Shishigari is the most visually unique anime film I’ve seen since The Tale of Princess Kaguya. The only other place you can see styles this idiosyncratic is within OP/EDs and commercials. Specifically, the style of kagenashi shading he would use here (which he knew was possible thanks to his experience testing it out on Space Dandy), as well as the loose linework, is reminiscent of Shingo Yamashita’s early shorts, specifically his Naruto Shippuden ending sequence and his Song of Oden commercial.

Limited animation that is used as a stylistic choice instead of a compromise for time is rare, and it’s use here in the quieter early moments of the film is delightful. Considering Oshiyama has connections to some of the industry’s most prominent legends across multiple generations, I was surprised by how subdued most of the animation was. Learning from the credits that he did the animation himself however shed light on this in more than one way.

You will not find the bombast of Flip Flappers here, or even the psychedelic madness of Oshiyama’s Space Dandy episode. What you will find is a solemn meditative drama (which later turns into survival thriller) that focuses on using effective storyboards, subtle character animation, and music by prominent veteran Kenji Kawai. One of the most striking details is the way that breath and other similar particle effects are rendered. I don’t have words to describe it, so I would instead urge you to observe scenes of breathing from the trailer, and it’ll become evident why I felt the need to ask Oshiyama about it later on.

When the climax hits however you are treated to some very impressive action cuts that made me think at first that I was seeing the work of one Keiichiro Watanabe, or some other talented acquaintance from Flip Flappers. However this instead highlights how remarkably skilled Oshiyama is as an animator, very much on the level of the superstars he has worked alongside.

Now myself and many other members of the Sakuga community consider the arrival of this film to be a major event, the newest effort from one of the most exciting young talents working in animation. The audience in the small room did not feel the same way however, as half of them left before the brief QA began. I did not know what Oshiyama looked like before tonight, and despite being older than the students he shared the stage with, he looks so young for his age I was not able to pick him out until he introduced himself.

When the directors were asked to introduce themselves and discuss their inspirations for their films, Oshiyama had this to say:

“My name is Oshiyama Kiyotaka. I am the director of the short film Shishigari, the last one that was presented. The story of Shishigari is about this young hunter who wants to make the transition to becoming [a real, experienced hunter]. It’s a bit difficult to explain because it comes from real Japanese traditional culture in the Tohoku region. I was really inspired by these people called Matagi; they were hunters in the Tohoku region, which is a really cold region in Japan, and they had a special relationship with nature, and that was my source of inspiration for this film. So Matagi is a hunter but not as we see in works of literature. The difference is that, the Matagi, they hunt animals but they don’t have a sense of victory or anything, it’s more to get food and to show their appreciation to those mountains, to nature, for providing them sources of food, so differences of mentality i guess, and that’s really what this film is all about and what I wanted to show.”

After everyone including the directors left the theater, Oshiyama and his translator stood outside for pictures and I was able to approach them ask if I could talk to them some more. I did not record any of this conversation, so I will be trying to recall as much as possible from memory.

My first question was about the art style, in which I remarked the similarity to some of Yamashita’s shorts. While he didn’t remark on my comparison, he did mention that an art style such as this was one of the benefits to having a small team on this project.

I next asked him about his Space Dandy episode, being the first and only time before this that he did a 20 minute project nearly all on his own. He remarked that it was a large undertaking, and that it allowed him to test out a style of kagenashi that he would use on Shishigari. He found that he could establish kagenashi shading as how the world may normally look, and then employ different styles of shading for an increased emotional impact.

I next asked him about the gorgeous breath effects. He told me that they were generated using a tool in TVpaint which could emulate the effect of rubbing a graphite crayon on its side. He found it very convenient, because if he had to do it on paper it would be very time consuming and he would’ve had to scan very large pages into a software. Another more niche example of how digital innovations are opening opportunities for experimentation and efficiency in producing anime.

I could’ve asked him more questions for hours, but I didn’t want to be rude, so I took my leave then. Thank you very much Oshiyama for your inspiring beautiful animations, and I look forward to your next project!