Kagirinaki Rakuen (found amateur Hiroshi Harada anime film; 1981)

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LMPStillOG.jpg

A still from Kagirinaki Rakuen, taken from a film camera.

Status: Partially Found


Kagirinaki Rakuen (限りなき楽園), or in English and better known as Limitless Paradise, is a 40-minute[1] amateur anime film directed, animated and made completely by Hiroshi Harada in 1981[1][2], an animator notoriously known for his works in the "ero-guro" genre and for his controversial film, Midori.[1]. It was then screened in the following years in 1982, 1986 and lastly in 1988[1] and since then, has never been shown publicly and released in any form.

Plot

Harada had explained a brief rundown of the film[1] that came from his blog which contains most of the information about Kagirinaki Rakuen. The rundown goes as follows:

高校生達が学校への不満から、高校を占拠し立てこもる。 しかし明確な方針や理念を持たなかった生徒達は やがて分裂を起こしてバラバラになってしまうというストーリー。

When translated in English, it goes as follows:

High school students occupy the high school out of dissatisfaction with the school. However, the story is that the students who do not have a clear policy or philosophy eventually split and fall apart.

Original Strip

Harada had worked and made this film in his third year in high school in an 8mm film strip using patch tape, rather than a roll splicing tape. This, unfortunately, caused it to degrade in the quality and health of the film strip. Additionally, it also got heavily damaged by the wind entering the strip's surface and the sweltering heat[1], as it cauised various audio and visual damages to the entire film.[1]

Content

Aside from a rundown of the film's plot, there are three songs that are confirmed to have been used in the film[1], one is a song entitled "Child's Mind", an original song which was written and sung by Takafumi Miki (Harada's friend), and arranged by Harada himself.[3] Another song, entitled "St. Louis Blues", an original song by Harada's cousin[1], and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4.[1] Additionally, Harada had composed an original score for the film that he had written when he was 16, entitled in the same name as his film, "Limitless Paradise", using a Porta Sound, a Yamaha DX100, and an RX2.[4]

Availability

Aside from a few screenings of the film in 1982, 1986, and lastly in 1988[1], the film was never shown publicly again. Though, Harada himself had expressed embarrassment and contemplation about the film's release[4][1][5]. Additionally, with the original 8mm film strip being heavily damaged, it is likely to take a long time on it being fully digitized. Aside from that, multiple advertisements for the film have been uploaded by different users and are available online to be viewed.[6]

On December 22nd, 2020, Harada's new production company, Kiriokan, confirmed on their official Twitter account, @kiyubaru, that the film's plot depicts school struggles such as clashes between high school students and riot police.[7] Additionally, the thread also gives more information on Harada's early works and also gives more drawn stills from the film[7], and footage from the film that had been re-shot.[8][9]. This has been the only resurfaced footage of the film as of 2022, albeit re-shot.

Gallery

Footage

Limitless Paradise re-shot footage. (0:08)

Stills

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Songs

"Child's Mind", an original song used in Limitless Paradise, by Takafumi Miki.

"Limitless Paradise", original composition by Hiroshi Harada

Videos

Aaron Dylan Kearn's video on Harada's works, that gives a brief rundown on Limitless Paradise. (2:59 - 4:21)

External Links

References