This might be the time to give some thoughts about Anime Mirai, aka this year’s iteration of the Young Animator Training Project. For those who don’t know, it’s a group of four one-shots funded by the Japanese government and produced by notable studios as training grounds for new animators. They’re always at least watchable, and there’s often a gem hidden among them. (See last year’s Wasurenagumo, for example.)
This year, everyone is looking forward to Studio Trigger’s contribution, Little Witch Academia. (They’re the TTGL/Panty&Stocking/Redline people, hence the hype.) And, well, it isn’t as visually distinctive as those, and certainly isn’t breaking any new ground. It’s just a very well-told and well-animated story made from stock elements, with enough enthusiasm and care to the details to make it very fun indeed.
On the other hand, I’m puzzled by Arve Rezzle. It’s a decent sci-fi premise (dude finds out his comatose sister’s body is now inhabited by another person (who’s amnesiac and can’t explain), and then commandos start attacking. The thing is, this is clearly a pilot for a longer story ; nothing whatsoever is resolved by the end of it. Which kinda defeats the purpose of these shorts, really. It’s okay, just incomplete.
(I’ll comment on the other two when subs surface.)