Koji Takahashi

Kaibun are palidromes in which words sound the same when read backwards and forwards. Sometimes the meaning changes, and sometimes not. I brought this playful and poetic world to life.

This work is based on 15 years of entries in the diary that I’ve kept since age eight. Through creating this work I was searching for freedom from my preconceptions about animation and myself.

High school studen Mafu lost her mother when she was a child and lives with her father, step-mother and six-year-old half-sister Maaya. Her drunken father beats her and she feels isolated at school, and her only companion is little Maaya with her vivid fantasy life. One day, Mafu and Maaya get lost in the woods and meet Masa and his uncle Jiro, who live in an old house at the forest entrance and make a living as hunters. As she spends time with Masa, Mafu recalls songs from her childhood and memories of her mother. Mafu and Maaya embark on new a journey in this mysterious forest overflowing with music and song.