by Kambole Campbell

As Look Back is looking down the barrel of another adaptation, this time in live-action from Hirokazu Kore–eda, a master of understated tragedies, my thoughts turned back to its animated one, and then the work of Kiyotaka Oshiyama. Look Back was lauded for its intricate and expressive craft as made by an incredibly compact team, but Oshiyama's previous directorial effort, Shishigari, was entirely solo-animated. "We made it self-financed, it was only 17 minutes but, you know, it was a short film and I did all the key art and the animation, on my own," Oshiyama said to me in an interview for JoySauce when Look Back released. More impressive still is that he took "about three to four months" to do it.

The story is a simple coming-of-age tale of a young boy on his first hunt, reconciling his love of nature with his need to survive through violent acts. Though stoic throughout, Oshiyama shows hesitance through the delicate lines, through how the boy is often overwhelmed by the rest of the frame, made small or buried in snow (or even the fur of the animal he battles).

Oshiyama skirts around the sometimes limited animation through deft framing as well as embracing a frequently impressionistic style, but that's not to say it's without spectacle, especially in the final confrontation between man and beast. Lush, but chilly environments from background artist Aymeric Kevin (who worked on backgrounds for the incredible Ping Pong: the Animation as well as production design on Arcane and Spider-Verse) remind of the tension between nature's gifts and its indifference. (Yoichi Senzui's part in pulling the visuals together in compositing and the edit should also be noted.)

Similarly lush is the score from Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell), who rises to meet Oshiyama's occasional invocations of Miyazaki. Speaking of which: Oshiyama's portrayal of humans reckoning with their part in violence against the natural world is counterbalanced with respect towards the spirits which govern it, which appear in forms not unlike those in Princess Mononoke, with innocent and clumsy demeanors.

The short has for some time been expected to be adapted into a feature film, and one can only hope this is still on the mind of Oshiyama and the producers at Studio Durian — especially given that Shishigari has been out since 2019. But not out-out, as following the release at Fantasia Festival, all that could be found from a cursory Google search was the trailer for the project.

But as it turns out, it's actually just been on YouTube under an unlisted link, which found its way to Reddit some time in the last year. I'm uncertain as to how Durian feels about said access to the project, but it's well worth seeking out. And then perhaps people can join me in hoping that the feature project yet lives!

/out of frame

🐰 Rollin: TCM is set to become the home for Looney Tunes going forward, and that's just the tip of the Good Animation News™ iceberg this week, but it does feel like the most surprising. Here's hoping that stewardship is taken seriously this time.

🪄 Kambole: Though I've had my misgivings with the series as a whole, Jujutsu Kaisen every now and then can put out an episode which steps up to the cultural cache it holds. "Perfect Preparation" follows the supporting character Maki as she essentially annihilates her entire misogynistic and abusive clan of sorcerers, the artists pulling from Kill Bill Vol.1 (specifically, The Bride vs The Crazy 88) as well as the work of anime legend Yutaka Nakamura, the dual homages proving equally complimentary to this gory story of liberation. Meanwhile, I'm also pretty excited about the oft-mistreated Looney Tunes securing their future on TCM as Rollin mentioned; as well as (speaking of Nakamura), the potential return of Blood Blockade Battlefront.

🏃‍♂️ Toussaint: This new character class trailer for Bungie's upcoming sci-fi shooter Marathon, animated by Jeremy Hanna, has me incredibly hyped for the game's launch on March 5th. In the immortal words of Jake Sully, "Let's get it done."