Mind Game

Title:Mind Game
MindGame
マインド・ゲーム (Japanese)
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Studio 4°C
Music - KANNO Yoko
Nishi, an awkward young manga artist in Osaka, has had on longstanding crush on Myon. Thing is, Myon’s got a thing for rugged Ryo. Matters come to a head at her sister Yan’s yakitori restaurant, in the presence of the girl’s dissolute father—who happens to owe a bunch of money to a pair of creepy gangsters, who’ve come to collect. Things get ugly, and Nishi gets killed in a brutal, graphic fashion. End of the story? No way, that’s just the start. Pulling a fast one on God (in all his/her/its infinite manifestations), Nishi hightails it back to Earth, where he replays the crime to his advantage, steals a car and grabs the girls. Under a hail of yakuza gunfire, he bails off a bridge—and into the mouth of a whale. There, he and his two female companions encounter a tenacious and lively old man who has set up camp in the beast’s belly, longing to someday return to human company on dry land. With no immediate exit available, the quartet make do—fishing, fighting, making love, weaving tales of strange happenings on faraway planets and dreaming of life in the real world. Will they ever set foot there again?

(summary from ANIDB.NET)

104 minute long MOVIE
Produced by Studio 4°C


Winner of the 2004 Mainichi Award
* Ofuji Noburo Award: "Mind Game"

1:50min Movie Trailer (much-weirdness!!) - YouTube Video
Episode Details 
01
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 8 7 7 6 7 Ggultra2764 [series:1268#1552]
The title for this is rather fitting with how much of a mind trip the animation for it is. But then again, this is kind of expected with many of Studio 4C's animated projects. Mind Game mixes around CG, surreal, abstract, rotoscoping and a number of other animation styles to tell its rather bizarre and trippy tale of a young loser, his love for a woman with eyes for another man, his encounter with yakuza, tricking God into bringing him back to life and getting into a car chase that leads him to being swallowed by a massive whale. While this movie may seem to lack a coherent plot with how crazy its setup and animation are, it does actually have depth to it with Nishi and those trapped in the whale reflecting on their lives as we learn more of their pasts and what they aspired to do in their younger days before things in life got in the way. It won't be for everyone with how over the top the animation can be with the many styles employed. But if you're a big fan of animation and over the top developments for plot, this is worth a look.

Last updated Saturday, November 29 2014. Created Saturday, November 29 2014.
Rent 9 8 8 7 8 8 Dreamer [series:1268#2279]
This is one crazy and weird movie. In the ensuing chaos, there's actually a bit of order and entertainment.

Art, Animation & Character Designs
The artwork here is.... how do I explain it? Umm.... really strange. It's not horrible. It's not bad quality or below par. Rather, it's surreal, artistic, oddly yet beautifully grotesque and.... strange.

Music
The music is a mix of various instruments, mostly pianos and wind instruments. For the most part, they weren't bad at all.

Series and Episode Story
Okay, so how do you categorize something of this nature? I'm hard pressed to really explain what I just saw and how fit it to a category we all know. This is a crazy mash of events that take place everywhere. From high speed chases, to cafe hold ups and murders, to being swallowed up by a whale. It's full of crazy animation, action and believe it or not, fun entertainment... even if it doesn't make sense at all.

Overall, it's a trippy ride that will bound to get your head twisted, mind blown and crazy entertainment.

Last updated Wednesday, May 13 2009. Created Wednesday, May 13 2009.
Rent Jan-Chan [series:1268#967]
I have been coming across some of Studio 4°C creative works for a while now .. and they are just OUT THERE in terms of creativity and strangeness. While I like this movie (and most of their other works), I can only rate this as a rent because it is just TOO strange and bizarre to really try to describe or categorize in any rational or logical way.

Using a mixture of animation and digitally altered live action snippets, Mind Game does not care if the story really makes any sense, nor does it pretend to try to follow any linear story-line - it just manages to start off with a BANG, and not stop for 100 minutes. Words that might best describe this movie are.. surreal.. unreal.. bizarre.. strange.. but also fast and fun. My question is - where did that whale come from and what the %%%%%% is really going on?

Last updated Wednesday, August 02 2006. Created Sunday, December 11 2005.

Other Sites
NameURL
Official Studio 4C Japanese Web Site http://www.mindgame.jp/

Community Anime Reviews

anime mikomi org