Kekkaku Yobou

Displaying not only the functional aspects of tuberculosis, but the historical and demographical impacts of the disease, this short film draws attention and awareness to one of the great plagues facing all of mankind. The information is provided in a digestible manner without delving too deeply into technical jargon or specialist knowledge.

The program is overall formatted in the PSA (public service announcement) style, with an animated twist that engages the audience and creates an air of discussion around an otherwise grim and, at times, taboo subject. The program flows with relative ease and offers pauses at appropriate times for visual aides.

There are very ... few points upon which it seems appropriate to gripe in regards to this film. That said, some of the introductory elements could be reworked just a tad. The animated audience displays a wide array of people from different backgrounds, though their screentime could have been substantially reduced to nothing more than a single panning shot. The way it stands at current delivers on the intent of the creators, but also serves to slow the pace of the production during the hook. Aside from that, all instances I found lacked any audio. Granted, the film does not really need any audio, but it could have been a nice addition to help with emotional queues or even just to expedite the message for those who read a tad slower.

Generally speaking, the film delivers on exactly what is promised and does so in a manner that is not unappealing. In fact, the degree to which this film engages the viewer and excites visually goes above and beyond what one might expect from comparable media.

Hopefully, with this message out there we can work together to make TB a thing of the past.