Asience: Hairy Tale by Kazuto Nakazawa

Another film this week which stretches the definition of SoTW. We prefer short films—preferably ones with narratives— but we have also showcased music videos and art films in the past. Today, though, my otaku-dom is peeking through again and we’ve brought you a commercial from Japan.

Of course as you may have guessed, this is no ordinary commercial. Produced for a competition by the Kao company for its Asience line of shampoo, the beautiful though unfortunately titled Asience: Hairy Tale sprung forth from the hallowed halls of Production I.G., the most reputable anime production company in the world. Directed by Kazuto Nakazawa, famous States-side for directing the animated segment of Kill Bill Part 1, Asience: Hairy Tale is steeped in tradition. Blending traditional Japanese tapestry styles with traditional cel-animation techniques, Nakazawa creates a haunting and otherworldly setting for a 60 second story of love and tragedy.

Fitting the traditional tapestry style, the story follows a Heian-era princess and her samurai suitor. Captivated by the woman’s beauty, the samurai climbs her hair Rapunzel-style to tryst with the princess. Her angry father discovers the truth though and the next time the samurai attempts to scale the castle, she cuts her hair, sending the samurai down, and ultimately herself, in a hail of bloody maple leaves. Her epithet, written in blood, translates as “Hair is the heart of a woman,” an old Japanese adage. Quite a lot of development for 60 seconds!

This level of development is possible due to the remarkable nature of the compositions. Lushly executed as they are, more important is that there is a conciseness of concept to the images, each pregnant with meaning. The image of the princess reflected in the samurai’s eye, for example. An extreme closeup of the eye is a standard shot in anime semiotics, but the reflection instantly establishes the connection and attraction between the two. Likewise, the iconic image of cherry blossoms under the moonlight instantly conveys romance. Further shots, like the scowling, oni-like mask of the Father, say so much with so little. The importance of these relatively static images means that Asience could easily have been a comic, and yet the animation techniques deserve notice as well. The Production IG website provides a nice set of behind-the scenes interviews and production stills which detail the techniques involved. Most remarkable is the absence of computer assistance for the in-betweens. Animation that is meant to emulate painterly techniques is not new, but usually relies on CG to fill the complex brush-lines between keyframes, such as during shots of the samurai and the angry father. The Asience production team instead embarked on a painstaking process of tracing the original lines of the keyframes in order to reach a similar effect in the in-betweens. As art, I’m quite taken by Asience: Hairy Tale, but as for the short’s effectiveness as a commercial—that could be questioned. A bloody and tragic historical tale is not most people’s ideal way of marketing shampoo after all. Still, product awareness is a key element to advertising as well, and this commercial sure turned heads. It won awards at the London ad fest, and played just recently at Annecy, one of the worlds premiere animation festivals. Enjoy!!

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