Saturday Matinee: Genius Party double feature

Synopsis from Shout Factory:

“Simply mind-blowing. A must see!” – Niels Matthijs, Screen Anarchy

From groundbreaking animation outfit STUDIO 4°C (MFKZ, Mind Game) comes two extraordinary projects with a shared, simple vision: to take an all-star team of some of the best animators working in anime today, and give each free reign to tell a unique short story built around “the spirit of creativity.” The results are GENIUS PARTY and GENIUS PARTY BEYOND, two animated anthology films featuring contributions from directors Shoji Kawamori, Shinichiro Watanabe, Masaaki Yuasa, Mahiro Maeda, and many others. Full of boundless imagination, fantastic worlds, and unique visual styles, these two acclaimed films are now available for the first time in North America.

Watch both films through Kanopy here:

https://www.kanopy.com/product/genius-party

https://www.kanopy.com/product/genius-party-beyond

 

Saturday Matinee: Blade Runner Black Out 2022

In 2022, an EMP detonation has caused a global blackout that has massive, destructive implications all over the world. Directed by Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo’s Shinichiro Watanabe, Blade Runner Black Out 2022 is a new animated short which serves as a prologue for the feature film Blade Runner 2049.

Saturday Matinee: Terror in Resonance

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“Terror in Resonance” is an 11 episode anime series directed by Shinichirō Watanabe (director of a number of cult anime titles such as Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy and Samurai Champloo). This latest series (known in Japan as Terror in Tokyo) centers on two teenage terrorist masterminds code-named Nine and Twelve who collectively go by the name Sphynx. They set off a number of targeted bombs around the city while releasing videos designed to communicate cryptic messages to authorities. What starts off as a conventional “cat & mouse” detective story gradually becomes an even more intriguing parapolitical parable. Terror in Resonance stands out for its mixture of elements from Akira, Dark Angel and V for Vendetta and references to familiar topics in the conspiracy milieu such as thermite bombs, remotely piloted planes, EMPs and human experimentation.

Watch the first five episodes for free on Hulu: