The need to cultivate a new visual strutter for the 21st century

The fact that Flow by SAKAKIBARA Sumito, a sketch, won the Grand Prize was symbolic of the animation situation this year. The reason why the process of screening took time and the discussion was thrown into a state of extreme disorder was that the works were competitive with each other. In the Short Animation Division, the screening itself was enjoyable as the trends in both content and technology were growing into maturity was observed, but, in my opinion, further understanding was needed in how to structure the "changing function" as a visual image work. In the Long Animation Division, some works made us wonder if it marked a deviation from the assumptions of commercialism and here I also feel the loss of drama and sensitivity. In the opening of the 3rd volume of HOKUSAIMANGA by KATSUSHIKA Hokusai, it is written that, "It is easy to draw invisible demons and it is difficult to depict ordinary people". I hope that people who are involved in the animation industry would take the meaning of these words very seriously and develop a structure for a new visual image of the 21st century.