Animation Night 1: Animation Night
What exactly are you looking at here?
I love animated films, short and long, strange and accessible, old and new. And every Thursday, I find out all I can about some animated films from across the world and screen them on Twitch. Here are the results of my devotion...
Animation Night 3: Robot Carnival & Memories
Animation Night is set to continue! Time to beep and boop with some truly classic anime.
Animation Night 4: Genius Party
We dive in to the intense visual inventiveness of Studio 4°C.
Animation Night 5
Not only Japan makes package films. Disney did it, once, against the background of a historic strike… but the Italians had something to say about their dominance.
Animation Night 6
We find more fascinating short film collections, in an apocalyptic scifi direction. ‘Short Peace’ explores the potential of CG in anime, and the Animatrix sees some of the best animators in Japan absolutely go off.
Animation Night 7: Soviet-bloc Animation!
The Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc evolved a parallel animation tradition, similar and different to what took place in the West. We start with exploring their short films.
Animation night 8: Tekkonkinkreet
Could I do a full movie on Animation Night? Easily, it turned out, and what better to start than, who else, Studio 4°C with a brilliantly stylish story about two traumatised children in a gorgeously dirty city.
Animation Night 9: Web Animators
How did I turn out this way? Surely much of it has to do with the weird, edgy, ingenious animations of the early Flash scene on Newgrounds. In this Animation Night, a retrospective on independent web animation of all kinds and some of the stars which emerged.
Animation Night 10: Madoka!
Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion - a movie of gorgeous choreography and a boldly divisive story. But we’d better get the context first, so this became the first night in which we would marathon three movies in a row…
Animation Night 11: French animation!
France may be the only country whose animation output can even come close to rivalling Japan. We make our first encounter Sylvain Chomet and his pigeon-cops and horse-cyclists, the astute and moving Persepolis, and the brilliance of the Gobelins animation school.
Animation Night 12 - Masaaki Yuasa!
Aaah, Masaaki Yuasa! One of the most visually inventive oddballs that the anime industry has ever made, of course we would reach him before long. I start trying my hand at director bios…
Animation Night 13 - Kyoto Animation & Naoko Yamada!
Blessed Kyoto Animation, the kindly autarchic bubble that is an exception to every awful rule about the anime industry. We take a look at their history, and particularly, their star director Naoko Yamada.
Animation Night 14 - Cartoon Saloon
The brilliant Irish studio Cartoon Saloon burst onto the scene in the 2000s with a gorgeous film taking after illuminated manuscripts, and they only got better… just as long as they stuck to making films about Ireland.
Animation Night 15 - Mamoru Hosoda
Mamoru Hosoda’s films cut a distinctive style, with fantastic character animation, the iconic use of kagenashi styles, and a direct appeal to the emotions.
Animation Night 16 - Satoshi Kon
Kon is rightly regarded as one of the greatest directors, the meticulous protege of Otomo whose films blend reality and hallucination with frame perfect editing and storyboards that verge on key animation. Let’s have a look at his story…
Animation Night 17 - Spain!
We take a look at Spanish Animation, which only rarely touches on animation… and when it does, it has a tendency for the serious and artful. We watch unlucky jazz artists in pre-revolutionary Cuba and renowned surrealist Luis Buñuel shooting a documentary in pre-revolutionary Spain, and somehow both have friends called Ramón!
Animation Night 18 - Rebuild of Evangelion!
Hideaki Anno - a fascinating character. We begin to build the story of Gainax and Anno before watching his enormous project to thematically answer his best known work. Let’s open the New Gospel…
Animation Night 19 - Gotta Go Fast!
Two incredibly bombastic, stylish films showing some of the most advanced traditional animation… so what does happen if we set Takeshi Koike and Hiroyuki Imaishi side by side? Let’s give your adrenal gland a workout!
Animation Night 20 - Korean animation!
Korean animation is the real backbone of the ‘American’ animation industry, but every now and again, Koreans get to make films for themselves too - and like Korean film in general, the results are often pretty special!
Animation Night 21 - Black American animation
The great shame of animation is how deep its roots lie in minstrelsy. Black people have long faced exclusion and hostility from the industry, but those directors and animators to fight through the many filters have made really bold, stylish films. Eventually, Sony sat up and took notice. Here’s a little cross-section of that very fraught history!
Animation Night 22 - Pokémon!
The occasion of the character-packed Pokémon Twilight Wings gave a reason to revisit a childhood favourite! And a chance to finally meet the backstory of a certain surly psychic cat…
Animation Night 23 - small fluffy animals
There are a great many films about animals, but few enough which really try to portray nature… in all its brutality! Welcome to ‘animal guro night’.
Animation Night 24: Samurai films & jidaigeki!
In which I take the theme of jidaigeki - Japanese historical films - to launch into a 7000 word treatise on the economic history of the samurai class and its later reflection in film. Strap in!
Animation Night 25: HORROR
It is halloween… which means I am going to ask where the horror genre came from, and then watch one of the best discoveries of Animation Night in Alberto Vázquez’s Birdboy: The Forgotten Children. Along with all sorts of other spooky delights from Yamishibai to Vampire Hunter D!
