Inu-oh

As much as I could criticize this for having a fairly thin story, it's not every day you see a halfway-Noh halfway kickass Glam-Hard Rock infused historical-ish musical about a blind kid who becomes a guitar virtuoso and the singer (of the title) who performs the songs that bring in the local crowds while hiding the fact that he got cursed with a giant-long arm and face with three freakish eyes. I'm not familiar with Yuasa like some on here, so I can only take his work here on its own terms; my main takeaway is, I dig how approach to (mostly) tightly controlled lines while experimenting with what seems to be watercolors and CGI.

It maybe wasn't *quite* as weird as I was expecting, but the (excellent) trailer spoke to this being the Gonzo animation event of the year. If Inu-Oh not that, the film is nevertheless a unique, throbbing demon of a tale about... friendship, and connecting with a community that didn't know what it needed in their lives, with gorgeously rendered deranged character designs (aside from Inu oh, how about that set of psychedelic eyes that sets things in motion) and great songs.