, literally Waltz of the Moon, is a 2004 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 created for the popular NHK

NHK

NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

 program Minna no Uta

Minna no Uta

, literally Everyone's Songs, is a five minute NHK TV and radio program broadcasting several times daily since 1961. The program is generally used as filler at the end of regular television programs...

by director Atsuko Ishizuka

Atsuko Ishizuka

is a Japanese animator and director at Madhouse, one of the leading animation production companies in the world. She was born on September 30, 1981 and has been with Madhouse since 2004.-Personal history:...

 and Studio Madhouse

Madhouse (company)

is a Japanese animation studio, founded in 1972 by ex–Mushi Pro animators including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. It has created and helped to produce many well known shows, starting with TV anime series Ace o Nerae! in 1973, and including western favourites Ninja...

.

Production

Minna no Uta, a showcase for independent Japanese animators and musicians presented on the public broadcasting

Public broadcasting

Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...

 network NHK

NHK

NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

, had taken notice of Atsuko Ishizuka while she was still in college. Initially a student of graphic design, Ishizuka had taken to animation and produced several short films entirely on her own before being hired by Madhouse. It was shortly after being hired that Minna no Uta contacted her to direct a music video for their program. Convinced by the Minna no Uta staff, Madhouse promoted the low-ranking Ishizuka (then a production assistant) to director, and lent the studio's resources to the production.

After production was completed, the music video was shown on Minna no Uta broadcasts from the beginning of October through November 2004. Its success later prompted NHK to order another short from Ishizuka and Madhouse, Sen no Hana Sen no Sora, in 2005.

Animation Style

The film is animated in Ishizuka's "moving sketch" style, giving the short the look of a hand drawn and colored pencil work. The animation and designs are not smooth or 'cleaned up,' giving them a rougher feel. This is stylistic continuation of Ishizuka's earlier solo works CREMONA and Gravitation, and has traditionally been a style more often seen in independent world animation rather than studio-produced anime. The animation itself was done by Madhouse veteran Yoshinori Kanemori. Despite the appearance, Tsuki no Warutsu was done in much the same way as Madhouse's normal anime, using the technique of digital ink & paint for the coloring. Great care was taken to disguise and cover these modern productions aids and ensure that the film look as hand-crafted and individual to Ishizuka's style as possible.

Music

The song of the same name which the short was animated to was composed and sung by the young musical vocalist Mio Isayama. The song was later released as Isayama's 8th single on December 1, 2004. The lyrics were penned by Reiko Yukawa, long known in Japan as a prominent music critic, and the arrangements were by Jun Abe, known for composing the music of the popular anime Kodomo no Omocha and Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket

, sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese magazine Hana to Yume, published by Hakusensha, from 1999 to 2006. The series was also adapted into a 26-episode anime series, directed by Akitaro...

.

Reception

According to Benjamin Ettinger of AniPages Daily, Ishizuka received "literally thousands of posts on the BBS at her home page" after Tsuki no Warutsu was aired. Ettinger himself called the film "probably among the best pieces made for the show Minna no Uta

Minna no Uta

, literally Everyone's Songs, is a five minute NHK TV and radio program broadcasting several times daily since 1961. The program is generally used as filler at the end of regular television programs...

in the last few years." The film was also popular enough to receive a home video release.

DVD release

As is the case for most of the Minna no Uta shorts, Tsuki no Warutsu was not originally intended for home video release. Nevertheless, on March 30, 2005, its popularity among fans of the program warranted the short's inclusion on the Minna no Uta Best Hit Collection DVD (Catalog No.: TOBF-5372).

External links

• Atsuko Ishizuka's Homepage - Tsuki no Warutsu