Animation Night 26: Nuclear War
In the 20th century, we opened the possibility for a whole new kind of miserable death. Naturally this has had a fierce impact on animators - whether recalling the memory of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or living under the shadow of total annihilation.
Animation Night 27: dònghuà
Chinese animation has a rich history, surviving the Japanese invasion and flourishing in artists like Te Wei under the Hundred Flowers Campaign only to be almost snuffed out in the Cultural Revolution. Yet decades later in the new capitalist China, some truly brilliant studios, trained on outsourcing for the world, have increasingly defined a powerful artistic voice - adjacent to anime but clearly its own thing. Let’s take a look!”
Animation Night 28 - Masaaki Yuasa... two!
We return once more to the ingenious Masaaki Yuasa, to see if he can make anything sparkle as much as Night Is Short Walk On Girl…
Animation Night 29: Old-School Gainax
Who were Gainax before the world knew Neon Genesis Evangelion? Very interesting it turns out: let’s go back to the era of Royal Space Force and Gunbuster to see where those otakus from Daicon began.
Animation Night 30: TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN
The bombastic, glorious celebration of virile energy that put Hiroyuki Imaishi on the map! Kick reason to the curb and do the impossible! Unfortunately cramming two very fast-moving cours of TV anime into as many movies turned out to be impossible after all.
Animation Night 31 - (C)Hanuk(k)ah!
Hanukkah came around… and while I know Jewish history is not my bailiwick, it was a fine chance to talk about the animation industry. So let’s find out two challengers to Disney… Jeffrey Katzenberg and Don Bluth, as we watch Dreamworks’s best movie. And also see the Rugrats have a good time!
Animation Night 32 - French magical realism
Back to France, with some odd little movies about men building wooden structures for heterosexual reasons. What happened when Takahata reached out a hand to Dudok de Wit, and who’s the bold new challenger using Blender Grease Pencil at great scale?
Animation Night 33 - WINTER_HOLIDAY escape zone
It is the firm policy of Animation Night not to celebrate Christmas. Christmas movies are the worst. So we decided to watch some fun 4°C compilations and a classic bit of cyberpunk, Gunnm.
Animation Night 34 - AKIRA
For a very Animation Night new year, we watched one of the greatest animated films ever made. We all know and love Akira, but let’s take a look where it came from!
Animation Night 35 - Genndy Tartakovsky
It is not only Japan that makes its quicky auteurs! Let’s take a look at Genndy Tartakovsky, the master of strong shape composition and limited animation.
Animation Night 36 - Sayo Yamamoto!
Sayo Yamamoto holds the torch for every horny woman who’d like to make a movie. We look at her brilliant interpretation of Lupin III’s femme fatale, her fascinating Watanabe-style story of Brazil, and her sweet gay figure skaters.
Animation Night 37 - Lupin III [proper post to follow]
I totally failed to actully write anything about Lupin III. For more than a year.
Animation Night 38: Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii loves to make a slow, meditative philosophical film in a near-future military dystopia… and luckily for him, he was in with the 90s realist animation movement who could realise his vision with aplomb. Let’s take a look back on his story…
Animation Night 39 - Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell is the definitive cyberpunk, and yet nobody can quite agree what tone it should strike. Let’s take a look back at the ways people have spun Masamune Shirow’s embodiment-negotiable future!
Animation Night 40 - Live Action × Animation
Compositing animation with footage of real actors, and making it convincing, is one of the hardest tasks traditional animation can perform… which is why, when it’s done well, the results are quite spectacular. Let’s look back over some of the attempts, from Cool World and Space Jam to the mighty Roger Rabbit.
Animation Night 41 - Isao Takahata!
The second big man of Ghibli, Takahata is a meticulous visionary… but he will certainly make his artists work hard to realise that exacting vision. Let’s roll back the clock and see the early days of the famous duo at Toei and his later experiments at Ghibli.
Animation Night 42 - Satoshi Kon round 2!
Returning once more to Satoshi Kon to finish the set: Paprika and Tokyo Godfathers. Do they hold up? To my surprise, it was Tokyo Godfathers that moved me the most!
Animation Night 43 - Early Dreamworks (aka Jaaaaaames Baaaaxter!)
That horse from Adventure Time is an industry legend, and he was among the exodus of animators to Dreamworks in the 90s. But The Prince of Egypt proves to be a tough act to follow…
Animation Night 44: Makoto Shinkai
The lord of the summer movie, Makoto Shinkai will take a simple doomed romance and wrap it in the most exquisite compositing on film. He was all set to make variants of that film for the rest of his career… but an influx of Ghibli talent turned out to be the vital ingredient he needed to leap to the height of fame.
Animation Night 45: Made in Abyss
Made in Abyss is harrowing, and my problematicest fave. Perfectly adapted by Kinema Citrus, it’s an intensely emotional story of children on a pilgrimage to the strange unknown in a world determined to brutalise them… and a real fire test of the theory of ‘libidinal investment’.
