La notte è breve, continua a camminare ragazza

I saw this film at the Animation is Film festival in LA, on a huge screen in a packed theater fairly late at night -- probably the best way to see it. The story opens on a wedding, though the bride and groom play only an incidental role in the remainder. The heroine spends an incredibly long and eventful night at first drinking everyone under the table, then searching for a long-lost book, accidentally acting in a guerrilla play, and finally passing out remedies to a town overwhelmed by the same nasty cold. Various subplots proceed simultaneously, the most important of which is the pursuit of our heroine by Senpai, a smart but insecure fellow who is infatuated with her. None of this is in the least constrained by reality, and all of it is funny and sometimes touching. Catch it in a theater if you can.

(Warning: if you have a family history of alcoholism or have had problems with it yourself, you might want to skip this film! It unashamedly glorifies consumption of lots of alcoholic beverages while happily ignoring the real-world consequences.)

Super psychedelic romantic night in Kyoto Wonderland. But with the many, many nods to the Tatami Galaxy series, I would recommend that as mandatory viewing first to be in on all the jokes.

'The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl,' based on the novel by Tomihiko Morimi and directed by Masaaki Yuasa, is a film that I have been yearning to watch for quite some time. After waiting for the right time to watch it, it finally came to be that the day I watched it was today. It seemed like the right time for two reasons: One, I had just finished watching 'The Tatami Galaxy' (which I had viewed in preparation for this movie and enjoyed very much) this afternoon, and two, I was feeling a little bit down from all the news and viewpoints of our current social situation being thrown around and was in dire need of something that would liven me up again. 'The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl' did just that!

In the city of Kyoto, a young raven-haired university student sets off on a night of fun, adventure, and plenty of colorful alcoholic beverages to spare. During this time, she encounters an idiosyncratic group of Kyoto residents and dances her way through one incredible situation after another, charming everyone along the way with her optimistic personality and her high tolerance for liquor. Elsewhere, another university student pathetically strives to meet up with her and win her heart, constantly getting bogged down by a series of inconvenient obstacles.

Running at just an hour-and-a-half, 'The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl' feels like an adrenaline rush of unlikely circumstances and fantastical occurrences. Multiple events occur within the span of the night in which this movie is set. To name a few without spoiling the movie, there's a drinking contest with a supernatural being, a search for a long-lost children's book, and a guerilla theatre production featuring fabulous musical numbers, all pulled from the pages of Morimi's novel and brought to life with some of the most whimsical and hallucinatory works of animation ever seen in a film.

By the end of the film, I felt as though the night I had experienced with the raven-haired hero had lasted an eternity, and I enjoyed every single minute of it. It's a gorgeous, candy-colored dreamlike experience with an all-out sense of wacky sweetness, and I doubt I'll be seeing anything like this for a while.

For anyone with even a slight interest in animation, this is an essential watch. For those willing to go the extra mile, I highly recommend viewing 'The Tatami Galaxy' in advance.

Night Is Short, Walk On Girl tells the story of the many adventures a girl has during one night in Kyoto. What starts looking as a typical story about a young girl drinking in a bar, soon becomes a crazy roller coaster of unlikely events. It's impossible to get bored while watching the movie, as there is a constant feeling that virtually anything can happen: we see a drinking competition, a used book sale, a guerilla theatre performance, even some magic happens. The characters are all over the top, which suits the story perfectly. At the same time, the movie touches a number of important issues, such as love, loneliness, and greed.

The animation in the movie is just beautiful. It's colorful and very pleasant to the eye. It is perfect for this kind of story, with the more realistic parts animated more traditionally and the more absurdist parts looking pretty much like an acid trip. Watching the movie is a really interesting experience and I'm sure I won't forget it.

This film can best be described as a collection of very funny, very strange, and very creative images and ideas packed into the narrative of two primary leads. Its unpredictability makes it a ton of fun to watch.