Hanasaka Jijii

Honestly, people are rating these anime like they're 2020 shit anime. And yes, by today's standards this is a bad anime. But this is 1917. Not 2020 or 2015 or 2009. And do you know how hard it was for these people to make animations? They had to HAND DRAW EVERY FRAME, take pictures, print it onto film, and make sure everything flowed together. One mistake and you have to take all the pictures again. Film was barely a thing, let alone animation. Also, this guy apparently got an eye disease from the cameras they used to ... take pictures. Please rate it based on the time period, not today's standards. I know this review has nothing to do with the animation itself, but i just wanted to put that out there are future reference.

Brought to life via animation by one of the known fathers of anime, Seitarō Kitayama, Hanasaka Jiijii (or Jiisan depending on where you get your old folk tale fix) is one of the oldest fables of Japanese culture. And is presented this time as a 6-minute short.

As most fables go this story has a moral point to make. In this instance, one about the trappings of envy and greed. It's also about a family and their dog, and it goes like this: an old couple finds their dog digging in their backyard and finds gold in the hole. A neighbor saw that happen and ... asked to borrow the dog to have it dig a hole in his garden, only to find bones in it. Angry, said neighbor killed the dog and told the couple the dog had just dropped dead. The couple grieved the dog and buried it under the fig tree where the gold had been found. In a dream, the dog's master heard the dog ask him to chop down the fig tree and make it into a mortar, and, believing it to be the dog's wish, did what he was asked. The couple put rice into the mortar that turned into gold, the neighbor did the same and turned it into rotten berries. Angered again, the neighbor burned the mortar and returned its ashes to the old couple, that in another dream was told to sprinkle said ashes on cherry trees, that subsequently bloomed as if through magic. The blossoming impressed the local Daimyō who gave the couple many gifts; the neighbor tried to do the same only to have the ashes enter the Daimyō's eyes and as consequence, was thrown into prison.

At least that's what the written fable tells because I certainly didn't understand it from the short alone. I'm sure a Japanese person can tell right away what story this animation is telling them and doubly sure they are more invested in it than I am, but I'm not privy to their culture and found it extremely hard to understand.

I don't find the story to be told well at all. Perhaps because of the primitive nature of animation at the time, but I had to watch it twice to realize the old man and the neighbor were different characters. From the dream sequence onwards I had not a clue of what was going on, reducing my appreciation of the story.

If I were to refer to the tale alone I would give it an 8 but I'm judging the short on its own so I can't in good conscience give it more than a 5 for mediocrity.

Rate a 3
english subtitles
art film

Story was designed to be a comedy but i failed to laugh. Perhaps the humor was more foreign based.

Story
hard to follow along. Perhaps the subtitles were not good.

Art
... Hard to see. Blurry. Black and white. Screen shakes. Colors need work. In some scenes the screen was tad bright.

Sound
No vocals or animated sound. Silent flick.

Character
somewhat built. moderately drawn well.

Enjoyment
This is at a much lower standard in everything in regard to what we see now on a daily basis but given the age it was built it was not bad as of then.

Sincerely,
Snapler