Animation Night 46: dònghuà 2
We return to Chinese animation, and find another fantastic hidden gem with the incredible dystopian Da Hu Fa, along with the most spectacular sakuga of Fog Hill… and watch Nezha’s bratty childhood in some quite exceptional mythologically oriented CG.
Animation Night 47: Mamoru Hosoda 2
Hosoda continues to inject oodles of charm into every kind of family relationship.
Animation Night 48 - Independent Web Animators… 2!
We once again sail the information superhighway. Some of our faves have new work out, and meanwhile there’s plenty of classics to explore, especially with the help of my dear fwiends!
Animation Night 49: ‘Tradigital’
What is the future of animation? Somehow a unity of traditional and digital, but the possibilities are still being enthusiastically explored. Klaus sees old Disney full animation put through a new pipeline, but its story takes many a dubious turn… while Wolfwalkers is Cartoon Saloon’s strongest film yet, facing the legacy of Cromwell with beautiful composition.
Animation Night 50: Stop Motion
From claymation to pixilation, arranging objects in space and time has since the start been a core method of animation, and yet I said little about it! Here, we remedy that, and dive into the history before enjoying the defining works of Švankmajer and Aardman…
Animation Night 51 - Kizumonogatari
A ‘Wound Story’ surely appeals to the girl who’s discovered her love of ero-guro, but what is this whole Monogatari business? Let’s ask kVin-sama to teach us the history of the extremely self-aware franchise that put Team Shinbo on the map.
Animation Night 52: YEAR
Animation Night finishes its first year, something I’d never imagined possible! Let’s look back on where we’ve been, and finally give Aeon Flux and Tekkonkinkreet the love they deserve.
Animation Night 53 - Otomo & Rintaro
Katsuhiro Otomo will forever stand as the man who directed Akira, but can his later Steamboy hold a candle? And how will Rintaro, the oldest-school Madhouse auteur, take on Otomo’s script in Metropolis?
Animation Night 54 - FLCL
Science-fiction metaphors for adolescence are the heart of Gainax, and FLCL stands as their most experimental. Indie music, robots, glorious sakuga and the debut of Hiroyuki Imaishi.
Animation Night 55 - Death and Reanimation of the Mouse
Disney Disney Disney. Oh you fuckers. But at the tail end of the Renaissance, they were a lot more inventive than they are today. Not every such film worked, but all hold interest!
Animation Night 56: KyoAni, 2!
We were long overdue for more KyoAni, but finding a way to fit into Animation Night was always a puzzle. But seeing the K-on! girls come to my home city is an experience, and then Violet Evergarden astounded us with its beauty.
Animation Night 57: KyoAni 3/Violet Evergarden part 2!
So taken was I with Violet Evergarden that I scheduled another week of it. Alas, it couldn’t carry it the full distance!
Animation Night 58 - Annecy
It’s Annecy week! What short films do the best in animation have to show?
Animation Night 59 - Yasuhiro Yoshiura
Yasuhiro Yoshiura is almost a chameleon director - each of his works seems to perfectly reflect its era. A robot café and a world where some people fall upwards await…
Animation Night 60: FATE
Oh, what a humble eroge can spawn. The Fate franchise, and the larger ‘Nasuverse’, is sprawling and byzantine, but Ufotable’s adaptations offer a very polished entry point. We get together to feel Heaven…
Animation Night 61: One Piece
There’s shōnen anime… and then there’s One Piece, standing in a class of its own. The grand pirate adventure story owes a lot to its endlessly changing travelogue structure; in the hands of Toei, has spawned innumerable adaptations over its enormous run. I had a friend who’s a fan pick out a suitable set for an outsider to enjoy.
Animation Night 62: early Yoshinori Kanada
Hello friends! It’s that time of the week.
Animation Night 63: Ralph Bakshi’s SFF
Ralph Bakshi is perhaps never going to escape being the man who brought sex and drugs to American animation, but much of his career was instead spent experimenting with rotoscopy for high fantasy. Let’s have a look at wizards with guns and chanting orcs…
Animation Night 64: Macross
Soft power and giant robots, and the birth of the Itano Circus. Animation Night starts getting roboty with ‘yak de culture’…
Animation Night 65: Rotoscopy!
From the days of Fleischer, drawing directly from live action film has gone in and out of style. Yet done well, it can lend a fascinatingly uncanny sense of constructedness to what might pass unnoticed… let’s take a look at its history!
Animation Night 6.6: You Can (Not) Watch Eva
The fourth Rebuild film came out. How could I not hold a watch party?
Animation Night 67: Ninjas
Jutsu, frogs and shuriken… a group of spies with a long shadow. Ninja films can be very goofy but they certainly are a stylistic lineage worth investigating!
Animation Night 68 - Brazil!
Brazil is a land with a bloody history and beautiful art. In the hands of Walter, the latter is the focus; in the hands of Brazilian animators, there is a great deal to say about the former, with some really exceptionally brilliant films.
Animation Night 69: Sex!!!!
