Over the past decades, the animators at Studio 4˚C have been cultivating a reputation for releasing anime which is often edgy, arty, and risky. Ten years ago, the Studio facilitated "Project Genius", an anthology of short anime films by a wide selection of the industry's talents, encouraging them to go wild with their ideas and fantasies. Originally meant to be one film, the output turned out to be copious and brilliant enough to create two anthology films, so in 2007 we got Genius Party, and a year later Genius Party Beyond. The films both traveled film festivals worldwide and got an English-friendly DVD release courtesy of Australian company Siren Visual, which was great, but for years I've been hoping someone would pick up these films...
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- 12/15/2017
- Screen Anarchy
While Japanese animator Yuasa Masaaki - one of the most distinctive talents in the animation world - has been very busy over the past decade with acclaimed series such as The Tatami Galaxy, Ping Pong, Kaiba and Kemonozume to his credit along with a guest stint on Adventure Time, it has been a shockingly long time since his work has been seen on the big screen. Yuasa's most recent big screen outing was as part of 2007 anthology project Genius Party while his only true feature to date remains the hugely acclaimed Mind Game. So fans will be pleased to know that Yuasa returns to the big screen in 2017 with Kurokami no Otome. Produced by Yuasa's own Science Saru studio, this latest effort reunites...
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- 12/16/2016
- Screen Anarchy
I've been on an anime kick lately, with the new Space Battleship Yamato 2199, and Macross Frontier fueling that fire. Now along comes PostHuman, a 6 minute short film from Humoring The Fates Animation Studio, a commercial studio whose client roster includes Nike, Mattel, and Microsoft. PostHuman is no ad campaign though, rather it's a calling card of narrative animation that wouldn't be out of place in something like the amazing Genius Party anthology films. It's on par with the best of the best.Recalling the work of greats like Katsuhiro Otomo and Satoshi Kon, PostHuman is, simply put, 100% rad! Self-funded by Humoring The Fates Cole Drumb and Jennifer Wai-Yin Luk, * written and directed by Cole Drumb, and featuring the voice talents of Ulric...
- 9/11/2012
- Screen Anarchy
Berserk is a well-known, hugely popular fantasy series, particularly the manga which has consistently topped Japanese sales charts since it first hit shelves in the late 80s and has sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Thanks to Studio 4°C (Mind Game, Genius Party) it is being given new life 'with cutting edge animation, intricately detailed swordplay and a gripping story line' with a trilogy of kick-ass films (The Golden Age Arc) that Madman are releasing in Australia. More on that below!An epic action-adventure tale set against a dark, European-inspired medieval fantasy world, Berserk follows the story of Guts, a lone mercenary renowned for his ferocity and unmatched in battle - especially when armed with his imposing sword, a towering blade as tall as he. His destiny is to eventually...
- 4/23/2012
- Screen Anarchy
For 10 long years Memories was Studio 4°C's best kept secret. It took the film almost a decade to appear in the West and by that time it just wasn't the technical bombshell it was supposed to be. When it appeared over here Memories was still able to competed with the best animes out there, but now the aging process is starting to take its toll on the film. That said, it's still one of the most superb anime anthology projects to date and one that begs to be seen.Studio 4°C is without a doubt Japan's most interesting animation studio. They've been producing mind-blowing animation projects (Genius Party, Genius Party Beyond, Tekon Kinkurito) ever since they were co-founded by Koji Morimoto, constantly pushing technical and...
- 3/14/2012
- Screen Anarchy
It has been quite a while since we last saw something significant from Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo director Shinichiro Watanabe. I had the chance to meet the director when we brought him to Toronto as a guest of The Worldwide Short Film Festival to present a screening of the Genius Party anthology, at which time he promised that he was working on a number of projects and that we would be hearing more from him soon. But since that 2007 anthology project, Watanabe has directed only a pair of episodes of television with no new projects of his own arriving until now.Set to air in April as part of FujiTV's noitaminA lineup, Kids On The Slope (Sakamichi no Apollon) reunites Watanabe with his...
- 1/28/2012
- Screen Anarchy
So someone in the West finally pre-licensed one of Masaaki Yuasa's creations, then. Why so exciting? A quick recap; the animation wunderkind shot to fame after production house Studio 4C gave him a shot at the director's chair on the 2004 movie Mindgame. Yuasa brought author Robin Nishi's esoteric cult manga to life with a staggering display of artistry and technical chops married to freewheeling narrative philosophising both playful and emotive, and quite unlike anything else seen in the industry up until that point.
