The powers behind Akira, Cowboy Bebop, and Devilman Crybaby teamed up on this long-lost anime gem
On Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, the famed Japanese animation house Studio 4°C (Tekkonkinkreet, Children of the Sea) made the animated short film Noiseman Sound Insect available to stream on the company’s YouTube channel for a limited time. If you’re an anime fan born before the turn of the century, you may know that this short — which features work from some of the most prolific anime creators of our time — has been unavailable to legally watch in the West since it was released over two decades ago. If you’re new to anime, however, here’s the lowdown as to why exactly you should make the time to watch this long-lost 15-minute gem of Japanese animation.
Initially released in Japan back in 1997, the film centers on a group of “biker” kids living in a dilapidated futuristic metropolis who fight to break free from the mind control of “Noiseman’’ — a synthetic life-form created by a disgruntled scientist that can devour sound waves and transform them into crystals. It’s a trippy, ambitious, and unquestionably unique anime short that boasts a hybrid 2D-CGI animation style that truly felt cutting-edge for its time. The short had never been legally available to watch in the United States until Oct. 28, 2022, when 4°C made the short available to watch worldwide (with the exception of Japan) on the company’s YouTube channel in HD for a limited time.
At the time, however, 4°C neglected to include any English subtitles for the film. This meant that even though you could technically watch the film, you couldn’t understand any of the dialogue (and a substantial chunk of the film’s story) if you didn’t understand Japanese — whoops! This time around though, 4°C has graciously added English close-captioned subtitles, which means this is the
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