Anime, which is often connected with experimental or unconventional types of movies, has plenty to offer in this genre. Even the earliest days of anime included selections of short films in an impressive variety, and it’s difficult to choose the best of them.
7 Neo Tokyo (1987)
The Japanese title, “Labyrinth Tales” better describes the nature and design of this short film. The maze in this instance is the mind of a little girl who is playing hide and seek with her cat, which is aptly named Cicerone.
Her visions include a deadly auto race and a nation too dependent on technology, and premiered to a favorable reception at the Tōkyō International Fantastic Film Festival the same year as its release. It’s stood the test of time, and was rated #10 in Paste magazine’s “100 best anime movies of all-time” list in 2021, and has since inspired a whole library of dystopian science fiction and experimental movies.
6 The Sensualist (1991)
Essentially a sexual biography of the protagonist that starts in his childhood and follows him into maturity and his adult years, The Sensualist is often viewed as a piece of erotic art or experimental anime as opposed to pornography or “hentai” and has some introspective moments that overlap into life, aging, and physical beauty.
The movie is based on a book by Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko called “The Life of an Amorous Man.” It was published in 1682, the Edo Period, and the animation uses the historic setting to create a sensual and opulent environment. It’s more about watching the rich colorful layers of the kimonos move than the actual sex, which is always expressed to the viewer symbolically.
5 Program (2003)
Program is one of the short films that make up The Animatrix anthology, and it does stand alone but makes more sense when viewed in the context of The Matrix universe. The animation is unique, modern, and designed to look like a heightened form of reality. It uses few colors and relies instead on its creative premise, as a program in the Matrix.
Unlike other stories in this franchise, the viewer is always aware that the action is taking place in a simulation, but the nature of which is unclear until the very last moments. The plot is a callback to the original movie in which the traitor is among them and “the call is coming from inside the ship” so to speak.
4 Cat Soup (2001)
This is what’s called an “experimental film” and it’s iconic for its unsettling animation style and overall design. It starts with a young anthropomorphic cat almost drowning in a bathtub and gets even weirder and more terrifying from there.
The main character, Nyata, is the near-drowning victim who has to travel through a terrifying and surreal wonderland of sorts to retrieve the other half of his sister Nyaako’s soul. Their adventures aren’t exactly colorful and childlike fun, but they are interesting, so for anime fans that like the more daring and creative, Cat Soup is a great anime short film.
3 The Garden Of Words (2013)
Find The Garden Of Words under search terms like “piano music” “ambient rain sounds” and “shoe design” along with some of the top-rated anime of its time. The same year it was released, it was honored at the Stuttgart Animated Film Festival and the Fantasia International Film Festival, and won the Kobe Theatrical Film Award.
The plot is a simple “slice of life” type of story. The main character is Takao Akizuki, who skips what seems like his pointless classes to sit in a garden pavilion and make shoes. A young woman with an equally ambivalent attitude about her job joins him, and together they overcome their fears about life, which is symbolized by “learning to walk again.”
2 Black Out 2022 (2017)
Most people are under the impression that there are two movies in the Blade Runner franchise, but there are five of them. Three are short films, and one of those is the animated feature Black Out 2022.
This anime short film tells the story of the Blackout, an incident that is referenced in the full-length movie when the power was lost and everyone’s electronic records were wiped clean. The event is referenced several times in Bladerunner 2049 and takes place ten years before the full-length live-action movie. The director is Shinichiro Watanabe, whose other work includes Cowboy Bebop and Macross Plus, and his realistic style fits the gravity of the story.
1 Beyond (2003)
Beyond completes the circle that began with another story of a girl and her cat. This short anime film is also part of the Animatrix anthology, and uses the lore of the Matrix universe as the premise, but uses a completely different design and style than Program.
An alternative title for this anime short is “Beyond Reality” and that’s a more accurate description of what happens. A girl follows her cat into a strange house where the laws of physics don’t seem to apply, a recurring theme in short anime films. Director Kōji Morimoto is the director, and he took some inspiration from the anime short Neo Tokyo which is also part of his portfolio.
More: Great Mind-Bending Anime
