The Diary Of Tortov Roddle

Straying into the catagory of animation today, I bring you what I suppose can be technically described as anime. In reality, however, it's so far from people preconceived notions of 'anime' that the word becomes redundant. It's surreal, it's subtle, and most of all, it's beautiful.

Episode 5 in a series of 6 shorts, The Melancholy Rain is a favourite animation of mine. The whole series doesn't rely on dialogue to tell it's story. In fact, the text cards aren't even translated on this Youtube video, but I don't think it detracts from the story at all.

The premise of each episode is a brief glimpse into the travels of Tortov Roddle, the title character. In each episode Tortov shows us a whimsical little event that has occurred in the bizarre, picturesque land that he travels within. With episodes only running at 3 minutes a piece, there's not much room for a plot, as such, but that is one of the strengths of this mini-series. It's feels more like looking at a moving painting than a full-blown cartoon.

Even if you don't consider yourself a fan of cartoons or animations, I do recommend you watch this series. It's mature surrealism, displayed beautifully.