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Tonko House, dwarf Animate Short by Poupelle of Chimney Town's Akihiro Nishino
posted on by Alex Mateo
California-based studio Tonko House (Oni: Thunder God's Tale), dwarf studios (Rilakkuma and Kaoru), and Akihiro Nishino — creator of the Poupelle of Chimney Town (Entotsu-chō no Poupelle) picture book — announced at the Oni Exhibition in Tokyo on Monday that they are animating a short titled "Bottle George." Nishino is writing the screenplay for the stop-motion animated short, and he is credited for the original work. His Chimney Town company is co-producing.
Tonko House's Daisuke "Dice" Tsutsumi (Hayao Miyazaki's nephew-in-law) is directing the short and is also writing the screenplay. dwarf studios' Noriko Matsumoto (Rilakkuma and Kaoru) is the producer.
The short explores the relationship between George, a man trapped inside a small bottle, and Chako, a young girl who is scared of her alcoholic father. She is poor, but resilient, and she lives with her cat. The story depicts the light and darkness of people.
Tonko House and dwarf studios previously collaborated on the Oni: Thunder God's Tale CGI animated series. The four-episode series debuted on October. The Animation Is Film Festival hosted the theatrical world premiere of the series in the same month.
Studio 4°C's anime film of Nishino's Poupelle of Chimney Town (Entotsu-chō no Poupelle) picture book opened in Japan in December 2020 and ranked at #4 and earned 322,998,700 (about US$3.13 million) in its opening weekend. Eleven Arts began screening Poupelle of Chimney Town across North America in January 2022.
Source: Animation Business Journal (Tadashi Sudo)
