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by Tim Brayton
Of the 26 animated features submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science for Oscar consideration last month, a respectable five – just the thinnest hair under 20% - came from Japan. Ignoring Oscar eligibility, and throwing Your Name. on the pile (it was a 2016 Oscar hopeful but its commercial U.S. release came this spring), and 2017 has been a pretty fine year for anime in the United States.
Out of all those films, I humbly submit that the best one is In This Corner of the World, director Sunao Katabuchi's adaptation of a 2007-'09 manga series by Fumiyo Kōno. It's actually the story's second cinematic incarnation: in 2011, it was adapted in live-action. I haven't seen that film, but even so, I cannot fathom how it could be anything but a pale echo of the Katabuchi film: In This Corner of the World is an extraordinary triumph of animation as a storytelling vehicle. And this is no less true just because it's telling a mostly realistic story that doesn't "need" to be animated...
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