Best Anime Short Films: These are some of the finest anime shorts viewers can see. Generally, any feature too short to constitute a movie is considered a “short film.” If Disney or Warner Bros. animated shorts had been longer, they may have been deemed short films.
Anime, generally associated with experimental or offbeat films, has lots to offer. Even in the early days of anime, there were many short films to pick from.
Best Anime Short Films
There are a variety of great anime short films that have been produced over the years. Here are some of the best ones:
- “The House of Small Cubes” – This Academy Award-nominated film tells the story of an old man who must revisit his memories by diving into his underwater house in order to retrieve his lost pipe.
- “She and Her Cat” – This heartwarming short film, produced by Makoto Shinkai, explores the relationship between a young woman and her cat, told from the cat’s point of view.
- “Little Witch Academia” – This charming short film follows a young girl who dreams of becoming a witch and attends a school for young witches.
- “Death Billiards” – This intense short film explores the afterlife through a game of billiards between two strangers.
- “Voices of a Distant Star” – This emotional film tells the story of two childhood friends who are separated by a space mission, communicating through text messages sent over increasingly long periods of time.
- “Pale Cocoon” – This dystopian short film takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity lives in a dome, and follows a young man who uncovers secrets about the past.
Neo Tokyo (1987)
“Labyrinth Tales” is a better title for this short film. The labyrinth is a girl’s thoughts while she plays hide-and-seek with her cat, Cicerone.
Her dreams of a lethal motor race and a technology-dependent country debuted at the Tky International Fantastic Film Festival the same year as its release. It was ranked #10 on Paste magazine’s “100 finest anime movies of all-time” list in 2021 and has inspired a library of dystopian science fiction and experimental films.
The Sensualist (1991)
Best Anime Short Films: The Sensualist is a sexual biography of the protagonist that begins in his youth and follows him into adulthood. It’s commonly seen as erotic art or experimental animation as opposed to pornography or “hentai” and features reflective periods that overlap into life, ageing, and physical beauty.
Based on “The Life of an Amorous Man” by Kshoku Ichidai Otoko. The animation employs the Edo Period background to create a sensuous and sumptuous atmosphere. It’s more about seeing the colourful kimonos move than the metaphorical sex.
Program (2003)
Program is one of The Animatrix anthology’s short films; it stands alone but makes greater sense in The Matrix world. The animation is current and made to seem lifelike. It employs limited colours and depends on its Matrix-inspired theme.
Unlike prior tales in this series, the audience knows the action is a simulation, but the nature is unknown until the end. The narrative references the original film, in which the traitor is among them and “the call is coming from within the ship.”
Cat Soup (2001)
Best Anime Short Films: This “experimental film” is famous for its unnerving animation and design. It begins with a little anthropomorphic cat nearly drowning and grows crazier and worse from there.
Nyata must trek through a scary and strange paradise to rescue his sister’s soul. Cat Soup is a terrific anime short film for lovers of the bold and innovative.
The Garden Of Words (2013)
The Garden Of Words may be found using search phrases like “piano music,” “rain sounds,” and “shoe design” The same year it was released, it received awards at the Stuttgart Animated Film Festival and Fantasia International Film Festival.
Simple slice-of-life storyline. Takao Akizuki skips lessons to build shoes in a garden pavilion. A young lady with an ambivalent attitude about her employment joins him, and together they “learn to walk again.”
Black Out 2022 (2017)
Best Anime Short Films: Blade Runner has five movies, not two as most people believe. Black Out 2022 is an animated short.
This anime short film depicts the Blackout, when the lights went out and everyone’s electronic records were erased. The incident occurs 10 years before Bladerunner 2049. Shinichiro Watanabe’s realistic approach complements the story’s weight.
Beyond (2003)
Beyond completes another girl and her pet narrative. This short anime film is likewise part of the Animatrix anthology, but has a different design and aesthetic than Program.
This anime short’s alternate title, “Beyond Reality,” describes it better. A girl takes her cat into a strange home where physics don’t apply, a common anime plot. Director Kji Morimoto was inspired by his animation short Neo Tokyo.
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