News

Muybridge's Strings, Saiyuki, +Tic Neesan Promo Videos Streamed

The official website of the federal cultural agency Telefilm Canada is streaming a 82-second trailer for "Muybridge's Strings," the latest anime short by Oscar-nominated animator Koji Yamamura ("Mt. Head," "Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor"). Telefilm Canada gives the following description of the story: "The destiny of photographer Eadweard Muybridge and that of a Japanese mother clash poetically in this exploration of the irrepressible human desire to make time stand still." The 14-minute short will premiere at the Cannes Film Market, which will run from May 12 to May 21 in France alongside the more well-known Cannes Film Festival. It will then open in Japan this fall.

Yamamura received an Academy Award nod in 2003 for his short "Mt. Head," although he did not win. He remains the only Japanese animator besides Hayao Miyazaki and Kunio Katō to be nominated for an Oscar. Yamamura is also serving as the art director of NHK's Purekiso Eigo (Early Basic English) television program of animated shorts.

The Animate.tv website is streaming a 15-second promotional video for the second volume of the Saiyuki Gaiden video anime series on Friday. The anime adapts Kazuya Minekura's manga of the same name, which ended in Ichijinsha's Monthly Comic Zero-Sum magazine in 2009. The second of the three anime volumes will ship in Japan on June 24.

The official website of Square Enix's Young Gangan magazine began streaming a 20-second promotional video for the +Tic Neesan anime. Tsutomu Mizushima (XxxHOLiC) is directing two-minute anime shorts based on Cha Kurii's +Tic Neesan (+Tic Elder Sister) gag comedy manga. The story follows a third-year high school girl who likes building plastic models in a model-making club. Mari Kanou, Marina Inoue and Yumi Uchiyama play the club members Neesan, Makimaki, and Okappa, respectively. The first two shorts will be streamed on May 16.

[Via Shuzo Shiota, Tadashi Sudo, Moon Phase, Saishin Anime Jōhō]

Images © 2011 National Film Board of Canada/NHK/Polygon Pictures
© Kazuya Minekura, Ichijinsha/Saiyuki Gaiden Production Commitee 2010
© Cha Kurii/Square Enix, +Tic Neesan Production Committee