Short Peace (Omnibus Project)

[Folenfant]

I was looking for a thread for this and was surprised to find that this project has none.

Short Peace is an Omnibus project set to be released in theaters in July 2013 masterminded by Katsuhiro Otomo of Akira fame and producers at Sunrise where the project is being animated. The project is a rare omnibus one with the goal of collecting what Otomo considers to be some of the top sakuga masters of the era to contribute their own individual projects to the compilation. Otomo's own contribution Combustible was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination at this years recent academy awards for best foreign produced short film but ultimately did not make the final ballot. Still it was this recognition that initially brought this to my attention.

Some more info:

Originally Posted by Anime News Network Press Release

Short Peace, the omnibus of four shorts by Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Memories, Steamboy) and other leading anime creators, will open in Japan on July 20. The official website began streaming a teaser trailer.

The four shorts are:

"Combustible" ("Hi-no-youjin")
Screenplay, Director: Katsuhiro Otomo
Character Design, Visual Concept: Hidekazu Ohara
Music: Makoto Kubota

"Tsukumo"
Screenplay, Director: Shuhei Morita (Kakurenbo, Freedom)
Original Story Concept, Conceptual Design: Keisuke Kishi

"Gambo"
Director: Hiroaki Ando (Five Numbers!)
Original Story Concept, Screenplay, Creative Director: Katsuhito Ishii (Redline, Funky Forest: The First Contact, Taste of Tea)
Character Design: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Evangelion, .hack, Summer Wars)

"Buki yo Saraba"
Original Story: Katsuhiro Otomo
Screenplay, Director: Hajime Katoki (mechanical designs in Gundam franchise, Super Robot Wars)
Character Design: Tatsuyuki Tanaka (Tojin Kit)

In addition, Koji Morimoto (The Animatrix's Beyond, Noiseman Sound Insect, Genius Party's Dimension Bomb) contributed the film's opening animation.

Short Peace is an omnibus project assembling "top creators at the leading edge of Japanese animation, exploring possible future avenues of expression." Short Peace is also the title of a collection of Otomo's manga shorts that was first published in the 1970s. Yasumasa Tsuchiya is producing the shorts at Sunrise.

"Combustible" already debuted in a preview screening in Japan last April, and the Annecy Film Festival in France presented both "Combustible" and "Tsukumo" last June. "Combustible" also played at the Platform International Animation Festival in Los Angeles in October. The short won the Grand Prize in the Animation division of the 16th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards and the Noburou Oofuji Award in the 67th Annual Mainichi Film Awards.

What particularly interests me about the project aside from the rarity of such things (only the recent Anime Mirai comes to mind) is that some of the animation I see in the trailer appears to be entirely hand drawn which is practically unheard of in today's era of anime production with only Redline coming to mind. The awards this picked up as well as the names involved and the style and technique it hopes to showcase have me really hoping I'll be able to watch this at some point this year. Importation is not out of the question.

Here is a trailer for Combustible which has already been previewed as I mentioned.

[Lenneth4]

I heard about it yeah

Top sakuga in the industry ?
where are the yutapon, okiura , itano , muraki etc etc ?

Or i misunderstood something

[Folenfant]

Originally Posted by Lenneth4

I heard about it yeah

Top sakuga in the industry ?
where are the yutapon, okiura , itano , muraki etc etc ?

Or i misunderstood something

The exact quote from the production committee was, "The project is assembling "top creators at the leading edge of Japanese animation, exploring possible future avenues of expression."

I know that Tatsuya Tomaru (a disciple of the legendary Koji Morimoto who is doing the opening sequence for Short Peace) who did the key animation for the recently released Mamoru Hosada film Wolf Children is directing the animation for Combustible and the background artist also did the background art for Howls Moving Castle, but the rest of the staff list for the other parts of the compilation haven't been fully revealed yet. Itano and the like might be in there, but I think he's looking more for recent animators he considers interesting as opposed to strictly old legends like Morimoto.

[Lenneth4]

Oh i see
interesting

Nice to see otomo back
I saw some extract for combustible
it's a bit weird
the flames have something strange in the aniamtion
but i'll check this out , it's otomo.

[Articalys]

New trailer:

[Folenfant]

Originally Posted by Articalys

New trailer:

Lookin' good!

[Lenneth4]

the 3d in gambo is really cool

[TnAdct1]

With the mention of The Wind Rises getting nominated for Best Animated Film at the Oscars, I don't people to miss out on the news about another anime Oscar nomination this year, as the Tsukumo segment got nominated for Best Animated Short.