For the sake of the holy Sex Number, a six thousand word exegesis of the history of sexuality in animation and 20th-century Japan.
Animation Night 70 - All Right Then, Hayao, Let’s Do This
Hayao Miyazaki, you know who he is. And you know if I was to talk about him, I’d start at the veeeeery beginning.
Animation Night 71 - Moebius
Ahoy friends! It is Thursday once again. I am running late for Animation Night. Novel…
Animation Night 72 - Studio Colorido
Good Thursday my friends! Apologies for the lack of Toku Tuesday this week, for various reasons I had to clean most of the carpets in my house with a carpet shampoo machine and that took basically all of my time. But no more on that.
Animation Night 73: Stor Wor
Disney did an Animatrix, and that gives me a reason to talk about where Star Wars came from.
Animation Night 74: 4°C
I was a huge fan of 4°C, the masters of experimental animation, well before I actually knew who they were…
Animation Night 75: dawn of 3DCGI
In my lifetime, I’ve an entirely new art form rise from a few janky experiments to dominate the animation industry. So… how did computer graphics come to be?
Animation Night 76: Rankin//Bass
America’s outsourcing experts, and the delightful fantasy films they made in the 1970s…
Animation Night 77: Once More... Halloween
Once again, Halloween is upon us! This time I bring Korean zombie drama, Production I.G. realism, and an ero-guro classic, but don’t worry, we don’t neglect Yamishibai either! …or do worry, because it’s Halloween. Worry as much as possible, really.
Animation Night 78 - Blender Open Movies
I have been an enthusiastic user of Blender, the free open-source 3D animation suite, since I was a tiny little babby. And every year or so, the Blender Foundation made a short film to push the limits of the software. Let’s take a look at what they’ve done!
Animation Night 79 - Northern Irish Animation/John McCloskey
I was in Northern Ireland, and it turns out Northern Ireland is home to an incredibly talented animator who remains far too obscure. Let’s shine a spotlight on John McCloskey, the brilliant solo animator!
Animation Night 80 - Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix series
The Godfather of Manga, and creator of TV anime to boot, but Tezuka’s passion project was a massive arc of historical tragedy: the Phoenix series, which has been adapted by many big names beside Osamu himself!
Animation Night 81 - Mari Okada
One of the core scriptwriters of anime, renowned for the powerful emotional touches she would bring, at last steps into the director’s chair. Her ambitious project would stretch PA Works, but they rose to the occasion with aplomb…
Animation Night 82 - Chuck.
We don’t visit the Americans very much here, do we? But a visit to California provided a chance to tell the story of Chuck Jones, the actor with a pencil and master of the visual gag…
Animation Night 83: Tezuka’s shorts
Throughout his long, long career, Osamu Tezuka directed many works of short experimental animation, in an endless array of genres and styles, from Tales of a Street Corner to Jumping. In this Animation Night, we take the tour!
Animation Night 84: the Walter Dismey
Oh, Walter. What you have wrought! Can we put aside hagiography and still tell your story?
Animation Night 85: Mocap
Motion Capture! It’s like rotoscoping but with numbers! Where did this technique come from? It’s older than you might think! So pull up your tasty plasma and let’s take a dive down the Uncanny Valley…
Animation Night 86: Rainy Fascism Island
England may be a terrible place, forever teetering on the edge of fascism, but not everyone here is an enemy of life itself. Let’s look at some of the most searingly critical animated films this little island has ever had turned against it!
Animation Night 87: Annecycore
The Annecy International Animated Film Festival, bless it, likes to celebrate a certain sort of film. Let’s take a look at two bittersweet films about institutionalised life, for the very young and very old!
Animation Night 88: 08th MS Team
Moeagare Gandamu! Animation Night takes a tentative dip into the vast ocean of Gundams, with the story of an ensign who really wants everyone to stop killing each other, please and thank you!
Animation Night 89 - Don Hertzfeldt
There is far more to Don Hertzfeldt than Rejected, classic as it may be. Brilliantly inventive far-future existentialism and moving pictures of suffering… all accomplished with the same hand-drawn stick figures.
Animation Night 90 - Jonni Phillips
Jonni Phillips is like one degree of separation from me, which is crazy. So’s her animation, and the occasion of the release of Barber Westchester was a perfect opportunity to watch it through! UFO cults and ennui; I think California does something to people.
Animation Night 91 - Heike Monogatari
Naoko Yamada left KyoAni to go to Science Saru, adapting a renowned national epic of Buddhist impermanence and the mighty falling with her inimitable grounded lens. Having not learned my lesson from Violet Evergarden, I tried to have us watch it all in one go!
Animation Night 92 - Revue Starlight
What if the Takarazuka Revue had secret musical swordfights to determine the Top Star? Ikuhara’s protege Tomohiro Fukuhara dares to ask this all-important question, and the lesbians rejoice!
Animation Night 93 - René Laloux
Giant blue people keeping human pets and daring to adapt the Humanoides: tonight, the story of the brilliant René Laloux.
