イバラード時間 / Iblard Jikan
Click on an image to enlarge! They’re all 1920x1080.
Just finished watching Iblard Jikan, a 30 minute OVA-type thing from Studio Ghibli. Never heard of it before, but gave it a try since it was a freeleech item on BakaBT, and the description layout was shiny.
Had no idea what to expect except something related to paintings, and was surprised to find practically a whole slideshow of gorgeous paintings set to music and minimal animation. At first, I was like wtf this is it?!, but as I watched I was completely immersed into this fantasy world filled with vibrant colours, exquisite and creative buildings and settings, and a very natural, rustic kind of atmosphere. Gave me a sense of nostalgia, and the Impressionist-like art style helped strengthen that feeling too.
Also, the video is separated into small segments of 3-5 minutes each, with each segment showcasing a different locale. It’s really intriguing. There’s also NO dialogue at all in the video, and it only consists of mainly still paintings (sometimes with some animated objects and people, as well as some CG work) set to an instrumental soundtrack. There’s one track with a male chorus singing, but they don’t sing lyrics, just notes. The CG used in the video are a little jarring and can be easily spotted, but it’s definitely not a deal-breaker, and is quite tastefully used. I kind of had fun trying to spot where the bits of animation and CG will come up.
Even though hearing that it’s basically a slideshow might make Iblard Jikan sound like a boring video, it’s really not because of the immense amount of detail and colour poured into each painting in the video. All the paintings are slowly panned then faded, but even if it seems like the paintings are panned very, very slowly, it doesn’t really seem like they give the viewer enough time to take in all the detail before the next painting comes up. I found myself trying to look into every crevice and detail of each scene, but I could never really finish doing it in the span of time they give me. There’s always the pause button, but it’s just so much more wonderful to watch it with the music still playing.
At first I thought it wasn’t based on a fantasy world, it becomes more and more apparent that this world is entirely made up, and integrates old-looking technology with natural backgrounds and settings. Top notch! My favourite are the trains on rails supported by nothing. Such a lovely floaty feel. Really loved how densely populated the cities are, too, and reminds me a lot of Teikoku Shounen’s old illustrations, but with a more organic and somewhat European feel to it. Made me really wonder how a city like this would work in real life, and could find no way to apply reason or logic to something as fantastical as this, so I just went ahead and accepted everything as it was. Would really like to try living in a world like that, though.
Here are some words that describe this video well: Stunning, wonderful, detailed, vibrant, creative, immersive, peaceful, artistic, rustic, natural, nostalgic, expansive, curious, subtle, and gorgeous.
This is really a video that’s best for watching if you want to forget the time and just escape into a beautifully constructed fantasy world. It’s basically a 30 minute tour of the world of Iblard. I love it.
Oh, and the little girl’s dress is so cute ﾊｧﾊｧ. 80/100, because I have a feeling I’ll forget I watched this and the CG was a slight detraction from the rest of the art style, but I really loved it while I watched it the first time, and it was successfully able to evoke in me a sense of wonder and amazement. I love that feeling.
More pictures:
Densely populated city
Train in the rain (I rhymed)
Woman in white at the window
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iblard_Jikan
MyAnimeList: http://myanimelist.net/anime/2891/Iblard_Jikan
BakaBT: http://www.bakabt.com/131063-iblard-jikan-iblard-time-animeclipse-1080p-h264.html
