At only three seconds long the shortest anime ever made this was intended to be short and sweet but not because the story didnt need to be long. This was created around the year 1910 when the concept of animation had only been recently introduced to Japan and so as a still experimental storytelling style they hadnt developed a cheap enough way to create more animation than this. With 50 frames in total this was as much as they could muster and the end of it doesnt even look like its complete but considering its age this is acceptable. After all this wasnt intended to be treated as an anime since anime didnt exist at the time this was just meant as both a project and a feat a mark that animation was possible and a feasible way to show stories. This doesnt have so much of a story as just a thing that happens. A boy writes meaning moving picture on an unknown background likely a wall but seeing the way hes dressed I assumed it could have been a boat and then bows towards the audience lifting his hat. Even calling this slice of life would be a stretch since its such a small slice. We arent told anything about this boys backstory or why hes writing it nor why hes wearing a sailor uniform which has now come to be associated with the female school uniform in Japan. At the very least there certainly isnt any filler since there isnt any room for it but there also isnt anything that would need filling anyway. Any kind of real story you could get out of this would be more speculation than whats actually presented in the film. The art style is unique to say the least. They definitely didnt have much of a way to even save an animation like this and although its understandable that it would be made with a camera as computers were decades away from even existing let alone being advanced enough to make animations on but I still do consider camerawork to be shoddy. What was found in 2005 as a celluloid strip so we can assume the camerawork was done then but it could also be that the strip was intended to be used with a projector or otherwise not be recorded and shown in real time at a festival of some sort making it hard to turn into a recording which is understandable yet unfortunate. After all how were they to know that over a century later caucasian neckbeards would be watching this on computers and smartphones? The art is more than merely dated it really doesnt have much going on and was clearly made as cheaply as possible which plays more into the fact that they only managed to make 50 frames. The art isnt entirely awful but its certainly simple and not very pretty. Its as good as they could make at the time though. The sound is sort of nonexistent which is reasonable since there isnt really any need for sound. It is a celluloid strip after all and so there wasnt sound recorded with it. When it aired it would be safe to assume they had a band playing as silent films usually do but since its only three seconds long they either might not have or would have repeated the clip several times in order to give people appropriate time to properly enjoy and appreciate it. Im over a century too late to hear whatever would have played with it if anything so I cant comment on how good the music was but live music tends to be good. This is a part of the score that will remain a mystery as lost media simply due to the fact that it was intended to be watched live rather than recorded. Just as any other story or animation would this does have a character but we arent shown what his personality is. He writes moving picture on an unknown surface while wearing a sailor uniform and then bows to the audience as if this was some sort of performance. He could have been told to do this and this was all just some act where his uniform only serves as a costume he was forced into but it could also be that he is a standin for the creators and he bowing to the audience who have come to see this moving picture. The second one would be breaking the fourth wall which doesnt happen too much in anime but were also given no concrete evidence that this is the intention. This theory doesnt explain the sailor uniform though but when you look at it closely it seems to be the most logical explanation. Another interpretation would be that it is a schoolboy who wears that as his school uniform and he wrote it not to tell the audience what theyre watching but rather just as a demonstration of his Japanese skills. All of these would lead to different personalities for our protagonist and there isnt enough information in the anime to know which one is the most true. This isnt a problem with the anime so much as it is a problem with its length. They could only afford to make 50 frames and they chose to draw them close enough together that it presents relatively fluid animation rather than showing a more in depth story with a lower frame rate which would end up being more like a manga than an anime. I enjoyed watching this mostly for the historical value in knowing where anime came from. It is the first anime after all. I would have to say that I found more enjoyment in writing this review than I had in watching the anime itself but thats mostly due to its short screen time and how old it is. I respect it greatly for the path it paved for all the anime that came after it but I wouldnt consider it to be a good anime itself. It certainly wasnt painful to watch though and so I can honestly say I enjoyed every second of it. Id have to say that it belongs in an art gallery more than anywhere else but its still a great mark of Japanese achievement and I would consider this to be a must watch for all anime fans.