Animation Night 94: ‘The New Anime Century’
In 1981, Tomino declared his anti-war robot drama would open a New Anime Century, and there was almost a riot. More than thirty years later, another war had just broken out. I felt compelled to talk about art and war.
Animation Night 95: Osamu Dezaki
Osamu Dezaki is one of the most influential anime directors to ever live, yet far less widely known than the other Osamu. Let’s try and remedy that!
Animation Night 96 - Laika
Sometimes your dad just buys you a world-class stop motion animation studio. Where did Laika suddenly spring from?
Animation Night 97 - Houseki no Kuni
Haruko Ichikawa wrote a beautifully composed Buddhist tragedy of gemstone people in a faraway future. Could such a work be adapted? Indeed it could, but it required a great deal of boldness and a very unusual studio…
Animation Night 98 - Kyousougiga
Continuing the “one cour in a night” approach, and also continuing the Buddhist monk theme, it’s Toei’s inventive love letter to Kyoto and its history!
Animation Night 99 - Love, Death and Robots
The VFX and game trailer industry came together for the director of Blur Studio, to outdo Heavy Metal and flood Netflix with animated titties and gore. What gems can be found in this odd sci-fi mixed bag?
Animation Night 100 - One Zero Zero
We celebrate one hundred Animation Nights by picking up the Ghibli story and watching, at last, Miyazaki’s magisterial Princess Mononoke and Takahata’s beautiful and moving ink wash-styled The Tale of Princess Kaguya, alongside the delightful series of poem-shorts in Winter Days. But as great as the famous duo may be, don’t think I’m letting them off the hook…
Animation Night 101: WIT
The release of the hauntingly gorgeous The Girl From The Other Side: Siúil, a Rún brings us to look back at one of Production I.G.’s most successful offshoots… who are also the people who made Attack on Titan. Ripping open the can of worms in 3, 2, 1…
Animation Night 102: guómàn
Chinese animation continues to be spectacular, yet as a recent AniObsessive article relates, it seems it will never be enough for China’s people. But more than just technically impressive, these films have a fascinating spirit…
Animation Night 103: Toshiki Hirano
Eighties anime has a distinctive look, and much of that comes down to the eagerly indulgent pencil of tokusatsu lover Toshiki Hirano, who set the ball rolling adapting, what else, robot idols and lesbian invaders right from the pages of Lemon People…
Animation Night 104: Two Years!
Animation Night celebrates its two year anniversary! Here’s where we’ve been in the last year…
Animation Night 105: Edge
Exceptional technical skilled applied to content defined mostly by its gleeful vulgarity. Can it work? We take a look at Imaishi’s directorial debut in Dead Leaves, and the oddball 4°c-Ankara collaboration Mutafukaz…
Animation Night 106: Haibane Renmei, in memory of Fall
Haibane Renmei is the most truthful portrayal of grief I have seen, gentle and yet painfully real. It was also the favourite anime of my dear friend Fall, who I have lost. Let’s watch it together and remember her.
Animation Night 107: Mamoru Hosoda's digital worlds
Mamoru Hosoda got his start making franchise films at Toei… in particular, doing a great deal to define Digimon. The result was a pair of artful short films, and a set of themes he’d come back to again and again once he made it independent…
Animation Night 108: Buddhas
Have we done every bit of animation related to Buddhism? Not remotely. Tonight we look at a somewhat awkward attempt to tackle mighty Tezuka’s grand manga about the Buddha, and then a remarkable ‘gekimation’ body horror film by the mysterious Ujicha…
Animation Night 109: Short Film Night!
A night to enjoy short films of many flavours. The lavish third season of Love Death and Robots has more hits than misses and a couple of real standouts; web animators continue to keep it weird and stylish… and to wrap up, we take a deep dive into the year-long efforts of this year’s CalArts cohort…
Animation Night 111: Studio Ghibli, 1988
In 1988, Studio Ghibli dropped their third and fourth films as a back to back pair… the quietly devastating war film Grave of the Fireflies and the joyful My Neighbour Totoro. At first glance, it’s hard to imagine a stranger pairing… and yet they have surprising commonalities!
Animation Night 112: Bill Plympton
Returning to the world of independent animation for one of its old guard: the densely packed visual puns and odd morphing animations of implausibly prolific Bill Plympton…
Animation Night 113: Belle
After being unable to show ‘Belle’ on Animation Night 107, I finally got the chance. Alas, it didn’t quite live up to expectations. But at least we got to see some obscure CG gems from Hosoda’s time at Toei!
Animation Night 114 - Joann Sfar
At last we check out the work of renowned bandes desinées author Joann Sfar after his turn to animation… particularly the charming tale of a talking cat who wants to convert to Judaism in 1920s French-controlled Algeria.
Animation Night 115: Early Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii casts a long shadow, but he produced wonderful things even at the beginning. Tonight we visit the tense political space drama of the very first OVA Dallos, and the landmark sci-fi comedy series that opened the 80s…
Animation Night 116: Milan Blažeković
In which Animation Night visits a distinctive Croatian animator, and debuts an original English fansub of his second film!
Animation Night 117: Independent/web animation 3!
