Ani*Kuri15

15 animation personalities of different anime studios are given 60 seconds to animate something and were compiled into this small movie called Ani (Animation) Kuri (creators) 15. These shorts were shown between commercials in NHK channel and it's other channels.

- The Hidden Princess /"Princess Onmitsu" (Mahiro Maeda: Gonzo) - 6.3
Regular animation here and a cute story based on anime most used themes. A little princess turns into a magical girl and defeats a power rangers like villains and the final boss with the help of her doll.

- "Gyrosopter" (Ranji Murata: Gonzo; and Tatsuya Yabuta: Gonzo) - 5.6
Yoy can feel Range Murata in it even though ... it was fully made in 3D. This doesn't had a story so to tell. It showed the so called Gyrosopter and a a girl looking at the water reminiscing about.

- Amusement Park Kiss /"Wandaba Kiss" (Atsushi Takeuchi: Production I.G) - 7.0
This one was pretty good, the animation well done and it was pretty effective, it was perfect for the movements required at a amusement park .

- Beyond the Tears (Akemi Hayashi: Gainax) - 6.8
This one was more like a music clip, showing a girl near a window crying and remembering perhaps a friend and happier days of the past.

- Project Mermaid (Mamoru Oshii: Production I.G) - .7.8
Oshi's done it again, whenever he does something short these days he goes into this direction. He presents us with a very modern approach of an animation even converging with real pictures of a woman to do the mermaid. It ends becoming a pretty good short movie. And the actual last two seconds of it, makes you want to learn more about that story.

- Frolicking /"Okkakekko"(Michael Arias: Studio 4°C) - 6.0
The most weird so far. We see a big green field with children happily playing on it, but then there appears this big robot like the Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky robot, walking around. A child stares at it without fear as the other children runs along with it.

- "Good Morning" (Satoshi Kon: Madhouse) - 9.0
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This one was an excellent piece from Mr. Satoshi Kon. It deals with the process of fully awaken in the morning.

- "Supaatsutaisa" ("刺客來搜山了"?) (Tobira Oda; and Yasuyuki Shimizu: Studio 4°C) - 8.4
This one is animated in basic sketch like black and white. Despite being so simple, it is a huge fun. It is shown to the viewer like it was some scenes or episode in the middle of a samurai story about this colonel that lives in the mountains with his pets but must leave everything behind because he's being targeted. It was a very funny short.

- A Gathering Of Cats ("Neko no Shuukai"?) (Makoto Shinkai: Comix Wave Film) - 8.3
Very good Shinkai short. It's about how a cat gets fed up about the humans always stepping on his tail and eventually does a "gathering of cats", where all the cats in the neighborhood assemple together and take revenge on humans. The next day, it happens all over again.
This was very different from what shinkai usually does, but not less good.

- Alien Invasion - Hiroshi's Circumstances /("Uchujin Raikou Hiroshi no Baai"?) (Shōjirō Nishimi: Studio 4°C) - 7.8
Very nice short, with a little robot distracting a guy on his desk when this one was calmly reading a manga, it looks like the little robot is playing with the guy. The character design here is like Mind game.

- Yurururu ~Daily Chapter~ "Yurururu ~Nichijou Hen~" (Kazuto Nakazawa: Studio 4°C) - 8.0
A guy is trying to animate a scene in it, and you actually see the drawing being born and process of it. You also see the guy, well not see but it's more like in first person animation. see the guy also going to the bathroom and in the return trying to play a joke on a co-worker by messing with the keyboard that the co-worker was typing (I found that scene hilarious, because I usually did the exact thing too). In the end you see the animation complete.
Interesting point is that he has the drawing upside down.

- Project Omega (Shōji Kawamori: Satelight) - 7.9
It's Kawamorui time so you can expect mecha here, even if it's a one minute mecha anime. A comet is about to collide with earth, and when the announcer of NHK news announces that the colliding point will be NHK there are measures to be taken. The whole building of NHK transforms into a huge mecha to stop the comet, the problem is that it needs more power.

- Heat Man ("Hyotoko"?) (Yasufumi Soejima: Gonzo) - 4.0
Another total CG piece here.
A group of Native attacks a beast, or whatever it is. total CG in Gonzo vein, the worst of the bunch.

- Attack of The Azuma Area #2 (Shinji Kimura: Studio 4°C) - 7.0
CGI animation again but done differently. This one was fun. Three little alienes arrive on earth to conquer it, when they approach someones house speaking of their plans of conquer throught he intercumunicator, the person on the other side just tells them that she doesn't need it, confusing them by some seller.

- Sancha Blues (The Aromatic Tea) Blues" (Osamu Kobayashi: Madhouse) - 8.0
An record store owner watches their supposed clients coming to his store but most of them don't buy anything for the store owner sadness.

Some directors were able to accomplish their tale or their message in it's 1 minute story, but some weren't able to do it, afterall, it's pretty difficult to come up with a finished product in only one minute.

It was a great watch never the less.

Rate: 8.0/10 very good stuff.

Anikuri 15 was something that showed up on an accidental search and I stumbled across it. And long behold I was quite happy with the outcome, because what I had come across was a showcase piece of some of the most talented artists in anime in which each one puts together a 1 minute short to see how fast they can create an atmosphere, a character that people can connect with, and a story or work of art that people can understand. It was quite a fascinating piece, and although I would've wanted more character development and story, for god's sake man, it one minute ... an episode. Overall I sincerely enjoyed this series, and if you are looking for something short, sweet, and includes the work of artists like Satoshi Kon, Makoto Shinkai, and Shinji Kimura, pick this sucker up. You will be humbly pleased.

