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http://youtube.com/watch?v=llDTHwzDuSw
This is one of the more delightfully creepy anime bits I've come across in a while, which considering it clocks in at not even 1/2 an hour, is saying something.
The story revolves around eight kids who, having had one of their friends, Sorincho (the sister of one of the kids) disappear while playing hide and seek in an abandoned city, decide to check it out for themselves and try to find. However, the rules for entering the city and playing Otokoyo (as they call it) are:
-You must wear a fox mask
-You must play at night
-There can only be seven people. The group that we follow brings eight, which comes into play towards the end.
Oddly enough, I got the vibe that this game was almost a rite of passage for kids in this world.
The story mainly plays off of old wives' tales about demons coming and kidnapping you if you play hide and seek at night. So I think you can guess what happens to our merry band. It's hard to go into too much detail about a 25 minute anime without giving away too much, but I will say the demons have this fantastic mechanical look and behavior to them, yet you (or at least I) still get the impression of biological critters.
Eventually, the kids come across a scroll that describes in intimidating detail exactly what demons (there are five in all) they've got chasing after them: Kimotori, The Liver Taker; Chitori, The Blood Taker; Aburatori, The Oil Taker; Kotori, The Child Taker; and Oni, the final demon.
The movie is entirely cgi. At this point, I've gotten sick to death of most cgi films (Pixar, and occasionally Dreamworks being the exceptions)... most of them look god-awful and seem lazily produced. Much to the credit of KaKuRenBo's creators, that growing hatred doesn't affect me here. It's a gorgeous piece of work, especially given the programs they used to make the film, and the designs for the demons are fantastic; Kimotori and Aburatori in particular. |
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