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Komaneko Anime From Domo's Tsuneo Goda Gets Xmas Film
posted on by Egan Loo
Komaneko, the feline star of the 2006 stop-motion animated feature film koma Tori Eiga Komaneko, is returning this winter in a new feature film called Komaneko no Christmas ~Maigo ni Natta Present~ (A Komaneko Christmas: The Lost Present). Tsuneo Goda, the creator of NHK's famous Domo-kun (Domo) mascot character, conceived Komaneko in a 2003 short "Komaneko Hajime no Ippo" (Komaneko: The First Step) for the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography with his Dwarf production studio. (Komaneko is named after koma or a frame of film.)
Komaneko is a female kitten who lives with her grandfather in their mountain home, where Komaneko loves to make handicraft. Komaneko is looking forward to Christmas when she can see her papa and mama, and an early present arrives at her home. The present is a cute doll, but included with the doll is a letter, "We can't be home for Christmas." Despondent but determined, Komaneko and her friend set off an adventure together.
Komaneko's popularity grew after Tokyo's Shibuya Cinema Rise theater screened the first of five annual Komaneko shorts before its feature presentations in 2004. Komaneko has also appeared at film festivals in Locarno and Chicago. The shorts and features have since spawned DVD, character goods, picture books, and even a Nintendo DS game.
The French pop singer solita (Nodame Cantabile: Paris) returns from the first feature film to sing French renditions of Christmas classics. The official website for Komaneko is streaming a one-minute teaser with solita's version of "Winter Wonderland," as well as a demonstration of how the team painstakingly assembles 24 frames into one second of animation. The new film will open in Tokyo on November 7, and a DVD will follow on December 2.
Source: Cinema Topics Online
Image © TYO/dwarf, Komaneko Film Partners © Ami du Komaneko
