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REVIEW: Genius Party

Sounds great. Is this actually licensed/subbed, or is this a review of the Japanese compilation?

I haven't heard of this being licensed, but it's been making the film festival rounds in subtitled form.

I would so buy this. I like experimental/showcase animes like Neo-Tokyo, and Twilight Q.

I felt like the first short was pretty easily understood actually.

I felt like I'd seen Shanghai Dragon before and while the short was pretty well done I wanted a little more out of it.

I also found meaning in identity in Doorbell. The other self being some sort of challenge to the protagonist's identity making the protagonist fight to be himself rather than just go through the motions of life. I'll agree that I don't think it was entirely put together completely but I thought it made more sense.

We both seem to like Baby Blue. I'm not quite sure why I liked it but I felt invested in the characters.

One of the things I really liked about Genius Party was how subjective things were allowing the viewer to make the choice whether or not they wanted to carve meaning out of any given short, etc.

Really glad to see someone on a big site like ANN reviewing this film, especially Mr. Sevakis who is great as always, it doesn't feel like Genius Party is too well known in the states.

I agree with most of your critic, but for me Happy Machine is by far the masterpiece of this sketch film, it may even be the best work of one of Japan's leading directors and animators, Masaaki Yuasa (Kaiba, Kemonozume, Mind Game). I watched it 5 times already and I can't stop watching it Smile

Happy Machine reminded me of nothing so much as Rene Laloux's Time Masters. There's a similar connection between youth and old age, and a similar willingness to spoiler[kill adorable little creatures]. Laloux's Fantastic Planet supposedly influenced Yuasa's TV series Kaiba, so it wouldn't surprise me if Yuasa was deliberately paying homage to another Laloux film with Happy Machine.

Genius Party is indeed a hodgepodge in quality, but I would own it just for Happy Machine and Baby Blue.

Is there a release date for the DVD in America? It feels like I've been waiting a millennia for this to come out in some tangible form.

damn another anime thats a must to watch hope soon for a release in europe Mad

While watching/enduring/nodding off to "Limitcycle", I couldn't help but wish Eiko Tanaka (Studio 4ºC exec) had thrown down the hammer and told Hideki Futamura to cut the crap. What was that? The genius of sleep aid? That short brought the entire film to a grinding halt, even though the downturn began with "Deathtic" and "Doorbell".

The B grade is very generous. Me? I gave this film a C+ on the strengths of Watanabe, Kawamori, Fukushima and Yuasa's shorts. But it was the "Doorbell"/"Limitcycle" back-to-back that hurt any momentum the film had. It's a good thing I saw this on an early Sunday afternoon and not, say, sometime in the evening.

All that being said, I still want to see Genius Party Beyond because of Koji Morimoto, Mahiro Maeda, Kazuto Nakazawa and Tatsuyuki Tanaka's shorts. Four men I happen to be huge fans of. I hope they deliver shorts as good or better than Kawamori and Watanabe did.

I'm with Bob. I'm waiting eagerly for Genius Party Beyond, especially to see Tatsuyuki Tanaka's short film. I'm pretty confident it's going to be WAY less of a mixed bag than the first Genius Party was.

I've only watched Happy Machine and the title short so far. Atsuko Fukushima = love. I loved Happy Machine as well, it was kind've depressing but really enjoyable at the same time, and of course Yuusa is in top form with the animation again!
Limit Cycle seems to be getting a bad rep... and it was the short I was most looking forward to, damn. I think the visuals look stunning from the few screens I've seen. And the music by Fennesz is bloody gorgeous!
Looking forward to seeing Nicolas de Crecy and Koji Morimoto's efforts...

This anthology sounds worth buying just for Baby Blue! Very Happy

I love Cowboy Bebop (who doesn't?) and it's great to see more brilliance from Watanabe.

I just watched 3 of the shorts and by far Baby Blue is the best, it actually brought tears to my eyes, not because of the story, but because of the directing. Watanabe is a master at pacing and characterization.

What struck me as the saddest part about this short is how little Watanabe has done, and how much i want him to so much more. Watanabe capitalizes on what anime as a genre can do, tell an effective story, just as good as live action film. This is the kind of thing we, as fans, should expect, not some whiny vampires or some cool uber strong protagonist. Stories that provoke thought and emotion in their audiences, If this were a feature length film, i have no doubts it would have been nominated for best animated feature. Its, by far, the best animated film(anime or otherwise) that i have seen in a long, long, long time.

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REVIEW: Genius Party