It is an animated short film released in Japan in 2017 by the author 山村浩二. It mainly shows documents of fictional monsters written by fictional monster scholars in medieval Europe. Where did they come from? Where were they going? Strange text and the ecology of monsters, unfolding with English and Japanese subtitles.
The background of the work is like a picture book of primary school students, which is cheerful, entertaining and full of imagination. I think the author wants to let the audience exert their imagination through such a technique of expression, and also shows the importance of animation principle.
I think the work has educational significance. It is just like a picture book, which introduces each character to the audience. Therefore, this presentation method can make the audience pay more attention to the characters. The large English and Japanese annotations are like those in popular science books, and the kraft paper in the background is more like reading a book.
The material used in the production is like a pen on the paper, which makes the audience feel brought in. The most common animation principle gives people the original animation, highlighting the design and imagination of each character in the short film.
In the short film, each character is placed in the center of the stage. As for the middle of the audience’s perspective, the fusion of weird and quaint is very interesting. The vivid image, interesting creativity, and rich colors make people feel like watching another picture book at any time. The background music in the film is a cheerful steel piano music, which is matched with the harpsichord. It is very advanced, and the music speed changes in an orderly way, allowing the audience to integrate into it.