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Robot Carnival
An anthology of various tales told in various styles with robots being the one common element among them.
Koji Morimoto
Koji Morimoto
Katsuhiro Otomo
Katsuhiro Otomo
Hiroyuki Kitakubo
Hiroyuki Kitakubo
Yasuomi Umetsu
Yasuomi Umetsu
Hiroyuki Kitazume
Hiroyuki Kitazume
Takashi Nakamura
Takashi Nakamura
Manabu Oohashi
Manabu Oohashi
Hidetoshi Ômori
Hidetoshi Ômori
Casts & Crew
Koji Moritsugu
Keiko Hanagata
Kumiko Takizawa
Aya Murata
Nariko Fujieda
Satoru Inagaki
Hideyuki Umezu
Ikuya Sawaki
Hidehiro Kikuchi
Daisuke Namikawa
Tatsuhiko Nakamura
Kei Tomiyama
Chisa Yokoyama
Katsue Miwa
Kaneto Shiozawa
Toku Nishio
James R. Bowers
Hikaru Kotono
Also Directed by Koji Morimoto
Five stories, five maestros, five styles and one common denominator: maximum creativity. Studio 4°C, the coolest label on the planet, invites us for the second time to an exclusive reunion of a talents with a group film, full of freedom and ingenuity, that goes from Mahiro Maeda's classic anime, to Kazuto Nakazawa's intricate urban sketches, Shinya Ohira's bedlam of color and Tatsuyuki Tanaka's animated cyberpunk. And as if that wasn't enough, Koji Morimoto, the studio big boss, is charge of putting the icing on the cake with fantafabulous piece of abstract poetry that would make a VJ die of ecstasy. The party of the year.
The story of an apparitious extraterrestrial and a vertically mobile prepubescent.
The film is set in the distant future in a city called Cahmpon. A scientist creates a synthetic life-form called Noiseman, which erases music from the airwaves by turning it into crystals. A group of Biker street kids rebels against this tyranny.
A little-known adaptation of "Jack and the Beanstalk," directed by Morimoto Kouji and produced at Studio 4°C in 1989 for the collection "Anime Video Art Collection," a series of animated shorts based on stories for children. Released only on VHS.
Straight from the creators of the groundbreaking Matrix trilogy, this collection of short animated films from the world's leading anime directors fuses computer graphics and Japanese anime to provide the background of the Matrix universe and the conflict between man and machines. The shorts include Final Flight of the Osiris, The Second Renaissance, Kid's Story, Program, World Record, Beyond, A Detective Story and Matriculated.
A compilation of 14 short videos made by Studio 4°C’s directors and artists.
As a little boy Kei saw his fisherman father lost at sea only seconds after catching his parting gift of a pan flute carved from whalebone. A few years later young Kei and his kid brother Moito discover a baby whale trapped by a rock in a shallow inlet near the Spanish coast.
Animatrix is a collection of 9 short stories about the world of Matrix, in part written by the Wachowski sisters. The tales are a fusion of computer graphics and traditional Japanese anime. The series deals with the stories that precede the Matrix, the final days of humanity's last cities, the war against machines and the fall of the human species.
While looking for her cat, a young woman and some kids find an abandoned building where strange things happen and the rules of physics don't always apply. Part of the Animatrix collection of animated shorts set in the Matrix universe.
Six men and women who are completely underground to one another have been given false memories and are living together as a family in a capsule hall. They know nothing about the outside world, and that they are broadcasted as a real-life soap opera in the imaginary community of Champon City.
Also Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo
Otomo Katsuhiro’s short anime story
Salaryman Tsutomo Sugioka is dispatched into the heart of a dangerous jungle in order to halt a construction project after the foreman's mysterious disappearance. There, he discovers the deadly and uncontrollable world created by the automated construction robots. When the chief robot is resistant to his orders, Tsutomo must figure out another way to stop the project before his company's financial losses become too great.
A short movie about a guy living in his own world.
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
Mushi are beings in touch with the essence of life, far more basic and pure than normal living things. Most humans are incapable of perceiving Mushi and are oblivious to their existence, but there are a few who possess the ability to see and interact with Mushi. One such person is Ginko who travels from place to place to research Mushi and aid people suffering from problems caused by them.
A Yakuza underling is given the assignment to rid an apartment of its tenants within a week. He tries a variety of desperate tactics to no avail. Soon his problems get worse as an evil spirit makes its presence known.
The city of Edo, the 18th century. Owaka, the daughter of a merchant family, and her childhood friend Matsukichi. The two were drawn to each other, but Matsukichi has been disowned by his family, and is working for the city fire brigade. Meanwhile, negotiations begin for the arrangement of Owaka's marriage. Unable to let go of her thoughts of Matsukichi, her mad emotions make her bring about a massive inferno which razes Edo. By chance encounter, the two meet again amidst the fires.It is an epic spectacle set against the stage of the massive metropolis of Edo.
