Photos - Iblard Jikan (Blu-Ray)

Since we're all eagerly awaiting the arrival of Studio Ghibli's movies on Blu-Ray, with Ponyo's arrival in December, I think we should take a look at the studio's first foray into the hi-def format. This is Iblard Jikan, from famed Japanese artist Naohisa Inoue.

This short film (30 min.) is really little more than an art gallery, with sparce moments of animated characters. Iblard Jikan is mostly still photos of Inoue's surrealist-impressionist paintings set to music. This certainly won't appeal to everyone, and it's really more of a show-off title for your giant plasma screen tv, and bragging rights to being the first on your block with a Studio Ghibli Blu-Ray disc.

These screenshots look fantastic; as always, be sure to view them in their larger size. All of these come from DVD Beaver, which was gracious enough to review the disc. I don't expect Iblard Jikan to receive any attention beyond the most dedicated Ghibli Freaks. For a $60 import, you'll most likely buy something else, and as long as the movie remains on Youtube, your curiosity will be satisfied.

But if you are fortunate enough to get the Blu-Ray, you will have some wonderful paintings to admire and share with family and friends. Inoue's paintings are magnificent, wonderful, luminous and inspiring. Maybe it's because I'm an artist myself, but I really like the idea of art galleries on Blu-Ray. I could imagine doing the same with my own work one of these days.

Video - Iblard Jikan

(Update: This video has since been removed from Youtube.  Sorry.)

Iblard Jikan was a direct-to-DVD project released late last year in Japan on DVD and Blu-Ray. It is based upon the work of fantasy artist Naohisa Inoue, who also contributed his work for the fantasy dream sequences in Mimi wo Sumaseba (Whisper of the Heart).

I wrote a post last December on the Iblard DVD here, so feel free to catch up. Fortunately, this short film is available on YouTube, so I thought it would be fun to watch it. Since there's next to no chance of ever seeing it commercially available here in the US, we may as well take advantage of this opportunity.

This is a very interesting and entertaining Studio Ghibli work. It's always a thrill for me to see the studio's amazing talent unleashed on a minor project, free from the tyranny of Miyazaki or Takahata. There is often a certain freedom, a greater sense of visual experimentation, in these shorts. These are very often the proving grounds for ideas techniques used later in the proper Ghibli films.

Iblard Jikan contains very little animation, which may be a bit of a surprise. The Inoue's artwork is the star of the show. The animators are only adding flourishes to his world. In fact, there really isn't any narrative present at all; only a travelogue of locales in the Iblard realm. The more cynical will toss this aside as a glorified slideshow, and they may be on to something. But it's very difficult to resist the quality of Inoue's psychedelic paintings. Does the DVD come with mushrooms?

If anything, watching this short only makes me want to sit down and watch Mimi again, one of my favorite movies, animation or live. For most everybody else, Iblard Jikan is a minor work for the dedicated Ghibli Freaks only.

Iblard Jikan runs about 30 minutes, in three segments.

Iblard Jikan DVD & Blu-Ray

Alright, folks, since I'm bringing all these movies up, I should offer more details to bring everyone up to speed. This is the DVD release for Iblard Jikan, which hit shelves July 2000.

This is one of the latest direct-to-video features from Studio Ghibli, which has been steadily expanding their library beyond the studio's major films (in case you haven't noticed). Documentaries, side projects, and a growing library of foreign movies from the great animation filmmakers that influenced Miyazaki and Takahata.

Anyway, Iblard Jikan is based on the fantasy world of Japanese artist Naohisa Inoue. His first connection to Ghibli was in 1995 with Mimi wo Sumaseba, aka Whisper of the Heart. He priovided the surrealist backgrounds for the fantasy scenes in the movie's second half, including that one scene that was directed by Miyazaki (where Shizuku imagines herself flying with The Baron through the air).

Inoue came to work with Ghibli again this year for the DVD, which is essentially a show-off work for the artists' skills. This is more of an art-lover's film, depicting Inoue's vivid and detailed paintings, with animations from Ghibli's wizards. The running time is only 30 minutes, but the DVD also includes a bonus CD (I didn't think anyone still made those, snicker).

Iblard Jikan is the first Ghibli Blu-Ray disc, and it's probably an excellent show-off for your new player and television. Standard DVD owners should be just has happy, at least until you see how much better the picture quality is on the new format. For me, at least, it's pretty tough to go back. Perhaps you can hold out a little longer before making that jump.

In any case, this is clearly something for the fans and completists. If you're more casual about your Ghibli, then don't feel as though you're missing anything significant. It's not the second coming of Totoro.