For the third time, we return to find some gems of the indie web scene… as well as some that blurs the line between studio and independent, in the strange new world of the Patreon-funded web series.
Animation Night 118: return of the 90s realists!
The ‘realist’ movement in anime that prevailed in the 90s is a particularly fascination for me, so let’s dig up two slightly obscure entries in their canon: a fun chaotic robot film of Otomo, and a beautiful expression of character acting from the height of the movement in Junkers Come Here.
Animation Night 119: Dick Williams
Have I ever told you the story of Darth Williams the Obsessive? In which we at last look into the story of Richard Williams, his adoration for animators past, and the tragedy that befell when he tried to surpass senpai…
Animation Night 120: Richard Linklater and Bob Sabiston
Rotoscoping is hard! But in the late 90s, MIT researcher turned animator Bob Sabiston invented a program to make it easier. Yet to really see it sing, we needed the harrowing experiences of Philip K Dick… and a lot of animator crunch.
Animation Night 121: Liquid Television
Exploring the other strange gems from the unique experimental-animation programming block that once brought us Aeon Flux.
Animation Night 122: The Hakkenden
An OVA of towering importance in the history of animation… if you ask sakuga fans, anyway. With wildly varied styles, The Hakkenden relates the ancient story of a group of special dog boys in Feudal Japan.
Animation Night 123: Summer
Two summer movies, each interesting in their own right. Pompo, the Cinéphile channels the emotional struggles of the director responsible for the God Eater debacle into an amusing film about filmmaking; Bubble takes a sekaikei story as an excuse for flashy parkour.
Animation Night 124: Gundam Hathaway
A modern take on the Universal Century as a tense spy film. Robots and terrorism and running in the dark.
Animation Night 125: Peter Chung
Peter Chung’s Aeon Flux was the seed that grew into Animation Night, but luckily it’s not the only time Chung could find a channel for his unique style…
Animation Night 126: Back to France
It’s been a long time since we visited France, so let’s finish off our list of Sylvain Chomet and take a proper look at Wakfu… before getting into our real gem, The Summit of the Gods!
Animation Night 127: Project Itoh
Author ‘Project Itoh’ went from being an insightful Metal Gear fan to a close friend of Hideo Kojima and then, despite fighting cancer the entire time, built a career as a fascinating science fiction author. Six years after his abrupt, tragic death in 2009, Noitamina celebrated him in a trio of works by different directors and studios. Let’s tell the story…
Animation Night 128: Beep Boop
What if you could, you know, go inside the computer? What if a program was just a little guy? Such an idea is a natural fit for animation, so let’s celebrate two to the power of seven to visit Tron, Reboot and their fellows…
Animation Night 129 - Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed...
The third Animation Night halloween! We go back to the splendidly grotesque ‘gekimation’ of Ujicha, scratch our vampire itch with Hellsing, and then throw ourselves into stop motion with the fascinating surreal oddity Tom Thumb and the magnificently bleak thirty year dream of Phil Tippett’s Mad God.
Animation Night 130: Hayao Miyazaki’s Aeroplane Movies
Good old Hayao disliked war almost as much as he loved aeroplanes. Especially aeroplanes used to fight wars… With Starting Point in hand, let’s have a look at how he tried to work through the contradictions, in both 1992 and 2013.
Animation Night 132: Makoto Shinkai... 2
In which we take another visit to Makoto Shinkai, the man who set the tone for anime compositing in the 2010s, and see some of the most beautiful water ever drawn.
Animation Night 133: Disney, Dreamworks and the Emperors
In the year 2000, Disney and Dreamworks raced to finished their duelling mesoamerican emperor movies. Neither especially successful, The Emperor’s New Groove and The Road to El Dorado were later hailed as forgotten gems. Do they really stand the test of time?
Animation Night 134: Rintaro’s OVAs
Rintaro, the great sci-fi director whose career spans the history of anime. Naturally that includes many OVAs, adapting austere, dark stories of murderous siblings and a century-long wizard war…
Animation Night 135: Short Film Night Rides Again
Once again, we gather for films that are short. A new crop of Gobelins, a glance over Pixar, and independent web animators new and old…
Animation Night 136: The Zagreb School
Thanks to Animation Obsessive, we get a chance to learn about the influential Zagreb School, who spun UPA style into a unique and quirky ‘reduced animation’.
Animation Night 137: Jidaigeki the Second
Back into the past of Japan, or fantasy worlds that are kind of like it. Three very different films: traditional and CG, grounded and fantastical, naturalistic and fable-like…
Animation Night 138: Del Toro’s Pinocchio
Guillermo Del Toro turned to animation, directing a beautiful stop-motion Pinocchio set in fascist Italy. A perfect opportunity, then, to place it alongside the Disney one…
Animation Night 139: Hiroyuki Okiura
The great realist animator Hiroyuki Okiura has turned to animation direction, and then direction, just a couple of times. Each one was memorable…
Animation Night 140: Kerberos
We wrap up an investigation into Mamoru Oshii’s mysterious Kerberos Saga with Hiroyuki Okiura’s renowned tragedy Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, and the bizarre little oddity that is Tatsughuishi Retsuden. Is there more to this than scary Nazi armour?