The story takes place in the near future on a space colony under construction. An action-adventure story of some boys in this peculiar environment and society who keep living their lives while they’re being tossed about by fate.
Three shorts directed by the same names that brought you Metropolis, Ninja Scroll, and Akira. It begins with “Labyrinth Labyrinthos”, a story of a maze in a child's mind, directed by Rintaro. Next Yoshiaki Kawajiri gives us “The Running Man”. This is a futuristic formula one race is set on a deadly track. Lastly Katsuhiro Ôtomo describes a struggle to shut down an entirely automated facility in “Construction Cancellation Order“.
After receiving a package from his grandfather, Ray, a young inventor who lives in England during the mid-19th century, finds himself caught in the middle of a deadly conflict related to a revolutionary advance in steam power.
Also Directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo
A freelance reporter stumbles on a desperate military operation. An army chopper has crashed and its cargo has been activated. Now there are two killer androids running loose in the wilderness and have the daughter of their inventor as their target. Can the army stop them or can the reporter reach the little girl before the droids do?
Jotaro Kujo and his comrades who have developed mysterious powers known as Stands. Jotaro, his grandfather Joseph Joestar and their allies travel to Egypt in search of the evil and immortal vampire Dio Brando, now known solely as "DIO" to save Jotaro's mother Holly, whose Stand has awakened and threatens to consume her in 50 days. Meanwhile, DIO has commissioned a number of assassins with various types of deadly Stands to destroy them before they can reach him.
A compilation of 14 short videos made by Studio 4°C’s directors and artists.
In Japan, the vampire-hunter Saya, who is a powerful original, is sent by her liaison with the government, David, posed as a teenage student to the Yokota High School on the eve of Halloween to hunt down vampires. Saya asks David to give a new katana to her. Soon she saves the school nurse Makiho Amano from two vampires disguised of classmates and Makiho witnesses her fight against the powerful demon.
An anthology of various tales with robots being the one common element among them. It consists of nine shorts by different well-known directors, many of whom started out as animators with little to no directing experience. Each has a distinctive animation style and story ranging from comedic to dramatic story lines.
The 60-second film features six fierce samurai who rush through a post-futuristic megalopolis using the most unpredictable means of transport (including a kite!) as to make it on time for the last order at their favorite pub.
Mr. Takazawa, an elderly invalid who is cared for at his home by Haruko, a young nursing student, is chosen by the Japanese Ministry of Public Welfare to test the Z-001, a computerized hospital bed with robotic features that allegedly displays more efficiency and skills than any human nurse, but Haruko mistrusts a machine unable to consider human feelings.
Also Directed by Yasuomi Umetsu
The target of hitgirl Mikura is a wealthy baseball team owner, but he turns out to be a powerful underworld boss. Mikura and her team are beset by countless heavily armed bodyguards and the boss' vicious daughter.
KITE Liberator is an American-released, Japanese-produced direct-to-video anime film and sequel to Kite. It was also adapted as a manga serialized in Comic Valkyrie magazine. The online rights to the film were acquired by Sony Pictures, but the home video rights belong to Anime Works. Unlike the first film, Kite Liberator does not have any sex scenes at all, and includes a different cast of characters. It was released on March 14, 2008 and bundled with Kite: Director's Cut.
Sawa may seem innocent and naive, but don’t be fooled. She is a cold-blooded killer, and if you’re on the wrong side of the law, you may be her next target. Not content to just watch as the imperfect justice system lets more and more criminals go loose every day, a detective decides to train the young Sawa to be his instrument of justice.
An anthology of various tales with robots being the one common element among them. It consists of nine shorts by different well-known directors, many of whom started out as animators with little to no directing experience. Each has a distinctive animation style and story ranging from comedic to dramatic story lines.
Also Directed by Hiroyuki Kitazume
The planet Libertia was once known as “the planet of death”, until humanity built three giant mirrors and created what seemed like an ideal land. It is on this planet that Professor Grace and his granddaughter Alcia live peacefully… until their home is attacked by Guild soldiers looking for the professor and for Legaciam – a special Armor that can resist extreme heat, allowing it to go to areas where humans would not survive normally. Alcia, who was at the time piloting Legaciam in order to help her grandfather with the testing, manages to get away… barely. But the Guild is determined to get Legaciam by any means necessary...
An anthology of various tales with robots being the one common element among them. It consists of nine shorts by different well-known directors, many of whom started out as animators with little to no directing experience. Each has a distinctive animation style and story ranging from comedic to dramatic story lines.
Gaiarth - a world devastated by a cataclysmic war, where pockets of humanity struggle to survive amidst the wreckage of technologies made magical by ignorance. Gaiarth - a world where artificially intelligent machines doggedly pursue their programmed imperatives: to protect, or destroy, humanity. Gaiarth - a world in which an old and terrible evil has reawakened, threatening to once again bring forth Armageddon!
