
Astonishing, mysterious, eccentric, adorable, melancholic, sensual and delightful - the Volume 2 of the weird and fascinating world of Japanese independent animation which has been flourishing and stronger than ever.

Astonishing, mysterious, eccentric, adorable, melancholic, sensual and delightful - the Volume 2 of the weird and fascinating world of Japanese independent animation which has been flourishing and stronger than ever.
2014-06-20
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6.3Five stories, five maestros, five styles and one common denominator: maximum creativity. Studio 4°C, the coolest label on the planet, invites us for the second time to an exclusive reunion of a talents with a group film, full of freedom and ingenuity, that goes from Mahiro Maeda's classic anime, to Kazuto Nakazawa's intricate urban sketches, Shinya Ohira's bedlam of color and Tatsuyuki Tanaka's animated cyberpunk. And as if that wasn't enough, Koji Morimoto, the studio big boss, is charge of putting the icing on the cake with fantafabulous piece of abstract poetry that would make a VJ die of ecstasy. The party of the year.
7.1As Nobita, Gian, Shizuka, and Suneo are making their own space movie, a fleeing bug-sized alien president makes his way to Earth, and needs the help of the kids and Doraemon to stop an oppressive dictatorship threatening his democracy.
6.8Nobita finds a passage to a spaceship in another dimension. With their new friends, he and Doraemon fight the cruel leader of an exploited planet.
7.0GrandPat travels through alternate dimensions and timelines to get home.
7.0Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.
7.0Everyone's favorite TV superhero Action Mask shows up in Kasukabe, and he's trying to get something from Shin-chan -- but what could it be?
6.5During summer vacation Nobita picks up a small rocket containing Papi, a palm-sized alien president escaping rebels on his home planet Pirika.
6.8A sapling Nobita discovers is turned into a plant-boy with help from Doraemon, and becomes Earth's only hope at passing judgment from the dryadic aliens of the Green Planet.
7.4The universe of the Halo video game series is expanded in seven short animated films from Japan's greatest anime directors and studios.
6.5Doraemon and Nobita discover a mysterious golden ring far beneath the ice in Antarctica, leading them to uncover an ancient, ruined city.
6.9The Noharas must survive a hoard of man-eating killer cacti after Shin-chan's father relocates the family to Mexico for work.
6.7Plankton's tangled love story with his sentient computer wife goes sideways when she takes a stand — and decides to destroy the world without him.
6.4A traveler is confronted by spirits in an abandoned shrine; a story of honor and firefighting in ancient Japan; a white bear defends the royal family from a monstrous red demon; ragtag soldiers battle a robotic force in futuristic Japan.
7.5Nishi is a loser who has a crush on his childhood girlfriend. After an encounter with the Japanese mafia, he journeys to heaven and back, and ends up trapped in an even more unlikely place.
7.0It is 300 years into the future. Earth's environment had been devastated by mankind's own foolish plans and humankind is beleaguered by the sentient forests which they have awoken. The world balance is tipped when a young boy named Agito stumbles across a machine that glowed in a strange blue hue inside a forbidden sanctuary.
6.5The seven short films making up GENIUS PARTY couldn’t be more diverse, linked only by a high standard of quality and inspiration. Atsuko Fukushima’s intro piece is a fantastic abstraction to soak up with the eyes. Masaaki Yuasa, of MIND GAME and CAT SOUP fame, brings his distinctive and deceptively simple graphic style and dream-state logic to the table with “Happy Machine,” his spin on a child’s earliest year. Shinji Kimura’s spookier “Deathtic 4,” meanwhile, seems to tap into the creepier corners of a child’s imagination and open up a toybox full of dark delights. Hideki Futamura’s “Limit Cycle” conjures up a vision of virtual reality, while Yuji Fukuyama’s "Doorbell" and "Baby Blue" by Shinichiro Watanabe use understated realism for very surreal purposes. And Shoji Kawamori, with “Shanghai Dragon,” takes the tropes and conventions of traditional anime out for very fun joyride.
6.6Two tiny, aquatic humanoids search for their missing father, a boy battles a lethal allergy to eggs, and an invisible salaryman tries to become a hero.
7.1When the mysterious Shiriri turns his parents into children, Shin-chan must trek across Japan to help return them to adult form.
5.8Shin has shut his heart ever since his mother died when he was young. His childhood friend Kotori has been looking after him ever since. Now that they are in the third year of high school, and it seems like they can finally move forward, another Shin from another Japan has suddenly appeared in front of them.