Audience reviews
13 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
immosha
Anthology movie of various animation greats. Very hit and miss set of shorts here, but if you're looking to expand your animation repertoire, this is probably not something you should skip.
Genius Party - great recognizable symbology that serves perfectly for the movie. Really appreciate the idea of outward inspiration, internal passion, and the electric spread of ideas that is so inherent to art. Great technicality in effects animation.
Shanghai Dragon - I hate narratives involving incompetent children as a focal point as it often involves watchers' frustration, but I was shut up by the end. The importance of "incompetent" children unfettered by practicality and society, allowed to exhibit their own creativity, was actually really well told by this short and I appreciated it. The heavy…
Read at the sourcetheroboxer
Right off the bat, let me say this isn’t for your popcorn-munching, "just here for a good time" crowd. This collection of seven short films from a slew of Japanese animation heavyweights takes creativity and sprints right off the deep end, diving into everything from existential crises to pure, unfiltered chaos. Each segment has a unique visual style and narrative flavor, which can be disorienting, sure, but that’s part of the charm. Think of it as a surreal rollercoaster, where each twist and turn delivers something unexpected, and you’re not even sure if you’re gonna be upside down or flying off the tracks.
The first piece, Genius Party, is a burst of surrealist energy, and it sets the tone by slapping you across the face with its “what the hell is happening” vibe. It’s followed by Sha…
Read at the sourceCiaran_Zagami
If I could sum this collection up in three words its "not for me"
I detest art and metaphor. Just come out and say what you mean, the only people who need to hide behind fancy words are those who have nothing to truly say.
Most of the shorts fall under "please interpret me" art. Even my favourite the one called "Happy Machine" feels like just an overlong metaphor for birth, life and death.
Two of the three I liked, Happy Machine and Deathic4 really suffer from it but come out ahead because they feel like someone was actually trying to tell a story with Deathic4 and Happy Machine was at least cute looking.
My favourite Baby Blue has an actual plot. It's about a boy and a girl cutting class and going on an adventure, mostly just for the heck of it but there are some deeper themes that…
Read at the sourceGatsu-chan
Genius Party is a breathtaking little collection of amazing short stories. All of the stories Genius Party, Shanghai Dragon, Deathtic 4, Doorbell, Limit Cycle, Happy Machine, and Baby Blue are creative and encapsulating. I enjoyed six out of seven of the stories, Limit Cycle being the one I least enjoyed. The rest of the stories are truly unique experiences and have a defined artistic direction. Genius Party the first film is mesmerizing, captivating and leaves me with a positive feeling after watching. Genius Party has entertaining imagery with a symbolic story as many of these stories do. The second film Shanghai Dragon is funny, adorable, and kinda awesome. The mc is a boy and he is adorable. The mc is surrounded by action and fantasy with really well done cool fight scenes. The third f…
Read at the sourceJborja105
Genius Party [Opening]: groovy music, I like it
Shanghai Dragon : it's cute I guess
Deathtic 4 : you ugly, not much to say
Doorbell: Saramago called, he said he did it better; some interesting ideas by the end though
Limit Cycle: Oh my god, shut up, this was so pedantic and dull. 20mins in length but felt like an hour Happy Machine : might feel a bit draught out but Yuasa always manages to compel you to stick around
Baby Blue : Shinkai in shambles. The most "short and sweet" out of all of them. Would love to see another anthology film or OVA by Watanabe.
Read at the sourceTerajima
· 'Genius Party' Atsuko Fukushima:
A kind of metaphor without dialogues about the creators and the public. Good start, very good animation, colorful, original and a good sound accompaniment. 6/10
· 'Shanghai Dragon' Shoji Kawamori:
Fifty years ago some Chinese children discover a strange sword in the schoolyard, one of them picks it up and it lights up. If the thing started well with the first short this second one breaks that feeling. Neither the animation, nor the story or anything have something special, and not only that, it also tells something very typical in the world of manga and anime, and also with that geek tone that unfortunately presents so many things in that industry. 2/10
· 'Deathtic 4' Shinji Kimura:
A zombie child has a living frog, zombie police punish anyone who has a…
Read at the sourceJaniel127
I'll keep this simple. I'll give a rating for each short then an overall rating.
1. Genius Party - 8
2. Shanghai Dragon - 9
3. Deathtic 4 - 4
4. Doorbell - 5
5. Limit Cycle - 1
6. Happy Machine - 8
7. Baby Blue - 10 Simply put, Genius Party had a great start and ending (obviously Baby Blue and Shanghai Dragon being the standouts), but a bad middle (with Limit Cycle being the worst). If you are planning to watch this then please skip Limit Cycle it's awful, I can't stress that enough. Overall this was a good anthology series that I would recommend simply for the experience alone.
