Tokyo Anima! a two day Japanese art animation extravaganza

by Chris MaGee

While we Torontonians are gearing up for the 7th annual Toronto Japanese Short Film Festival taking place next week, folks in Tokyo will be getting their own chance to see some of the very best short animation currently being produced in Japan. The National Art Center Tokyo will be holding a two day short animation extravaganza, and what's best is that it's FREE! On March 27th and 28th the Center will be playing host to Tokyo Anima!, and the line-up is a veritable who's-who of current Japanese art animation. Let me limber up my fingers before I type this list out... Takashi Kurihara, Ryu Kato, Oscar-winner Kunio Kato, Masanori Okamoto, Yusuke Sakamoto, Saku Sakamoto, Osamu Sakai, Akino Kondoh, Keita Niahinomiya, Ayaka Nakata, Hiroyuki Tsuchida, Tomoyoshi Joko, Shin Hosokawa, Junpei Fujita, Shin Hashimoto, Suwami Nogami, Satoshi Murai, Mirai Mizue, Yusuke Horaguchi, Kazuhiro Hotchi, Atsushi Wada, Yukio Yamanaka, Sonoko Yamada, Kohei Morikawa, Kei Oyama, Ryo Okawara, Yutaro Ogawa, Masaki Okuda, Takuya Inaba, and Hiroco Ichinose. Be impressed. Be very impressed.

Thanks to our good friend, artist and animator Akino Kondoh for giving us the heads up about this phenomenal event. Check out more about Tokyo Anima! at its official website here and settle in to watch this jaw-dropping 3-minute trailer below. Enjoy!