Title: Typhoon Noruda on Blu-ray

Director: Yōjirō Arai

Studio: Studio Colorido

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: Jan. 23rd, 2018

Format: Blu-ray / Short Film / 26 Minutes

Genre: Sci fi, Fantasy, Slice of Life

Age Rating: TV PG

Overall Personal Rating: B+

Synopsis:

In Typhoon Noruda, an unexpected typhoon bears down on a small tropical island, and a group of students trapped at school find themselves forced to put aside their personal issues and work together. Not only to save themselves, but possibly the lives of everyone on the planet! Because there’s something very strange about this storm, and as the driving rain, hurricane-force winds and multiple lightning strikes threaten to tear their world apart, everything seems to revolve around a mysterious girl who appears as suddenly as the storm itself. Only hours before, Shuichi Azuma and Saijo Kunta were at each other’s throats over baseball; now they’ll have to join together to unravel the secret of the ultimate rider on the storm!

Commentary:

Typhoon Noruda is definitely a short film and packs a lot into its 26 minute run time. That is were I run into any issues I have with the film. Typhoon Noruda is just too short and leaves you feeling somewhat left out. There are several heavy plot points that arise during the film and in the end only one seems to get resolved. I think that if the creators would have focused the main plot line and left out the struggle between the boys there would have just been the missing a single plot point and may have been easier to digest but with the other stress points way too much is left up to the imagination.

Overall Grade: B+

Even with the short subject film packing too much into a small space I really like Typhoon Noruda. I found the characters likable and sympathetic. I just wish I truly understood what was going on. I got the basic just of the film and felt like there was a solid effort to give us just enough information that made it understandable.

The animation was above par with a rather solid attention to detail. The overall production quality made the short film easy to watch and help keep your attention on the action. This comes from the hard work of everyone at Studio Colorido. Colorido is a newer studio that has only produced a handful of films and web series. I have a feeling they are trying to establish themselves as something new and more akin to Studio Ghili that some of the other larger studios. It is clear that they have a stylized vision and hopefully will have more time to establish themselves as a studio that has something special to offer.

Typhoon Noruda does stand out as something special to me. I just wish it was 90 minutes or longer. There is a rich story deep inside the film and it should have been given a chance to come out. Even with its failures, Typhoon Noruda is a film work seeing and once you have experienced it you just might want to own it.

Also, you must watch the extra short Control Bear Wonder Garden. It is a true enigma and worth seeing.