Mind Game

This 2004 feature debut from the inimitable Masaaki Yuasa (Inu-Oh, Night is Short, Walk on Girl, Ping Pong the Animation, The Tatami Galaxy) announced the arrival of an offbeat and wholly unique visionary artist - one who has been at the forefront of Japanese and world animation ever since.

Mashing together multiple art styles, including Yuasa’s trademark elastic approach to character animation that’s part Looney Tunes, part Yellow Submarine, part classic anime, Mind Game is a sight to behold: a psychedelic classic of 21st Century animation beloved by boundary-pushing animators such as Bill Plympton and Satoshi Kon.

Adapted from the underground manga series of the same name, Mind Game tells the weird and wild story of a wannabe artist, Nishi, who reconnects with his childhood sweetheart, only to be killed in a scuffle with a football-obsessed yakuza. But a run-in with God gives him a chance to turn things around.

This special screening will be introduced by Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham, co-hosts of the podcast Ghibliotheque and co-authors of The Ghibliotheque Anime Movie Guide, which charts a path through the wildly creative and influential anime industry with 30 standout feature films, from Akira to Your Name. Following the screening, Jake and Michael will be selling and signing copies of the Ghibliotheque Anime Movie Guide and their previous book, Ghibliotheque: The Unofficial Guide to the Movies of Studio Ghibli.