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Comedian Tekken Animates New Year's Card Short
posted on by Karen Ressler
The Japanese postal service's New Year's card website yubin-nenga.jp began streaming a new short movie on Tuesday with animation by Tekken, a comedian famous for emotional flip-book-style anime shorts. The short, titled "Nenga no Kizuna" (New Year's Card Bonds), features musical duo YoshidaYamada's new song "Aitakute."
Text: On a certain morning, abrupt good-byes came around...
Man: After all, Jon...
Woman: Jon is was coming to say good-bye so... Please, take him.
Text: New Year's Day
The video's story comes from greeting card website Nenga Aisatsujo's 6th annual contest, which asks participants to send in their heart-warming New Year's card memories. Sachiyo Okuno wrote the story and won the Japanese Postal Service Award, a new award this year.
Tekken gained famed with Pendulum, a manga "flip book" animation with over 1,620 images he drew by hand. The short depicts the story of a married couple through the years. The animation attracted over 3 million views on YouTube since its initial in release on a Japanese variety show in 2012.
After watching the video that same year, British rock group MUSE used Pendulum as the official music video for their song "Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3 (Redemption). Panelist at the 42nd Japan Cartoonist Awards held by the Japan Cartoonists Association of Manga Creators honored Tekken for last May for Pendulum, lauding the short as "a work that shows us the new potential of manga." The short is now inspiring a live-action film with Manami Konishi (Steam Boy), Itsuji Itao (Cromartie High: The Movie), and Naoko Ken (Mirai Shōnen Conan).
Tekken also created an animated short for Disney's Big Hero 6.
Source: Comic Natalie via Hachima Kikō
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