Genius Party Beyond
As a collection, I felt this was even stronger than the first Genius Party. There wasn't a single short I entirely disliked.
Gala
Mahiro Maeda has a thing for pointed ears.
This had the joie-de-vivre of Maeda's AniKuri15 short, spread out into a longer timeframe. You can tell he had a lot of fun coming up with the many varied fantasy creature designs. The pacing isn't as tight as it could be, and the few character interactions are bizarrely artificial. What holds the piece together is the soundtrack: Ritmica Ostinata for piano and orchestra by Akira Ifukube, who composed the scores for many classic Godzilla movies. It's a simple but powerful piece that Maeda uses to great effect in expressing the power of music. The music is carefully matched with the visuals - oddly he matches the instruments of the Western symphony orchestra in the score with traditional Asian instruments, which is jarring at first, but quite effective once you get used to it, especially using a koto to represent the piano. The climax is orgasmic, an irresistable overflowing of joy. The final scene is both a good way to let the audience relax after the frenzy we've been whipped into and a clever revelation.
Moondrive
A silly adventure of a band of ruffians. I liked the general feel of the narrative and setting, but not the random violence and sexual humor. The single female existing for the sole purpose of sexual exploitation makes me uncomfortable.
I really like the look of the backgrounds, with their rugged paper style. It's thematically appropriate for a story focused on a treasure map.
The character designs, on the other hand, are not to my tastes. Neither was the animation style.
Wanwa the Doggy
The surreal dream fantasy of a child. The visual style is extremely unusual but successful. The world is constantly in motion and the characters are animated fluidly, as if only the thinnest barrier is keeping them from spilling into a puddle. There's an overabundance of ideas, but there's a clear emotional arc and thematic structure to keep the short unified. It's a singular creative and cohesive artistic vision, which ends up being the best-made out of all the Genius Party shorts. Shinya Ohira is a great talent.
Toujin Kit
In a washed-out, grimy dystopia, a solitary woman creates animate dolls out of a mysterious substance. The murkily glimpsed-at setting is made believable by sustained atmosphere. The visual look is consistent (with a significant exception), and the long static shots strongly establish a sense of place within the small environment this film focuses on. The reoccuring perspectives highlight the subtle or not-so-subtle changes that take place over the course of the film. The generally slow pacing makes the violent interjections that much more shocking. Really liked this.
Dimension Bomb
Ranges from mostly naturalistic scenes with discordant elements that throw them off-kilter to the completely abstract. It's difficult to understand the connection between scenes or whatever meaning may lie behind the repeated imagery and sentences, but there's no denying it's an impressive experience, like I imagine an acid trip would be.
