

カナメヲ
After crashing her bike on her way back home from work, a young woman stumbles upon a vulnerable tree goddess whose shrine is being demolished by a construction project. Feeling compelled to help her, the woman invites the goddess into her home and cares for her. However, as their relationship blossoms, the ongoing construction soon complicates things between them, forcing them to face the resulting consequences. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
After crashing her bike on her way back home from work, a young woman stumbles upon a vulnerable tree goddess whose shrine is being demolished by a construction project. Feeling compelled to help her, the woman invites the goddess into her home and cares for her. However, as their relationship blossoms, the ongoing construction soon complicates things between them, forcing them to face the resulting consequences. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
ryukhyuk
January 11, 2016
If you enjoy eye-opening art, then this just might be an ONA for you. I personally appreciated the anime's message as it is something that I believe we all forget about in our busy lives. The play between the characters and the underlying metaphors force the viewer to question the world after the short is over. The music fit the bill. Its mood matched the storyline quite well. The art was different, but it held its own within the world of the anime and its message. I highly recommend this small pleasure. While it isn't perfect, I believe any imperfections you seek out only make the message stronger.
ADIBYTE
December 21, 2015
While most people will glance at this and move along, I recommended you stop reading this and spend five minutes with the short before even bothering to read this. It's a little more serious than a lot of people might be expecting; there are some pretty powerful scenes contained within the short. I quite enjoyed this due to the feeling of brevity it instilled into what happened, though I'm sure a lot of time passed for them, it felt like it happened in a blink of the eye. It felt like I was a being outside the world, seeing a glimpse of something amazing.This is given to us no only by the fact that there's a lot of jumps from situation to situation, but by the sudden emotional jerks it hits us with. Perhaps not everyone will feel as strongly connected to it as I did, but the bitter sweet swirl in my stomach is tantamount to how one might feel for a real life scenario, despite the fiction that's part of it. I also found that there were some interesting collateral strikes in dealing with the abandonment of worship, loss of nature, culture, or love, and forgetting what we clung to so dearly cared about in the past. Just like love, loss is a part of life. It's a bizarre seeming thing, with no words, but I don't really feel that it needs them. It made me feel a warm sharp fuzzy pulse inside, and that was enough. I will admit that I was a little put off by the unusual animation and sound, but in the end I found it oddly pleasant as well. For what it is, I think I've given it the rating it made me feel it deserved.
CureEtude
October 19, 2018
Linchpin (n.) 1. A pin placed transversely through an axle to keep a wheel in position. 2. A person or thing regarded as an essential or coordinating element. While I absolutely despise the pretentious practice of putting definitions at the front of written works, I feel understanding these two definitions is pivotal to grasping the genius behind Kanamewo (AKA “A Linchpin”). Utilizing every last second, rapparu is able to create a passionate and impactful work that speaks on the human condition without shoving its ideas down your throat. I absolutely adore this short and hope that this rambling review can help provide some insight on why I hold it insuch high regard. This will mostly be in written in metaphor, so hopefully this will make some sort of sense in the end. Inherently, there will be spoilers in this, so if you’re reading this and haven’t watched it yet, I strongly encourage you to watch it. It’s just 5 minutes. There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s get right to it. As a working adult, it is so easy to get swept away by monotonous routine. Wake up, go to work, go home, laze about, go to bed. Rinse and repeat. I’ve been stuck in this lethargic stasis before and can imagine how pervasive this sentiment can be in Japan, where there’s often this underlying notion that values work above personal endeavors. It’s a depressing and difficult state that really weighs down on the soul. From context and musical texture, we can infer that our main character is in a similar state. She’s like a wheel without a linchpin, slowly and tediously spinning through life without much motivation outside of not falling off her axel. It is then that she finds a linchpin in the form of the spirit. She brings the emaciated spirit home almost out of instinct. At first, she’s hesitant to fully allow this anomaly into her life. She contemplates the benefits and risks, as