January 14, 2016

Collection of anime shorts to mark 5th anniversary of Fukushima disaster

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/recovery/AJ201601140056

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

MIHARU, Fukushima Prefecture--The studio that produced the famed Evangelion TV anime series is working on an omnibus of shorts that depicts the recovery and struggles that residents of Fukushima Prefecture face five years after the 2011 disaster.

Titled “Miraieno Tegami--Kono Michi no Tochukara” (A letter to the future--From the road halfway there), the 10 episodes, each 2 minutes long, are being produced by anime studio Gainax Co. and its Fukushima subsidiary.

The project was commissioned by the Fukushima prefectural government in the hope the films would help people to remember the Fukushima nuclear accident and mitigate negative publicity lingering from the disaster.

The episodes are based on real-life stories to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear emergency.

The episodes are set in different parts of Fukushima Prefecture, from evacuation zones around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to further inland.

At a Jan. 8 news conference in Miharu a month ahead of the preview screenings, the production team showed several scenes from an episode about a woman who moved to Kawauchi after the disaster and her interactions with the village's residents.

“I hope the charms of Fukushima come across so viewers will visit the locations featured in the series,” said Yoshinori Asao, Fukushima Gainax Co. president and general director of the series.

Creative director Michihiko Yanai added, “It is an opportunity to tell people what is changing rapidly (compared with how Fukushima was right after the disaster) and what cannot be changed so easily here.”

Preview screenings around Japan are scheduled from the middle of February. The shorts will be also available to watch online on the project's website at (miraitegami.jp).