21-year-old animator Hiroyasu Ishida amazes with "Fumiko's Confession" and more

by Chris MaGee

Not to put anime legends like Hayao Miyazaki, Mamoru Oshii, Hideaki Anno, and Katsuhiro Otomo down, but it seems to me that some of the most interesting and exciting anime coming from Japan is being made by independent animators. Don't believe me? Check out the phenomenal work of folks like Makoto Shinkai (Voices from a Distant Star, 5 Centimeters per Second), Yasuhiro Yoshiura (Time of Eve) and of course this year's Oscar-winner Kunio Katô (La maison en petits cubes, The Diary of Tortov Roddle) although his work falls more in the category of animation as opposed to anime. Each of these artists are showing up the big boys by writing, animating and directing top of the line work and now it looks as if another one-man animation wizard is joining their ranks.

Hiroyasu Ishida (a.k.a. Tete) is a 21-year-old aspiring animator and manga artist living in Aichi Prefecture who tackles the task of bringing amazingly polished short films to the screen entirely by himself. How polished? Check out his short film "Fumiko's Confession" below which follows the chaos that ensues after a young girl is turned down for a date by her high school classmate. If that isn't impressive enough then check out more of his work at his YouTube Channel.

Thanks to Japan Probe for introducing us to this amazing new talent.