indicated by two bizarre stops in the music, the first being when the idea of keeping her initially comes into mind, and the second being when the decision to do so is made. With her linchpin now in place, things in life start to gradually take color. The music starts to build as the two get to know each other. The wheel, now secure for the first time in its existence is able to move at a comfortable pace. However, due to the lack of experience this woman has in living fully, things quickly spiral out of control into a blindingly fast explosion of energy. With a screeching guitar and an absolutely brutal use of the drum machine, the music soars into this maddening tempest of sound. The wheel is blazing over the track in a way it never could’ve imagined. The ride is rickety and filled with things that will inevitably deteriorate the state of the wheel and the much more fragile linchpin, but these glorious moments of passion and unbridled happiness are addicting and euphoric. Even the mundane, such as watching TVs or going for a walk are given new heightened meaning. Unfortunately, this state, the woman must know, is unsustainable. Eventually, the linchpin is going to break. Upon the first notice of problems, the woman tries to slow down, nurturing the spirit, hoping to bring her back to a survivable state, silently regretting how fleeting the experience has been. But unfortunately it’s too late. The spirit dies and the woman is left back at square one with nothing. In mourning, she falls back to depression, one just as strong, but more pronounced and tangible. Burying the spirit offers little comfort, but allows her to at the very least go back to her old ways. It is not until she’s able to look back at the memento of her experience that she’s able to come to terms with herself and smile. And while she will never forget her first, from here she will move forward to find another linchpin and learn once again how to love life. This entire story is about recognizing the fleeting beauty of life. Yes, by maintaining the status quo and holing yourself up, you can live for a very long time. But is that really living or just mere survival? Kanamewo proposes we all must find our own reason to live, someone or something to direct our passion towards. A linchpin not only physically keeps us grounded in the axel of society, but mentally is essential to finding fulfillment and self-actualization. We’re going to make bad decisions along the way and there will be times of immense pain, but the triumph past these moments of weakness is what makes the moments of strength ever the sweeter. I admit that a good chunk of this write up is me projecting my own experiences and philosophy onto the art. While I am now familiar with rapparu’s body of work and can point to many instances where these themes can be found, there’s a real possibility that I’m reading way farther into all this than was ever originally intended. That said, I’m only tackling the short from one perspective in the above write-up. There’s a lot to also be said about the short’s environmental message, interpretation of lesbian relations, etc. It’s just such a dense animation, drenched in pathos and soul. While it’s not perfect, there’s so much to find throughout to the point where I’ve watched it at least 30 times and always come away with something new. I hope this was an engaging read and gave you some sort of appreciation for the short. Feel free to hit me up if you want clarification or wish to discuss some points further.
dhsteel
January 5, 2018
Oh, my GOD. This was 5 minutes of extreme emotional intensity. I enjoyed the visuals and story a ton, but what I really came here to rave about was the music and sound design in collaboration with the visuals. The choice of music was so strong, so visceral, and unsettling in a way that perfectly suited the story. I felt my heart pumping, and for a story consisting of no dialogue and only five minutes to do that to me is deeply impressive. Basically, it's very short and worth committing five minutes of your time to experiencing. And you truly do experience it, rather thanwatch it.
stormyxcloud
February 29, 2016
I really really enjoyed this short and the animation wasn't very bad like I had been reading people say, I actually liked the animation style. The music fits, but it gets a bit screechy at the end. Besides that it is really nice. The story was sad and this film really shows a lot in 5 minutes, you can tell that the main character and the tree spirit bond over a spread out period of time and the feeling in this film is very deep for such a short amount of time as well. The ending is really sad and I didn't expect it but it actually mademe cry, also I swear this film goes by in the blink of an eye. It felt like 1 minute I would recommend this to anyone looking for a sweet and emotional story and really think everyone should watch it! It is only 5 minutes and is really an amazing film. Give it a try! :) You won't regret it.
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