Episode 80. The Other World's First Animation (5) Fin
When the first scene of *Home with Animal Friends*, the world's first animation presented by Author Wei, began to play,
the people seated in the theater—regardless of age, gender, or status—all lost their words for a moment, expressing astonishment with only their eyes and mouths opened wide.
"...Did that picture just move? It's not an actual child and puppy performing, right?"
"Look at their appearances. Does that look like a real child and dog?
They're drawn cutely, but anyone can tell they're pictures."
"But can you really call those drawings?
No, they are drawings, but... they're walking so naturally."
And perhaps as a reaction to the brief silence that had fallen, they began to buzz loudly, loud enough to echo throughout the theater.
It was only natural, because within the screen of illusion magic spreading from the crystal sphere.
A boy who looked to be about five or six years old with chubby, squishy cheeks, and
a cute drawing of a brown retriever puppy with soft fur and large, round eyes was clearly moving together.
Thump-thump!
Pit-pat!
Their gait moved their limbs in a somewhat exaggerated and sweeping manner, but
rather, it was precisely because of this that the cuteness of the child and puppy was further emphasized, and the fact that they were characters in a virtual world rather than reality became easier to accept.
"Do you see any gaps or threads or anything?"
"No. There's no trace of anything being manipulated from the outside."
"I thought it would be at best similar to a picture play...
Hiss, just what and how did they do this?"
But that did not mean they were immediately convinced,
so the audience began to make all sorts of speculations, like people focusing on uncovering the secret of a magic trick rather than enjoying the magic itself.
"Tsk. Everyone, please be quiet!
It's not too late to have such discussions after you've finished watching the animation, is it?"
Unable to bear watching anymore, Shylock clicked his tongue and snapped at those audience members.
Shylock could understand them being flustered and noisy about the animation.
After all, even he himself had failed to overcome a moment's emotion and cried out.
'But it's problematic if they keep spacing out and chattering like that.'
It interferes with watching the animation.
He had come to watch the work called animation, not to uncover its principles.
He simply wanted to see what came next.
He didn't want his time to appreciate this historic work for the first time to be disturbed any longer.
"Ah, it seems we got too excited."
"My mistake. Yes, watching it is the first and most important thing."
"Well, what does the secret matter?
As long as it's fun, that's enough."
Only then did people come to their senses, close their mouths, and sit down awkwardly.
'Hmph, now I can finally watch in peace.'
Finally satisfied, Shylock adjusted his posture comfortably and began focusing on the animation again.
Fortunately, as if having anticipated such an uproar in advance,
because the boy who had entered earlier had paused the magic, the animation was able to resume seamlessly without issue.
"Kain. You must absolutely not go outside until Mom and Dad return, okay?"
"No matter who asks to be let inside, you must never open the door. Got it?"
The story of *Home with Animal Friends*, which had formally resumed screening,
began with five-year-old boy Kain being left home alone in winter while snow fell in heaps, without his parents.
"What, they're leaving a five-year-old child home alone in this weather?
What if he gets kidnapped or has an accident?"
The people who saw that scene expressed their worries in small voices, but
Kain's parents had their circumstances as well.
Kain's parents were hunters.
As winter came and game disappeared, they had to go farther away, but taking Kain out in this weather would be dangerous, so they had no choice but to leave him behind.
They were worried too, but it was an unavoidable choice.
But fortunately,
contrary to the worries of his parents and the audience, Kain was not completely alone.
"Jango! Hurry inside!
Bring all the other friends too!"
"Is it okay? Your parents will be really angry if we come in."
"Mom and Dad went far away, so it's fine.
If you don't come in right now I'm closing the door!
Mom and Dad told me never to open it. So I won't open it, hmph!"
"Okay, okay. We're coming in now.
Everyone, let's go in."
Kain had the ability to talk with animals, which even his parents didn't know about,
and because of that ability, he began bringing his animal friends inside.
Kain's first friend and the leader among the animal friends, the brown retriever puppy Jango.
The prickly alley cat Betty who was unusually neat despite her street origins.
The valiant rooster Cairo with his dignified comb and three hens as wives.
The chubby baby pig Mambo and
the agile, stealthy mouse Juri.
When a total of five diverse animal friends entered the house and began playing with Kain, who was left alone,
the anxiety of being alone vanished without a trace, and the atmosphere transformed into a warm, heartwarming one.
