Charlie Zuo

Keita Kurosaka is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and artist known for his experimental and authentic approach to animation and storytelling. His work often combines the traditional-drawn techniques with surreal and grotesque imagery, illustrating a unique and haunting visual style. And there are several recurring themes, reflecting his fascination with the subconscious, the grotesque, and the fragility of human existence. He blurs the lines between humans and nature, raising ethical and environmental questions about the coexistence and exploitation. His films frequently delve into mortality and isolation, using dreamlike worlds to exert control over his characters, placing them in uncomfortable settings that reflect their inner thoughts and desires.

“A person’s true strength is not measured by the things they can control, but by ho they handle the things they cannot.” This quote from Midair no Hibi captures the central message of the series, emphasizing that strength is not about power or control, but about how you would react and choose when facing unpredictable situations. One’s true character is revealed through the choices they make when their not in control.

One of his most notable works is “Midori-ko” (2010), a feature animated film, that took over a decade to complete, has had a significant cultural impact by challenging conventional animation norms and addressing pressing societal themes. As an entirely hand-drawn, independently produced film, it serves as a countercultural statement within the animation industry, inspiring independent creators to pursue experimental projects. Even though the film was a success, it did receive criticism and mixed reactions, primarily to its unconventional approach and uncomfortable themes. Critics and viewers who are more familiar to mainstream animal or polished animation styles sometimes found to film to be too raw. Additionally, some views were disturbed by the film’s intense and unsettling imagery, which blurs the line between beauty and horror. But thank god, these aspects, however, were seen as strengths in the eyes of art and film enthusiasts, who appreciated and were inspired its authentic and deeper philosophical undertones.

I don’t really like anime, because im mainly inspired by mangas like Juujika no Rokunin, Berserk, and Goodnight Punpun.

Wada Atsushi is a relatively new animator. What I found really interesting about his start into the industry was that he actually started out with barely animated paintings, very simplistic and minimalist in nature. In an article I read, the author states that it’s getting increasingly hard to find any physical copies of his work.

Something that Wada values very much in his artistic process is the concept of Ma. It is a way of seeing filled and empty space, along with noise and quiet, movement and stillness, etc. Ma explains that to have empty space/noise/stillness you must have the opposite equivalent of it first, and I got the impression that that’s harmonious and something to strive for artistically in Japanese culture. It seems very important to Wada, especially as his work develops.

Another thing very valuable to Wada in his animation is the importance of simplicity. He draws his characters pudgy and simple, although he does say that they’re all very different people even if most of them have simple, black hair and chubby bodies. With this he lays scenes out in front of a minimal background, with little to no color in some instances.

In an article published by a university student, he quotes:

“It is important to think about how an animated movement affects the silence that follows it, and how that connects to the movement that follows the silence.”

With Ma, everything is connected, so animation is dependent on it and the sequence of movements that make up a story.

I honestly think it’s an interesting mindset. I can definitely see it even in screenshots of his work too which I think is a very valuable strength to have. If the movement in your animation is evident in a single frame it shows you really understand your craft.

Moving on to cultural impact

I think his work definitely has some cultural impact. If anything I think Ma is a popular concept used in Japan and he’s taking that and making it his own. Not only that but there’s also strong humor and absurdism present in his work. I think Wada is a really cool guy. He experiments with a lot throughout his career and doesn’t seem to be afraid of trying new techniques or mediums, so I think that’s something good to learn from especially if you shy away from branching out of your most comfortable medium, especially at Interlochen.

Okay so to share a work of his: definitely My Exercise.

I can’t get a picture of the gameplay in here but it’s a video game, which I thought was sick because it’s his first video game and he mainly focuses on normal films and short animations. It’s simple but in his style and you basically just do sit-ups but there are little hidden fun things that pop up

And finally an anime that inspires me is Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Based on the game Cyberpunk 2077. It’s awesome both the game and show, but play the game first

It’s very well made and accurate, I could go into more detail but I already shared it last semester

Citations:

“Atsushi Wada: The Quiet Master — Talking Shorts.” Talkingshorts.com, 2022, talkingshorts.com/atsushi-wada-the-quiet-master/. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.

