Matierica

The Matierica phenomenon™ has been taking the anime community by storm as of the last year or so. It's a short film that everybody's talking about, yet nobody thus far has made a video or written a review. It could be the TikTok effect where tons of people are aware of a certain show or movie, yet not a lot of thoughtful discussion springs out of that boom in popularity. I am here to rectify that and tell you why Matierica is actually worth the hype.

Matierica is a short film by Keita Kurosaka, famous for his short animations uploaded to the internet. What differentiates Matierica ... from his other works is the sound design, not unlike something like Death Grips. Many of his other films have harsh noise or experimental ambiance heavily implemented into their sound design, but also have more traditional elements like voice acting and music. Examples of this include the likes of Midori-ko, Mochibei and Watashi no Kao. While classics in their own regard, Matierica is more of a throwback to his earlier works like Metamorphose Works No.1 and Sea Roar. Matierica doesn't follow traditional storytelling you would see in shows like Jujutsu Kaisen and Robokko Beeton. It's a sequence of drawings made to form an unsettling morphing motion. The cover art leaves the story up to personal interpretation and that's the fun of figuring it out. It's not too unlike Serial Experiments Lain as something you may have to watch a couple times to fully piece together what's going on. For this reason I would recommend you watch it in a groupwatch setting to bounce theories back and forth as to what it could all mean. I'll refrain from putting my own interpretation here due to spoiler reasons. This movie can be enjoyed even if you are spoiled, but I would naturally recommend going in blind.

Matierica is a great film that I would recommend to just about anybody. Despite being a film that came out in 2017, the art still holds up great which is important for a movie that is so artistically driven. If you're sick of hearing about it everywhere, please reconsider it. I know not all seasonals that get hyped up are worth it or stand the test of time, but Matierica is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that's popular for a reason. Therefore I cannot give it anything lower than a strong 8, but it could potentially be a low to mid 9 upon further rewatches.

Ohayo minna. Matierica is a retro anime from 2017 that, to my surprise, is still being talked about to this day. Through it's recent resurgence in the anime community through apps like TikTok and YouTube Shorts, Matierica has seen a new wave of popularity and hype surrounding it, but does it live up to the praise? Let's find out.

Matierica was created during a turning point in the anime industry. 2017 saw many big changes for anime, with shows like Black Clover, Konosuba, Classroom of the Elite, and ROBOMASTERS THE ANIMATED SERIES airing. No other year in anime history boomed as much as 2017 did, and ... that still holds true to this day. It saw a new wave of anime fans coming into the community and watching these cartoons we all know and love! Matierica attempted to jump onto that speeding train, creating a compelling but avant-garde world. Believe it or not, Matierica actually wasn't being talked about much during its initial release like it is today, like I said, this year was HUGE for anime and that unfortunately worked to Matierica's disadvantage. However, since the community has calmed down since then, recent resurgence online has showed that this anime truly was a hidden gem, fitting right in with the greats of the time.

Animation 10/10: Technically speaking, Matierica is a marvel. The graphics are really well drawn and it is clear Keita Kurosaka put a ton of time into this film to make it something spectacular.

Story 10/10: The story is pretty similar to Serial Experiments Lain, which is why I think TikTok grabbed a hold of it like they did. It has ideas of the singularity and technological obsession that are present in the aforementioned show. It tells this story through morphing and phasing lines and colors, sort of as an abstract interpretation, but I think the overall message is quite clear upon a couple rewatches.

Realism 4/10: Although Matierica is really beautiful as an art piece, the drawings are not very photo realistic, and the situations presented are not something you'd happen upon in real life unless you took a lot of drugs.

Characters: 0/10: There are no characters present.

Music 10/10: The sound design and music is beautiful and is reminiscent of bands like Ground Zero, Merzbow, Boris or other Japanese avant-garde movements.

Impact 10/10: This film left a life-long impact on me, and I have watched it 4 more times since my first watch. It is incredibly profound and will likely leave some sort of impression on you no matter what kind of anime you like.

Creativity 10/10: It is really creative.

Overall I give Matierica a 9.45/10 putting all these factors into consideration. It is one of the best anime of all time and should be watched by everyone. It is free to watch on YouTube, so go check it out!