#4 Doorbell

With the flow and feel of a Twilight Zone episode, writer / director Yoji Fukuyama flirts with the surreal with DOORBELL, creating a much more subjective experience than your average 13 minute anime story.

Yu is a teenage boy with an identity problem of the biggest kind. He arrives home after school only to find his family can't see or hear him, and an imposter has taken his place. Perplexed, he leaves to gather his thoughts, but doesn't get far before his reality spirals out of control.

Doorbell falls right in the middle of the Genius Party and out of all 7 films it is one of the more complex, psychological stories, which isn't a surprise really considering director Yoji Fukuyama's considerable background as a manga artist.

Presenting the biggest of questions like 'who am I?' and 'what is the meaning of life?' Doorbell sits snugly in the middle of the Genius Party collection, unique in its flow and storyline but parallel in its aspiration, and it represents an integral part of the anime of Japan today.

Yoji Fukuyama

Active as a manga artist since the 1970s, Yoji Fukuyama's most notable works include B-flat no Sonata, Nightwalker and Mademoiselle Mozart. He has earned a cult-like popularity with his highly individual style and masterful storytelling. More recently, he is recognized for the feature-length psycho-horror animation Gamra-Khan, which he spent 10 years to complete, as well a the one panel cartoon series A Day in the Life of Mr. F, which won the grand prize at the 5^th ACA Japan Media Arts Festival, Manga Division. Fukuyama san is also known for his essays and illustrations.

Born in 1950, he debuted in 1970 with Naya no naka which originally ran in Weekly Manga Action. His first major achievement in manga was Mademoiselle Mozart which began its series in 1990, and was rendered into a stage musical by Ongakuza in 1991. Highly appraised in Europe, his works such as Okami ga Detekita Hi, Gamra-Khan and The Story of Uroshima have been published in several countries including Italy and France.