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Aru Tabibito no Nikki

Title:Aru Tabibito no Nikki
A Traveller's Diary
The Diary of Tortov Roddle
或る旅人の日記
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables:
This anime by Kunio Kato shows the surreal journey of a stranger, traveling on a Dali-like pig with giant legs and leading us in to an unconscious mixture of nightmare and dream.
Strange things happen to a traveller. Illustrative drawing on paper and 2d computer animation. Originally released as Shockwave Flash episodes (see link below).

[Web release, 2003, 6 short episodes + 3 DVD specials, 2-6 min, Animation by Robot; English fansub by TheJollyRoger]

Episodes:
  • The City Of Light (3min)
  • Midnight Cafe (2min)
  • The Little Town's Movie Gathering (3min)
  • Moonlight Travelers (3min)
  • The Melancholy Rain (3min)
  • The Flower And The Lady (4min)

  • The Red Berry (DVD Extra - 6min)
  • The Apple Incident (DVD Extra - 3min)
  • Fantasy (DVD Extra - 3min)

2:39min Trailer - YouTube Video
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Episode Details 
01, 02
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 10 4 4 9 10 10 Devil Doll #
[Score: 74% = Rent-]
  • Drama: Low (hardly any story of this traveller's episodic experiences)
  • Comedy: Low (a smile now and then at most)
  • Action: None (everything almost in slow motion)
  • SciFi: High (fantasy beings, surreal events)
  • Ecchi: None (watch this together with your children)
If you believe you've seen it all, if you think it just can't get any weirder or any more artsy than Tenshi no Tamago, go watch Aru Tabibito no Nikki. Invest 16 minutes of your time for this cute little nightmare in blue and green.

What you'll get is a journey back to the era of the Silent Movie: Not a single spoken word, but instead of seiyuus there are signs with some text inserted every now and then. You'll see surrealistic landscapes and deformed beings, with minimalistic Animation up to the level of looking amateurish. Then again, the Art is so different from anything anime today that it's quite an experience. And then the Music: Calm, soothing, minimalistic, instrumental; flutes weeping, winds blowing, fires crackling. Pure mood instead of action. Think Mushishi without text. Unfortunately for me there's hardly anything happening that could make the participating Characters relevant, so it wasn't easy for me to give this anime enough points for a "Rent".

This is really something else. But beware: After watching this extraordinary piece of surreal art you might dream of a fish swimming in your coffee.

Last updated Saturday, June 14 2008.

Other Sites
NameURL
Release Site for Shockwave version http://jp.shockwave.com/animations/drama/tabibito/

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