But distributors were on tenterhooks given what they saw as potential lost profits given a growing army of fans had already picked up the Japanese DVD release (apparently mistakenly issued with subtitles). Few people saw Mindgame outside of festival-goers and animation enthusiasts until Madman Entertainment finally gave it an Australian release in late 2008. Undaunted, Yuasa carried on with two successive television series in the meantime,...
But distributors were on tenterhooks given what they saw as potential lost profits given a growing army of fans had already picked up the Japanese DVD release (apparently mistakenly issued with subtitles). Few people saw Mindgame outside of festival-goers and animation enthusiasts until Madman Entertainment finally gave it an Australian release in late 2008. Undaunted, Yuasa carried on with two successive television series in the meantime,...
- 5/25/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Sweet Animated Mindfuck! German independent distributor Rapid Eye Movies has announced to finally release the short film omnibus Genius Party on DVD in Germany on July 17!
The collection includes seven short films from directors Atsuko Fukushima (Genius Party), Shoji Kawamori (Shanghai Dragon), Shinji Kimura (Deathic 4), Yuji Fukuyama (Doorbell), Hideki Futamura (Limit Cycle), Masaaki Yuasa (Happy Machine) and Shinichiro Watanabe (Baby Blue) united under the roof of Studio 4°C (Tekkonkinkreet) for the project.
The DVD will be released in a limited edition digipack packed in a slipcase and will include the original Japanese track and the German dub in 5.1 Dolby Surround. Sadly there will only be German subtitles, so (still) no luck for you German-impaired folks. Extras will include 30 more minutes of short films (maybe a preview of Genius Party Beyond?) and a some postcards.
Genius Party and its sequel Genius Party Beyond will be running on next week’s Japanese Film Festival in Hamburg.
The collection includes seven short films from directors Atsuko Fukushima (Genius Party), Shoji Kawamori (Shanghai Dragon), Shinji Kimura (Deathic 4), Yuji Fukuyama (Doorbell), Hideki Futamura (Limit Cycle), Masaaki Yuasa (Happy Machine) and Shinichiro Watanabe (Baby Blue) united under the roof of Studio 4°C (Tekkonkinkreet) for the project.
The DVD will be released in a limited edition digipack packed in a slipcase and will include the original Japanese track and the German dub in 5.1 Dolby Surround. Sadly there will only be German subtitles, so (still) no luck for you German-impaired folks. Extras will include 30 more minutes of short films (maybe a preview of Genius Party Beyond?) and a some postcards.
Genius Party and its sequel Genius Party Beyond will be running on next week’s Japanese Film Festival in Hamburg.
- 5/24/2009
- by Ulrik
- Affenheimtheater
From April 15th to 19th, Frankfurt transforms into the center of the Japanese film world when the Nippon Connection 2009 opens its doors once again. After giving us a first look at the highlights of the largest festival for Japanese film worldwide, the official site has now been updated with the full program that includes more than 150 feature and short films.
Nippon Cinema 20th Century Boys (Niju seiki shonen), R: Yukihiko Tsutsumi, J 2008
www.20thboys.com All Around Us (Gururi no koto), R: Ryosuke Hashiguchi, J 2008
www.gururinokoto.jp Detroit Metal City, R: Toshio Lee, J 2008
www.go-to-dmc.jp Genius Party Beyond, R: Masahiro Maeda, Koji Morimoto, Kazuto Nakazawa, Shinya Ohira, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, J 2008
www.genius-party.jp/beyond Genius Party, R: Atsuko Fukushima, Shoji Kawamori, Shinji Kimura, Yoji Fukuyama, Hideki Futamura, Masaaki Yuasa, Shinichiro Watanabe, J 2007
www.genius-party.jp/genius01 Gs Wonderland, R: Ryuichi Honda, J 2008
www.gs-w.jp Hells Angels,...
Nippon Cinema 20th Century Boys (Niju seiki shonen), R: Yukihiko Tsutsumi, J 2008
www.20thboys.com All Around Us (Gururi no koto), R: Ryosuke Hashiguchi, J 2008
www.gururinokoto.jp Detroit Metal City, R: Toshio Lee, J 2008
www.go-to-dmc.jp Genius Party Beyond, R: Masahiro Maeda, Koji Morimoto, Kazuto Nakazawa, Shinya Ohira, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, J 2008
www.genius-party.jp/beyond Genius Party, R: Atsuko Fukushima, Shoji Kawamori, Shinji Kimura, Yoji Fukuyama, Hideki Futamura, Masaaki Yuasa, Shinichiro Watanabe, J 2007
www.genius-party.jp/genius01 Gs Wonderland, R: Ryuichi Honda, J 2008
www.gs-w.jp Hells Angels,...
- 3/13/2009
- by Ulrik
- Affenheimtheater
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