rendered, whether it's the minuscule leaves on a giant tree or the intricate, painstakingly drawn windows of an extremely tall building, it's all given considerable attention. The constantly moving, crosshatch-heavy shading also adds some more personality to the already wonderful realistic art. Jumping also manages to pack in a wonderful sight gag, Stars Wars reference, and small, but potent, message regarding war and its undeniably ruinous effects, despite only clocking around seven minutes. In short, this is quite successful in what it sets out to do, and it's one of Tezuka's finest experimental works

Even at the twilight of his life and career, the legendary mangaka Osamu Tezuka continued to busy himself with several circulating manga publications, as well as dabbling in animation as a hobby. In fact, there have been accounts of him going out of his way to fund projects with money from his own pocket. One of those instances is with Jumping, Tezuka’s entry for the 1984 Animafest Zagreb, a prestigious animated film festival organized by the International Animated Film Association or ASIFA.

Back in 1981, Tezuka enlisted the help of animator Junji Kobayashi, who famously worked on the ambitious animated cityscape scene in Hi no Tori ... 2772, also a film by Tezuka. Jumping is envisioned to be a grand expansion of that scene—a continuous, fluid short of a child who jumps, jumps, and jumps until he reaches clouds, skyscrapers, forests, and inhumanly unreachable areas, while subtly infusing outlooks on society represented by quick shots of the environments he jumps to. With limited technology, Kobayashi had to think out of the box to be able to acquire reference shots for the short. Unlike Hi no Tori 2772 where he and the animation staff were able to create a model of the futuristic city within the Tezuka Pro office hallway, the sheer scale of Tezuka’s storyboard had led to him hopping on similar roads to imitate the movement, as well as riding on a Cessna plane to take the aerial shots necessary. The result was a six-minute visual wonder consisting of approximately 4,000 cuts (!) made over the course of a two-and-a-half-year long production period.

While admittedly not consistently fluid (and at times possibly nauseating), the formidable scope within this short, as well as the fact that this work is produced without any reliance on CGI, is nothing short of inspiring. Within a short amount of time Tezuka crams in as much visual information as possible through each jump, not being overbearing on its gradual shift to disturbing imagery while imbuing in as much meaning as he can. Unsurprisingly, Tezuka would go on and win the Zagreb award, in fact being the first Japanese to ever do so (and the only one alongside Koji Yamamura to win it to this day).

Jumping is possibly one of Tezuka’s most nuanced and definitive works. Kobayashi, of course, also deserves recognition for undertaking in this monumental project. This film is one of the many testaments that display the man’s infectious passion for the medium that continues to be felt within the industry beyond his death.

Osamu Tezuka, “the godfather of manga,” produced a number of influential works that have stood the test of time and uplifted the medium into a status of being a reputable source of great artistic/contemplative experiences. Disenchanted, however, with the lack of enthusiasm in experimentation within the medium, Tezuka decided to “make something” to prove his worth and possibly win an award — or several. Hence the production of a short film known simply as “Jumping,” where the viewer vicariously perceives the intense thrill of jumping (via a first-person point of view) through various environments for a breathtaking six minutes.

The boundless leaping from one ... brobdingnagian structure to the next is immensely thrilling. But what begins as mere observation and wonder, slowly transitions to an unnerving atmosphere with gruesome acts of militarized intervention which resemble hell itself. Not all surprising that “Jumping” concludes the horrific journey with a trip to the fiery inferno of hell, giving the viewer an intense juxtaposition between the peaceful atmosphere of privileged, first-world citizens and the wretched habitat of the third-world “battlefield.”

Certainly a unique creation by Mr. Tezuka that deserves appreciation and respect. Modern day directors should look towards the works of the past — particularly Tezuka’s — if they hope to continually push the medium to new heights of creative intrigue.

Excuse me, I'm Spanish and I don't usually write in English. If you want you can read my review in Spanish.

Jumping (1984) constitutes the case of a particular idea. This short simply focuses on a jumping boy. From a subjective point of view, as if we were the aforementioned young man, we observe how a stranger jumps from one place to another. He first begins with small jumps that do not make him advance much, but after dodging a car he begins to jump higher and higher and further. Thanks to this, he makes a kind of trip around the world seeing forests, cities, oceans, ... etc. Sometimes, we notice curious or strange facts such as a bird that gets in the middle of our friend's jump, the sight of a naked woman who was on a balcony or the presence of a whale in the sea. They are simple touches of humor to get us a smile.

In just six minutes we completed this long journey. At first, the journey doesn't seem to have meaning, but it really does. For thousands of years, the human being has advanced progressing little by little, as if they were small jumps. But at certain times, especially in recent centuries, this progress has multiplied, making the jumps enormous, impossible to calculate in their distance. It is not surprising that too big a jump can destroy us and that is why it is advisable to start reflecting. The idea seems to be haunting the short film because in one of those jumps the boy reaches a war zone where he apparently dies after the fall of a nuclear missile that destroys everything. In the fall the jumping boy ends up in hell where the devils seem to feel sorry for him and send him back to the finish line. A message in the vein of a mangaka and animator so obsessed with the issue of war and uncontrolled progress.

