ASIENCE: Kami wa Onna no Inochi

Production I.G has created the animation for Kao Corporation's Asience shampoo creative challenge, entitled Asience: Hairy Tale. The 60-second animated film is directed by Kazuto Nakazawa, who gained international fame by directing the animation part in Quentin Tarantino's world hit Kill Bill: Vol. 1. Nakazawa also designed the characters and directed the animation. Art direction has been entrusted to Shuichi Hirata, the texture wizard behind the stunning artwork of Cannes-nominated Innocence and Annecy-selected xxxHOLiC - A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The graphic style in Asience: Hairy Tale is visually inspired by XVIII century Japanese paintings, and personalized by Nakazawa's nervous and expressive brush touch used for the characters outlines. Without any support from 3D animation, the brush lines were painstakingly traced with pencil on paper by the in-between staff. The story concept, focusing on woman's hair as metaphor of feminine life, is portrayed as a tragic love story in a samurai drama fashion.