I have a soft spot for anime compilation movies, as they were a regular fixture of the ‘80s and ‘90s, and Short Peace follows in that well-honored tradition.
Released back in 2013, Short Peace was a bit different compared to previous anime compilation movies. Not only did it feature four unique stories, but it also featured a PlayStation 3 game.
In this collection, the game is obviously omitted, but in all honesty, the game was mostly terrible, so you’re not missing out on much.
As for the respective stories, they are Possessions, Combustible, Gambo, and Farewell To Weapons. Two of these stories are also based on Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga work, and Otomo even directs one (that of Combustible).
The first segment, Possessions, has a weary traveler rest in a small shrine during a terrible storm. However, the shrine contains the spirits of discarded household items, which he then dutifully repairs. It’s a genuinely sweet little story, and the whole setup makes for a charming story.
The animation takes a hybrid approach, as there are some 2D elements, mostly the backgrounds, but the characters, including the kind-hearted traveler, are in 3D.
This segment also won awards, and I can see why, like all good short stories, it has a strongly parable-like structure and leaves you with a sense of contemplation once it is done.
The second segment, Combustible, is based on one of Otomo’s early manga short stories, and he directs it as well. The setup is also interesting artistically, as the animation is framed like a scroll.
The story deals with childhood friends, where their playtime mirrors their future roles in society, and just how deadly fires were in ancient Japan, as the houses were closely packed and made of wood.
The story is more of a tragedy, but beautifully done and captivating to watch.
The third segment, Gambo, is quite gory and somewhat messy both in a gory and in a narrative sense. The premise has an alien that looks like a Japanese “oni” or demon, who lands in ancient Japan, and a unique white bear that battles it to save a small girl from it.
This whole “aliens in ancient Japan” trope has been done a lot before, as well as evil time-travelling robots, but in this case, it isn’t overly clear what’s really happening. At times, it’s abstract and in others just mindlessly violent. Of all the instalments in Short Peace, this still feels the weakest.
Then we get to the last segment, Farewell to Weapons. This is based on a very famous manga short story by Katsuhiro Otomo and also acts as the directorial debut of the famed mecha designer Hajime Katoki.
The latter is noteworthy as Katoki also did the powered suits designs, as well as much of the other mecha. It’s also full of super nerdy military tactics on the part of the team that ends up having to fight an antiquated automated tank known as a GONK.
The adaptation is also very faithful to the original manga, except that Katoki builds out the story more than the original manga. In this version, you almost think that the team manages to take out the GONK, but it ends just as the manga does, and it serves as a potent and somewhat amusing parable on the futility of war.
To be honest, the first and last segments are arguably the best in Short Peace, with Farewell to Weapons being a go-to reference for most modern mecha anime, especially of the military kind.
As for this Blu-ray release, there isn’t much in the way of extras, but you do have fantastic audio and visual quality throughout, as well as a serviceable English dub and the original Japanese audio (with English subtitles).
Overall, Short Peace is a solid anime compilation movie. Although not in the same league as Robot Carnival or Memories, it more than makes up for that with arguably the best adaptation of Farewell to Weapons ever made.
Short Peace is available on Blu-ray from the Crunchyroll online store for $15.98.
Disclosure: Crunchyroll sent me this Blu-ray for the purposes of this review.
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