A college student sits down at a regal club and begins a drinking contest with an elderly loan shark. While they drink, the loan shark states how life is empty and hollow, while the student reflects how life is wonderful and how it brings her along many adventures in one night. That scene from “The Night is Short, Walk on Girl” is just the beginning for the protagonist’s night of dancing with philosophers, a book fair and a school festival, all of which lead to a surreal and raunchy evening in Kyoto, Japan.
“The Night is Short, Walk on Girl” is an anime film directed by acclaimed Japanese director Masaaki Yuasa. It is adapted from the novel by author Tomihiko Morimi, who made the critically acclaimed anime “Tatami Galaxy.” The film was released back in April 2017 in Japan and was distributed to America in the last month by GKIDS Films, a distributor company that focuses on animated movies usually outside the United States. The film won the Japan Academy Award for Animation of the Year this March, with critics and fans praising the film’s quirky cast of characters, Yuasa’s use of animation and its messages of time and romance.
One of the main characters that inhabits this world is Otome, or “The Girl with Black Hair”, an optimistic college student who makes it her goal to enjoy adult life through cocktails, fun and gravitating toward what interests her. The film uses the metaphor of a train for her life as whenever she goes from place to place, she heads out boldly with the sound of a train starting to move on the tracks. This evening also allows her to move along a meet a variety of raunchy and charming characters during her night on the town.
Another central character is Senpai, or “Senior”, a lovesick elder that almost obsessively attempts to court Otome during her lively night throughout town. He inserts himself in her life so that she thinks they’re meant for each other. We see visuals of him debating his true feelings among a UN council in his mind. At one point, he even enters in a challenge of eating spicy food just in order to win a picture book that Otome used to own as a child so he might win her heart.
On the aspects of animation, “The Night is Short” is greatly distinct, using expressive colors and visuals that sometimes are reminiscent of old Fleischer cartoons. We see this in moments like the odd dance of sophists that move like eels or the way drinks go down through a person as they finish it with a big gulp.
The visuals are also used creatively on locations and help frame the characters’ thoughts and actions. One instance is when Otome visits a used book open market, she refers to herself as a “deep sea fish” in an ocean of books. This is followed by the market being submerged with water, with books mimicking dolphin sounds and the clothes of the market’s customers moving like they’re underwater.
Time is also a key theme in the film. There is a focus on how people perceive time and what happens during a night out. At the beginning of the film, Otome’s watch is shown to be going slow and normal, while the people around her have their watches going fast. As the film goes on, some of the characters believe it’s been a whole year and realize how being around Otome makes the night seem longer.
Another question presented by the film is if love is either fated or a string of misunderstandings. That theme is explored with touching and hilarious moments throughout the film.
Overall, “The Night is Short, Walk on Girl” uses its plain, yet quirky animation to tell a surrealistic take on night life in Japan. It utilizes fun characters, expressive visuals and its themes to entertain audiences with laughs, fun and questions about how we perceive life through the eyes of a hopeful college student. It’s a cocktail of joy and humor that is sure to make the night a memorable one.
“The Night is Short, Walk on Girl” is has no rating, but has instances of alcohol and tobacco use and references, adult situations, language and sexual themes. Both the novel and the movie will be coming to America online and bookstores soon.