What is perhaps the most famous one-man anime project goes by the name of Cencoroll. With financial backing from the now-defunct Anime Innovation Tokyo, Atsuya Uki managed to adapt his award-winning oneshot Amon Game all alone. Cencoroll is a bright example of independent animation’s strengths: all of its enigmatic story to an iconic superflat style is one artist’s uncompromised vision.

Cencoroll’s setting raises many questions, and it might frustrate viewers how little the 27-minute movie answers. The film’s sparse sound direction and plain character designs exude a sense of normalcy which sometimes feels detached from the alien spectacle. The main cast’s muted — yet detailed — performances keep it grounded as to immerse the viewer better into its worldbuilding. The homely atmosphere paired with Uki’s meticulous background art are captivating, and once the viewer is fully captivated is when Cencoroll starts violently morphing.

It’s remarkable how Atsuya Uki adapts and reaps the benefits of animation without sacrificing his strengths as an illustrator. Amon Game struggled to convey motion with its chaotic panels, but anime’s larger canvas keeps movement understandable in ambitious compositions. Despite Uki’s inexperience, he has a strong sense for pretty shots and makes sure to incorporate lots of objects in the background to always convey scale. While Cencoroll confidently lingers in its backdrops, it has no trouble exploding into animation. They are fierce bursts; like the alien creatures’ fluid morphing or flying debris after one of many violent impacts.

Cencoroll’s tremendous success caused Atsuya Uki’s popularity to soar, to the detriment of the sequel’s production. Animating an entire painstakingly detailed short-length film was already a herculean task, but now he had to juggle other responsibilities along with it. It wasn’t until after Cencoroll’s ten-year anniversary that its sequel was released in a joint screening aptly titled Cencoroll Connect.

It’s easy to see why part two took that long to materialize. Uki still doesn’t cut corners or sacrifice frames to what isn’t directly his vision. In fact, he ambitiously doubles down in Cencoroll 2’s 48-minute runtime. The sequel takes a longer time fleshing out its narrative and increases the mystery by introducing new characters, each with their own controllable alien. Cencoroll Connect‘s epilogue announced a much-needed part three whose ten-second preview already raises new questions. Hopefully, it doesn’t take another ten years before I can cover that installment; I can’t wait to reside in the beauty of Atsuya Uki’s superflat world once again.