This review might contain spoilers. You may proceed if you can handle the truth...

/anime/5802/fantascope-tylostoma

At the beginning of his career in the animation industry, the Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano, one of the most talented of his generation, designed many characters for mostly tv-series. After he had collected enough experience, he went independent and became a freelance artist in 1982. Against all odds, he found almost immediate success with his illustrations for the novel Demon City Shinjuku and the novel series Vampire Hunter D. The latter received a self-titled film adaptation, one of the first anime movies released outside Japan, in 1985. Because of the film's overseas success and its cult status among English-speaking audiences, Amano quickly became famous for his gloomy, detailed, imaginative character designs. In the same year, he also provided Mamoru Oshii with the art style and character design for the movie director's near-career-ending masterpiece Angel's Egg.

Over the years, Amano created fewer contributions to animated works and focused his efforts on different branches such as video games, art books, album covers etc. Notable are his designs and illustrations for the enormous, successful and famous video game franchise Final Fantasy. Till Final Fantasy VI, he was the main character, image and graphic designer. To this day, he continues to craft promotional artwork and designs logos for the entries in the series. During his prolific career, he also decided to direct two animated, artistic films based on his original drawings: Fantascope Tylostoma (2006) and Bird's Song (2007). Despite their different story, music and appearance, both share the same filming technique: the camera shows the same pictures for a couple of seconds by either moving slowly over it or standing still. Although some anime viewers may dislike this style, it is one of the few options to animate full-length movies without the support of a studio in a reasonable time.

Following the unorthodox nature of the camera work, the hand-drawn and painted art style of Fantascope Tylostoma is distinct from other contemporary films. Although Amano is known to craft colourful, detailed and sharp designs, the 40-minute movie lacks his typical characteristics. Instead, many illustrations are only black-and-white and blurry. His stroke of lines and brushes is coarse, quick and dense. The simplistic art style fits perfectly the modest story centred around the mythical symbolism of shells: birth, death and eternity. The plot integrates all three meanings excellently, and the creative, wily, satisfying ending might catch some viewers by surprise. Whilst the dialogue-free scenes, the classical, moody score skillfully captures the dark, post-apocalyptic atmosphere. Albeit many aspects of the picture are close to perfection, the short runtime weakens its impact significantly.

To summarize, Fantascope Tylostoma is an instance of the beauty of simplicity. Despite the movie's artistic endeavours, casual and devoted anime fans can enjoy it because of its thrilling story. Unfortunately, no streaming service offers the film at the point of writing. If you get the chance to see it in the future, do not miss the opportunity.