ANI-MOVIES, *The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl

Intended as a spinoff of The Tatami Galaxy anime TV series which dealt with multiple timelines, The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl is based on a book by the same author, Tomihiko Morimi, who eventually wrote the equally absurd Penguin Highway. Anime director Masaaki Yuasa has a creative approach to his productions like Devilman Crybaby, Kaiba, Kick-Heart, and Mind Game, so his take on this trippy narrative fits perfectly. The 2017 anime movie went on to win several animation awards including Best Film which you will see why as the story carries on from one character to the other in one single night and how everyone is connected by the red string of fate, although not to the time-travelling extreme that Your Name took. Science Saru was the studio behind this creation and their unreal style that was later used in the Scott Pilgrim anime is out of this world.

Beginning at the night of a university festival in Kyoto, an unnamed young lady referred to The Girl with Black Hair starts her evening with some friends sampling alcoholic drinks and determined to try as unique a selection of booze as possible by gate crashing a multitude of separate parties and gatherings. While she is off on her excursion, an older student that the Girl treats as her Senpai is trying to finally confess his romantic feelings for her. The Girl carries on from weddings, to debate meetings, and the antics of the school's festival which is being highjacked by a roaming acting troupe whose leader is looking for the girl of his dreams so he can finally changes his underwear(don't ask!). The Senpai finds out that the Girl is looking for a children's book she cherished, so there is a good bit of it that takes place at an outdoor book fair which leads to some spiritual entanglements. While all this is going on, nearly everyone except the Girl catch a cold because of their interaction with each other. This leads to the Girl eventually making her way to Senpai's place after she hears that he is ill as well where the two youths finally confess their feelings.

The entire film isn't so much a single story but an ongoing narrative from several different perspectives about the meaning of life the fluctuates from exaggerated to dreamlike imagery at the drop of a hat. There are some annoying anime tropes in this like lecherous old men trying to grope young ladies in bars, and the cliche of someone working up the strength to reveal their hidden love for another, but these helps pace the movie out as it tries to cover a ton of material into a single feature. One of the more incredible bonuses in this are the musical numbers that the guerrilla theatre drama club keeps puting on at multiple locations throughout the movie, both in the English dub and Japanese language editions are exceptionally well done. Having an entire film take place over the course of a single night casted all with college students is a brilliant concept and should be explored by other anime creators as the slice-of-life stories of high schoolers is seriously overplayed. You can check out this broad-based acid trip brought to life which is available on streaming and Blu-Ray/DVD.