Mind Game

Synopsis

Nishi rekindles his high school romance with Myon after she narrowly survives a train accident, only to discover she is engaged. While visiting Myon’s family’s yakitori restaurant and meeting her fiancé, Yakuza members ambush them, and Nishi is killed trying to protect Myon. In death, Nishi meets a whimsical, shapeshifting deity who challenges him to accept his fate by stepping through a portal into oblivion. Refusing to comply, Nishi chooses to return to life with a renewed perspective and foreknowledge of the Yakuza attack. Using this awareness, he turns one of the assailants’ weapons against them and flees with Myon and her sister in a stolen vehicle. Directed by Masaaki Yuasa, Mind Game employs a fluid, ever-changing animation style to explore themes of living without regret, establishing itself as a truly unique cinematic work.

Background

The film was awarded the Animation Division Grand Prize at the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival. It also won the Oufuji Noburou Award at the 2005 Mainichi Film Awards. Also in 2005 it won the Best Film, Best Director (tying with Survive Style 5 +), Best Script (tying with Survive Style 5 +), Special Award – Visual Accomplishment, and the Audience Award for the Best Animation Film during the Fantasia Festival in Canada.