Speaking of other important aspects, this short film draws a lot of attention for two reasons: on the one hand, the subjective point of view that allows the viewer to feel as if he or she is jumping, thus improving that idea of ​​the short; and, on the other hand, the handling of the camera, which allows Tezuka to be offered a view from different angles, something very original on his part and with which he had not explored much until then. However, the work is not perfect. The journey itself is not particularly fascinating, even with those slight touches of humor at work. Anyway, the short occupies a prominent place in the author's non-commercial production.

You can read my review here: https://elarmarioanimados.blogspot.com/2020/06/cortometrajes-de-osamu-tezuka-anos-80.html

Wow! Who knew looking through anime from the 80s would let me find such a breath of fresh air?

This short anime, directed by the acclaimed Tezuka Osamu, is about a child that starts walking down the street and has to jump to avoid an accident. After that, he decides to keep jumping and goes higher and further each time.

The awesome thing about this (at least for me) is that it is all in first person perspective the entire time. Perhaps there were other anime shorts that used first person before Osamu thought of the idea, but this is the first one that I know of, ... and it's a blast to watch. The sound effects add a great deal of enjoyment to it as well.

If you enjoy the evolution of animation, or even just want to see all of Tezuka Osamu's works, I wholeheartedly recommend giving this one a watch. It is short, sweet, and worth every minute!

This was recommended to me by a friend whom I had told not long before being instructed to wander this rabbit hole out of plaintive desire that I was only into animated shorts now and that I had long worn thin of the longform narrative in cartoons. I sensibly wanted a respite from the inconsolable might the average 12-24 episodes had on my fragile emotional state, and thus didn't want to have to deal with any potential long-term investment in established worlds and mundanities associated with "the continuity", so to speak. This friend of mine, you see, was a major Tezuka enthusiast. He would collect ... supply drop after supply drop of commemorative Osamu Tezuka memorabilia be it autobiographies or secondhand accounts of the man's working life through the late 20th century, and at the same time, urge others like myself who could muster an appetite for all things nerdy and secular in terms of interests to read Tezuka manga if only to glimpse the master at work through the lens of a reader living in modern times. Of course, I abstained for the longest time since I was not ready to hop aboard the "be all end all" express where the finality of art could be grasped by even the layman. NO, I WAS NOT READY TO FEAST MY EYES ON HIS BODY OF WORK JUST YET. I needed a bit more breathing space before I could.

And then it clicked in my head. What if I started not with his written oeuvre, but his directorial craft? That would be conducive for a first-timer like myself, would it not? Heh, talk about a dash of adept decision-making, that one. I decided to take my aforementioned friend up on his suggestion to check out this short after another I'd already seen beforehand, Broken Down Film, and what a buffet for the senses it was! The editing was supreme, and not to mention (likely) instrumental in the pioneeering and subsequent realization of Satoshi Kon's inimitable magic with the camera and how he plays around with the editing in his films. I'm sure many other industry creatives were inspired by Tezuka's work in the early phases of their careers.

And now on to the short itself, which i will keep concise and to the point. It is simply a masterstroke of technique. Secondary to the already prominent displays of gyroscopic camera movement which would immediately pass for peer review by academics at the time of its release, coupled with the unconventional angles the pov of both character and viewer introduce whilst mid-air and on the ground, the short's defining quality is how attention to detail is NEVER ESCHEWED, regardless of what you may opine quietly by yourself. Denial only results in misappreciation for this particular vision of Tezuka's, and how could one not stand in awe at the glory of those towering cityscapes beholden to a regressing society, not one that is privy to change and environmental preservation? All of it amounts to a perfectly illustrated premonition of a future yet to come and everything from its charm to its grievous fixations on death and dysfunction paints a forlorn picture of the human race's trajectory at the height of the global economic boom in the 80s. Do yourself and your kindred a favor by watching this short, but do so at your own discretion seeing as the takeaway may alienate some from what it ultimately dares to convey.

Rate a 5
No vocals per-say it is more grunt noises like screams.
genres: comedy, adventure

Warning: you might feel a tad sick if you are like me and hate roller coasters.

Story
basic. One could say there is no story behind it. Although, there could be if you think about it. Many things happen with each second. Being born in this world we can only see them one at a time for we don't share the abilities to see from multiple areas (as in more than one person's eyes). Jumping, is not only an on going adventure to explore but to grow as well. Sadly, that is where it ... falls. I could elaborate slightly further but that would be all the meat to this bone.

Art
could be improved, as in visually clearly drawn.

Sound-no issues, good use of sound effects.

Character-not relevant

Enjoyment: this is more visual not plot based.