A naïve young girl accidentally modifies her brother's secret superhero uniform and becomes the unwilling superheroine Moldiver.
Also Directed by Takashi Nakamura
Fantastic Children is a Japanese animated television series created by Takashi Nakamura and produced by Nippon Animation. It first aired on Japan across TV Tokyo between October 4, 2004 and March 28, 2005, totaling 26 episodes, and also received its satellite television premiere on the CS television network Animax. The series was later translated and dubbed by Animax into English for broadcast across its English-language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia. It is licensed in North America by Bandai Entertainment, who also produced a separate English dub for release in the region.
The story centers around two close siblings, Ylion and Callysia. One day, because the siblings' father tried to capture a unicorn, Callysia is spirited away. A decade later, Ylion has grown up to become a powerful warrior. With a sword of unicorn horn from the king, Ylion sets off for the mid-air garden where unicorns live.
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
An anthology of various tales with robots being the one common element among them. It consists of nine shorts by different well-known directors, many of whom started out as animators with little to no directing experience. Each has a distinctive animation style and story ranging from comedic to dramatic story lines.
Late 19th century Japan: a studio photographer who always captures his clients’ best smile. One day he tries to coax a smile out of a little girl, but… A nostalgic tale of a relationship that transcends wars and disasters.
A mean older sister “Bubulina” and a serious younger sister “Bubu.” A unique movement special to animation depicts a cute but noisy trouble. “A thrilling noisy action animation” by director Takashi Nakamura with all his might.
The story involves a boy and his younger sister whose dog Papadoll is missing. They find out that he has been abducted by anthropomorphic cats to be brought to a world called Banapal Witt, which is built on top of a giant sleeping cat. There the sun turns poor Papadoll into a bizarre giant monster. He becomes the weapon and beloved pet of a spoiled Princess who turns everything she touches into balloons. She plans to use Papadoll and a giant inflatable mouse to control the sleeping cat and thus Banapal Witt itself.
A Tree of Palme is an interpretation of the Pinocchio tale. It concerns a small puppet, Palme, who was tasked by his creator to look over his ailing wife, Xian. After her passing, Palme is visited by a mysterious woman who he mistakenly believes to be Xian. Shaken out of his sadness, Palme accepts her request to deliver something special to a far-off place known as Tama. This sets Palme off on a journey to discover his own emotions, and what it truly means to be human.
Also Directed by Manabu Oohashi
An anthology of various tales with robots being the one common element among them. It consists of nine shorts by different well-known directors, many of whom started out as animators with little to no directing experience. Each has a distinctive animation style and story ranging from comedic to dramatic story lines.
Also Directed by Hidetoshi Ômori
After Japan's economic bubble burst the country slowly recovered, but dirty politicians still make deals with dirty businessmen so that they can both profit from the hard work of others. Keiichi Suzuki, head of Ōshika Construction, and Seijiro Matsuzaka, one of the members of parliament, have a deal going on that allows Ōshika Construction to use fewer materials in their projects while still letting their buildings get approved for business use. Unfortunately for them, the Government Crime Investigation Agency, the Japanese government-approved but independently-run equivalent to the FBI, is already on the move. Jotaro Zaizen, a long-thought-dead police officer, is the agent on the Ōshika case and gathers a group of people who have reasons to fight Suzuki and Matsuzaka. To help combat the GCIA, though, Suzuki hires the Haoukokuryu-kai, a yakuza group.
An immortal beast-man of supernatural lusts, Amano Jaku escapes prison to gratify his appetites at Meishin College. But the campus is not just a hotbed of luscious coeds - it's the breeding ground of a hideous monster! The Ultra God is Amano Jaku's nemesis, a vile killing machine, and the ancient harbinger of the coming apocalypse. Now, immortals will clash in a battle that will bathe the Earth in innocent blood!
An anime biography on Megumi Yokota, who was abducted by North Korea in 1977 when she was 13 years old. North Korea acknowledges abducting her and at least 12 other Japanese residents during the 1970s and the 1980s, but the country has not provided any conclusive evidence on her fate and most of the others.
FESTIVAL OF OGRES' REVIVAL (1988) was the first volume in a series of five anime adaptations (1988-94) of the Peacock King ("Kujaku-O") manga by Makoto Ogino. The plots of the first three volumes focus on the spirits of key Japanese historical figures being reborn to wreak havoc on modern Japan by taking over the souls of vulnerable young mediums. It is one of the most consistently imaginative series of occult thrillers in Japanese animation and offers the standard hard-edged appeal of the genre--demons, monsters, bloodshed, nudity, possession, etc.--along with an immersion in Japanese cultural history and superior artwork and design.