Animation Night 141: short film night (donghua edition)
From the past, two incredibly imaginative web series by the director of Dahufa. This year, the grand return of Shanghai Animation Film Studio with a series of fascinating interpretations of Chinese mythology. Donghua continues to be absolutely on fire.
Animation Night 142: Shells & Dragons
Cartoon Saloon returns once more, with more bad dads of course; the Americans tell a touching mocumentary about the life of a tiny shell, with shoes on.
Animation Night 143 - Lupin III
At long long last, I write the story of Lupin III! Tracing the path of the master thief through the hands of many different directors, and the many facets they bring…
Animation Night 144 - Gundam Thunderbolt
Gundam is always a treat! Usually a treat. It is a treat this time, because we’re watching a blizzard of astonishingly striking violence as Sunrise’s Studio 1 attempt to compress a very large manga into two movies, in a way only they could.
Animation Night 145: Brid Bard
Brad Bird is a dad who has strong feelings about midcentury nostalgia and misunderstood geniuses. Perhaps that comes from the long road he took to becoming Pixar’s star director…
Animation Night 146: Leiji Matsumoto
We mourn the death of Leiji Matsumoto by looking into the animated adaptation of his earliest comics, and the origins of Captain Harlock. There we find kamikaze pilots, reluctant nazis and a great many men who are horny for planes.
Animation Night 147: the music!
Occasionally people go to Japan to make movie-length music videos. It’s happened like… twice now! In this animation night, a peek at Interstella 5555 and Sound & Fury.
Animation Night 148: Aeni (애니)
Three very different glimpses of South Korean schools: the harrowing cynicism and violence of The King of Pigs, the richly animated and charming nostalgia of Green Days: Dinosaur and I, and the Yugioh-esque chuuni chaos of Ghost Messenger.
Animation Night 149: Toei
The oldest anime surviving studio of them all, Toei got the whole ‘anime’ ball rolling after the war by putting their unique spin on mythological stories. The results are actually delightful.
Animation Night 150: INU-OH
At last, I can show you Inu-Oh! It could be Yuasa’s greatest film, and it’s about Kamakura-period glam rock. Seriously. Come, be enthralled…
Animation Night 151: Modest and Immodest Short Films
A powerful week for short films: Bani’s delicately gorgeous guro music video with Toby Fox, the long-awaited adaptation of Lackadaisy, a new chapter of Dynamo Dream. Alongside them we take a chance to visit the beautiful and intriguing films of Studio Ponoc’s Modest Heroes.
Animation Night 152: Shinji Aramaki
CG and anime aren’t great friends, but there is a niche for it. We take a look at two films of Shinji Aramaki: the flashy high-budget Space Pirate Captain Harlock, which feels like a movie-length Final Fantasy cutscene, and cyborg action flick Appleseed α, which feels like a movie-length Metal Gear cutscene.
Animation Night 153: Kara no Kyōkai, part 1
Kinoko Nasu became famous around the world for Tsukihime and Fate, but his first big project was a novel series about murderous traumagirls. Years later, the madly ambitious Ufotable took on the task of turning it into a seven-movie series. We take a look at the first four films…
Animation Night 154: Kara no Kyōkai, part 2
We continue our dive into the Nasuverse and the early days of Ufotable, as the story of Shiki and SHIKI gets increasingly snarled. The vibes continue to be impeccable.
Animation Night 155: Kunihiko Ikuhara
At long last, a writeup on the real GOAT: Kunihiko Ikuhara, the mad gay wizard who gave us Utena. We’ll celebrate the Penguindrum compilation films with little retelling of his arc - all the way back to Sailor Moon.
Animation Night 156 - THREE YEARS
Animation Night survived a full three years without missing a week. My film night now perhaps old enough to walk and speak, it’s time to take a look back.
Animation Night 157: Hungary
Hungary has an animation scene that is lively and unique even in Europe. From the simple and pointed to the grand and sensorily overwhelming, let’s check out Jankovics and pals, from the rabbit with chequered ears to Sisyphus…
Animation Night 158: The Carnival Is Back In Town
Revisiting the early days of Animation Night for new friends, we take a fresh-eyed look at Robot Carnival and Meikyū Monogatari!
Animation Night 159: Armitage III
What beats 90s OVAs with robots in them? Very little. Tonight we go back to the year of Eva and GitS, for beautifully drawn robot girl violence and slightly… odd gender politics.
Animation Night 160: Calarts student films, 2023
Student films are always a treat. Sometimes they’re crazy impressive, sometimes rough around the edges, but when else do you get to do this kind of thing? Let’s see what this year’s CalArts students came up with.
Animation Night 161: Barry JC Purves
At Annecy I got a chance to meet living legend Barry JC Purves, and learn about his ouevre of stylish, theatrical, emotionally rich stop motion…
Animation Night 162: Nimona
Tumblr’s very own Nate Stevenson got his start writing comics about a monstrous traumagirl and a beleagured villain. After a very troubled production, Nimona finally made it to the screen. Let’s see how it turned out.
