Rintaro Revives a Lost 1933 Japanese Film With New Animated Short
The short treats the absence of a lost classic not as a footnote but as a creative challenge, using animation to reconstruct a piece of Japanese cinema history that no longer exists in its original form.
Reporting from 1 sources: Cartoon Brew.
Rintaro, director of Metropolis and Galaxy Express 999, has released his first film in over a decade: a 24-minute animated short based on a lost 1933 project by pioneering filmmaker Sadao Yamanaka. The short is free to watch online and uses silent-film intertitles, benshi-style narration, and character designs by Katsuhiro Otomo and Yoshinori Kanemori to imagine what Yamanaka's vanished work might have looked like.
Rintaro, the director behind Metropolis and Galaxy Express 999, has released his first film in over a decade. The 24-minute animated short, Nezumikozō Jirokichi, is based on a lost 1933 project by Sadao Yamanaka, a pioneering Japanese filmmaker who died at age 28 during World War II. Rather than simply referencing the missing work, Rintaro uses the short to imagine what Yamanaka's film might have looked and felt like. The piece opens with a scroll explaining the backstory, then unfolds through silent-film intertitles, benshi-style narration, and a jaunty score. Character designs come from Katsuhiro Otomo and Yoshinori Kanemori. The short is free to watch online.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.