Disclaimer: This review covers several short films covered in the digital collection "Japan's Animator Expo," organized by Hideaki Anno between 2014 and 2015. The runtime is an estimation with the assumption that the online "intro" animation is 1-minute long. Certain short films not included in the physical Bluray release are not part of this review.As the world waited for Hideaki Anno to finish the final film of the four-part "Rebuild of Evangelion" film series, Anno seemed to wander a bit. One of his projects was a series of experimental animated short films, by his own Studio Khara and several other anime studios. The series would ultimately include over 30 shorts, streamed online for free, released one short at a time, like a long-running film festival. It was an ambitious project that caught attention from the international community (mostly, from existing anime fans). Japan is no stranger to short animated films, usually using the medium for training new animators, packaging them into a single feature-length anthology. The sheer length of the "Japan Animator Expo" made a single release difficult, although there was a limited theatrical run in Japan for a time. As much as I pined for a physical release, I knew such a thing would probably never come to pass, let alone outside of Japan. But it did come about in a strange way: one of the shorts, named "The Dragon Dentist," spawned a feature-length adaptation by Studio Khara, and the Japanese special edition of the film includes multiple director's cuts, a soundtrack, and a final bonus Bluray disc that contains ALL of the original "Animator Expo" shorts! Well, almost all... three were excluded, likely for legal reasons.This entire set doesn't come cheap, retailing at roughly $180 USD after currency conversion. Besides the price, the set is still relatively easy to come by, even in 2019. When I traveled to Japan for vacation, I came across a used copy from a multi-level otaku store, paying about $130 USD, and not having to pay shipping. Being Japan, the copy was in meticulous condition. And it remains one of my most prized (and most expensive) anime sets.I usually don't bother writing reviews for short-films or digital-only releases. But since I "technically" have a physical copy, I am doing so here. Also, this review is a final answer for what most Americans probably want to know: does the Japanese release have an English subtitle option, like the online shorts did? The online information doesn't lie: the disc has no subtitle options whatsoever. The one exception is "Ibuseki Yoruni" ("On a Gloomy Night"), which for some reason has burned-in subtitles in English (and other languages), with no option to remove them from the video. So yes, this release wasn't exactly ideal, but yet another unavoidable reason as to why a proper release may never come. Can one enjoy the short films without subtitles? I watched each, taking notes, and determined that the films are split fairly evenly between "not needing subtitles," "desparately needing subtitles," and "kind-of needing subtitles." So I guess 1/3 of the shorts can be watched with reasonable enjoyment, and the rest simply "experienced" in the way you might a completely foriegn film. One thing I defintely noticed about the "Animator Expo" is that, despite seeming diverse within it's bubble, all the shorts are very much Japanese. Not always "anime," but Japanese. One of the earliest shorts is "ME!ME!ME!," an abstract music video about an otaku shut-in dreaming of an anime-stylized girl, complete with pornographic dancing and disturbing violence: this one film because such a headliner for it's content, that most savvy anime fans will have seen it even without knowing about the film festival it came from. Other films include 3D animation tests, tie-in shorts to existing franchises (including a couple for "Evangelion") and promotional videos for anime pitches, not always satisfying in a stand-alone manner. The subjects often include giant robots, graphic fight scenes, fast-paced Japanese-puns and humor, and whenever women appear, it's usually gratuitous, often as symbols of sexuality and excuses for perversion. That's not always a bad thing, but ALL of the shorts are like this. The final short, called "Cassette Girl," is a perfect example: set after the end of the world, a lone but perky girl and her robot sidekick search the snowy wasteland for VHS cassettes, ultimately getting into a massive battle with an old security robot that flies through the air, using the power of old tapes to transform to beat it, and transforming back into a girl with her clothes exploding, blushing before the credits roll. It's cool, but symbolizes purely anime, and really, nothing else outside that, without the types of storytelling seen outside of Japan, or even from Japan's other experimental artists. 
Because of this, despite having over 30 shorts, it all feels familiar after a while, not quite the diverse parade of storytelling I wanted to see. For massive short-film collections, I'd much sooner recommend the NFB's "Animation Express" Bluray releases, for a series of consistently excellent, and mostly diverse, shorts. But there is something special in experiencing "Animator Expo" and the work involved.I'll take a moment to highlight some of the better shorts:- "The Dragon Dentist" is an original fantasy concept, perhaps a bit dense in world-building within a single short, but otherwise cool.- "ME!ME!ME!" is popular for the wrong reasons; it's actually a rather smart metaphor for the bad effects an otaku lifestyle can have on the psyche. This is followed up by two other included shorts, "ME!ME!ME! CHRONIC" and "GIRL," that together provide a point of view from a girl rather than the boy, and together is an impressive work.- "20min Walk..." is about a girlfriend who wakes up to be the size of the bug, and a confused boyfriend tries to squash her. Seeing a naked girl run across a room from the persective of an ant is an impressive animated feat, although I don't know how to feel about the moral and what it says about relationships.- "Kanon" is difficult to understand without subtitles, but is based on a European novel, and is a fascinating and humourous story, much smarter in tone and visual style than most of the others.- "Obake-chan" is an adorbale short about a cute ghost, playing out like a series of webcomics. - "The Diary of Ochibi" is a stop-motion short, a breath of fresh air in the context of this collection and beautiful little short in its own right.- "Hammerhead" is a crazy-violent action short, but could very well carry a complete feature film or series with its concept and tone. - "Bureau of Proto Society" is a post-apocalyptic bureautic comedy. I won't give away the punch-line.- "Cassette Girl" might be a generic representation of all things anime, but not many other shorts can fit that much in so little time. And most anime fans likely relate to the theme.And really, there are many other excellent shorts in the collection, everyone will likely have their own favorites. The shorts were available online for free for a long time, but were since taken down, with plans to re-upload them not yet finalized. Paying over $100 for a copy without subtitles might be a bit unrealistic. The consistent repeating themes and tones might disappoint a viewer more than you'd imagine. But I'm happy this ambitious program existed, and hope similar programs can occur annually for viewers to enjoy around the world from the comfort of their homes. Film festivals are wonderful things, and marathoning this is one way to recreate that feeling of discovery.