You totally should watch the Masaki Yuasa movies!
A couple of months ago, I did this thing where I watched a couple of anime movies, that had gone under my radar. Because let's face it: Outside of franchise related anime movies, we will mostly be aware of Studio Ghibli, Makoto Shinkai and Mamoru Hosoda. Other anime movies will often not be talked about in western anime spaces.
So, I consulted AniChart and just went through all sorts of anime movies, that were barely talked about.
The first of those was Ride Your Wave. And as @udaberriwrites, who got my life reaction, can tell you: This movie went places. It was one of the rare examples where there was a straight romance in an anime movie that I totally could get behind. A romance I found romantic. (Maybe not that much of a surprise, given the screenplay was bei Reiko Yoshida, who... just was a big influence on me. I loved so much of her stuff as a kid.) And then I looked at the timestamp of the movie. 25 minutes out of 96. And I went like: "One of them is gonna die, right?" And yes, I was right. So, I thought it was going to be a movie about moving on after loosing a loved person. Maybe about finding new love. But... Let me tell you, that was not were this movie went. Instead it just went on to be off the walls bonkers.
I am not going to spoil the movie for you. Just believe me: It is bonkers. And it is amazing. Really, really amazing.
Now, the next movie on my watchlist was Inu-Oh. A movie in a really weird animation style that originally turned me off. But that had such compelling characters and in the end really alive animation, that it kinda just captured me.
Again, I do not want to spoil the movie to you. But it was certainly something.
Well, and then I realized that those two movies, that I just happened to watch one after the other had been made by the same director: Masaaki Yuasa.
Now I was intrigued and just put in the other movies by him over the next few days. One of them I had seen before: The Night is Short, Walk On Girl.
And watching all those movies back, I could make out several things that tied them together. Mostly in terms of animation.
The characters are often very simplified, but the animation is very alive - actually following those old methods of animation, that would allow for characters to be off-model to show action. There is little in terms of shadows.
The characters are so lively. And it is just... nice to watch.
So, really. Watch the man's movies and anime. He also had done Devilman Crybaby, by the way. It is most certainly something else. Especially his movies.
The movies are:
The Night is Short, Walk on Girl
Lu Over the Wall
Ride your Wave
Japan Sinks: 2020
Inu-Oh
Have fun!
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What fans say:
Lu Over the Wall:
It's so pretty and silly! The animation is beautiful and unique :D. It has maximum vibess. I just watched a few clips just now and I'm almost crying in class.
It's about a singing mermaid who makes everyone dance. She breaks the wall between humans and merpeople and the unusual animation style is just amazing.
The Legend of Hei:
Its about the found family, about the friendship and the world building. The effects of pollution and industrialization on the land and the bad and good it brings. About change and tradition. It is... Very Good.
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merfolk of the day: lu from lu over the wall
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