It's day 2 of the E3 trade show, and I'm trying to horn-in on the action by checking out some video-game-to-anime translations that I have just laying around here. This next one kind of surprised me by its very existence.
Animal Crossing is a charming video game that first made its appearance on the Nintendo Gamecube. You play as a human character who travels to a town populated by animals, and you establish a homestead and run errands for the citizens there. There truly is no plot; the fun of the game is turning it on daily, running errands, buying furniture to decorate your house, and digging for buried treasure and fossils around town.
It's not really the type of game that one would expect to spawn an anime, but an animated film was released in 2006 that tried to recapture the fun and simple charms of the game. In an unexpected turn of events, it actually does manage to incorporate many elements from the game, and imitates its lackadaisical pace without feeling boring.
Ai, a young girl, moves to Animal Village (called Doubutsu no Mori or "Animal Forest" in Japanese) and begins to establish a life there. She meets the village's residents while she does deliveries for Tom Nook, and makes friends with an elephant named Sally who is talented at drawing and fashion design. Sally, Ai and Bouquet (a young cat) do almost everything together, including searching for fossils, going to the beach and enjoying the Summer festival. All the while, Ai finds messages in bottles on the beach that encourage her to plant pine trees in order to witness a miracle on the night of the Winter festival.
When Fall comes, Sally leaves town to follow her dream of fashion design, leaving Ai with the advice of following her own dreams. Ai plants pine trees throughout the village so that the miracle will take place, but it takes the help of all of Ai's friends to bring the miracle to life.
This movie probably wouldn't be that notable if not for its inclusion of many iconic Animal Crossing elements. Most of the secondary characters make an appearance (including K.K.Slider, who sings using the same voice as within the game) and it's sort of fun to spend time picking out how the movie included all the little activities like fishing and digging for fossils. It's also bright and colorful like the game, and the animation is a hybrid 2D-3D blend that actually meshes very well.
The UFO plot at the end is a bit goofy and almost manages to spoil idyllic Animal Crossing atmosphere, and there's a romantic sub-plot between two secondary characters which never gets addressed, but overall the movie is a surprisingly faithful, cute and relaxing little piece, especially for fans of the video game.
Uhm, whats the name of the movie? That would be important to add >.>
Umm... well it's just called "Animal Crossing." Like the game. The Japanese title is Doubutsu no Mori, or "Animal Forest."
Just a small note, the UFO plot actually ties into the second game, which this movie is based on. Every night, there's a chance you'll see a UFO fly by. Shoot it down with the slingshot and you'll meet Gulliver, an explorer who seriously believes he's landed on an alien planet. Find the missing pieces of his broken UFO and he'll give you a special item.