8. Transformation Through Repetition
Claymation on vintage SONY television.
This claymation is the origin story of the Flush/Flood mascot Taiya no tatsujin. A racecar goes around and around the track repetitively and from this energy sprouts a little tire god from one of the front wheels. The arms of the god jut out, causing the car to veer off track and crash into a concrete wall. The tire rolls off and smiles contentedly. He is a little trickster.
Borrowing from the Japanese claymation (based off a video game) 'Taiko no tatsujin' and Matthew Barney's Cremaster 4, this short lo-fi animation uses the universal concept of an 'origin story' to build value around a figure that ties into a larger myth. The kawaii cuteness of the character and the seemingly amoral logic of the story is an outsider interpretation of Japanese animation— a kind of fan fiction.