Short Peace (2013)

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nShort Peace (2013)

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nDirectors: Katsuhiro Otomo, Shuhei Morita, Hiroaki Ando,nHajime Katoki

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nThe more I dig into the world of anime films the more I find,nsometimes I find treasures, and sometimes I find pieces of coal that need to benrefined. You know how that goes, one film leads to another! Case in point,nwhile exploring Japanese animated anthology films like Robot Carnival (1987)nand Memories (1995) I learned that Katsuhiro Otomo the creator behind Akiran(1988) was involved in directing one of the shorts in yet another animatednanthology film called Short Peace (2013), so of course I was salivating at the prospectnof seeing this film, the talent involved is composed of masters in animation.  I went into this one knowing next to nothingnabout it save for Otomo’s involvement, so this one could go either way. Itncould be a treasure or a piece of coal. So which was it?

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nShort Peace is composed of four stories that are connectednby one theme and one theme alone: Japan. It was kind of tricky for me to graspnwhat held these four tales together, but the fact that they all take place innJapan and that that they all seem to focus on Mount Fuji when they end kind ofnled me to this conclusion, also because nothing else joins these storiesntogether, they are quite disparate in nature. Reading up a bit about the film, theynfocused in Japan during different eras, so one takes place during feudal times,none is in the future, one is in the present, but the one that takes place innthe present is actually a video game, because part of the marketing scheme fornthis anthology was to also release a video game along with the film.

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nSadly I didn’t really fall in love with this anthology likenI did with Memories (1995), Neo Tokyo (1987) and Robot Carnival (1987). My mainnproblem with it was that the stories are not very engaging. Short storiesnshould get to the point quickly; they should give us a lot of information in anvery short time but with a quick jolt to the system. Now when you simplify thenstory to the point where there’s not enough meat to the short, well, you’renleft with a short that you don’t connect with because it’s too simple, it feelsnlike padding, like you are stretching it for running time. On Short Peace thenstories are either too simple and end abruptly without proper closure. Shortnfilms aren’t meant to leave you hanging, they should start and end and tellntheir story all within their 20 to 30 minutes of running time; sadly thatndoesn’t always happen with the short films in Short Peace. To me they were verynuneventful in a way.

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nNow this is not to say that the animation isn’t astounding,nquite the contrary, on a visual level the film is solid. It’s the content thatnneeded a bit more beefing up; it needed more weight to it. As it is, with somenof the shorts here you’ll feel like you walked into a movie already in progressnand by the time they end you’ll feel like you left the theater without seeingnthe ending. Take for example Katsuhiro Otomo’s ‘Combustible’ a short film aboutna young man who always wanted to be a fire extinguisher in ancient Japan.nTechnically speaking the short is impressive because it’s animated in a waynthat it looks like ancient Japanese scrolls, which is extremely interesting fromna  visual angle. It’s a tragic love storynthat builds up to something, yet ends up never delivering, leaving you withoutnclosure. Suddenly, boom, it’s over. What happened to everybody and everything? Combustiblenhad potential, but failed to deliver in my book. And this was the segmentndirected by Otomo! It was the one I was most looking forward to! And whileninnovative from a visual stance, story wise it was missing a lot. 

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nThe film isn’t a total loss because there were two storiesnon it that I enjoyed a lot. The one called ‘Possessions’ was actually nominatednfor ‘best animated short film’ and it’s about this traveler who is walkingnaround the forest when a storm breaks out and he has to shelter himself in thisnlittle hut, which just so happens to be haunted. This one was visuallynstunning, with a very unique look. They used computer generated images whichnwere made to look like traditional animation. The whole idea behind this short isnthat old, used things are requesting their validity in this world. Suddenly anbunch of old umbrellas come to life, piles of garbage become steam spewingndragons and a piece of silk cloth becomes possessed by the spirit of a woman.nHere’s a simple story that gives us everything we need, a beginning, a middlenand an end and we’re left happy because the short says something and itnentertains. Also, the colors on this one are beautiful. This short was awesomenall around.  

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nThe other one I loved was the one called ‘Gambo’ which is,nagain, a simple story about this small village that’s being attacked by a giantnred demon that starts killing villagers and the soldiers who are trying to stopnhim. Thankfully, there’s a giant white bear who serves as a protector to thisnvillage and so at one point it’s all about Gambo the white bear vs. The RednDemon. I liked the concept of this huge white bear serving as a protector tonthis small village, he seems like a pure, gentle soul that at the same time won’tnhesitate to rip your throat out if need be. This short is awesome lookingnbecause it has this sketchy vibe going for it and also because it has this onenreally gory, gory scene which just went on forever. Gambo proved one thingnagain, this film is composed of pretty visuals with not a whole lot of meat tonthem.

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nThe last story in the anthology is the one called ‘AnFarewell to Weapons’ and it’s about these Japanese soldiers who go aroundndeactivating old weapons from an ancient bygone war. Their job is to go in,ndeactivate and collect old war robots. Technically speaking it’s an awesomenshort, the animation has a unique look and the designs are awesome, especially thosensuits the soldiers wore? With all their technical gadgetry, they reminded me ofnthe suits in Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. On this short there are a lotnof explosions, a lot of lasers and gun shots, but sadly it doesn’t feel like annimportant story. It just feels like a day in the life of these soldiers. It hasna pacifist message which didn’t go unnoticed by this viewer; it’s just that Indidn’t care much for anything that was happening in it. It felt like I wasnseeing a scene from Call of Duty or something, only I wasn’t playing it.nPersonally, there’s nothing more boring to me then following soldiers around, Indon’t know, I expected something more exciting. This one was sort of boring inna way, worst part is they end the movie with this one, so the film ends on thisnboring short. 

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nSo yeah, I guess you could say I was half way disappointednwith this one. I mean, Katsuhiro Otomo equals excellence to me, so I expectnnothing but the best in terms of production value, which is what I got here, angood production. But I do think that producers should request excellence in thenwriting as well the visuals or else we get an anthology that’s half cooked,nmissing in one department. Stories should have some weight to them, if they don’tnsimply entertain us, then they should move us and entice us, and not just in anvisual level. On the other hand, this is a very Japanese film, perhaps therenare certain aspects of their culture I’m not connecting because of that? Yet,nif that was the case, why haven’t I had a problem with any other number ofnAnime films I’ve seen recently? Films tend to play with universal themes thatnwe can all connect with, no matter what part of the world they are from. Sadly,nas evidenced by some of the stories on this short film, blandness is alsonuniversal. This is not the worst anime anthology I’ve seen, it’s a qualitynproduction with beautiful visuals and animation, there’s no denying that. Itnjust needed to be more engaging. So it’s the classic case of style overnsubstance.  

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nRating: 3 out of 5     

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