‌Animate. “Animate Projects – Atsushi Wada.” Animateprojectsarchive.org, 2025, animateprojectsarchive.org/films/by_artist/w/a_wada. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.

‌IMDb. “Atsushi Wada – Producer, Director, Writer.” IMDb, 2022, www.imdb.com/name/nm3514433/. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.

‌“AniList.” AniList, 2025, anilist.co/staff/132778/Atsushi-Wada. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.

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Honami Yano is an independent animator from japan, during her college years she studied under Koji Yamamura and created one of her short films called “Chromosome Sweetheart” (2017) for her final project. She has made another short film called “A Bite of Bone” (2021) and there is an upcoming one temporary called “Eri”.

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Her work is all hand drawn, in “A Bite of Bone”, she mainly used a technique of hand doting the colors, making the animation unique. her works have won many awards, including the grand prize for short animation from the 45th Ottawa international animation festival.

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it’s hard to find an article on Honami Yano or her work, but from looking through her website i can see how she’s very passionate with the topics that she chooses to animate, “A Bite of Bone” is an autobiographical short based of the story from the director, as well as showing off a small tradition of eating the cremated remains of a loved one. Her other short, “Chromosome Sweetheart” is based off her image of how chromosomes looked like people wriggling, and she also put in queer imagery to help her with her queer identity.

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One of the anime series that inspires me is Bocchi the Rock!, it’s a comedy music anime with some very funny scenes, one of my favorites is when the show suddenly becomes poorly 3D animated

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The anime is about a girl who wants to be a rockstar, yet she has a small problem….she’s extremely socially awkward, but with the help of her new friends, she’s slowly getting more confident performing on stage!

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Works Cited

The Impressionistic, Pointillism Animation of Honami Yano

Honami Yano | 矢野 ほなみ

Japanese independent indie animation has many great giants, shoulders on which we all stand upon. One of these greats is Masaki Okuda, whose take on various themes of childhood and growing up takes bizarre turns through his unique filmmaking lens.

As the Cartoon Brew says in their review of Gum-Boy “through a creative and non-literal use of animation that marries the fluid grace of a watercolor style with frenzied use of camera and cutting. Okuda’s mastery of film technique, narrative and visual style elevates Gum Boy beyond the average student film, and for that matter, the average professional short film as well.” I believe this illustrates Okuda perfectly.

Themes previously mentioned consist of childhood and something everyone experiences at least once: ostracization. This particular theme is the main lens through which we watch Gum-Boy. Gum-Boy is Okuda’s 2010 hit student film. The frenzied camera cuts, along with the blur of beauty that is his watercolor frames add up to an incredible student film. stylistically, you can see his frame boils in many other of his films not just in Gum-Boy. A film he was commissioned to make for the 2011 exhibition Art Path, called Count Down also includes these frantic frames. often flipping between one or two slightly different drawings to make this effect. This style works well in portraying the particualr intensity of the emotions featured in Okuda’s works.

while his work does not have a distinguishable cultural impact it reminds me of the type of animation that erupted out of the production of Dragon Ball. In particular, in scenes that show the intense power of the characters, the same frame boil can be seen similar to Okuda’s work.

An anime series I admire for its creativity and world-building is one I have only just started but have fallen in love with. Vinland Saga tells a dramatized version of a Viking story of revenge, and I love it. The animation and FX are particularly well-made.

sources

http://masakiokuda.com/en/profile/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland_Saga_(manga)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Ball

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/a-gum-boy-by-masaki-okuda-77199.html

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1fPLif5Ls9FeWc7Q7164Uolu8qBHL9sKiKXoVMFUI850/edit?usp=sharing