Had these friends looked like real animals in reality, the sight of animals talking and being brought inside might have felt repulsive, but
"Strange. I've never thought pigs and mice were cute in my life, but those kids Mambo and Juri are incredibly cute.
Is it just me?"
"Is it because they're drawings rather than actual appearances?
I feel no repulsion even though they speak like humans?"
"Hiss, if they're such cute and admirable animals, maybe it'd be nice to live with them at home...?"
Thanks to the effect of being drawn in cute, deformed illustrations, the animal friends were gaining heaps of favor rather than repulsion.
It wasn't just their cute appearances; the admirable fact that they were looking after Kain in place of his parents also drew favorable reactions.
But then, intruders appeared to bring tension to that heartwarming atmosphere.
"Is it true that there's a juicy child alone in that house?"
"Of course! I confirmed that a big man and woman went far away!"
A brutally-looking wolf and treacherous-looking fox duo appeared and began targeting Kain.
"Squeak-squeak! Big trouble! The fox and wolf are targeting Kain and trying to break in!"
Fortunately, the mouse secretly overheard this and informed Kain and his animal friends,
and the animation switched genres, beginning to depict the animal friends' defense to protect Kain against the wolf and fox.
Except it wasn't a tension-filled, dangerous thriller genre.
It exuded a strong comedic feel, with the animal friends using their wits to play tricks on the fox and wolf.
"You said there was no one in the house!
You said there was the shadow of a giant monster in the window!
Fox! Did you trick me?!"
"You got scared and ran back just from seeing a shadow?!
It's not a monster, you idiot!
Those inside tricked us by stacking on top of each other to make themselves look bigger!"
"Wh-what did you say?!"
Like a joke story, the animal friends stacked on top of each other to look huge and scare them away, or
"Look closely. If you press a funnel against the wall like this and check the sound, you can tell if someone is inside or not..."
"Cock-a-doodle-doooooo!!!!!"
"SCREEEEEECH!!! SQUAAAAWK!"
they amplified the crowing of a chicken into the fox's ear who was pressing a funnel against the wall to listen, knocking him unconscious, or
"Huh? What's this rope?"
Tap-!
Shwhoooo!
BANG!
"KYAAAAAAAGH!"
with traps installed at the entrance, like dropping a heavy iron ball to bury them into the ground.
Though the fox and wolf took quite violent damage in the process,
"Hahaha! Look at that! His eyes are spinning round and round from hearing the amplified cry!"
"Pfft. They got flattened by the iron ball and are still moving, so neither the wolf nor the fox is scary at all?"
These scenes were expressed through comical and exaggerated direction, giving the audience laughter rather than repulsion.
"Huff. Huff. Finally caught you, you brat!"
"I'll start with those soft, squishy cheeks!"
Of course, at the very end they were cornered at a dead end, and there was a moment of crisis, but
Thud-thud!
Thud-thud!
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
"H-huh? Snow?!"
"Why is the snow suddenly... Aaack! It's an avalanche!"
The animal friends succeeded in sweeping away the fox and wolf with an avalanche created by all of them ramming their bodies together, and
in the end, the parents who returned from their hunt finished off the wolf and fox buried in the snow, and
Kain and his animal friends' tumultuous house-sitting ended successfully.
"Thank you for saving Kain.
Everyone, eat your fill."
"Woof woof!"
"Oink oink!"
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
"Squeak squeak!"
"...Meow."
"...Kain, what are these children saying?"
"They said 'Thank you for the meal,' Mom and Dad."
And with the heartwarming and touching final scene of treating the animal friends who saved Kain not as livestock but as friends, and eating together at the same table,
the world's first animation, *Home with Animal Friends*, came to an end.
-SPECIAL THANKS-
And after the screen went dark for a moment,
ending credits rose up, introducing one by one the names and roles of the team members who had poured their effort into producing this animation, and
the audience maintained their silence even then, carefully engraving into their eyes and memory the names of those who had given them hours of joy and emotion.
Shylock, who glanced sideways at their reverent yet excitement-and-emotion-filled appearances, had a hunch.
'Damn it. As soon as it ends, I need to meet Author Wei and secure the merchandising rights first.'
That these cute children and animal friends would enjoy tremendous popularity and trendiness for the foreseeable future.
As if to affirm this,
as soon as the ending credits finished rolling,
the cheers that people had been holding back finally filled the theater.