I remember stumbling upon a trailer for Shishigari shortly after watching Flip Flappers (another anime directed by Oshiyama), but for years I never heard anything else about it. For a long time, I assumed that the project had been cancelled…until I recently found a Reddit thread linking to the short film. It had been uploaded to Studio DURIAN’s YouTube channel back in 2019, but unlisted (and therefore hard to find)! I’m so glad I finally got to watch it, because the film really moved me for reasons I’ll try to explore here. The short is only 17 minutes long, and the plot is relatively simple. There isn’tany dialogue, but there doesn't need to be; if you’ve seen Princess Mononoke, a lot of the imagery here is going to feel really familiar. Regardless, the animation in Shishigari has its own unique flare, playing quite loose with its linework and frame rate, giving the project a hand-crafted feel.

On its surface, this appears to be a straightforward tale of a child undertaking a rite of passage, but I feel like it does a great job of hitting home some key themes. The music, especially, helps to punctuate both the beauty and harshness of winter. The child’s triumphs are fleeting, undercut by the most basic and never-ending needs for food, warmth, and shelter.

Stories about life’s struggles and the necessity to keep moving forward are abundant, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still be meaningful. To pack a poignant punch like that into such a short runtime is pretty impressive, and it makes Shishigari a worthwhile watch, even if there isn’t anything too mind-blowing here.

Between Flip Flappers, Shishigari, and (more recently) Look Back, I feel that Oshiyama has really solidified himself as a director worth keeping an eye on. Hopefully we’ll get even more great anime directed by him in the future!