48 x 61
48 vs. 61 in Rintaro and Katsushiro Otomo’s excellent bicycle racing short where the racers look kinda like Rintaro and Otomo. Also, damn fine music and possible steampunkery.
RIP, Kihachiro Kawamoto
It’s a sad week for animation with the passing of Satoshi Kon and now Kihachiro Kawamoto. A student of Jiri Trnka, Kawamoto created beautiful stop motion puppet animation grounded in Japanese bunraku and Noh theater. Here’s his short, “Oni / The Demon.”
RIP, Satoshi Kon
Creator of Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paranoia Agent and Paprika, Satoshi Kon has died at 46. In memoriam, Midnight Eye’s substantial interview with Kon, here. Updated: Satoshi Kon wrote a farewell.
Manga Star Wars
Manga Star Wars vs. Marvel Star Wars.
Yokai by Gojin Ishihara
The ever-wondrous Pink Tentacle is waving around creepy children’s book illustrations by Gojin Ishihara. They’re like the little lure on an angler fish and I’m totally going for it.
Exhorting Japan!
1930s Japan gets with the Social Realist program with exhortational posters!
The Cultural Gutter 