A Japanese Boy Who Draws

TLDR at the bottom. We, as humans, aspire. There is a skill suited to us, or talent if you like, that we have the power to expand on, to expand against the great horizons of the Earth, some even going as far as to prove to humanity that they are the one with this amazing skill in their arsenal. But what does that road look like? I'd imagine people reading this (I'd actually be more surprised if anyone is reading this) consume media. Media has a tendency to exaggerate detail and flaunt aesthetics for the sake of engagement. It becomes unfeasible to decipher what works andwhat doesn't in our world, reality. The populace is known as "hidden gems", would like to contradict this train of thought. The challenger of today, being "A Japanese Boy Who Draws" (abbreviated to Nihon Ekaki) Nihon Ekaki is indeed a hidden gem in this medium, and I don't mean to throw that out there since I am sure countless titles do indeed come under the same populace. But Nihon Ekaki in particular is a lot different from anything I have seen. It first tells a story, one devoid of huge ambition, devoid of systematic drama, devoid of perplexing ideas, but still manages to set sail with watered-down versions of such dangers presented, just enough to warrant its praise in a high calibre. The pacing is well, and there is no poor writing. It really is a simple story about a boy, Shinji, and the growing up in his life with his talent of his. As I have mentioned earlier, media creators love to exaggerate, there is no blame there, however, Nihon Ekaki doesn't commit to what can be considered such treacherous behaviour. It truly is something of a genuine piece. That is to say the same for these characters as well, they behave like normal humans, with zero exaggeration for the purpose of engagement, that is to say, the engagement of realism is something in itself too. Characters like such tend to have an understanding of the what, the why, the how, diverging to a connection with the viewer, one devoid of any facade, as real characters should be. These guys are great characters overall. The visuals aren't just great, they are clever. As time changes, so do the style. When people give up on their ambitions, so does their style. Everything here is played in relativity, and it isn't clunky either, a good amount of what is seen isn't just there for the sake of it either, so there is no worry in visually broken visuals. I don't see quite a lot of creativity like this, though I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't original, it just doesn't look like something that has yet to have been touched upon prior to this movie. That is just intuitive thinking though. OST was pretty good, pretty sure it was just a piano for the most parts, which in itself merited for a good synergy in the movie, but I suppose it wasn't enough to be called the utmost best, it was fine of what it is though. Seiyuus sounded very human too and not like something out of a professional, very fitting for a movie like thin in all honesty. Great audiovisual here in all. I enjoyed this. I will admit, I liked the idea, a lot, but I didn't enjoy it as I think I would have, I just didn't I suppose. The concept is great and everything here is indeed masterful, however, it didn't correlate to my enjoyment. I still very much liked this, just not to reflect a 1:1 ratio between the idea (and how it was made) in respect to the reaction. That isn't to say you won't enjoy this, however, since I would imagine this a piece to be universally enjoyed. - ( . )( . ) TLDR: Great short movie with a clever artistic presentation about the realism in one's life and choices that can affect down the line. Overall - 8.6 (9) ---------- So I haven't been reviewing seriously in god knows how long, I am not entirely sure if anyone even cares about me or what I am doing, but I am going to do some more stuff here on MAL. Anyways, I have been meaning to write a review on Nihon Ekaki for some time now but was super lazy in doing so. Finally got to it as of this upload date and it was something of a good rewatch to it too, not a lot to take out a second time other than this is pretty damn good for a short. In any case, that is me finished for now in this moment of time.

Anyone who is creative can appreciate the beauty of this. Im so into this multimedia animation style so at the first minutes of this movie it was a instant match for me. -To be honest im suprised with how they nicely use the autism as a approach of loving the art you do. -It was upbringing and passionate, lots of love into this short movie, you can feel it. -The quality of production couldnt follow to animated ones when it comes to unanimated scenes. But i can see why, its a low budget indie project so i dont want to be too harsh about it. -Actors did theirjob -Plot is really sweet. Last words: Definetly give it a shot and support these guys. They know the struggle of art.

Depicting the life of a man aiming to be a pro mangaka from his birth to his adult years, A Japanese boy who draws has gained about a dozen awards at various festivals and is the first independent animated film created by Masanao Kawajiri. Semi-autobiographical and using of some of his own drawings from preschool and grade school, this movie feels unique by the fact that its aesthetics adapt to the age of the protagonist, starting with doodles and scribbles when he's a kid to a more conventional and polished look in his late teenage years to finish in live action in his disillusioned adult years. WhileI like the prospect of reconnecting with your childhood and going back over your early inspirations and seeing the special kind of creativity you have as a kid that you often lose as you grow up, I feel like all these elements are severely lacking in this film. Despite having been praised a lot for its ability to blend a plethora of different styles and being a very creative experimental movie, it's a bit far from what you would expect. While it does have a coherent progression throughout its runtime, it never showcases his talent or his imagination and only goes from shitty scribbles to the most painfully generic comic artstyle ever. It only has a short segment inside an exhibition which actually blends styles with characters made in pixel art, paintings and cut-out photographs coexisting together that I enjoyed but aside from that, it ends up being something anyone could have done. It's also a bit strange that we also don't see our main protagonist being passionate about drawing nor about anyone in the industry, or actually we do see some of them but they're the ones literally every kid from the 90s knows about: Dragon Ball, Lain Eva, Akira... it really makes him bland and the textbook cliche of the kid drawing in the classroom and continuing in this path because he doesn't know what else to do in life. There isn't any wrong in trying to craft a "relatable" character but and it doesn't give us anything to root for and it seems like a story that has already been told a million times before. Aside of Shinji himself, it is also about his friendship with Masaru who's autistic/mentally disabled and the thematic contrast to the lead that he's used for could've worked if he had more than the one scene establishing their relations but his inclusion acts as a poor emotional device that we're supposed to feel empathetic about for the sole fact that he's retarded and the sad piano music playing is pretty laughable. Aru Nihon no Ekaki Shounen had plenty of ideas but simply missed fleshing them out, a slightly lenghtier movie could have fixed a lot of them and make me more invested so I will still look out for Masanao Kawajiri next project, Cherry and Virgin.