As we have recently seen in the Netflix’s “Bubble”, the whole concept of parkour can be implemented in anime in the most impressive fashion. Yusuke Gonji tries to do the same in his 5-minute animation short, in a whole different approach however.
“Goodness” is screening at ShortShorts
Ethan is a young man who lives on the top of a small village built on a hillside by the sea. As the story begins, he is about to have a date with a girl, which is why he is looking repeatedly at his alarm clock, as he cannot wait for the time. Unfortunately, he realizes that the device is broken, and that he is actually 20 minutes late. In his urge to reach his destination as fast as possible, he starts jumping from the top of the town towards the bottom, where the date is, from one roof to another, in the most dangerous but also impressive away. Alas, a young kid suddenly appears and mocks his effort, just before he slips and is about to fall from a cliff. Ethan jumps with him and manages to save him, but this additional delay makes him miss his date. Fate, however, seems to favor the virtuous.
Mostly done in CGI, Yusuke Gonji’s short focuses on entertainment, in a style, as indicated by the context, the drawing and the rather bright coloring, that seems to address kids for the most part. The main comment, that when doing good deed the universe will find some way to return the favor, also moves in this direction, as much as the whole cheerful approach to the events and the finale.
At the same time, the short is also quite impressive in the action scenes, with Ethan’s descent, and his jumping down the cliff being rather nicely animated, especially in the flow of the movement, highlighting the work done in the particular aspect of the film. The characters are also nicely drawn, looking like westerners particularly due to the size of their eyes, with the art also following the aforementioned path.
At 5 minutes, there is not much more to say about “Goodness”. Regarding CG animation however, 1999-born Yusuke Gunji, seems to have what it takes to become a big name in the future.
