Camera Japan Rotterdam 2026 Review: THE OBSESSED

Director Takahashi Wataru may not be a household name yet among anime fans, but the man has built an impressive resumee already. An assistant to Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli, he was one of the people working on the change from traditional animation to digital, doing the actual camera shots, the compositing, and later moving to CGI, working on such classics as Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle. He did storyboards for several Crayon Shin-chan films and directed four of those himself.

Last year he made an anime version of a very popular novel by Ishii Shinji called Obsessed Man, released here with the title The Obsessed, about a man called Guiseppe, who constantly becomes obsessed with a new subjects. In Japan, the novel is so popular there are even "Obsessed Man"-themed cafeterias you can visit, showing evidences of Guiseppe's exploits on their walls...

So what is the film about? It's about Guiseppe, a man who, whenevr he starts a new hobby, totally dedicates himself to it, to the detriment of himself and his surroundings. Treated benevolently by most people as the talented but useless village idiot, Giuseppe keeps learning new languages, new crafts, participates in new sports... but whenever it seems he can actually pluck the fruits of his endeavours, he will always switch to something new. He can't predict it, or guide it, or fight it, and he will abandon everything to follow his newest obsession.

Then one day, Guiseppe spots a young immigrant woman selling balloons at a park... and becomes obsessed by her. Is it love? Affection, or just another obsession? Guiseppe doesn't know but making her happy is now his primary goal in life. And that goal is not easily achieved, because the woman is in trouble, AND has a past. Guiseppe will need all of his many acquired talents to try and turn this obsession towards some sort of happy ending for either of them... and success is not guaranteed.

This film could of course go to either meet-cute romantic comedy or stalker drama, and remarkably it does both while remaining sweet. And by sweet I mean nicely sweet, not cloyingly sentimental. You get that Guiseppe is annoying for the people around him, but his daily struggle with this particular version of fantasy O.C.D. still makes him a character to root for, there literally isn't even a smidgen of evil inside of him. So when the story turns slightly creepy (and it DOES go places near the end...) you feel bad for him rather than disgusted.

The artwork used, as you can see here, is not your average anime kind. It's very stylish, the character art is very abstract in places, and while this is a matter of taste, for me it made the film a joy to watch. Takahashi Wataru can be proud of his first non-Shin-chan feature, and I hope he will make many more.


The Obsessed played at the Camera Japan Festival in Rotterdam, and is currently travelling festivals worldwide.