Manabu Otsuka

A factory explosion plunges a small town into a timeless freeze, leaving teenage Masamune and his pals to grapple with a quickly collapsing reality.

Rare access to animation filmmaker Oshiyama Kiyotaka (Look Back) allows cameras to follow as he dives into creating his latest film. Having honed his skills under legendary titans Miyazaki Hayao and Anno Hideaki, Oshiyama's process astonishes. It is one where he wears many, many hats. Also, interviews with the creators of the Academy Award-winning "Magic Candies", as well as A-list directors from the world-renowned production house MAPPA reveal the current state and concerns for the future of the anime industry.

Kyoto during the Heian period (the 10th century) in Japan. Tens of thousands dead, gutters filled with corpses, children abandoned in the mountains, and groups of wild dogs vigilantly watching outside the city. The elegant image of the Heian period has been shown in many literary and artistic works. However, Katabuchi's new work takes us back to Kyoto a thousand years ago, when the city was shrouded in darkness due to repeated epidemics of plague.

A factory explosion plunges a small town into a timeless freeze, leaving teenage Masamune and his pals to grapple with a quickly collapsing reality.

Kyoto during the Heian period (the 10th century) in Japan. Tens of thousands dead, gutters filled with corpses, children abandoned in the mountains, and groups of wild dogs vigilantly watching outside the city. The elegant image of the Heian period has been shown in many literary and artistic works. However, Katabuchi's new work takes us back to Kyoto a thousand years ago, when the city was shrouded in darkness due to repeated epidemics of plague.