Once upon a time a dog was walking down a lonely dirt road when it squatted down and took a crap. No I swear to God this is not a joke setup for a Golden Time review. After the dog waddled away likely looking for a prime location to wipe his ass on the ground the piece of shit came to life gaining sentience and wondering who he was and what his purpose in life could possibly be. Lying in he one spot undisturbed for almost a year the piece of shit would have numerous memorable encounters either by pretentious birds who would rather insult him than eat him or by other illfated beings who help him to understand the concept of life and death and how the two concepts pertain to nonanimal organic matter. This is a real movie. No Im serious this is a real movie. One that requires an actual spoiler warning. If you havent heard of Doggy Poo before it might be because this isnt actually a piece of Japanese animation so its debatable whether or not it qualifies as anime. I mean its listed on this site so apparently a South Korean stop motion short film about a piece of shit is more legitimate than an animated short from a Japanese live action anthology movie. I dont think Ive ever reviewed any Korean anime before so Im kind of at a loss when it comes to talking about its production history. I know it was directed by a man named OhSung Kwon and written by a man named NoMi Park and it was based on a Korean childrens book by JungSeang Kwon and despite my respectable amount of weeb cred I know so little about Korean culture that I dont even know if it would be considered racist to ask if the two Mr. Kwons are related. I have no prior experience with any of the names that were involved with this movies production but what I can tell you is that this film was produced with stop motion animation which is something I have touched on before and probably will soon again. This isnt the first claymation anime Ive reviewed as I have reviewed the horror works of Takena Nagao and just as a general rule of thumb stop motion animation is a very tricky thing to talk about critically. Stop motion animation is an extremely difficult and time consuming art form and even at its worst it cant be understated how much patience and effort has to go into it... And yet as a consumer as a viewer and above all as a critic you have to be able to look at the final product with a level of objectivity that can both feel and sound especially cruel even to your own ears. Still having said that I cant not give my honest opinion and that is that this is probably one of the least impressive stop motion animations Ive come across at least on a professional level. Its easy to look at some of Takena Nagaos earliest works the ones with the really rough looking and poorly defined glob characters and say this movie looks better on some levels but in actual animation theres actually something going on in those shorts. Theres intricate dynamic movement telling the story whereas Doggy Poo might look better on pause but its still almost entirely composed of characters sitting in place and talking to each other. Even then the animator did a really sloppy job with the texture of the characters between shots because while facial movements may be more or less on point the way the wrinkles and printing on their skins change is pretty unnerving to say the least. There are characters who move more convincingly... A couple of birds a farmer pushing a cart full of soil... But they dont get a ton of screen time compared to a piece of poop a lump of soil a leaf and a dandelion sprout that had to be a lot less complicated to animate. Again I mean less complicated in a relative sense Im sure all forms of stop motion are a pain in the ass. If theres anything impressive about the visuals its the environment which is a really rich and immersive rural setting and the camera work which can be epic and whimsical on a level that a movie about a piece of shit does not deserve. The same could be said with the musical score by Yiruma whose entire soundtrack for the film is somehow twenty minutes longer than the film itself? The soundtrack is beautiful but you cant listen to it without thinking about Yiruma as that one overachieving coworker who takes the job way more seriously than everyone else does. The english dub is a mixed bag but it is a mixed to positive bag. It was licensed by Central Park Media... Literally the only name associated with this movie that Ive heard of before and yes that includes the entire cast of noname actors... But the bad news about that is the fact that Central Park Media is like Manga Entertainment not the most promising name in the anime market as its one of those studios that will pick up any potentially marketable shit they can get their hands on that nobody else wants. Fiona Stuart voices the main character and I actually really like her performance theres a really nostalgic feeling to the way she portrays Doggy Poos childlike innocence. Josh Smith is also heavily nostalgic with his performance as a lump of soil just sounding like a good natured old southern folk singer. Anna Demaris took a very sharp and slightly shrill approach to two different bird characters which is nice but she made the dandelion sound way creepier than she should have especially with that characters dialogue already sounding way too sexual. Its a good dub overall has a real eightiesnineties sincerity to it. So here we are talking about poop. This is my life now. Most of my last ten reviews have underperformed and instead of riding some bandwagon by saying glowingly positive things about a popular trending anime... Which is the only surefire way to get a ton of upvotes around here... My hipster ass decided Id write a review about Doggy Poo the thirtyfive minute South Korean masterpiece about the life span of dog shit. I swear to God I dont hate myself despite all evidence to the contrary. But hell because I did pick it that must mean I see something in it right? I wouldnt be writing about it if I didnt have something interesting to say about it right? Well much like the review I wrote a month or two ago that Anilist wouldnt let me post this is a story about life and death seen through the eyes of someone who has a unique perspective on the issue. As weird as this may sound one of the best ways to explore heavy and potentially upsetting topics with younger and more sensitive audiences is to take a metaphorical approach... Instead of just bluntly stating what the concept means for humans you can explore it through the eyes of animals or even anthropomorphic inanimate objects. Throughout the story which follows the entire existence of a piece of literal dog crap we meet several other objects that have their own circumstances that well they wouldnt be very interesting on their own unless you were really