Animation Night 163 - Yokohama Kaidishi Kikou
A truly classic OVA, Yokohama Shopping Log tells us how androids will live in a sleepy post-apocalypse. Unbeatable vibes.
Animation Night 164: Yaoi, Yuri
I was in the mood for anime where boys kiss boys and girls kiss girls. Luckily, the last few years can provide…
Animation Night 165: New Gods
The second part in the New Gods series drops, marking a great time to both revisit the first cyberpunk mythological gangster movie, and see where they take the second, in which bounty hunter Yang Jian gets reluctantly pulled back into conflicts from Investiture of the Gods.
Animation Night 166: Star Wars Visions… 2
Last year Disney hired a bunch of anime studios to make Star Wars material. This time they take the scope worldwide, hiring animation studios from all over the world to apply their unique styles to lightsabers. Does it work?
Animation Night 167: Vordum
A pair of Russian brothers work nonstop over a year to create a tense, tightly choreographed claymation film about gladiators in a supernatural arena struggling against death to realise their desires. If you can tolerate some jank voice acting, Vordum: The Price of Death is not to be missed!
Animation Night 168: when Anno was young…
Hideaki Anno needs no introduction, but before Gainax, where did it all begin? Let’s check out an OVA where Anno worked as an animator, and revisit Gainax’s arty debut in Royal Space Force.
Animation Night 169: Sex. 2.
Not about the visual novel - no, this sequel to sex takes us back on another whirlwind tour of sexuality in animation. MogsK once again provides an incredible programme, taking us from the shallow end of charming sfw sex comedies like Golden Boy to full on oldschool futa hentai like Parade Parade along with all sorts of strange turns besides like Tezuka’s Cleopatra.
Animation Night 170-171: Blue Blazes
I take a break from showing animation on Animation Night, sorta, to visit a wonderfully ridiculous drama about the early days of Hideaki Anno and the other founding members of Gainax as seen from the eyes of his would-be rival.
Animation Night 72: Yamasong/Sam Koji Hale
Puppetry is like stop motion but without stopping. Not a lot of films have been made with puppetry, but now and then someone gives it a shot - and one of the best is Sam Koji Hale, who takes us to a strange fantasy world in Yamasong. The short film is great, but can this work over the length of a full movie?
Animation Night 173-4: Takashi Nakamura
Some people can really, truly draw. Takashi Nakamura’s precise guiding pencils made Akira hang together - and on the back of that he launched into a fascinating career of films both fantastical and meticulously grounded in the strongest animation, from surreal Catnapped to moody, beautiful A Tree of Palme. Let’s take a tour!
Animation Night 175: Short Film Night N+1 “Whoah, These Films Are Short”
The latest tasty offerings from the wildly imaginative animators of the web, including the obtusely brilliant Schuschinus, and CalArts films from the vault.
Animation Night 176: The Hedge-Pigge Whin’d
Although starting to limp, Animation Night managed to make it to another Halloween. The film night kind of fell apart, but we did manage to enjoy the stylish, ridiculous fighting game adaptation Darkstalkers OVA from the late 90s.
Animation Night 177: Kizazi Moto + Fatenah
The Mouse was persuaded to open its purse strings and fund a variety of studios across Africa to make a short flim collection. We check em out - alongside a devastating short from the occupied West Bank of Palestine.
Animation Night 178-9: Alberto Vázquez
The final pair of Animation Nights before the long hiatus! Alberto Vázquez returns with Unicorn Wars, which could be called Apocalypse Now with teddy bears. Sacrificial, fluffy recruits are sent to die in the forever war against the unicorns of the forest, but things take a turn for the grotesque as old sins return and proud Bluey takes a slide into fascism. Seriously nobody does it like Vázquez.
Animation Night 180: The First Slam Dunk
Animation Night returns at last with an original fansub of The First Slam Dunk, basically the best sports movie ever.
Animation Night 181: Rainbow Fireflies
The other face of Toei, a celebration of the studio’s 2D history with a sakuga feast. Tonight we discover Nijiiro Hotaru: Eien no Natsu Yasumi.
Animation Night 182: Web/Indie IV [Amazing Digital Circus Edition]
Indie animators outdid themselves again, and we have an incredible buffet of short films to enjoy.
Animation Night 183: The Imaginary
The studio that isn’t Ghibli, but isn’t not Ghibli, finally releases their years long megaproject… straight into the id of children worldwide. Let’s see what Nishimura was cooking!
Animation Night 184: Mars Express
Animation legend Jérémie Périn, of DyE Fantasy and Lastman, finally gets to carry out a long form dramatic work, and the result is fantastic cyberpunk noir.
Animation Night 185: Scavengers Reign
One of the best scifi series I’ve ever seen, drenched in specbio strangeness. This article records how I fell in love with it.
Animation Night 186: les films primés
Some cute little DVDs give us a chance to experience a little slice of Annecy! We take a dive into the short films of 2021 and 2022 most beloved by the French.