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Dozens of Norths is the first feature film by Kōji Yamamura, known for his award-winning shorts Mt. Head and A Country Doctor. The basis for the movie is the series of cover illustrations and short texts the independent director made across 32 issues of the monthly literary magazine Bungaku-Kai published by Bungeishunju from April 2012 to December 2014. In this endeavour, he transformed every individual cover into a scene of a larger story.

Although his more famous works have spoken dialogues, Dozens of Norths only has integrated subtitles, which appear on the centre of the screen. Despite someone's scepticism concerning this decision, the centred text neither distracts the viewer nor impedes experience in this piece of art. To compensate for the lack of dialogue, Kasamatsu Koji designed an inspiring, distinct and atmospheric sound whose quality is comparable to the scores of Disney's Fantasia. However, some music enthusiasts could wish for a more experimental score to fit the surreal nature of the picture even better. Without a doubt, Yamamura's raw, rough and rudimentary art style is a perfect choice for the dreamy and dark atmosphere. Along with his unlimited imagination, he creates fantastic creatures, obscure characters and surreal objects.

Unlike other contemporary animes, the movie jettisons the idea of traditional storytelling and avoids a protagonist. Almost every scene features a character who becomes stuck for some unknown reason. Judging by the sinister atmosphere and the shaky camera movement, those figures seem to suffer excruciatingly, experience incomprehensible anxiety or hold captive in their meaningless existence. Since an abstract, irrational and unrelated scene follows the next, it feels like being imprisoned in a gloomy and endless nightmare. Albeit the one-hour runtime, the film's slow pacing intensifies this dire thought. Fortunately, the warm ending gives a relieving spark of hope. Regardless of the unprecedented watching experience in the medium of animation, the picture is devoid of relatable emotions, which complicates establishing a meaningful connection to the work of art.

To summarize, Yamamura's Dozens of Norths is not only a bold artistic statement but also an almost excellent first feature film. The movie is a must-watch for every fan of experimental, psychological or avant-garde animes. At the point of writing, no streaming service has the movie available to watch. If you get the opportunity to see it in the future, do not hesitate.