Drama Anime

Six animated shorts about discrimination and being different.

#1: "Daydream" talks about dealing with people with disability. It homes in on the daily life of a father with a daughter whose hands and feet are deformed.
#2: "Animal Farm" relies on the rough-and-ready feel of stop-motion clay animation to create a satire of bullying and mob dynamics.
#3: "At Her House" paints a devastating picture of gender inequality within a marriage.
#4: "Flesh and Bone" gently pillories superficiality and the obsession with outward appearance.
#5: "Bicycle Trip" focuses on the discrimination experienced by foreign workers in Korea.
#6: "Be a Human Being" looks at the way young Koreans are barely treated as human beings before they get to university.

(Source: ANIWEBLOG | ASIANDB | Jeonju)

This film consists of 6 animated shorts produced by the Human Rights Commission of Korea. Like the previous movie, the stories deal with seeing the world through the eyes of people who are different from social norms. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature in 2008 from the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

#1: "The Third Wish” (AN Dong-hui, RYU Jeong-wu). A fairy godmother appears before a visually impaired young woman to grant her three wishes. But this is no fairytale. The irritable middle-aged fairy wants to finish her job as soon as possible. Yet she proves to be helpful as she leads the woman through a busy marketplace, which is delightfully reminiscent of "Amelie". But it's no walk in the park, as busy urbanites show no consideration for our protagonist. Yet she prevails through obstacles. With a walking stick, she taps together the heels of her shiny new shoes and follows the "yellow brick road" (guiding tiles for the visually impaired) around the city.

#2: "Ajukari” (HONG Deok-pyo) is a street-style cartoon. It comically depicts how a certain macho "complex" can cripple men. Male circumcision becomes the ultimate standard for being "manly" and those who have failed to do the deed are forever fearful of going to public baths.

#3: "Baby" (LEE Hong-su, LEE Hong-min) portrays the difficulties a career woman faces in having a child. "I'm not saying you can't have maternity leave, but can you afford to raise a child while working?" asks her boss. This smart story portrays everything from mother and daughter-in-law relationships to a parody of "Tazza: The High Rollers" and hilarious episodes where an "ambulance bus" picks up several patients en route.

#4: "Shine Shine Shining" (KWON Mi-jeong) is drawn like a warm, watercolor storybook for children. Grade schooler Eun-jin is smart and popular, but she has a secret. She hides her curly hair, which she gets from her Filipino mother, in braids.

#5: "Merry Golasmas" is an adorable claymation, or stop motion animation of models constructed from clay, plasticine, etc. It explores physical discrimination or stereotypes. In an open audition to find a Santa Claus, the real Santas ― one who's black, another who's Asian, a female Santa and one in a wheelchair ― lose to a fake Santa, a pot-bellied, Caucasian.

#6: “Lies" explores homosexuality. Drawn in pastel-like sketches with art deco-esque details, it is a stunning digital cut-out animation, A homosexual man is forced by his parents to marry a woman, while others are pressured to fake having a girlfriend or receive "therapy" to become straight.

(Source: The Korean Times)

McDull, Prince de la Bun is a 2004 animated Hong Kong film directed by Yuen Toe. Telling the life a the fictional pig McDull, it is a sequel to My Life as McDull (2001) and it was followed by McDull, the Alumni (2006).

(Source: Wikipedia)

McDull is not the brightest kid on the block, but he continually tries to do his best and please his mother. Although it seems that he may not be destined for great things in life as his mother wishes, McDull never gives up.

The story focuses on several tales about McDull and his childhood. This is told as a narrative reflection of a now adult McDull. These tales muddle up in imaginative uses of Cantonese and heaps of local Hong Kong culture. From tales about a turkey dinner to dreams of following in Lee Lai-shan's footsteps, McDull faces ebbs and flows with his demanding but devoted mother.

(Source: Wikipedia)

The second season of Jikuu wo Koeta Energy no Tabi.

Tetsurou and Maetel embark on an energy journey through time and space and visit several planets with varying circumstances.

(Source: AniList.co)

No description.

The biggest worry of ordinary high school girl Li Mengling is that she has always been just that: an ordinary girl. Until one day, an unusual magical fairy Anne appeared in front of her and allowed her to realize her dream of being a super-powered beauty queen after she falls asleep every day.

(Source: Baidu, translated, edited)

No description.

Story about a girl and her cat Meow.

A legendary masterpiece of love comics, SEKISHOKU Elegy brought baby-boomers to tears for its depiction of the heart-rending sorrow of cohabitation symbolizing young Japanese couples in the 1970s. The famous painter Seiichi Hayashi, well known for his work in Koume Chan candies and Sendai's renowned confectionery Hagi No Tsuki, draws the animation as the original writer and also directs it. Hayashi also teams up with folk singer Morio Agata for the first time in more than three decades. Agata enjoyed a huge hit with a song originating from the comic. New renditions give new life to SEKISHOKU Elegy as a work of Ganime.

(Source: AniDB)

A lively Christmas song from Pizzicato 5 for NHK's Minna no Uta.

Young Matsuwakamaru loses his father as an infant. To make matters worse, his beloved mother Kikkou passes away when he's 8 years old. While facing her death, Matsuwakamaru is puzzled at where people go when they die. If there is a cycle of heaven, hell, and rebirth, is there a way to escape this torturous circle, he wonders. With this great determination for the discovery of knowledge in mind, at only 9 years old, he joins a Buddhist monastery on Mt. Hiei, and changes his name to Shinran. This is the story of the man who would someday open the doors to the Joudo Shinshuu sect of Buddhism.

(Source: Anime News Network)

An anti-communist animation about a boy catching North Korean spies in South Korea.

An early stop motion doll film by Aki Kouno, inspired by Samuel Ullman's famous poem Youth.

Takeru Daigo is a boy living in Tokyo who doesn't like milk. During summer vacation, he decides to go to Ushiojima by himself to visit his grandmother Tomi. To his surprise, there is a talking milk carton named Kevin in her refrigerator. Kevin encourages Takeru to drink milk, but he refuses. Along with the help of his other milk friends who live on the island, Kevin makes it his mission to get Takeru to drink milk!

(Source: Official site, translated)

The friendship between Hiroshi from Japan and Adel from the South Pacific island the two live on is severely tested when Adel finds out that his grandfather was killed in a battle with the Japanese army. Will Adel forget their quarrel when Hiroshi's life is in danger?

(Source: MAL)

I try to set this work – a film using texts, or a film-book – between watching and reading. This film is dedicated to J.L. Borges, a great artist, who had translated The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde at his early childhood, became one of the greatest writers of the 20th century and continued to publish the works by dictation even after losing his eyesight.

Graduate Work 2011, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Department of Animation.

(Source: Geidai Animation)

A Fukuoka City commissioned commercial from Tekken during their anti-drunk driving campaign.