Try Hard --- they sure did!

October 4, 2023 11:52 AM

Alex, an art student, dreams of joining Eve, the "Elite’s Visual School". Together with her best friend Kimmy, they train hard to pass the notoriously impossible entrance exam. Alex’s training turns into an obsession, compromising her friendship with Kimmy.

Try Hard is the first of the graduation animations (teaser) made by the class of 2023 at Gobelins, a French school of "visual creation", with each new animation released weekly on Wednesday. English subtitles are available via Youtube's closed captions functionality.
posted by MartinWisse (8 comments total)

Question… Given the teaser video and the Try Hard video, has the anime style pretty much taken over the field of animation?
posted by njohnson23 at 12:14 PM on October 4, 2023

There were a fair number of non-anime style segments in that teaser.
posted by srboisvert at 1:06 PM on October 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

Oh, this looks awesome.
posted by Spike Glee at 1:45 PM on October 4, 2023

Try Hard was brilliant. Can't wait for the rest.
posted by oddman at 2:49 PM on October 4, 2023

I've been a fan of the Gobelins channel for years now. I think this is the most self-referential graduation short I've seen.

Some of my other favorites from the channel:

Clavel Gris (45 sec)
La Quete de L'human (7 min)
Golden Hour (6 mins)
posted by neuracnu at 3:07 PM on October 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

"Try Hard" was wonderful and surprising. The anime style was clearly on purpose - using a known, sensational style to tell a pretty simple story. I thought it was very effective. Can't wait to see the rest.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 8:06 AM on October 5, 2023

This was lovely and sweet, and yes, using the style in a very tongue-in-cheek but effective way. (My favorite moment might have been the second time they take the exam, seeing the convention hall from a distance while the Anatomy Man punches it up into the air a few times. Which is a sentence that makes no sense if you haven't watched this but perfect sense as visual shorthand if you have, which is why I love that so much.)
posted by Navelgazer at 4:53 PM on October 5, 2023

Thanks for the recommendations! I haven't watched all the shorts in the channel, but one from a few years ago that has really stuck with me is Louise (TW for a portrayal of a coercive sexual encounter).
posted by confluency at 4:12 AM on October 6, 2023 [1 favorite]