ジーニアスパーティー

GENIUS PARTY

MOVIE

MOVIE
Dubbed
SOURCE
ORIGINAL
RELEASE
July 7, 2007
LENGTH
14 min

DESCRIPTION

An anthology of seven short animated films from Studio 4°C:

1.) Genius Party (directed by Atsuko Fukushima)

A bizarre bird-like creature runs through a barren desert and finds what seems to be a smiling egg lying on the ground.

2.) Shanghai Dragon (directed by Shouji Kawamori)

An imaginative Chinese boy finds a futuristic device that can make his own drawings come to life. After discovering the device, the town he lives in is about to be invaded by spaceships and machines of mass destruction that are all centuries ahead of Earth's time.

3.) Deathtic 4 (directed by Shinji Kimura)

A tale set in a world full of zombies, living their normal zombie lives. A living frog falls from the blackened sky of the zombie world, and a little zombie boy with his friends try to bring the living creature back to its own world.

4.) Doorbell (directed by Youji Fukuyama)

The main character is a ghost in his own world. He must outrun the other versions of himself, or they will take over his life.

5.) Limit Cycle (directed by Hideki Futamura)

An existential examination of the world as seen through the lens of a man seemingly trapped in an endless cycle of work.

6.) Happy Machine (directed by Masaaki Yuasa)

An infant who is happily secured in his own nursery suddenly discovers that everything about the nursery is fake. Soon the infant is forced out of the nursery into the world that exists outside, where adventure awaits, and there are many alien-like creatures to encounter.

7.) Baby Blue (directed by Shinichirou Watanabe)

A small adventure of two young students who decide to go anywhere they can for just one day, to enjoy that day without caring about the rest, and simply be together.

(Source: Anime News Network)

CAST

Rått
Tarou Yabe
Crane Shumer
Kenyuu Horiuchi
Meihua
Lu Ningjuan
Blåse
Tarou Yabe
Sai
Kenji Utsumi
Påse
Tomomitsu Yamaguchi
Yu Yagisawa
Rakuto Tochihara
Hazuki
Rinko Kikuchi
Ashe
Tomomitsu Yamaguchi
Mai Yasuno
Nanase Iwai
Gonglong Chen
Miki Yamamoto
Shujinkou
Hiroshi Mikami
Youji
Kaoru Mizuhara
Sho
Yuuya Yagira
Seibutsu Bike
Hi no Ko
Tomoko Kaneda
Fearotten
Keiko Mizutani
Junkie
Daniu
Shunsuke Yamamoto
Sensei
Yu no Haha
Keiko Mizutani
Sho no Haha
Yu no Imouto
Ayumi Kondou
Keikan
Kon Arimura
Doreggeru Joshikousei

RELATED TO GENIUS PARTY

MOVIE ActionGenius Party Beyond

REVIEWS

Terajima
48/100
Nobody ever makes his best for an omnibus movie, Genius Party is just another example of that.
__· 'Genius Party' - Atsuko Fukushima:__ A kind of metaphor without dialogues about the creators and the public. Good start, very good animation, colorful, original and a good sound accompaniment. 6/10 __· 'Shanghai Dragon' - Shoji Kawamori:__ Fifty years ago some Chinese children discover a strange sword in the schoolyard, one of them picks it up and it lights up. If the thing started well with the first short this second one breaks that feeling. Neither the animation, nor the story or anything is special, and not only that, it also tells something very typical in the world of manga and anime, with that nerdy tone that unfortunately is present in so many things in this industry. 2/10 __· 'Deathtic 4' - Shinji Kimura:__ Zombie police punish anyone who has a living being and we focus in a zombie child who has a living frog. One afternoon he meets some friends to throw the frog to a hurricane that connects the world of the dead with that of the living. Very funny, it has a striking animation and a great atmosphere, with touches of Tim Burton's works, and series as 'Courage the Cowardly Dog'. 6/10 __· 'Door Chime' - Yoji Fukuyama:__ A boy sees how a clone of his is ahead of everything he wants to do, so that others do not notice his presence. Regular animation without too much charm and somewhat rigid. The story is fine, but mangas like 'Gantz' play it with a lot more depth. 4/10 __· 'Limit Cycle' - Hideki Futamura:__ A series of fascinating images accompanied by a discourse about God, humans and others. The background is too pretentious, it wants to be deep but it is rather senseless, bombastic phrases one after the other that globally mean nothing. Still it is a good experience, especially for its visual section. 6/10 __· 'Happy Machine' - Masaaki Yuasa:__ A child is connected to a machine that makes him dream and live adventures in strange places. Previously I had already seen the feature film 'Mind Game', by this same director. I thought that I would like this short film because of the good impression that that movie gave to me, but it was not at that level, I was left quite cold. 5/10 __· 'Baby Blue' - Shinichiro Watanabe:__ A boy goes with a friend to the beach instead of going to class. The shortfilm with better atmosphere and more suggestive. The bad, that unfortunately as usually happens with anime it shows the world and things from a point of view pretty gullible and ridiculous. If it were not for that, this one would have been the best of all. 5/10
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Wyroquax
60/100
Genius Party is a decent collection of creative shorts by Japanese finest animators.
This review might contain spoilers. You may proceed if you can handle the truth...

