This Boy Can Fight Aliens

Soubi Yamamoto's short subject is an artful, digitally drawn fantasy incorporating Kanji-character writing and expressions (translated in subtitles) as graphic elements, kind of like an avant-garde comic strip. The premise faintly recalls the science fiction of American writer R.A. Lafferty: enigmatic aliens threaten the Earth but are forestalled by an amnesiac lad named Kakashi, whose martial-arts mojo enables him to beat the humanoids in combat. Every day Kakashi must duel with a potential invader; if he fails, the full-scale UFO invasion will proceed. Kakashi is often exhausted by his bouts, but he experiences an even tougher burden in the existential angst brought on by loneliness, lack of memories or family, and indefinite confinement to several square miles of greenspace/battleground. Kakashi has two male companions—snide supervisor Shiro and worshipful lad Arikawa—who try to comfort him and keep him on his game. Extras include a text-only Q&A with the filmmaker, plus three bonus cartoon shorts. Although it doesn't really amount to much more than a digital doodle, this handsome-looking dual-language anime short, rated TV-PG, is a strong optional purchase. (C. Cassady)