12th Animation Division Critiques

SUZUKI Shinichi

There was a total of 346 entries to this division this year. We had many fine works in the Short Animation Genre this year whereas there was no outstanding piece of work in long animations. As a result, a short animation, The House of Small Cubes, was selected as the Grand Prize winner with no objections. A man lives in a house amid an eerie silence that skillfully suggests global warming: this is a fine work and an impressive portrayal in which he quietly recounts memories of his family who left the house. The Excellence Prizes and the Encouragement Prize were decided after thorough discussion, and short animations commanded a majority again. KAIBA, which was selected from among the long animations, is a work by OVA with a surrealistic content and a fresh picture plane that feels to me to be close to a short animation. In the short animations, there were many fine works even among those that did not get a place. I hear that it is not easy for young Japanese people to stay in the field of Japanese TV animation industry because of financial considerations. However, the entries this year made me realize that there is undoubtedly a growing number of young artists in the independent short animation field.

Profile

SUZUKI Shinichi

Animation Director

Born in Nagasaki City, SUZUKI Shinichi started submitting his works to magazines, like "Manga Shonen" when he was a high school student. In 1955, he lived in Tokiwa-so, Tokyo with fellow manga artists. In 1956, he joined Otogi Production presided by YOKOYAMA Ryuichi, the author of Fukuchan, and ventured into animation. He worked for productions of Fukusuke and the first TV animation series in Japan Instant History. He established Studio Zero in 1963 with FUJIKO F Fujio, FUJIKO Fujio (A), ISHINOMORI Shotaro, TSUNODA Jiro, AKATSUKA Fujio and others. He also produced Osomatsu-kun, Pa-man, and others. He co-directed four films, including Mina no Egao by the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO with LAT, a Malaysian manga artist. Currently he is visiting professor of Bunsei University of Art and Director of the Suginami Animation Museum.