With the Japanese Yakety Sax accompanying a manic Rube Goldberg Machine series of events, perhaps this 3-minute short was Hanna & Barbera testing waters with the moe market.
Sorry babe, I've got a girlfriend and her name's Baseball
Unlike Tom & Jerry or Yogi Bear, though, there's tragic impetus behind the cockamamie narrative. Downcast eyes, twin-tailed hair, a mild blush, shrugging shoulders and stammering words; Fumiko's romantic arsenal with appeal explosive even to the most asexual of teen male protagonists, penetrates none through Takashi's greater love for the ball and bat. Though, romance is a dulled thing in this short. Rather, it's the chase encompassing it. In a literal sense.
Oh, Fumiko's voice actress, the anonymity one of the greatest shames. For nearly a minute of a vigorous, accidental goose-chase scene, it's somewhat impressive to find a random person to scream their larynx out and the end result being amusing, if not bordering annoyingly moe.
While Nichijou may be king of moe, dynamic animation and heart breaks, Fumiko's Confession is a quaint runner-up. All the yelling and maneuvering camera distractive as is, the technical aspects are impressive considering the independent nature of this short. The CG background art has a warm, earthly color palette and smoothly cooperates with the dynamic character animation. The jovial Yorri Gallop BGM, stock slide-whistle and other very Hanna & Barbera-esque sound effects greatly comprise of the cartoony enjoyment. The running animation is a delectable, sweet treat to replay, but much of its amusement is owed to the free-spirited cinematography stifling its chuckles as it snakes it way up and around the panicked Fumiko. Facial close-ups of her nose-bleeding from a runaway baseball, cheeky up-skirt shots, her long jumps into the distance, side shots swaggering her peak running form and flailing, air-borne arms; Hiroyasu Ishida prioritizes fun in this film and makes it doubly technically splendid in the process.
The definition of insanity
What awaits the end of this minute-long dynamic excursion is a sequel to the opening tragedy. Or rather, the punch-line. Waking up to homemade miso soup in the morning, if not the Devil's temptation to Jesus, is the romance of all men and yet this confession is another stillborn to Takashi's greater romance for the diamond field. But if this short really is anything like Hanna & Barbera, then Fumiko learns nothing from failure and proceeds with many more goose-chases offscreen.
Romance has never been dead, idiots.