Just saw How Do You Live (Boy and the Heron). In short, it delivered but this isn't a review, we're chatting about a single animator. Avoiding all trailers I was surprised to see this opening scene:
That's definitely Shinya Ohira, I thought.
Often I wonder about the process of an artist bringing a concept to reality. Starting life as an idea, it gets filtered, drained and blemished through the process of reaching the audience.
When I see Ohira's scenes I become aware of my heartbeat as if it's synchronizing with his.
Though I first saw his work on Akira, this short from the Animatrix was THE ONE. I still call it "Ya Know, The Skateboard Kid" and people know exactly what I'm talking about.
Ohira's opening scene in How Do You Live was left uncorrected which worked with the nightmarish atmosphere of the sequence. I'd imagine bringing his work on-model has to be hell.
You're watching an anime and suddenly, THAT SCENE pops up. Kill Bill, Howl's Moving Castle, Ping Pong, you know the ones.
In animation, they want you to stay on-model, keep the show cohesive, but speaking as one that works in the industry, I want to be seen.
You're watching something and get asked, "Wanna see something really cool?" and you get this crazy animation flex. I want to see artist go wild. Gimme THAT SCENE!