This review only covers each short, not the entirety of the work. With creations like these, it is hard to review the work as a whole. So I will dissect the work into 15 parts.

The Secret Princess (5)- This might appeal to people who like very random things like Lucky Star. True, this whole 15 minute series is random in general, but this short is especially so. Art is average at best, sound is more of a late 80's to mid 90's retro sound. Too random for my taste, but others have rated it higher.

Gyrosopter (7)- I'm not a huge fan of CG anime, but ... I liked this one. Not much of a story, even compared to some of the other shorts, but I really enjoyed the music. If you have read any of my other reviews, you will have discovered that sound is often a make or break point for me.

Amusement Park Kiss (7)- I enjoyed the little sound effects accompanying the movement. Not anything really high quality, but it contributed to the fun factor. Pretty high entertainment value for this viewer. Cute too. Not really the art style I usually enjoy, but that didn't disrupt the overall fun aspect of the short.

Beyond the Tears (8)- Once again the soundtrack (a whole one song) won me over, but there was also a small story behind it too. I won't lie, I didn't really understand it. My interpretation was that it was about many girls having a bad day and suffering, so they are crying. However, it ends with a smile showing that the rough times won't last forever. For one minute it had a nice story.

Project Mermaid (9)- The background artwork was refreshing. The soundtrack was nice and fit the setting, but for once it was the art that one me over. I didn't like the use of a photo of a real person for the mermaid personally, but I have to admit it was a direction few animators take. Very impressed with the background art for the most part, and even more so for the last few seconds. Did I mention the artwork?

Frolicking (6)- The background music used wind instruments as a focal point. That was refreshing, but the children's screaming as they... well as they frolicked, was too strong and overpowered the music.

Good Morning (8)- I really appreciated this portrayal of morning. When you wake up you feel sluggish like you aren't quite awake yet, right? This short separated the character into two. One that is what she is actually doing, and the other is doing the same things but it takes her longer to get started. Once she's awake and alert, both parts join. Very cool concept, and you have to love Satoshi Kon's art style. For once not much to say about sound. Pretty average music, just with the tiniest touch of Satoshi Kon's usual accompaniment (slightly warped instrumentals).

Sports Colonel (4)- Don't take this rating to seriously. The short didn't leave much of an impression on me so there's not much for me to say about it. Some people seem to have enjoyed it.

A Gathering Of Cats (9)- Shinkai's art has always held my interest. Another of my favorite animators, I could rate this a 6 on art alone. The sound effects were done well enough, and the music fit the scenes. So lets bump it up to a 7. Now add the enjoyable hi-jinks of indecisive household cats, and you have a nice shiny number 9. Seriously though, great humor!

Alien Invasion - Hiroshi's Circumstances (7)- As far as my favorite topic of sound, the sound effects were a blast. I enjoyed the emphasis each sound effect had, and it really added to this short experience. The art was unique, although it wasn't something I particularly enjoyed, I can see others liking it readily enough. The only complaint I have is that not much happened as compared to the other shorts. It took a little too much time with each action, and so it felt shorter somehow.

Yurururu ~Daily Chapter~ (10)- The casual jazz music was a lot of fun, and seeing the animation process was very interesting, specifically to me since I love learning more about the production of animation. There was great humor in it too, especially when he tried to play a joke on co-worker. "Joke"..... "Aborted". This was my favorite of the 15 shorts. The problem with reviewing these is that every person has a differing opinion on anime, art, and production... and each of these are very different in those regards.

Project Omega (5)- Not much to say about this short. As a whole, I wasn't particularly impressed, but it had some of the best comedy in these shorts.

Heat Man (3)- Gyrosopter's CG was simple, but clear. This was blurry and the animations weren't as fluid as they seemed. While at first glance there may be a sense of great CG, it shouldn't take more than a second to see how unfortunately ugly this short is.

Attack of The Azuma Area #2 (6)- Music matched the silliness of the short, and the sound effects were good enough. The art design was clever too, but I just couldn't like this. I really wanted too, but something was missing.

Sancha Blues (10)- The actual speech by the characters flowed casually like a real conversation between two people, and despite what people may believe, that is actually a hard thing to accomplish in voice acting. There were references to actual music groups as well, and while I don't listen to them, it was a good cultural touch. I like the animation and art style here too, and all in all this came in a close 2nd to Yurururu.

As I stated in one of the reviews of a short, it is hard to professionally review something like this, because the different styles will grab one person's attention, while completely different styles will attract others. In the end, it's all a matter of opinion. That being said.....

One of the better ways to pass 15 minutes.

Really cool to see 15 different animators work with only 60 seconds to make something creative and memorable. A few were better than others, but they were all great.

Story: 7/10
No story to be exact, not much to tell in just 60 seconds. But the time they did have conveyed a lot of ideas and emotions and you could feel what each animator wanted to show with their project.

Art: 10/10
I loved the different styles of each animator. Nothing was the same and each had their own unique charm. Very nice and pleasant to watch.

Sound: 8/10
The music and different voice acting that each animator presented were ... all very different and worked very well with their pieces. I loved it.

Character: 7/10
Nice diversion of casts and stories between animators. Very interesting to see everyone's creative process.

Enjoyment: 8/10
I enjoyed it quite a lot. There was a lot of diversity within each animator's parts, and they were great to watch. I have followed a few that particularly perked my interest and will continue to watch what they create in the future.

Overall: 7/10
It was a nice and quick watch. Definitely something I'd recommend to see in your free time, just to see the different creativity in many people's favourite artists.