Animator Spotlight: Takashi Taniguchi
Anime isn’t only about maid costumes and ultimate power-ups. Sometimes it’s just bizarre. Like a story about a man who wants to be a penguin, or a fart that solves problems.
These are both real anime, and they’re both by Takashi Taniguchi, a renegade animator who isn’t well known in North America, but really ought to be.
Taniguchi is an independent animator with a quirky sense of humor. He draws, animates, and voice-acts his own strange shorts. Most are available on YouTube. Here’s a markedly dada tale of Mr. Ando, the oddest denizen of a very odd forest.
As you can clearly see, Taniguchi’s hyper-realistic character faces aren’t going to win any beauty contests. His imagining of a world filled with middle-aged salarymen gets taken to the next level in his predictably weird superhero short:
His premises are simple but innovative. You’d think six minutes of a stomach endlessly complaining would be boring, instead of wacky and lewd:
Taniguchi’s latest project, Onara Goro (Fart Goro), is also his most critically acclaimed, if you can believe it. Originally airing on YouTube like most of his works, Onara Goro received a TV series of five-minute shorts in summer 2016. Sadly, the TV series isn’t licensed for streaming yet. But if we live in a world where shows like Sekkou Boys and Gakuen Handsome get licensed, there may be hope.
Taniguchi makes some of the strangest anime there is, and that’s why we find it so endearing. Do you have a favorite animator that you wish would get more recognition?
—AB Blogger, Lauren Orsini
