Edge of Time Anthology Reveals New Official Trailer

The Chinese animated anthology Edge of Time started streaming a fresh trailer on Sunday. The preview spotlights two of its shorts: Shinichiro Watanabe’s “A Girl Meets a Boy and a Robot” and Shuhei Morita’s “Roots,” which also goes by the name Tsuru no Mai.

Edge of Time is a 97 minute film built from four parts, and it was once known as the TAISU Project. It gathers work from Japanese directors Watanabe and Morita alongside Chinese directors Li Wei and Weng Ming, all circling the idea of “Taisu,” an energy that moves across time and space. The film is screening at the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival, which runs from October 27 to November 5.

The anthology follows an underwater girl brought to life by that cosmic energy. She drifts through time and space looking for a lost friend who vanished in war, taking in one story after another while searching for the meaning of love. Watanabe’s chapter centers on a girl with no memory who meets a robot and a boy chasing the Crystal of Time, while Morita’s “Roots” follows a lonely princess named Tashen who bonds with a foreign girl through a pair of twin flowers as war closes in.

Both directors have long histories. Watanabe is known for Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus, Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy, Carole & Tuesday, Terror in Resonance, and Lazarus, plus the short Blade Runner: Black Out 2022. Morita has worked on Tokyo Ghoul, Freedom, and the film Kakurenbo Hide & Seek.

The shorts have traveled before this trailer. The Niigata International Animation Film Festival held the Asian premieres of both films in March 2023, and Watanabe’s piece screened at the 26th Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal back in July 2022. Morita also earned an Oscar nomination in 2014 for “Possessions,” made with Sunrise as part of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Short Peace project.

My take: I find these cross border collaborations quietly exciting, since they let directors I already love share a screen with voices I might never have found otherwise.