Genius Party is an anthology film of seven short animated movies. Studio 4°C planned to release this picture and its sequel, Genius Party Beyond, as one movie. Albeit all directors finished their work in time, the studio decided to segment it because of the more than three hours runtime.

Atsuko Fukushima directed the first episode, Genius Party. Her notable work as an animator includes movies like Akira, Kiki's Delivery Service, In This Corner of the World etc. Nevertheless, she would borrow the abstract style for her second directorial endeavour from the first segment of the anthology Neo Tokyo. Along with good CGI and a superb score, the dialogue-free short is an excellent introduction.

After her effort, Shouji Kawamori's film, Shanghai Dragon, follows, who is well-known for his work on the Macross franchise. The story is a homage to animators responsible for bringing life to their drawings. The dull action and chase scenes hurt the telling of his message significantly because they make up most of the runtime. Compared to the previous animation, the CGI is occasionally inferior, and the score is decent.

Another complete CGI picture is Deathtic 4, directed by Shinji Kimura. He is best known for his work as an art director on Children of the Sea and Tekkonkinkreet. Inspired by his art style in the manga Hipira, he designs a dingy, mysterious world and uncanny, engaging characters. The plot is simplistic and leaves some questions unanswered, but it is fascinating and lovely. The score fits the short, and the animation looks great despite its age.

The fourth movie, Doorbell, is the directorial debut of Youji Fukuyama. Compared to the other flicks in the anthology, almost all scenes are hand-drawn. Albeit it is a welcome change, the visuals are neither original nor exotic. The plot is a compelling concept, but it fails to deliver any meaningful message because of its unsatisfying and erupting conclusion. Same as the previous film, the score is solid.

Undoubtedly, the most visually impressive movie is Limit Cycle, directed by Hideki Futamura. He is famous for his efforts as an animator for pictures like Akira, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Perfect Blue etc. His approach to cyberpunk aesthetics is unique, and the various mysterious symbols are intriguing. Along with the entire runtime of the short is a convoluted and dull monologue. Despite the endeavour to sound profound or significant, the monologue is incohesive and covers too many philosophical topics. The score is neither distracting nor astounding.

Following the experimental direction of the first movie, the penultimate short, Happy Machine, has an imaginative world. The director Masaaki Yuasa, best known for his TV series The Tatami Galaxy, used a similar art style to his directorial debut Mind Game. Like in Mind Game, the viewer follows the protagonist on a bizarre but exciting journey. However, the adventure takes place on an alien planet with different physical laws. The score accompanies the film well.

Last but not least, the final short, Baby Blue, is the work of Shinichirou Watanabe, famous for the TV series Cowboy Bebop. In this collection of unconventional pictures, the ordinary animation and typical bittersweet love story feel out of place. The mediocre but engaging plot shares many themes with 5 Centimeters per Second released prior. In contrast to Makoto Shinkai's movie, Baby Blue cannot reach the viewer emotionally. Despite the unoriginal art style, the visuals look appealing, and the score is not memorable.

To sum up, Genius Party is a decent collection of creative shorts by famous and upcoming directors. As with other anthology films, the quality of all episodes is inconsistent. However, the film has at least three pictures worth your precious time.
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