high or just in the showeror both but they do contrast nicely with Poos story. Poo doesnt know his purpose in life. He just lies around immobile letting the world pass him by which those of us in the working world would kill to be able to do. Why did God create him? Is it a coincidence that God is Dog spelled backwards? Compared to him the lump of soil knew his purpose He failed to fulfill it by accident which was surely divine punishment for his sins. But no after repenting hes granted another chance. The piece of poop has no idea whats going to become of his life.. Will he just lie there forever? Will he dry up and rot? How many cold lonely winters will he have to endure covered in snow? Compared to him the fallen leaf knows exactly how long hes going to live and he knows exactly when hes going to die. Combine these encounters with a couple of birbs who refuse to eat Poo because hes not good enough for them and we have a narrative that feels consistently mean spirited and cruel towards the protagonist. He spends the entire movie either being reminded of his own worthlessness or having to witness the comparative fortunes of others until finally a dandelion offers to absorb him as fertilizer so he can finally have a purpose becoming part of a beautiful flower... Except no dandelions are weeds they need very little help growing so even thats kind of a let down. Now there was a point in my life where I believed that when it came to media there was an objective good and an objective bad. If somebody I knew was a fan of something I didnt like I would consider them wrong and hold it against them. I had a friend once who had a Bluray copy of the Dreamworks version of The Lorax something I badgered him relentlessly over. In recent years I have made an effort to change this. Ive tried a lot harder to see other peoples perspectives compared to mine. When I enjoy an anime that people call boring I dont say this isnt boring I say I can see why people call this boring but personally... And when I hate something thats popular I still dont hold back my opinions but I dont disparage fans either unless were talking about pedo shit. With Doggy oo if I squint at it hard enough I can see some potential value to the film. I can see how it might offer entertainment on a sobaditsgood level although I also think it doesnt carry this effect for a full 35 minutes. I can see where people could fall in love with the animation style and how they can appreciate the work that went into it more than I do. Most of all I can see where people may see depth and poignancy in the story. It is again a rumination on life and death from a unique perspective and stories like that will always have the potential to touch someone... But personally Ive seen the same thing tried before by a full decade and it was done better. When I was a kid there was this short animated film I really liked called Noel. I dont know how many times it appeared on TV but my family were able to record it onto a VHS tape alongside countless other Christmas specials ranging from enduring classics like The Grinch to forgotten curiosities like Bump in the Night. I saw Noel so many times on that tape that even if I still had it I guarantee it wouldnt play anymore. Anyway Noel is about a glass Christmas ornament who was enchanted by the happy tears of a glassblower who just found out he was going to be a grandfather so now Noel has a happiness. That happiness endures within him through the decades as the house goes through several families that somehow dont take the belongings from the attack with them when they move until Noel falls and shatters and his happiness lives on as the spirit of Christmas. What do Noel and Doggy Poo have in common? Theyre both short animated films around the 30 minute mark that are about inanimate protagonists who go through a complete life cycle. They both explore the meaning of life and death in subtle and thoughtful ways. They both meet a number of colorful characters along the way. What do they not have in common? Well Noel is obviously Christmas themed and he has companions that stay with him over the years and oh yeah Noel isnt about a talking piece of shit. Also Noel has a much more cheerful and inspiring tone compared to the constantly dour and depressing Doggy Poo. Between the two Ill bet you ten times out of ten that most children would pick Noel unless they were the gross kid who picked Doggy Poo because its about a piece of shit and cant stop pointing at the screen and loudly telling his peers look at the poop throughout the film. I dont want to think it would be impossible to make an idea like this work because I dont think its impossible to make ANY idea for a story work but Im sorry feces is a hard sell even when it isnt the central focus of the narrative. Im going to point to my Dumb American cultural ignorance on this but I dont know if poop has any special significance in other countries Im guessing it would have to have some significance in South Korea if somebody made a childrens book about it but Im used to poop being seen as gross... I guess the exception is the fact that it can be used as fertilizer which does happen in this movie but that still doesnt justify thirty minutes of being expected to sympathize with that turds plight. Your best option for fecal subject matter is usually to lean into the grossness but even then youre more likely to come up with something revoltinglike in WWE something lazy and cringelike in Adam Sandler movies or maybe maybe something brilliant like South Parks Mr. Hankey but even that was skating on the thinnest ice imaginable and Im sorry this movie just doesnt manage to justify its own existence. Doggy Poo is out of print from Central Park Media but can still be purchased from Amazon at the minimum price of almost 15 but you can also watch it for free on Youtube. I dont know I feel like I really tried with this one but I also feel like theres only so much you can do to polish a turd before people realize that it still stinks. I cant for the life of me think of any good reason to recommend this film to anyone as there isnt a thing that it does that you couldnt find better elsewhere. Theres a ton of far more superior stop motion animation out there even in the realm of anime. The story has substance it has meaning but you could get the same kind of substance and meaning from far more entertaining and heartwarming sources. Even if you held this film up purely as a novelty some weird little curiosity to make your friends watch while drinking I honestly feel that its kind of boring and the LOL WTF effect wears off surprisingly fast. I dont know what else to tell you its an anime about a piece of dog shit and as much as I hate to admit thats not a deal breaker I still just cant recommend this. I give Doggy Poo a 4/10