Man and Whale by Koji Yamamura

I was half-expecting to see something like HornyManatee.com when I clicked on the site WhaleLove.org, but it turns out that it’s a legit Japanese site by Greenpeace about saving whales. Even better, the site has a new 2-minute animated short by the hand-drawn animation master Koji Yamamura (Mt. Head, The Old Crocodile). The piece, entitled Man and Whale, is a simple elegantly told story about a school principal and his students who help rescue a beached whale. There’s also an interview with Yamamura in which he talks about why he agreed to make the film:

Yes, I am interested in environmental issues including global warming. But they are not simple problems. When human beings live and act, you use electricity, and that’s ruining the environment. I try to save electricity at home. Also, when you think “what else can you do to solve the problem?� I thought the best thing I can do is to convey the message by making animation films for that purpose.

(via Michael Sporn’s Splog)