Short Peace


Short Peace is a multimedia project composed of four short anime films produced by Sunrise and Shochiku, and a video game developed by Crispy's! and Grasshopper Manufacture. The four films were released in Japanese theaters on July 20, 2013 and were screened in North America during April 2014. Sentai Filmworks have licensed the films for North America. The video game was released in January 2014 in Japan, April 2014 in Europe, and September 2014 in North America.

Short films

The opening sequence depicts a young girl following a white rabbit through different magical worlds. It was created by Koji Morimoto. It is then followed by 4 short films:

''Possessions''

;九十九

''Combustible''

;火要鎮

''Gambo''

''A Farewell to Weapons''

;武器よさらば

Video game

Short Peace: Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day, known in Japan as is a side-scrolling platform game directed by Yohei Kataoka and published by Bandai Namco Games for the PlayStation 3. The game's story was written by Goichi Suda. The game follows the titular heroine, a schoolgirl-assassin who is tasked with killing her own father.
The game puts players in the role of the eponymous Ranko Tsukigime, as she races through levels attempting to outrun a wave of spirits chasing after her. Ranko's basic maneuverability allows her to jump, hover across long gaps, slide under obstacles, and jump off walls. Ranko also has a melee attack which can destroy enemies, as well as reflect enemy fire. By destroying enemies, the player can trigger chain reactions which may automatically destroy other nearby enemies. Along with some areas requiring the players to defeat all enemies in an area to progress, defeating enemies helps fuel ammunition for a fire-arm which can be used to push back the pursuing spirits in case they get too close.

Concept

The idea behind the Short Peace was of a hybrid project composed of the four anime shorts and one video game. The overarching theme of the project is Japan, with each entry representing a different setting within the country's history. Because the modern era had not been represented in the anime, the team decided to represent it using the video game. The decision to bring both the four anime as well as the game to the west was made early in production.

Reception

Combustible won the Grand Prize at the 16th Japan Media Arts Festival and the Ōfuji Noburō Award at the 2012 Mainichi Film Awards.
Tsukumo, under the title Possessions, was nominated for Best Animated Short at the 86th Academy Awards.
The film grossed US$622,049 by August 4.