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.