Anime Tamago 2018 Shorts Premiere on the Silver Screen! [Event Report]

On March 10, 2018, the four short films that were created as part of the Anime Tamago 2018 project were screened for the first time!

Anime Tamago is a project funded by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs that aims to train and support young animators. It’s been running since 2010, and has brought forth internationally known works like STUDIO4℃’s Little Witch Academia, MAD HOUSE’s Death Parade, and TRIGGER’s Red Ash.

This year, the four short films were IMAGICA’s TIME DRIVER: The Future We Drew, Studio Nanahoshi’s Engimon, TOMASON’s Milky Panic twelve, and Picona’s Midnight Crazy Trail. For a taste of what the four films are like, check out the trailer below.

The screening was hosted by legendary seiyuu Kazuhiko Inoue and Sumi Shimamoto. After their opening remarks, there was a speech by Norihiko Ezaki, the head of the Arts and Culture Department of the Agency of Cultural Affairs, followed by a speech by Kazuko Ishikawa, the chairman of the board of The Association of Japanese animations. Both speeches touched on the international reputation anime has and the importance of teaching young creators and animators to prevent the loss of the Japanese animation industry to outsourcing.

The directors, producers, and animators involved with the short films were all given a chance to speak about their experience and the films themselves before their films were screened to the packed audience.

The first film was TIME DRIVER: The Future We Drew, about two people and a robot they designed as kids. This film was entirely animated by hand, so the animators talked a lot about how there was a lot to learn on the job, such as paying closer attention to details that would normally be lost.

The second film was Engimon, about a little boy, his little sister, and the lucky charms that he and his sister play with. That film was made using 3D and CGI, so the animators had to act out their scenes on film for character references before the short could even be worked on. Their acting out each scene allowed each character to be more personalized, with obvious differences in movements and traits.

The third film, Milky Planet twelve, featured anthropomorphic characters based on the Chinese Zodiac in a Western setting. The studio, TOMASON, is aiming to become the Japanese Disney, so the film has a design closer to older American cartoons than the rest of the film. The producer and director for this film are brothers! Their closeness allowed them to fight over the film until they knew they were happy with the finished product.

The last, but certainly not least, film was Midnight Crazy Trail, featuring a witch who has to train in the real world but wants to get rid of her magic book and the garbagemen she finds to help her succeed in her goal. This story was thought of by the director ten years ago, and the project was so ambitious that it would have been difficult even with seasoned animators.

Finally, the screening closed with a speech by Ishikawa Mitsuhisa, the project leader of Anime Tamago. He described all four films as being interesting in the way the anime he used to watch as a kid were interesting, and that these shorts had so much of the feelings of each team within them that they were like receiving a love letter.

The four films will be available on various platforms, such as this year’s Anime Japan, to be held on March 24 and 25 in in Tokyo, as well as on the TV channel ANIMAX, the internet Bandai Channel, and on Japan Airlines international flights. Try to catch them if you want a sneak peek into the future of anime! We look forward to seeing what future Anime Tamago teams bring to life.

Check out more pictures below!

This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article by Massiel G. with photography by Hara T.