While Otomo Katsuhiro will always be best known as the director of
Akira - based in turn on his own original manga - he has never allowed that one work to define him, constantly moving on with other projects - whether live action, animated or on the printed page - and showing an active interest in supporting other talents by appearing beside them in anthology projects, writing for other directors or lending his name and support as a producer. Otomo has actually released more animation as part of anthology work than as features and his latest such work,
Short Peace, is coming soon.
Otomo directs one of the four segments (
Combustible) himself with Shuhei Morita (a contributor to Otomo's previous
Freedom Project), Ando Hiroaki (co-director of
Tekkon Kinkreet), and Katoki Hajime ( a very in demand mecha designer) contributing the others while Morimoto Koji contributes the opening sequence.
A brief teaser has been released for the project, showcasing elements of all the major segments to great effect. The work is diverse and engaging across the board. Check it out below.