Directing

Nobuhiro Aihara

Born October 17, 1944 · Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

Died April 30, 2011 · aged 66

Nobuhiro Aihara was born in Kanagawa prefecture in 1944, where he studied at the design school. He began his career in television animation in the 1960s and started producing his own independent animation in 1965. His aesthetic is distinctive for his use of flowing lines, highly complex drawings, and his love of psychedelic colours. He was a prolific artist who often produced several animated shor…

Known For

Cherry Blossom

Cherry Blossom · 1970

Begun in 8mm film, but completed in 16mm following the purchase of a new camera, this work continues with the psychedelic and anti-war themes, while moments provide the seeds of his later abstract exploration.

Twilight

Twilight · 1985

Hands / flicker / morphing animation suggests sexual organs in a frantic dance.

Under the Sun

Under the Sun · 1979

Regarded as a creative extension of Stone (1975), animation unfolds on drawing paper placed on a field and farm.

Yamakagashi

Yamakagashi · 1972

The interactions of troops and prostitutes near the Naval Air Facility Atsugi (Kanagawa Prefecture), animated from a child’s perspective. Aihara’s works of this period often contain a documentary view of Japanese society at the time of his childhood.

Image (Shadow)

Image (Shadow) · 1987

Steps with shadows. An arm shadow in the landscape - concrete/grass/flowers. Flicker and a finger morphs into abstraction. A real hand appears above the animation, a zoom - drawings/hands/feet.

Shelter

Shelter · 1980

MovieAnimationDocumentary

Set in a cave imagined as an air-raid shelter, images of the surrounding trees are painted over directly on the film. Vivid colors intermixed with the sound of wartime radio communications and bombing create a harmonious composition of documentary and animation.

MY SHELTER

MY SHELTER · 1981

Following on from Shelter (1981), the setting is again an air-raid shelter. Close-up images of trees are dissected and reformed abstractly. The film culminates with images of elderly survivors of the war in another example of Aihara’s unique blending of documentary storytelling with abstract illustration.

LINE

The scenery of the forest in Ogawa and the city of Kyoto and the abstract animation conceived from there are juxtaposed.

Filmography

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Cherry Blossom

Cherry Blossom · 1970

Begun in 8mm film, but completed in 16mm following the purchase of a new camera, this work continues with the psychedelic and anti-war themes, while moments provide the seeds of his later abstract exploration.

Director

Twilight

Twilight · 1985

Hands / flicker / morphing animation suggests sexual organs in a frantic dance.

Director

Under the Sun

Under the Sun · 1979

Regarded as a creative extension of Stone (1975), animation unfolds on drawing paper placed on a field and farm.

Director

Yamakagashi

Yamakagashi · 1972

The interactions of troops and prostitutes near the Naval Air Facility Atsugi (Kanagawa Prefecture), animated from a child’s perspective. Aihara’s works of this period often contain a documentary view of Japanese society at the time of his childhood.

Director

Image (Shadow)

Image (Shadow) · 1987

Steps with shadows. An arm shadow in the landscape - concrete/grass/flowers. Flicker and a finger morphs into abstraction. A real hand appears above the animation, a zoom - drawings/hands/feet.

Director

Shelter

Shelter · 1980

MovieAnimationDocumentary

Set in a cave imagined as an air-raid shelter, images of the surrounding trees are painted over directly on the film. Vivid colors intermixed with the sound of wartime radio communications and bombing create a harmonious composition of documentary and animation.

Director

MY SHELTER

MY SHELTER · 1981

Following on from Shelter (1981), the setting is again an air-raid shelter. Close-up images of trees are dissected and reformed abstractly. The film culminates with images of elderly survivors of the war in another example of Aihara’s unique blending of documentary storytelling with abstract illustration.

Director

LINE

The scenery of the forest in Ogawa and the city of Kyoto and the abstract animation conceived from there are juxtaposed.

Director

Zap Cat

Zap Cat · 2008

Circles printed on white paper. Animation frenzy as music becomes more erotic/erratic.

Director

Tokyo Loop

Tokyo Loop · 2006

MovieAnimationComedy

A series of 16 "short stories" created by the creator's group Images Forum.

Director

Dusk

A uniquely psychedelic animation of sordid and chaotic images.

Director

Trip

By the maker of Yellow Night. Also an exercise in the storyless and meaningless description of a drawn journey through the subconscious. Hallucination as a cheerful firework display. Made with style and skill, because nonchalance obviously has to be conquered. (IFFR)

Director

Yellow Fish

Yellow Fish · 1998

Images of the sea and clouds seen from the top of the mountain, the candles of the Tibetan temple, etc., and a chaotic psychedelic animation are juxtaposed.

Director

Shunga

Director

Fairground in the Stars

Fairground in the Stars · 1989

Fairground in the Stars

A young boy named Takeshi steals an origami crane from his friend Nobu. To Takeshi's surprise the crane begins talking to him and offers to take him and his friends to an amusement park in space where children from many planets play. While riding an attraction designed to test the children's courage, Akiko is sucked into a black hole, leaving Takeshi and his friends to save her.

Director

Lotus

Vivid, chromatic animation.

Director

S＝13

An animation that combines the motion of abstract lines and the motif of an apple.

Director

Inch-High Samurai

Inch-High Samurai · 2007

Inch-High Samurai

A collaborative film between Keiichi Tanaami and Nobuhiro Aihara with a new interpretation of the traditional Japanese folk tale.

Director

Chirico

Chirico · 2008

A wordless short homage to the maestro of pittura metafisica.

Director

Stone

Originally titled Stone No. 2, this is considered a seminal work of Japanese independent animation. Stones, houses and the surrounding natural landscape transform continuously.

Director

Wind

Photos taken with pinhole camera, sky + clouds. Swirling animation like smoke against a black background.

Director

Crow

It is a monster work that depicts a disturbing air by drawing a scene with the crow as a motif and the scenery of Kyoto in parallel with a frame shot.

Director

SPIN

A tense abstract animation with delicate line drawing. Contemporary musician Nakamura Shigenobu is in charge of the music used in the work.

Director

Noise

An experiment concerning the attempts at creating a ‘moving image’ long before the invention of cinema. A re-experiencing of the history of ‘magic with light’ unfolds through the use of various devices and techniques, including flip-book animation and Muybridge’s photographs in motion zoopraxiscope. (IFFR)

Director