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Kyoto Animation needs no words in its new anime video love letter to its hometown【Video】

Casey Baseel Aug 5, 2024
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A jaw-dropping, magical, and whimsical chase through KyoAni’s hometown (which isn’t Kyoto).

You’d be forgiven for making the assumption that Kyoto Animation’s name comes from it being based in the city of Kyoto. Actually, though, KyoAni (as fans call it) gets its name from being located in Kyoto Prefecture, with the studio located in Kyoto City’s neighbor to the southeast, the town of Uji.

That’s going to be a little easier to remember now that Kyoto Animation has created a promotional video for Uji. And no, this isn’t a little 30-second animated sequence with some quickly drawn sketch work set to play on monitors at the tourism information desk. It’s a genuine six-and-a-half minute anime video, full of the beautifully crafted art and animation that KyoAni is known for and telling a story without having to use so much as a single spoken word.

As the video opens, we see our unnamed protagonist visiting the real-world Uji Shrine. There are several rabbit-related legends and bits of folklore connected to Uji Shrine, and as the young woman offers a coin and a prayer, a statue of a rabbit comes to life and scampers off with her wallet.

And with that, the chase is on, set to a jazz soundtrack that’s as playful and energetic as the pursuit. After scampering over a bridge to the other side of the Uji River, the rabbit leads the woman to Byodoin, a temple built close to 1,000 years ago (and also the building seen on the back of the 10-yen coin). The rabbit still has enough of a lead on the woman that it has time to climb up on the roof of Byodoin’s Pheonix Hall, where one of its famous statues of the mythical creature also comes to life.

Things get even more surreal from there, with Uji’s past and present mixing together. While the townscape of modern-day Uji does have the picturesque traditional architecture seen in the video, as the woman chases the rabbit people dressed in samurai-era clothing begin to appear, as do ox-drawn carts and other signs of daily life from several centuries ago.

We also see plenty of scenes of green tea and green tea sweets, since Uji is the most famous place for matcha in all of Japan. As a matter of fact, once the woman and rabbit reach a tea field, they seem to patch things up, and sit down together to each enjoy a cup of tea.

Along with tea, Uji’s other claim to fame is its connection with The Tale of Genji, the most celebrated work of classical Japanese literature. Author 11th century author Murasaki Shikibu set several key parts of the story of courtly romance and intrigue in Uji, and the city has a Tale of Genji Museum, which the woman in Kyoto Animation’s Uji video also visits.

As the excitement winds down, the woman finds herself back on Uji Bridge in the modern day, with no magical creatures around…but also discovers a mysterious rabbit figurine has materialized in her coat pocket. It’s only then that we hear the only spoken words of the video, as a narrator reminds us that “There are tales in Uji.”

In addition to its luxurious length, the quality of the video’s animation really is remarkable (did you notice the cool trick where the aspect ratio changes and the visuals go extra-wide-screen as reality starts to shift?). Sometimes when animation studios do promotional work, it’s clear that the project is being treated as a side project, but Kyoto Animation has really bought their A-game here, and the result is a heart-felt love letter to the studio’s hometown.

Source: YouTube/京アニチャンネル via Otakomu
Images: YouTube/京アニチャンネル
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