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The original short animated film Kick-Heart has been nominated in the short animation category at the 2013 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The Annecy International Animation Film Festival was created from the Cannes International Film Festival animation category as an independent festival in 1960. Due to the size of its scale and its long history, it is one of the most well-known animation film festivals in the world.
Kick Heart, which has been nominated for this influential film festival, is a roughly 12-minute-long film that was released on May 26. The story is themed around professional wrestling and follows the daily life of an unsatisfied, unknown, masochistic masked wrestler named Mask Man M who “wants to fight an opponent who feels more!” The person who then appears is Lady S, a well-known wrestler who turns out to be a sadist. The two meet by fate, awaken the potential in each other, and the ultimate gong of love rings out...!
The anime was created and directed by Masaaki Yuasa, supervised by Mamoru Oshii, and produced by Production I.G. In 2004, Yuasa’s work Mind Game won the top award in the animation category at the Montreal Fantasia International Film Festival, as well as other awards. Oshii is well-known for directing works that are, even now, considered masterpieces, including Urusei Yatsura, Mobile Police Patlabor, and Ghost in the Shell.
In October of last year, before production on Kick-Heart began, a funding campaign began for the work on the popular crowdfunding service, Kickstarter. More than 3,200 people contributed to the project, and it raised its target goal of $200,000, making the completion of the anime a reality. Due to this being the first large-scale anime work from Japan to be successful in raising crowdfunding, it has gained high attention both inside and outside Japan. From here on, don’t miss the acclaim that this film receives!
Kick-Heart Introduction Page on Production I.G:
http://www.production-ig.co.jp/works/kickheart/ (Japanese)
2013 Annecy International Animation Film Festival:
http://www.annecy.org/home
© 2012 Masaaki Yuasa
© Production I.G Inc.
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