Overall Rating - 7
Read at the sourceBlackjester57
I'm writing this review to rate each short film separately since it obviously doesn't make sense to give all of them one shared rating.
These ratings are based on MAL /10 guidelines (1 being "Appalling" 10 being "Masterpiece" etc)
Genius Party - Clearly meant to be an introduction for the longer films in Genius Party, this short of the same name somehow manages to become repetitive in its measly five minutes runtime. There is some pretty good art and animation but overall it never becomes too interesting. It seems like something I won't remember watching in a week. 5/10
Shanghai Dragon - Fun to watch. Great action scenes. Touching story. 8/10
Deathtic 4 - I don't know language they are speaking. 5/10
Doorbell - With something like this everything hinges on how the ending of the film p…
Read at the sourcePo_and_Dong
Since Genius Party is a compilation anime with no overarching connection, I'll post what I thought about each one in the order of my favorites.
7. Limit Cycle
This one was really bizarre. This is the longest short at about 18 minutes, but struck me as the worst of the whole thing. Basically a man made out of static and moving motifs goes on a very long, fast paced speech about.... literally nothing. Usually if I see someone say something attempted to sound complicated but falls under its own weight I don't believe them, but I see this as one of those cases. The man talks about a variety of philosophical, religious, sexual, and biblical topics with absolutely no context, all in one stream. This must have been a nightmare to sub, it was almost a nightmare to watch as well. Maybe the point o…
Read at the sourceHybridMedia
Not known to many anime aficionados mainly because there isn’t an English translation, which can make it harder to know about what they’re going through, both of these pieces come from Studio 4°C, who previously known for works like The Animatrix (“Kid’s Story”), Batman: Gotham Knight (“Have I Got A Story For You”, “Working Through Pain”) Transformers Animated, Thundercats ’11 and another movie that I’m going to review after this one.
This is going to be a break for the norm, since Genius Party & Genius Party Beyond is a collection of short 12 anime films (7 from Genius Party, 5 from GP Beyond) from unknown to well-known anime directors; I’m going to break down each and every short one by one.
Let’s start with the shorts of Genius Party:
Genius Party: While this is just the 5-minute…
Read at the sourcesugarplumfairy
Genius party brings a group of directors, each of which assigned an 5 to 20 minutes episode. The result? 7 unique pieces of anime from across the board. When I think anime, this is the kind of thing I imagine - the huge variety and depth only animation can achieve.
Genius Party. First is a 5 minute ride through the surreal. It is lively and compelling and appears to take you through the unknown in this bizzare world. Fantastic. 8/10
Shanghai Dragon. Second shows that even a simple kid can save the world. It glimpses the somewhat "genius" of children, and their huge imagination which have adults have lost with time. Great animation and an interesting action packed storyline. 7/10
Deathtic 4 boosts brilliant 3D animation, but not much else. The storyline and characters all lack depth and…
Read at the sourcebuta_hill
Genius Party represents 7 short animated films made by various talented anime directors of Japan. Unlike 1 minute long Anikuri, creators had 15-20 minutes this time, to fully express themselves and have an impact on spectators. Each episode is special in their own ways so I'll comment laconic on every of them.
Genius Party – What an amazing way to begin the series! Atsuko Fukushima, also known from makin op/ed of Robot Carnival served her job and made an excellent introduction episode. It's very surreal, full of symbolisms and graphic looks also a lot better than in Robot Carnival.
Shanghai Dragon – Yet again we see Shouji Kawamori from the different side. I really love his sense of humour. I enjoyed watching Project Omega in Anikuri and this parody short isn't an exception either. Yea…
Read at the sourceSheepdude
The cell is the smallest unit of life. Its mechanisms are complex, and only after many years of observation and exploration have we begun to understand their functions. Certainly, the examination of multicellular organisms warrants a much more exhausting amount of research. Even more sophisticated is the existence of life so varied and so involved that it involves taxonomical classification schemes and entire bodies of research. Plants have different organs which serve specific purposes, are able to reproduce sexually, and perhaps most interestingly, transform sunlight into energy for life. Animals consume other creatures and have a conscience, exhibiting specific social and survival patterns and are able to learn from their experiences and transform their sensory input into wisdom. Humans…
Read at the source